I hope this isn't considered OT, I think any HAMBer will like the pictures. I'm selling a '56 International Harvester pickup with a '56 DeSoto Hemi (I have an ad in the cl***ifieds). I was offered a trade on this very cool 1966 vintage drag/ski boat. I don't know a thing about boats but this one looks pretty nice, I love the engine. Can anyone out there help tell me if this thing is a decent boat and help me with a value? With the right wheels on the trailer, this would look cool behind my '66 Chevy pickup. This is what the guy told me: "A beautifully restored 66 Stevens flatbottom v-drive drag boat / ski boat, presently set-up for cruising, skiing and tubing; however it does have the capacity to go fast and definitely looks great doing and what a nostalgic look with the 409 It has a highly modified 348/409 engine bored and stroked to 427ci w/ lots of bling that has less than 2hrs run time on it and the paint is worth over 6k Well over $25,000.00 invested not including labor or original purchase price of boat!! " So does anyone think this is worth say $10,000?
flat bottoms ride like ****, and they dont handle very well unless they are set up with a skag on the bottom. Your picks don't work. V drives are cool but value is all over the place. Do you have a river next to you that you can go play in, cause the water will have to be smooth. Send me some pics if you can't post them and i will take a look at it and get my budy to as well.
Mac Stevens built wonderful boats back in the day and they're very collectible right now. One of my favorite memories burnt into my brain is of a wood deck Stevens tied to the dock at Havasu Springs in 1966. I was 10. It was a beautiful boat and ran a small block chevy with a corvette fuel injection set up on it. My dad had tied his flat bottom up behind it and then we stood there looking at this work of art while dad pointed out the details. Without any pictures it's impossible to say what the value is of the boat you're talking about. check out this site, there's lots of vintage flattie owners there and quite a few of them have a Stevens. http://www.performanceboats.com/html/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=34
Louie. ****. Give him a break. Some of us do have rivers, and would like to see pics of flat bottoms. Seeing Vintage drag boats in a ***le is awesome.
Sorry the pics didn't work, let me try a different way. I do have a nice smooth river near me. Thanks for the feedback.
Louie does know boats, and I don't think he was trying to bust anybody's balls, but then we don't have very much smooth water around Galveston County! By the way, an old friend of his currently holds some top fuel crown for drag race boats.
I'm not trying to bust his balls i have a vintage hull myself. Actually have 4 boats right now. I just know what they ride like, i live on the water and can't run mine here i would have to pull it across town to use it. That is a nice hull, i was just letting him know what he would be getting into.
I will talk to some buddies and get back to you. It looks to be in good shape, you could trade and sell me the 409! I will even throw in the 468 that goes in my jet boat LOL Look on craigslist up there for v dives and see if there is anything out there. Those are pretty rare birds, i like em. If i had to venture a guess i would say 7500.00 its winter time and boats are down right now. At the end of the day it is really whether or not you want that kind of toy. They are definately fun!
V-drives are good for three things, go way fast for 1000 feet, give big ***ty chicks rides, and killing your back! Two outta three ain't bad and EVERYONE should have a fast boat at least once! I think 10k kinda high, but hell, it's got a 409! I'd probably do it...
I like the part about the big ***ty chicks! Too bad this thing only seats 3. Louie S. , thanks for checking. I found an online ad, the guy is asking $16,500. That is a sweet looking 409.
THEY ARE DEFINATELY GOOD FOR THE BIG ***TIES!! I just goggled it and found them on a site called jaxed found one for 2 k and one for 3k. The 409 is what is so attractive to me, the cheap ones are running sbc, just google em and you find a bunch of them. My buddy said 5k, but i think the 409 adds alot to it.
www.performanceboats.com is the best performance boating website there is. There are several threads there worth checking out even if you're only interested in the powerplants. V-drive's typicaly only ride like **** if you're riding in it vs. driving it - there is a difference. Once you master the cav plate pedal (***uming there is one) they ride descent. V-drive's are not known for hauling *** for the first 1000 ft, jet boats are good for that, v-drive's shine in the 1/4 mile and on long oval's. A v-drive's ride quality, or lack thereof, will also depend quite a bit on the water conditions. You can get burned pretty easily in the boating world (cl***ic v-drives included) if you don't know or research what you're buying. I thought that Avitar looked familiar.
my old flattie rode better than most but the builder, Howard boats, used lots more gl*** than the average builder, and the bottom was all rocker. It'd mash down the rough stuff...if it wasn't too rough. ALL flat bottom v-drives have one, or two, fins or skags as louie said. It's not an option to run without one and no flat v-drive was ever built without one unless it was a homemade deal...and then it probably just slid in a turn and smacked into the dock. Just my opinion, but I'd never trade your truck for that boat. Boats hardly ever go up in value, not counting the wood boat thing and that's a whole other market. The price of some of the cl***ics, like this Stevens, is high right now because there's been a big revival over the last 7 years or so that's made ******ing them up almost a sport. Most of the old hulls sat unwanted for years because of bigger boat ruling the water. If the engine in that boat is indeed a 409, that's where the value is, less if it's a 348. That 90's paint job would be tough to live with for very long, if it were me. But I'm a narrow minded a-hole and pretty much just like like the more simple, cl***ic two color boats from the era. I've always felt that if you wouldn't paint your car like this, it shouldn't be done to a boat, and we use to offer 8 and 9, sometimes more, colors in the mold gel work back in the 80's. A terrible time for boats, stupid pink and teal colors that the owners picked. Gawd, it was a awful time. You can pick up a nice running '60s Stevens, in this market, for under 5K. My old Howard, rode great. And my old wood deck Buck Smith, rode rougher than rough.
Cl***ic poster from the late 70's or early 80's, I can't remember exactly when it came out but I still have my original that hung in the shop back then. A friend re-produced it about 8 years ago and they sold like hot cakes. The actual poster doesn't have her ****s blocked out, whoever did this little scan added that unforgivable touch.
Thanks for all the info. I'll probably p***. If I do get it, I'll be sure and put knee pads on the hull near the drivers seat for the big ***ty p***engers.
Truckdude, I think I would p*** on this. It would appear that the selling point of the boat is the engine. Unless that engine is , in fact, a 427/409, or a rare 409 worth the $10,000,I don't know it's value, you are going to take a bath. The hull, although vintage sixties Stevens, has not been "restored", just re-painted. Many wild re-paints are hiding a once lusterous wood deck, that has cracked and de-laminated. The 'gl*** decks crack too after years of use, especially around the gunwales ( the raised edge around the p***enger compartment). All this can be fixed, .....but has it? Did a boat/marine shop do the job, grinding into the cracks and filling them as they should, or did the local hot painter just paint on a new finish?You'll never know unless you strip it down. More $$$$$ That paint job, also, is horribly inappropriate and tacky, to the general public,or to a restorer, so if you pull the engine and "off" the hull, again, this is gonna go cheap. The trailer doesn't appear to be the original Vance trailer most often ***ociated with the Stevens boats. I currently own four Stevens boats, and also had a Howard and a Hallett flat bottom, so I have some background to draw from here. My suggestion, as pragmatic as it is, is to find another 409 engine to use in your project(s). You'll be happier, wiser, and richer.
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