Planned Project

[boatnut]

While my favorite speedboats are the 18 and 22 Classics, I have had a long-time love affair with wooden boats-- especially the long-narrow gentlemen's runabouts like the Garwoods and Hackers. I have had a developing plan in my mind to start a project that involves getting a proven performance hull and building a cold-molded (wood with epoxy) mahogany deck emulating a Garwood or Hacker two or three cockpit speedboat. This would provide the looks of the past with more modern performance and water handling abilities. I am considering a 22 classic as the smallest option and a 27/28 magnum as the largest. (I say this with the risk of someone sending a hit man after me for thinking of fooling with one of these fine boats --- but some are in need of major restoration or damaged decks etc.) The goal would be to get a boat with a narrow beam which is key to keeping the look of these classic designs. I would target about 60 mph as an acceptable speed and (in the case of the 27') would consider a single BBC with a sterndrive and a jack shaft to better balance the weight and possibly get space for the classic stern seat behind the engine plus two seats forward.
I know someone who built a 28' Garwood imitation using wood utilizing a stepped deep-vee bottom (Fountain-like) -- the boat is awesome (80+ mph) but a difficult project so I thought starting from an existing hull may be a better and less costly way to go. I would appreciate a short comment from some of you experts (you have my admiration for your knowledge and experience). Also, does anyone know if the 25' Magnum hull is just a short version of the 27 (same 7'10" narrow beam)? And how these 25's perform? Thanks, for your thoughts. Ed

[Morgan's Cloud]

Ed,

According to Brownie, the Magnum 25 hull is the same as the 27 .... Cig 28 , 32 etc etc. All came from one hull design produced by Harry Schoell .

I have Magnum 25 hull number 15 out of 35. With a 502 in it , it's quite a remarkable boat !.. At least it was on September 2nd of last year when I last ran it ... before the damn hurricane (Fabian) threw something at it at about 130 Mph and I'm still waiting for work to start :angryfire

"Wildfire" has a 25 for restoration in the 'Other boats for sale' part of the forum... He's practically giving it away !

Steve