SLX 270 Project Boat Go Fast

[Tucker K5]

I currently own a 2011 SLX 270 and I live on a fresh water lake in Alabama. I love the boat and 30 mph cruising speed is just fine.
Jumps on plane like a jack rabbit.

I just stumbled across and opportunity for 2005 SLX with no motor or out drive.

Thinking is buy this boat clean it up and put in a HP engine and out drive set up to cruise 3000 to 35000 rpms at 50-60 mph without much concern for takeoff.

Thinking to make this my salt water boat.
Maybe if I trust it trailer it down to south Florida and go island hopping.

What are the fails in this plan?

 

[89P270]

Fails........Hmmm, lets see. Great Gobs of money. See my post 1989/2012 Pachanga in CLassifieds section. I did twin bobtail refit on pachanga. New triple axle trailer. Price of boat before I did the work 12.5K. Price of boat after I did the work with 10 hours run time, 18.5K. Cost of work (done by others) with the trailer, $51K. Dont do it if you ever plan on recovering even 30% of your outlay. Now, on the other hand, I was planning on keeping the pachanga .......until I saw a 340 Rinker with twin 6.2L MX's (LS based right?). Wish I still had the Pachanga. Here are some of the pitfalls I ran into -

-Needed custom exahust - New engine exhaust spacing didnt match existing -$3,500 for fancy stainless custm
-OEM Cooling system wasnt able to keep up with performance upgrade -New thru hull cooling added -$1,000
-Engine and outdrive - Hmmm. Lots of options. A Mercruiser 383 scorpion perfect for that boat (400HP) -Expect to pay upwards of 15K for the motor without install labor. What outdrive? BIII (for performance) with 400 HP but may need upgrade if more HP from different engine set up. Likely may need to alter transom hole if a different outdrive. Translation another 7-10K. If you buy used, no one ever tells you the truth about prior maintenance so good luck. Buy new you get a warranty but even with the fairly modest 383 and BIII. your in at least 20K and thats if you do yourself. Go big block (say a mercury racing 520SCI with an M8 sterndrive and your in at 60K sans labor.
-warranty - Used parts take your chances, new best maybe 2 years. You dont want cheap parts when island hoping in the ocean........
-ALl the other stuff you find when doing the upgrade - Switch from cable to hydraulic steering to handle the horsepower and be safe, Aged electronics that fail, Geez what else? My case another $2,500. What about replaced gauges? Replace those tired old OEM faria gauges with nice new Livorsi gauges......or, upgrade to Dakota Digital?

So, just going modest, your adding $25K minimum to 2005 SLX worth what, 12K without drive system? I love the idea of repower and I actually did it. I will likely do it again to my 1997 270 DA but....dont expect to get any return on investment. I did mine in 2010-2012 when the market stunk it up. Had dealer do the work and they only chaged 3K total in labor cause they wanted the job. I also sold in 2017 before COVID. Now everyone clamours for boats and prices are going up so investment recovery MAY be better, not sure.

Consider buying one already done by someone else - Offshoreonly or Racingjunk...........

 

[Tucker K5]

What about running the SLX 270 in the ocean?

A friend of mine said it’s a bad idea because if it smash the bow through a wave I will have to rely on my bilge pump to get the water out unlike a boat with drainage around the stern and sides that is above the water line.

 

[89P270]

Well, thats a common sense resolution. If the sea conditions are questionable, dont go. If you want to see what high seas do to an open bow of ANY size, go search "haulover inlet" on youtube and you will see everything from a 20 footer to a 50 footer get swamped by high seas. Here is a link to the best of 2021

. And, I would highly recommend before ever going out beyond sight of land on any outing, go with a group of boaters and learn the "how" before you ever try alone. The fact you ask the question about an open bow in an open ocean outing, leads me to believe you really need an experienced boater with you until you learn the how to manage.

 

[Tucker K5]

Oh yeah, I’ve watched those videos before.
Just never noticed the boats before you mentioned them. Haha!!

I have enough experience to handle the boat in those waters.

The boat I’m looking at has a less than desirable trailer but I have a brand new trailer built specific for a SLX 270 with large brakes and tires that I use for my current boat.

In theory the advantage to buying the motorless fixer upper boat would be so that I could put the best of every part on it.

I wouldn’t consider going offshore without another boat along and without developing a lot of confidence running it along the coast.

 

[highslice]

Be careful with the 270 SLX prior to the 2007 model year. Sea Ray had some issues with the deck and the deck to hull connection. I know they bought more than a few of those back from their owners.

 

[Tucker K5]

Be careful with the 270 SLX prior to the 2007 model year. Sea Ray had some issues with the deck and the deck to hull connection. I know they bought more than a few of those back from their owners.

Thanks for this.
Is there any way to identify the problem boats?

 

[highslice]

Well the issue was water intrusion between the deck and the hull. Then the foam filler gets waterlogged. The end result was was cracks in the hull often near the chines. The typical fix was to cut out the affected area of the hull, dry out the foam and re-glass and gel coat that area. Usually the glass guys are good enough that you wouldn't notice the repair. The problem some people had was they couldn't find where the water was getting between the deck and hull, so the problem would reoccur after a couple years. I guess the short answer is a moisture meter will give you an idea if your 270 has this issue.