Pictures
 

Dont know if this is going to work,just trying to see if i can post some of my pictures,and needed a thread to play on. Bare with me. Mag27

HOLY CATS I DID IT.THANK YOU STEVE. Mag27

Learning new tricks
 

Nice job Mag27...you are getting the hang of that new computer. Look out Offshore Only...the pictures will be flying now! I have to say though...did you have to test out your abilities using the picture of Vixen before the crash and the aerial picture of you guys in the boat injured after the crash?????

Shevixen:evilb:

More picts,maybe
 

g ive this one more try.

Nice job......great boat!

Do you guys run in stock seats?.....no bolsters?

Seats
 

24Degree,at the time those picts were taken we were running the original mag seats,worst seats you could run out there.In 2002 we changed to a diff.seat and mounted it 3 inches lower, that was a lot better but still not right.In2003 i got a set out of a 30 ft formula and these seemed to work the best and still use them today.I will post more picts of the changes we did between 2000 an today when i get a little better handle on this thing.We tried about every different way tell it felt right.The first year 2001 was a complet dissaster on engines and set up,but there was nobody to say this is a bad idea,but by 2002 we were starting to get a better idea how to make the old mage run.Vixen today is a whoe different boat then what i put together in 2000.The pict on the second post is my first time out with her in dec. 2000. Mag27

Finally mel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some ass kickin pictures keep them coming..............

Love the docking lights...............Ya kind if look like Don aranow in the pic where your buy yourself.............





Man i wish i looked like don aranow

Lights
 

No Cig,when i bought her she had a arch on her that looked like sombody had spot lights mounted up there at one time. I wish i had taken a pict of it,looked wierd.Had removed it before i thought of keeping a photo record of rebuild.I only put a few on that would work so far.By the way,that pict of the little girl is my grandaughter with Katrina T little dog,she had two and named them Magnum an Vixen.I thought that was neat. Mag27

Few more
 

Some of these picts are to big and untell i figure out how to downsize them cant post them yet.Theres a atachment on here someplace,i seen it,but cant find it now. Mag27

Hey Mel,

Could you tell what color the original gel was?

Thanks.

Great Restoration, Post more pics of the process !!

Some answers
 

First Shevixen,sorry about posting them picts but at the time they were the only ones i could get to post.24 Degre,the jel was kind a dirty looking gold,you can get a better look at it on these picts im posting.When i got her she had about 4 coats of blk. bottom paint on her with a layer of barnicles between each coat.The only thing we could do was send her out an get her glass bead blasted.Thats when we found out the jel was so bad we were going to have to grind it all off up to the matt. In the one pict of the accident you can see the dumb way i had the seating set up with the throttle man 3ft from the port side,worked ok if you didnt stuff it,but then that 3ft darn near killed me.

cool picks. Thanks for sharing.:D

More
 

Got them kinda mixed up

Few More
 

That one were she thought she was a bird was a 2002 pict and shouldnt have been in here, but this is still new to me.

A few more i just got resized
 

If you go back to the 1 st set of picts that blk boat is the Magnum that Magnum27 rebuilt a couple years ago.I got 1 more i will put on the next post,my favoriite.

mel.....AWSOME pics keep them coming....

I got a few questiones for ya, Yours is a bravo boat if i remember right......Where is your x demension and where did you end up mounting your fuel tanks....The only reason i ask is your boat flies nice and level with what looks like like little tab input.......The pic above tells the story.......

Last of 2000 2001 picts
 

These should finish 2001,at the OPRA race in Lauderdale.Never wanted to race St.Pete or Key West.It was so rough in Lauderdale the coast guard shut it down after 4 laps.The blk mag was the only one to make all 5 and he split his top deck,blew his drive and was dead in the water without a tow boat around. My guys thrue him a rope and towed him in before he wound up on the beach.

X dimension.
 

