9 years ...

[Morgan's Cloud]

Actually it was 9 years and two months since this thing last saw water.
Thanks to hurricane Fabian on September 5th 2003 while hauled out for the storm it was whacked by something airborne moving at about 140mph . Everything from (and including) the rubrail up had to come off before repairs could start.
Then the service provider went behind our backs and colluded with the insurance company while we were in dispute . Took 'em to court. Won the war but still lost the battle .

Anyway , it finally went back in last Friday. Just in time for winter !
A near gale warning in effect all I could do was idle it back to the marina about a third of a mile away. It still felt great , and the engine sounded strong and smooth.

Maybe later today we'll put some extra gas in and take it out for a run and see if there's any gremlins yet to be exposed !

Thanks to Matty for the picture insertion . (may take a while before he can get to it)

Steve

[mattyboy]

here is the pic me likey very much

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Steve,
That is a great looking Magnum! What is the service provider? Are you saying the repair shop colluded with the insurance company over your claim? Bill

[Morgan's Cloud]

Thanks again Matty. There's a thread on here somewhere a good few pages back about the resto we did on it from -98 to 2000.
It's a -73 Mag 25 (25' 5'') The 15th one out of a documented 35 made. Brownie says that there were another 7 made without any known records.
If you take the hull and cut it down at the character line and add 2 feet it's a Mag 27 .


Bill , the guy who owned the yard and did the work started doing things the way we did not want . We told him him to stop , he told us to get fcked , he was going to do it his way. We always knew he was psycho we just hoped that he wasn't going to pull it on us. We went to the insurance company and let them knew what was going on and that we weren't happy and were not going to accept 'his way'.

In the end the yard owner did it his way and went behind our backs and told the insurance co that the job was finished, even though it wasn't. Without accepting it or signing a release form (from us) the insurance company paid him and called it finished. We never knew this and were in a further 3 years of dispute before we found out completely by accident that we had been totally wasting our time believing that we had some leverage in the case.

It's a very long sordid story .

Anyway , I'm heading up there now for a minute . Maybe will get the first short ride in 9 years !

[mattyboy]

don't know which blue i like better the boat or the sky


any info on power and drive and performance I bet it rides and handles very well

I try and find the resto thread

[Ghost]

Steve, she is beautiful, glad you have her back.

(I recall the resto thread well, with all the pics in pairs in pdf files I think.)

Perf was a hair above 60 on a fast day, if I recall.

[mattyboy]

this the thread so we have everything in one place?


http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthre...nies&highlight=

[Morgan's Cloud]

Thanks Ghost , you have a good memory. Both on the PDF files AND the supposed top end.

I look forward to a bit more testing again as we had only just got the Hi-Tek manifolds with their related mods installed just before it came out of the water for the hurricane.
Even though I will need to do a bit more GPSing it was touching on 60 on a good day then.
The amazing thing about this boat is its sheer heft. It's no lightweight and that makes a dent in its top end compared to much newer boats of the same size/power. What's mindblowing is the feeling it imparts even at a fast idle in choppy stuff. Once on plane it just effortlessly crushes everything without barely moving. (And no rattles or squeaks anywhere)

For the technophobes (Matty and all of us on here .. ) it's got a stock 502 Mag with FWC, B3 raised an inch and a quarter, 2.0:1 gears with a 26 inch cupped B3 propset.
The Hi-Tek (+3'' on standard riser height) upgrade included a fuel pressure modifier and Teague billet aluminum breather. Corsa Q and Q + exhaust.
You wouldn't believe how much cooler the engine room stays now with the Hi-Teks. They pump water like a fire truck compared to the old cast iron logs and they're always cool to touch.

Yep Matty , that's the thread ... And I know you love 'blue' too .. it's Awglrip Aristo blue .

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Steve,
I recall the story now after reading the thread. Is the psycho still in business? Most of the time guys like that just find new victims. As long as you ended up with such a great boat is probably all that matters in the long run. Bill

[Ghost]

I'm eager to hear how she does. Mostly, just hope you get to enjoy her like crazy after all that wait and frustration. That's one of the boats I'd like to have more than almost any other. My Cig 24, the Mag 25, a Nova Marine, a Donzi Spitfire...all of these are the "right" size for me, and with modern powertrain options are my favorite boats in the genre. When you eventually have more pics posted I'll be soaking them up.

[Morgan's Cloud]

Bill , the nutcase sold out just before the court case/proceedings so we ended up going after the insurance company who had also committed a major faux pas. Our local CAB was astounded by the entire case.
The idiot ended up moving part time to Halifax NS but I still see him ocasionaly on island. Even my bp meds can't compensate for the sight of him.

Ghost , you have the same wish list as me ! Just about nothing's cooler than a Cig 24 though .
That's a great list because at 24-25' I think you're at the upper end of size for single handed trips when the weather permits and with today's engines you can get great performance without all the excess cast iron of the 60's 70's and 80's.

Pictures are on the bucket list but will probably take a while to get around to. Hopefully those on the other thread will suffice for the time being.

If I had the resources , and before they institutionalise me , the last boat I'd like to find and re-do comes from the days when I had a ton of the old original boat brochures.
It was Cary's version of the Magnum 27. Even lower profile , small venturi windscreen and two 427 Daytona inboards in tandem swinging a single prop. If anyone knows about these things I'd love to hear about it. I've never seen or heard of one other than the brochure boat.

Steve

[woobs]

Glad you like the Hi-Teks...I have just decided to go that route for my current boat.
And yes, the Blue (on the boat) looks fantastic!

[Morgan's Cloud]

Sean , please tell me how you make out with the Hi-Teks. We had to deal directly with Alan in Australia , which wasn't difficult in itself , I was just a bit uneasy when it came time to send money and he said 'Make out the draft for XXX $US' .

If on his site he had the prices in Ozzy $'s I would have done the conversion myself , but I never knew if he was taking advantage of a mark-up or not.

The freight alone was horrendous , not to mention that they got delayed/lost enroute. Other wise , the weight savings is huge and I would never have guessed the difference in engine room temperature change was going to be so noticeable. The zincs are a nice touch too .
In the end I think we saw an increase of barely 100RPMs but still a bit more testing to do yet.

edit/ That should have read 'Make the draft out for XXXX $US' lol

[olredalert]

----You know,,,I believe the Mag 25 may be a better looking boat than the 27 Sport. Beautiful!!!!!........Bill S

[Morgan's Cloud]

Not going to fight over that compliment Bill .. haha
However , I think that the 25 grows on you. If you've never seen a 27 it grows on you a lot faster.
100 years from now , I think the 27 Sport will still be referred to as maybe the best looking sport boat ever built .

Now , if anyone knows about that Cary I was talking about that might change !