Never knew this boat existed
 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-Cobalt-CS7-/143211395681

Thought this was pretty cool the guy did a nice job. Although the rumble seat might be a chore for adults. 24 degree dead rise too.

Very cool find! Here's an ad from before he decided to do the restoration of it. The 17' CS7 has 22 degrees at the transom, whereas the 19' CS9 that came on the market the year after, in 1983, has 24 degrees.

https://boats-from-usa.com/cobalt/cobalt-cs7-34861

Photo of CS9.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...0d84e7c760.jpg

I appreciate the amount of labor and love that went into making that 1982 Cobalt a better looking boat.

I like threads like this, nice find.

A true bow rider! Cool boat.

If it wasn't in FLA I'd seriously consider buying it to use on my small (4,900 acre) local lake since it would easily fit in my 3rd garage stall. Nice find!

^^^^ I agree on a small local lake and with my younger kids it would be the perfect set up for a neat day boat and water sports. I have the same issue it's too far away. Add thru hulls with silent choice and it still could be kind of sporty.

Looks like a Jim Wynne hull to me .

It sure is. A nice story about when Jim Wynne arrived at Cobalt Boats, for the first time, in 1973.

https://cobaltboats.com/art/brochures/Cobalt_1986.pdf

Lars, you're a treasure trove of info. I just wish I had the foresight to keep all of my stuff from back in the day when I was getting started.

Jim Wynne R.I.P.
 

For us Scandinavians, Jim Wynne has a special place in our hearts. He was instrumental to both Volvo Penta and Danish boat manufacturer Botved Boats' Coronet brand's success. Since Wynne also did a lot of racing, many of us that loved boats while growing up over there in the '60s and '70s read everything we could get our hands on about Wynne, Aronow and Bertram. Naturally after coming across the pond 35 years ago the quest to keep discovering the performance boating history for myself has continued. Since I don't like to hoard stuff I've from time to time given away most of my boating magazines, but I got a select few books and Nautical Quarterly that will most likely stay with me for a little longer. The internet is such a library in itself, that it's difficult to justify piling up stuff. I remembered the story about Wynne heading to Cobalt from quite a ways back, and now all I had to do was hit google "Cobalt Boats" and "Jim Wynne" and both magazines' and Cobalt Boats' own brochures telling of the story popped up online. Sure makes life easy for an inquiring mind.

Originally Posted by Twin O/B Sonic
Gorgeous.
Runs good too.

Wow, You've run one of these cool 17 or 19 footers?

Photos, courtesy of the Coronet Yacht Club, depicting(left to right), Dane Ole Botved, Swede Sven-Erik Örjangård, and Jim Wynne before the trip and during, while refueling on their 1958 crossing of the Atlantic from Gothenburg to New York in a twin OMC powered Coronet 22 Explorer fiberglass boat by Botved Boats.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...e6e3393e75.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...a8d63d8149.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...92f78405f3.jpg

And another even lesser known one it seems , lars ....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/312331276693?ul_noapp=true (hope that link works)

This was my pop's 2nd boat back in the day. My best friend's dad got the 19 footer at the same time. To this day they are still amongst the best performing boats that I've been on.

Jim Wynne designed Crestliner boats.
 

Yes, that top speed might be questionable, but all I care about as usual is solid seaworthiness and I bet those little Wynne-hulls, for that era, surely delivered.

Wow, a Crestliner Crusader 23! When the dollar tanked in '73/'74, we got a few shipments of neat American boat brands to Sweden, we normally would not see, and the Crestliner Crusader models were very well received. I remember liking the Hardtop version a lot, since I had seen a couple of Bertram 25s in Hardtop configuration and was hooked on those.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...3d405457f7.jpg

lars , that one is virtually identical to pop's old one . Color and hardtop ! No swim platform though. I did some heavy negotiations with the prez of the company to have the 2x165 Mercs switched out for 170 Volvos , something that was not on the option list and was a first for them. Would have been a bit faster with the Mercs though. They were beautiful hulls . Nary a sharp line on them anywhere .

So here's a typical Crestliner survivor in Sweden, even though she's probably had a tough life, she floats with pride. 1977 Crusader 2455.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...fe058c4da1.jpg

Now here's a read Steve, in the 1973 June issue of Motor Boating & Sailing Magazine, that I stumbled upon while reading a little more about Crestliner boats. It starts with an ad, on page 61, introducing the new line of Crestliner boats and then, from page 62 all the way through page 75, there's an article so great that I would label it epic, "How to fall in love with a boat". If Gary put in a good day's work on the deck and pool, I bet the government would not be against getting tucked in tonight with a poem or two from this article and then go to sleep dreaming of the adventures awaiting in the Checkmate this summer. ;)
Article link: https://books.google.com/books?id=qX...epage&q&f=true

There was a CM9 for sale here recently. Mid engine configuration with alpha outdrive.