No Cig,i run 16 an half on the X with the Bravo.I mounted 2 40gal tanks between the bulkhead in front of the front seat to the bulkhead in front of the eng,i figured by going with 1 eng instead of 2 she was going to be nose heavy with all that fuel up front.First i hated it,i felt it was to light up front because when you got up arround 80 and hit even a 3ft wave she would head for the moon as you can see in that first pict.That pict wasnt the one we wreck on,it was the next one when i turnd my head to see if we were clear of the other boats and move over to the inside. According to the news man in the chopper she went completly verticle,he got so upset he couldnt take a pict tell it was all over and seen we were still upright.that race was on july 2 i believe and 14 days later i finally got home,it was the midle of aug before i could do anything about repairing Vixen,but i had a lot to figure out what the problems were and it wasnt weight and bal.When i got done i had a boat that flew right.Heres 1 more pict of her first race in St.Cloud in 2001 and one of dave an me when we took the two boat for lunch a couple weeks ago.

Thanks mel, my tanks are both in the rear flanking the motor....But i have a molded glass insert in the nost of the boat....Helps keep the nose down......I due have to be carfull with tab input and drive when running in the ruff but she flies nice and level....


heres a pic of the inside have not finished that part yet

Glass insert??
 

Anybody,I have never seen a 27 with a insert for a finished cabin up front,does anybody else have this?Vixen had some carpet glued to the sides of the hull an floor and some kind of headliner glued to the top in the first compartment but that was all,i tore it all out along with the floor to get at the fuel tanks.I just layed a new floor up there and left it like that,i would have to give up so much of the strenght of the hull i never even thought of somthing like that.I sure like it,it makes it into a pleasure boat ware you could overnight if you wanted to.Got a couple more picts of how i got Vixen set up today compared to how she was first.One gives the seats we use, another the front lifting cleats,and the the throttle shifter and trim an tab switches.

Few more
 

Just a few more seeing im on a roll here.No Cig,when i repaired her after the wreck i put on 30 inch k planes with mechanical indicaters,marked at neutral with bottum and strict orders to set them were you want but not above those marks.did the same thing with trim indicater,not above the red line.Never had another problem,but it cost us a little top speed,but she flys nice now and shes safe.When i was working on the H.P.boats i was always fixing seats that tore loose, so on Vixen i welded the bases to quarter inch alu.plate and tied them down with 4 half inch bolts,have never moved in 7 years. On the bottom of the eng.pict you can see the oil cooler we use,that is the mech 540,need about 10 more hours on it and then it comes out and maybe i will get a chance to see how the blue hyd.540 i built 3 years ago compairs,its been sitting on the eng.stand complete.i run it a half hour every month so nothing gets stuck in it and i even borrowd it to dave for one race in 2005.

Hello Mel,

Nice Photos and you did a great job on her. Looks great, I know how much work it takes
Very nice

Thank you
Jim

Mag 27 nocigs boat has a cabin insert from Cherokee boats that were made in Michigan in the late 70's and 80's. Cherokee boats made a Magnum hull copy , but had a raised deck. Bob Lish who owned the mag before nocig had Cherokee make him the insert and thet put it in, Bob raced this Mag for many years with the Double Vision name. Cherokee boats mainly made 25' and 28' fishing boats, but did build a few offshore boat's . They also made the raised engine hatch like nocigs, that you may have seen on many Mags that raced on Lake St Clair. The shop in Algonac MI were they built Cherokee boats then, is the shop were they build Sunsation boats now.

I never get tired of seeing someone else post a pic of my boat..............


Thanks mark.........

Wait till ya see her this year at the races..................

Jel coat color
 

24 Degree asked about jel color,i was going thrue some picts last night and came across this one after i took the wood off the bow,and it gives a good look at it because it was never painted there.In 2002 we always seemed to good press in some towns so i posted a couple of them too.

