I am impressed with the quality of the Formula that I currently own. I also like Sonics but they look a bit more expensive. AC is key for me though. When I was younger I would spend the night with my parents on their Tiara. Without AC on a summer night you slept in a pool of sweat...fans or no fans...that was no fun.

Winter is a good time to find a bargain...but I have to sell the boat I have now.

>>>>>>>.....no ac but...

What about Stan's (cig1988) Bullet? It's in the classifieds. It's in your price range and appears to be a nice restored boat.

Craig

I'm surprized that LS Jr. hasn't chimed in yet!

I totally understand the need for a/c, but you are going to have a tough time finding a boat with a/c in that price range. I would reccommend buying as much boat as you can find and then buy one of these if it doesn't have a/c:

http://www.coolyourboat.com/marine_ac_KNK.htm

We had a Krusin Kool before we bought our Sonic with built in a/c and it worked great. I think that BoatUS sells them too. We had a hatch a/c unit before and it was a real pain in the butt to set up and carry around on a performance boat. This thing is in a Samsonite suitcase on wheels and easy to set up.

Looks like an interesting accessory. I take it the hose goes in the water and the pump circulates the water and the unit extracts the cold from the water, sorta like a heat pump?
I guess for this you need to be plugged in to power at the dock rather than on the hook. I suppose one could buy a small honda generator.

re: finding a boat with a/c in that price range. True for a performance boat...but for a cruiser (such as 27-30 Formula "performance cruiser") AC is fairly common.

I guess "no compromises" comes at a price!

CMG, what size Formula is that?

Yes, the hose actually has 2 hoses wrapped together (one hose is shorter) with a water pump on the end of the longer hose. You throw the hose over the side and then tie it off just high enough so the shorter hose is above the water. I would recommend the 20 ft hose as this will give you more freedom to place it in the cabin.

We currently have a small Honda EU2000i generator that we take with us and place on the swim platform, works great.

I forgot you were thinking about a cruiser too, you are more likely to find a cruiser with a/c, but I would think that a built in generator is still somewhat hard to find. The Honda gen works great if you find one without a generator. I buddy of mine has a 27' Sea Ray that has everything but a gen and he uses the Honda as well.

My brother had an '87 35 Formula PC with a/c, generator, central vac and everything. Sold it for under 50k. I think that there might be a bunch of those around. This was a huge boat, 35' did not include the swim platform and bow pulpit.

31 ft, not forsale but I'd sell it for a lot less than 50k

Those portable "hatch" ac units really do work well.

In March/April of 95' my exwife and I took a 1200 mile/six week tour around FL in my first Formula, an 85' 242 LS with twin small blocks.

I guess another requirement would be an enclosed head. Do the 30-35 formulas, sonics, bajas have an enclosed head?