OK lars , in keeping with the title of this thread here's one for you .
Waay back once upon a time I had the literature from Cary Marine , I think it was probably late 60's . They didn't make many models back then and what they did do I believe were their versions of designs given to them by DA due to his close relationship with Elton . At that point in time Elton Cary was virtually the go to fiberglass man for Don and he built fantastic boats. One of his better known models was based on the Donzi 28 which he did an amazing job of turning it into a dual console open fisher type with twin straight inboards.
The mystery model was a 27 or 28 footer that I had the leaflet on. From what I remember it was Elton's version of the Mag 27 sport but here's the fascinating part. It was powered by 2 427's that were hooked up in tandem to a single inboard prop . With the weight distribution being different from the twin I/O powered Mag 27 it appeared that he was able to cut the freeboard down and the boat had a really low and more level profile , but it certainly resembled a Mag 27 sport.
I've never , ever seen or heard about one in real life though . Anywhere . Do you know anything about the boat I'm referring to ? I'd love to see an actual photo of one if any were made.
If anyone thinks the Mag 27 sport is an icon (and it is) this Cary was even more off the charts !

Cary 26?
 

The boat you must be referring to is the Cigarette 28 derived Cary 26. It was basically a Cig 28 cut-down, but I'm sure you know this model. Brownie had the demo with a 482 in it, but most came with a Daytona 427. They were v-drive boats and no were made with a tandem set-up to my knowledge. Built 1969/71. Somebody mentioned once that they had seen specs in a brochure with a tandem option, but so far no proof. Elton Cary's son James used to run a great historical site about Cary Marine, but there was nothing on there about such a boat either. Can't wait 'till You figure out which model it is.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...fd766f3524.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...1e8af45edd.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...e34953c0da.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...b82a2966a1.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...9379705b8e.jpg

Yep , I was sure that if anyone had anything on this boat it would have been you .
The 2nd last picture is what I recall having way back , and the spec sheet above looks familiar as well. The other color photos I've not seen before though.
I'm sure I recall the 2x427 in tandem option and at least you say that someone else might have heard of it as well , but how on earth would they have configured the boat if it was possible ? Maybe a bench seat deck ?
It sure was a pretty boat though . Thanks again . .

Two Cary 26 boats of maybe 5-6 made.
 

Since Allan Brown was the father of the truly successful tandem engine set-up, with some help of Andy Casale, in the Donzi 28 'Donzi Baby' he ran to victory in the 1967 Miami-Nassau race, he would have mentioned a possible tandem set-up in the Cary 26 a few years later. Instead, he had the rare potent 482 in his demo Cary 26. I guess only a handful Cary 26 were made, and the two I recall reading about is the oddball white one that was claimed to have been built in 1981 in Italy and made its way back to the U.S. Hardly a true story, but most likely an original Cary boat with a title forgery at one point. See the first small photo and two ads for it. The second boat is the blue metal-flake boat that was claimed to have been originally sold to a cousin of Don Aronow, Morris Rogak of Morton Grove, IL. The 3rd owner got the boat in the late '80s and was going to restore it, but was young and short of money and still had it as late as 2011 unrestored in pretty sad condition. Not sure if he finally finished a resto or sold the boat. His photos below, courtesy of postings on the Serious offshore site. The cool rumble seat in the bow and teak clad reverse transom gave them a uniquely elegant look.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...4aa12669cd.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...26d7aefae8.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...12026f3536.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...20ce074797.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...d5079fe7a2.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...08f5a4c732.jpg

Lars , thanks for more great photos ! So , that metal flake blue one is a Cary despite the Cig sticker ? And I figured that Brownie's name wold pop up somewhere seeing that his own Nova race boat had two engines in tandem .

2 O/b Sonic .. Yeah , I had tons of stuff from way back that unfortunately got tossed when I moved out of home. Had I kept it it only would be a mass of rotten , moldy paper by now . Actually someone out here a long time ago bought in one of those odd little English boats about 22' long with a pilot house like a tug boat dropped into it . It had a 4 cylinder diesel with the original BMW out drive . I'm pretty sure that the power train lasted for about 40 years before it was re-powered. I seem to recall that it resembled a Volvo 290 unit but even clunkier looking .

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...0bc1606dca.jpg

1975 ish Crestliner Crusader 775
May have found it's final resting place.

Another of the original Cary 26 found?
 

Today I found something new out. Swedish Californian Per Stridsberg ran one of the rare Cary 26 at the Fifth Anuual Powerboat Magazine World Offshore Speed Trials in 1975. He had a Chevy 468" hooked up to the custom Casale V-drive. Mechanical issues caused the boat to record a slow speed. I will ask Per what color it was and its history. Noteworthy is its Cigarette logo.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...73328ca42c.jpg