Start of 2002
 

Dave working the chain lift to put in the new 540,that had always been my job but the left arm still wasnt working very good,so he grunted and i guided it in.We run 1 APBA race 3 SBI races and blew it in Sarrasoto,it was a great eng.but really to much.If i went with a 28 4blade it would run around 81 or 82 at 52 to 5400 rpms but if i put on the 26 4blade at 6200 rpms we were so illegal we couldnt run it.After Sarrasoto i built a 510 12 to1 eng. that would work good with the 26 prop and used it untell Marathon in2003.Anyway heres a few more.Thats all for today,juat started to rain and i think im going to see what its like to get wet once,been so darn long since we got rain just about forgot what it was.

St.Cloud 2002
 

Heres a few from St.Cloud.Geo.T was their with a couple friends.Boy i wish my wife would let me have friends like that. This was my only race in 2002,after 2 laps Dave seen i couldnt use my left arm to hold on and shut it down,by the time i found out what he done it was to late to get back in.That was one time that boy was on my s--t list.After the race i was upset over everything and went to see the chief referee about another matter and wound up getting DQd on top of it.Well with the DQ we got no points,so any chance of winning the gold cup were gone for the year.Thats when i went with SBI for the rest of the year.

Couple more from 2001 yet.
 

The last ones from 2001,sorry i got them so mixed but a couple of these are kinda neat.After Lauderdale we got invited to the Magnum plant,so after 30 years Vixen got back home.

Marathon 2002 SBI
 

A few from Marathon.The first one is Smitty an sticks with Dave an Ken,dont know the third guy.Second one was off the light house pier.After they finished there 5 laps they were having so much fun they decided to do a 6th lap.Well a oil line brock on the outside and they come limping under the bridge. It still had about 3 qrts oil in it when they got towed in an i thought they shut it down in time.When i got it home repaired the oil pipe that brock put in new oil and took it out for a test run,oil pressure was ok so i thought we were good to go to Sarasotto in a couple weeks.Lasted less then lape and that was the end of the 540,never raced it again.

Last ones from 2003
 

The first one my wife took after the St.Cloud pulling back into the pits.The second one is Dave an Ken batteling with Joker(Crazy Chicken) in Sarasota.Third one is Dave taking the checkerd in Sarasota.Thats about all,i was in the boat in Marathon so all i got was video my daughter took from the bridge.Took a lot of St. Pete but my 35 unlatched on the way home and lost all my picts.Ive been watching for some 03 St.Pete picts on here but havent come across any yet.

That was a great day. I was throttling and Dee Early was at the wheel.

No Mag,But new project.
 

Dave and i picked this 2550 Chapperal up a few years back to resale,but then he fell in love with the darn thing so were going to repower it with a 510 and bravo drive.He has two small children so he needs a boat with a cabin.Heres a couple shots getting started. After we get an eng clear we set it on this rolling cart so we can move it anyware we want.Next thing is putting this 350 in his 20ft fishing boat before we can get back to the Chapperal.

Nothing going on so
 

Heres a few of a 25 Wellcraft i put together back in 96,new transome,fuel tank,floor,seats,inst.drive,engine and paint.Actualy replaced everything but the bar hull.For a couple years we polker run with it,then everybody started to get faster boats and she would only run 6o on a good day.We had a lot of fun with it,she made a good safty boat when we were testing Vixen first couple years,i put a Volvo XR duel prop on it with a 468 turbo eng.and my wife or daughter could dock it with no problems.In 2004 i stripped it out and brought it to the land fill,hated to see it go.

Another project
 

Not a Mag but started out as a splash and then modified.If you look at the first 15 ft.its all Mag but then the bottum changes to a whole diff. idea.Heres a few picts when i started on it in 04.

Heres a few more after i finished it.Never did get to race it myself,took a bad hit on the last test run before St.Cloud and cracked a virtabray in my back and that ended any hopes i had of racing again,Dave an Ken did Marathon an Sarrosota,but not being able to get back in the boat myself couldnt seem to get the bugs out.Sold it to Dave in 05 an him and his brother ran it tell his brother got his back hurt in Sarr.in05. Happy Fathers Day

great thread

Just a update on Daves fishing boat.Put the 350 in last week,now all he has is installing the manifolds and we can go fishing once.Not a Mag but a fun project since he goy the boat for free.