25 Sea Vee

[spareparts]

Stock 2.5 cowls, he had them painted at an auto body shop. They told him to wait till they had to paint a black car and did them at the same time. I didn't care for hte stickers, he got them from a local sign shop that reproduced the Mercury Logo, I thought it needed the swoosh to go along with it

[Blue_Runner]

"The shoemaker's son has no shoes"
"The T-Top maker's boat has no T-Top"



I love the boat! Very unique and sleeeeeeeek. Is he planning for a top?

[Stinky_Hooker]

Man thats a fine ride!!

[charlie_the_tuna]

say what you want spare, there's a TON of dough in that boat. hull. materials. motors. everything i see looks to be pristine. sure, may be a ton of work but there is some sick money in that vessel.

[cterrebonne]

Originally Posted by charlie_the_tuna

say what you want spare, there's a TON of dough in that boat. hull. materials. motors. everything i see looks to be pristine. sure, may be a ton of work but there is some sick money in that vessel.

I am with you,.They definitely don't give those 2.5's on 15"s away that's for sure. That trailer is 4k or better.

[spareparts]

so you asked, he bought the trailer 9 years ago after the trailer he originally had fell apart, he bought the boat 11 years ago as a complete basket case. The guy who runs the shop behind his is a trailer repair shop, he got the trailer at cost(he does a lot of free welding for the shop), I think it was around $2200 at the time(I've got a used trailer just like it that needs fenders that i gave $750 for)He gave $350 for the bracket, got it blasted for $25. I don't know what he paid for the fiberglass repairs on the hull, but I know he built two T-Tops for the guy who did it. The 2.5' 200's came off of a 23 seacraft that the guy was going to re-power, one of the engines had a worn out pivot shaft and need $2500(retail) worth of work, he got both motors for $4000. The 20" mids came from a buddy of his that traded them for a prop he had(exhaust housings only, we reused the pivots and trim). I found the twin stick shifter for him in a discount box for $100. The console was a scratch and dent one from the guy who ones the mold, they traded out some aluminum welding. He got the leaning post from pioneer(they build them near here), he knows the owner and got one that had some surface defects that wouldn't pass QC at the factory(everything was repainted anyway with awl grip). I gave him the GPS, the gauges were some we found out of other boats. Wire harnesses came with the motors. Most of the deck hardware was stuff I gave him or we cleaned up the original stuff. When you guess at what the fiberglass work was worth, and all the misc new stuff an materials, I guess he probably has $20,000 in the boat, plus an a$$ load of time and work. Not much more than some of the V's on here. And not too bad over a 10-12 year project. He decided to get this one done while work has been slow the past year. A new boat of similar condition would run you well over $100,000.
I tell you what he doesn't have, he doesn't have paid vacations, he doesn't have employer provided health care, he doesn't have a pension or any retirement. He's self employed and probably on the fourth worst year of his career. He pays an obscene amount of money for highly overrated Mt. Pleasant commercial property( a tin barn with no heat or in door plumbing) that eats up most of what he earns. His wife works nights to get the extra pay and his two boys hang out at his shop after school do he can get work done without having to worry about a sitter. He works his *** off, uses his brain and always find a way to do something nice with out paying full price. So to all that thinks its only money, get off your *** and put your mind and back to it, leave the wallet and check book at the house till you run out of options. Leave the check book builders to the TV shows.

[spareparts]

BR, we've talked about a top, for right now, the boat attracts more attention by not having a top. If he builds one for it, he's in a bind, if it ends up being a calling card, it will have to be over the top, and probably looked odd or outdated in a few years, he wants a plain simple top, but every one will ask why he didn't go all out. So its a catch 22, right now, its topless. He built the tops for the Freeman 33 , so I know he can make one that will handle the speed(they run high 60's), so its kinda cool not having one right now

[reelapeelin]

It musta been out for FG work when I was down there...I'm SERIOUS!...CENTERFOLD MATERIAL...

[Monkey Butler]

Originally Posted by spareparts

so you asked... Leave the check book builders to the TV shows.

Best post on this forum in a long, long time!

It's midnite here but I think I'll go do a few more things in the garage before I turn in.

[Blue_Runner]

Spare for the record - I think it is SEXY as hell without the top. Also if mine, because of my local lake having the low bridge clearances I wouldn't put one on it anyway. You tell him Blue approves of toplessness on that sweet cc.