Newbie here so go easy on me.

Been boating (fishing) just about all of my adult life, got my 100 GT Master and have many, many days offshore and many, many, many days on the water in a variety of vessels.

I frequent Gilbert's in Key Largo where performance boats come through now and again. Then, a buddy of mine took me on a Poker Run (the enabling bum that he is!!) and, long and short of it, I'm bitten by the bug.

I want to gently ($) put my toe in the water of the performance boat scene and am drawn to the Old School styles. I want to go 60-ish and get a decent ride. I know, I know ... that'll change, but we all have to start somewhere and I'm willing to crawl before I walk or run.

I have come across a Formula 272 locally with 350s and Alpha Drives. I do not know the difference between an SR1, LS or the FBI.

Is the 272 a right boat for my experimentation into performance boats? What should i be looking at? What else should I consider - Scarab? Etc.?

Thank you all in advance for your kind assistance.

The 272 is OK, but you want Bravo drives, not Alpha. The ones with the 7.4/454 engines will be the faster of the bunch, but will sit lower in the stern at rest.

Other choices are the 292 . . . there is a bit more boat for the engines and so it is not as 'tail heavy'

model years of 1989 - 1991 are in the 'sweet spot' . . . . . IMO

The 272 can be made to go fast but like tpenfield said you want Bravo's. I have a 89 272SR1 that I took from 62mph when I bought it to 101mph on GPS (for about 6 miles in 1' chop) with Whippled 454s with heads, cam and exhaust, also imco -2 lowers with labbed Bravo 1 props, external hydraulic steering and some hull strengthening. I would love to see one of these with a pair of supercharged LS based engines, I think it could be even faster. With the shorties, ext hydraulic steering and hull strengthening it handled very well, to the extend that at 90 you could litterally let go the wheel (obviously not recommended).

Great all around boat, expect 61-64 with the 454's, salt might ad 1/2mph, maybe not if you don't need every last mph the 350/alpha is a nice setup, and much easier to work on, as mentioned the 292 is a nice option and you get 2 more feet next to nothing, and lose very little, perhaps gain, If you can get to a 303 with EFI's its a great setup, and adds speed, depends on your budget thou, As usual check the bulkhead and stringers, just like any old boat, but there are pretty much timeless, always desired so if you decide u want out you can rest assured you can sell it, at the end of the day at 15-20k the 272 is a ton of boat for the cash,

ps there are some 90/91 272 with the 454/mag package

http://easternshore.craigslist.org/boa/4565174565.html

Thank you for the information and replies.

My buddy (the aforementioned enabling bum) told me at the gym this morning that I should not be looking at anything smaller than 30' as shorter will not handle choppy water. I figure that 24 degrees of deadrise, even if in a shorter hull, should make up for that.

The 272 I am looking at is an '86 with a $14K asking price. Engines were rebuild (home built) about 7 years ago and supposedly only a handful of running hours ago. Boat has not been in the water since the summer of 2010. Hull, stringers and bulkheads look OK; cockpit and down below are original and about a 5 on a 10 scale. Trailer is basically a good for the boatyard steel trailer in its present condition.

flat glass 272's are hard to move, and dont have the perks of the 87-91 model, cool?? yes, sounds to me like a 8/10k boat tho, there is a big difference 87-up, amenities, imron designs, etc, quite a few are in the 15-20 asking range, also don't sell yourself short the 272 is a real 27'2 + platform if equipped, the 87-91 272 is the equivalent of a 30 today

I bought a 1990 272 with 454 mags and drive in the Bay in NJ, the boat handles the chop really well. I'm very happy with the boat....

A 302 or 311 will likely only be a few thousand or a couple of few thousand more, and you'll not likely out grow them very fast, like you might with the 272 on a poker run. The extra three feet mean a lot in these lengths.

As was mentioned, don't overlook that these boats don't include the swim platform in the LOA, while newer boat with molded -into-the-hull swim platforms do.

Home re-built engines may be fine, or very not fine. The cost is yours if they are not.

Formula made some '86 272 SR1s as well as some '86 311 SR1s....of coarse they would be SR1s instead of LS., not sure if the OP states which he was looking at.