I am looking for some opinions and maybe an explanation on why you would pick the boat you did if you had the choice?
Right now, I have a choice of picking up one of these three boats...
1- 1989, 30ft mach 1 with twin 340 chryslers.
2- 88 or 89 25ft liberator with twin 260 mercrusiers.
3- 82 Formula 233f with a single 350 mercruiser.

All three of these boats are a project boat that will need floor repair and interior work done and I would probably rebuild the motor or motors in it as well.
I guess my OVERALL question would be, which boat would be more worth it to put the time and money into if you had a choice??????

OK, LETS GET THIS ROLLING WITH THE COMMENTS PLEASE........... and thanks for any and all....

First, they are all different in terms of size. First question is where do you boat or what type of boating you want to do?
In terms of investing money and make a profit selling it after, all 3 choices wont make money, base on that you will lose less imo with the formula since its the one you ll have less to spend since its a single engine boat.

Tough questin depending on what your goal is! Good luck with either boats!

Hopefully u are looking at getting them for free or no more than a couple hundred dollars . If you cannot do the work needed on these boats yourself , don't buy a project boat .. There are plenty of boats out there already to go for cheap money , you just have to look...

For return on investment the 233 formula wins hands down. True 233's in "Turn Key" condition sell fast....this is the 24deg deep vee that set the bar for offshore performance.

What are you planning to use it for overnight, Cruisering, poker run's. Start with the basics Mercrusier has the marker cornered on drives, Volvo are solid but all have issues. Do you want a larger cockpit? Do you need a deep V for rough water. If I had to pick form those Three I would go with the Liberator but have a survey done.

Remember no matter what you buy they are old boats and if they have been in Salt you will have alot to replace no matter how well they where cared for. Boating is a crazy aaddicting habit everyone on thesse forum has, and we have no answer for why we do it other then the enjoyment.

Boating and Investment is NEVER SAID BY ANY FINANCIAL ADVISOR.................................

Sorry, I forgot to mention what type of boating I will be doing....... Well, I live in vermont and will do my boating on Lake Champlain, its a huge lake up here. I will be doing some cruseing to the beaches, maybe a few overnighters and just a cruise here and there, no poker runs as I really dont think there are any held here. Just looking for something somewhat fast and fun to bomb around in.
As far as putting the time in to fix one of them, I have plenty of time for that as im on disability. I did however own a 25ft Checkmate Convinsor about 7yrs ago. The floor was a little soft and I replaced that with no problems so I have a pretty good idea to do that, as far as the motor goes, I have experience on rebuilding the older chevy 350's and know it wall cost some $$ but im really in no rush to get it done. As far as resale, I dont think I will be doing it for that, I would just keep it for myself to use throuout the years. I hope I answered everything so with this being said, any input now on your choice? Thanks.

Whenever I buy a boat, I ALWAYS think of the resale. I know boating is usually at "total loss", but I hate throwing money in that big hole in the water, so I try to at least to be able to get some money back when the boat sells. With that being said...depending on the condition of the boats......
.Formula #1
Liberator #2
Mach 1 #3

Formula hands down. More name recognition for when you sell. You'll focus your funds at making a single engine/drive reliable as opposed to spreading funds between two motors (learned that the hard way!!) Randy

Go with the Formula.

Formula!