Hey guys hoping to buy my first formula and it's a project. The boat has been sitting in a rack for at least 10 years but maybe 20. It's a 1985 twin 5.7 boat shows 270 hours. The hull is faded, both Motors have clean oil but do not turn, the rear seat bulk head is rotted though and the cabin bulkhead behind the Porta pottie is wet and rotted.... Standing water around the toilet. Swim step rotten. If it was a single engine probaly not worth much but being twin engine.....what do you guys think?

Have a 86 272, so construction is the similar. Mine looked good (keep that in mind) until I really started digging into it. The stringers and bulk heads on these are all wood and but up to each other. Where they meet, they put a 2x2 in the corner and nailed it together. What that 2x2 does now is create a wonderful conduit for water to travel through since it touches both flats of the plywood. If your bulkhead behind the porta pottie is wet I would put money on the stringers being wet in the whole bow area. That might even progress up to the ply under the bench seats. If the step is rotted, that means the main cabin bulk head is wet which I had on mine. This then traveled into the stringers going forward and under the cockpit. The engine bulkhead being rotted through is bad news also. Means the stringers are gone. Transom might be good, mine was bone dry but took a lot of work to redo. And remember, mine looked good and felt good when picked it up. Removing carpet and such is when I found the hidden problems. Yours is blatently showing problems

If the boat came with a $1,000 cash in it, I would take it for free and part it out for another grand and throw the rest away. That way you would only lose a little money and some time. Have to pay for it, run away. Seriously, been through something in better shape, don't do it.

Oh, and it has old 350's in it, they are going to be scrap. Mine actually started and ran when I bought it, ended up pulling both out. They are worthless!!!!!!

Can't stress this enough - FORGET IT!!!!

Brian

In case I came across as wishy washy or you are like me and having trouble understanding what I really meant......

DON'T TAKE THE BOAT. EVEN IF GIVEN TO YOU. RUN AWAY. TWIN 242LS IS NOT WORTH IT. SERIOUSLY, NOT KIDDING!!!! DON'T DO IT!

Brian

If you are ready for a project go for it, but it will become very time consuming and expensive, so you need to buy it right.

Good,luck

You will be in the negative regardless. It will be IMPOSSIBLE to turn a profit if that's what your thinking. If you just like DIY projects and want a cool twin engine 242 then go for it. By what your describing be prepared to gut entire boat and do full structure. Stringers, bulkheads everything. Likely all wood on interior is gone be rotten also. So plan for a full new interior. Oh motors not turning over? Might as figure in a refresh of those at least tearing down cleaning up and new rings and bearings. This all sounds like a bare minimum expectation from what you described.

I had already offered her 1000 , she spoke to her father the owner and they were hoping for 5500. Then she says she got a call for 4700 asked me If I
Do better...... If someone offers you 1000 and someone offers you 4700 you don't try to get more out of the first you take the 4700 fast... I told her 1300 is as high as I'll go. We will see what happens, I think it's a cool boat and don't mind the project, I keep looking at boats that run but aren't in much better shape for 8-10k. I know there's no profit in boat projects, our last boat was a 30 ft sailboat we rebuilt e very thing. Paid 6500 spent 20k in repairs and sold for 9k, it's all for fun.....

As a side note if anyone is selling a twin engine formula under 30ft for reasonable money I'm interested.

Trust me that boat will not be fun by the time you were done. Find something that is useable even if it needs everything gone through.

If someone wants to pay $4700 for that boat, let them. It would be a neat boat, but you will have nearly $20K into if it is in the condition that you are describing. With water sitting in the hull and evidence of rot on both ends of the boat, you can be sure that the rest of it is in similar condition, as Befu indicated.

My take would be a complete structure gut and rebuild, then probably 2 engine rebuilds or long blocks, and a new fuel tank. Then there are the outdrives . . . .

By chance, the owner may be BS'ing about another offer. Your offer of $1K (or even $1300) is a nice gesture and would not be a significant part of the reconstruction cost. So, I'd stay there, don't chase it.

There was a guy on here that was redoing a twin 242LS. Cut the floor out of it and redid all the wood, huge project but it looked like a really nice job. Had a bad engine on one side, I still have his long block sitting in my shop right now. Murray or something. Will have to look it up. He has not been on here in a long time I think, wondering if he would be willing to sell his project. His looked worth saving at least. $4,700 for that boat is way too much! I think your $1,300 was too much.

Brian

Well I spoke to the seller again today, she still insists someone is still offering her 4700 I told her to to cash the check quick..... I found another one that's fresh water boat with a trailer asking 8000, it's about 1000 miles away, I know it's getting cold up north I'm going to see if he is willing to work on the price. To bad I can't find anything closer to miami