Hello to you all,
As most of you may know, I had an accident with my 24' Superboat back in October and she is a total lose. I have since bought the boat back from my insurance company to salvage the engine, drive, and other parts for a possible project boat. I am also selling off parts that I will not use to help build my new boat funds.
I have a little story about the name of our 24' Superboat before I get to the real subject at hand. The name of our 24' Superboat is "For Now". There was a time period, approximately 10 years, which I bought and sold 7 boats before I bought our 24' Super. My wife said, as I showed her my purchase some 5 years ago, "We need to name this boat For Now." Well this seems a bit ironic now after I owned this boat longer than any other to date and had no real intensions to replace her until it became necessary after the event on October 20th.

Our next boat will likely be between 26 and 30 feet and be powered by a single I/O.
One option I am considering would be to purchase a new hull with interior and rig it myself with the running gear for my wrecked Superboat.
I have a 502MagMPI that I rebuilt approximately 150 hours ago. The Bravo 1 gimble and drive were new in 2004. I have 280 K-planes and Imco twin ram full hydro steering. There are a few other parts I can reuse as well.
The boat manufactures and models I have enquired about thus far include:
26' and 28' Joker
28' Thundermist
29' Kryptonite
26' Sutphin
And, the 30' Superboat

Another option, and the way I'm leaning, would be to purchase a use boat without power or that is in need of a repower.
Boats that I have been researching to date include:
28' Sunsation
28' Velocity
28' Pantera
27' and 29' Warlock
27' Activator
25' Active Thunder
And yes, the 30' Superboat...

What is a Thundermist ?
I can vouch for the Sutphen, just have Richie Jr. get the interior done at PPI, ( I told him all about it).
I dont think the 25 Active Thunder molds are around any more.
I'm kind of in the same delema. I want larger than 25 and not be a slug, but I dont have to be the fastest either. Keep us posted on your progress !

I have a friend that works for a division of Brunswick and sells to lots of boat builders in RI. Thundermist is a manufacture of all kinds of custom boats. They have a 28' that they are retooling the deck mold on. If I want to be first I could get the boat done for a lot less $$ and have some input as well.
I contacted Richie Jr a couple of weeks ago and have not heard back. I sent him another e-mail today.
The 25' Active Thunder I looked at is a used boat.

Any other suggestions, I'm all ears...

Pat, all sounds like a good plan.
The Joker would be a inexpensive way to go, as well as SB.
There is a 28pantera for sale for 49000 w/ innovation motor.
maybe offer w/o power? wont be too fast though.

Pat, Richie doesnt do EMails ........

Pat, there is only one real choice in the above boats........................Y2K !!!!!!

Well he did e-mail me back the first time. If I don't here back in a couple of days, I'll call him again.

Never ridden in a Y2K.There still awesome.
Driven a 26 Sutphen with eggbeaters.Fast and great in rough water.
If you find an Avanti PM me.
Sunsation and Velocity are good boats.The Velocity wont run with the others in rough water
IF you want a Sunsation talk to Charlie at Mahopac Marine here on OSO. Mention Jason and Johnny at Performance Marine. You will get one hell of a deal with them