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Magic 240 Legend Restoration

Mike L

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So, for some reason these boats have always held a soft spot in my heart. Maybe its the fact that my grandpa owned one when i was a kid. But after months of looking i finally found one for sale. This is a 1989 240 Legend with a 350 Mercrusier and an Alpha 1.





Overall the boat is in decent shape. Fiberglass seems to be in good shape, needs a good buff and polish. The interior is good with the exception of the carpet. It will need to be replaced. They recently put new Bimini tops on the boat so that’s one less thing I will have to worry about.

The drive needs a new lower unit as the scag is missing almost entirely. Motor seems to run good so far but we will see.

My plan is to clean this thing up and put a few modern touches on it. New gauges and switches, steering wheel, update the stereo, and replace all the old deck hardware. Hopefully when I’m done it will be the newest 1989 on the water.

I’ll try and remember to take tons of pictures as I go along and post them here. Hopefully everyone enjoys the thread.
 

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Mike L

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The navigation, interior, and dock lights were not working so I pulled the console apart to see what i had to work with. Looks like I’m going to have to spend some time rewiring everything. I don’t think Magic’s standards were very high back in the 80’s, along with a previous owner than shouldn’t have touched it anything electrical will make some extra work for me. Take note of the wire nuts in the middle of the first picture.

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Mike L

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Wow! What a project this thing has turned out to be. I don't think there is a single thing that we haven't touched, repaired, or replaced on the boat. In the last 12 months it's gotten a new outdrive, motor, sections of the floor replaced, new carpet, and tons of plumbing and electrical work. A huge thank you to Kenny Smith at Eliminator Boats and the crew at Eddie Marine for all of their help with this.

The pictures are a little out of order but here are some of the progress along the way.

This first one is how she sits today. Color sanded, buffed, and cleaned up. A huge improvement over when I first picked her up.
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The boat got new numbers, and logos along with a new rub rail on the outside. What a difference the rub rail made.
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The updated helm for the boat. New Gauges and bezels from Eddie Marine. Also installed an old GPS I had to fill up the blank space on the left side of the dash. An updated steering wheel and controls were also installed. I tried to modernize the look of the boat by today's standards using a clear anodized finish on everything. I also had to have a new windshield made for the helm as well.
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To replace the carpet we had to remove the full interior. Wile we had it out I pulled the side panels off to check out everything. Sure glad I did with the gems I found. It also gave the opportunity to through bolt a lot of things as opposed to them just being screwed in.
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Starting to lay the new carpet down.
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The finished product of the carpet in stall with the interior back in. In a season or two I will get rid of the purple stripes. I hate purple.
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One of the gems we found wile the inner panels were off the boat. They used drywall anchors to secure the snaps on the outside.
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Why use a corner bracket when you can just use a shelving bracket instead???
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At some point the boat must of had a snap on cover. Half the snaps were missing our damaged.
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As opposed to filling and regelcoating all the holes I found a nice billet aluminum washer from Eddie Marine and a flat head stainless steel screw to fill all of the holes.
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The old motor out of the boat. It's not a good thing when it decides to pump the oil out of the dipstick.
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Cleaning up the engine compartment and redoing the motor mounts. I don't think lag bolts were the best option to mount the motor. But we solved that problem now. Nothing a set of custom motor mounts wouldn't fix.
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The new motor dropped in place. Those flames are sure to add extra horsepower. Not really my style but it's how it showed up. You can also see in this picture one of the soft spots in the floor that we had to replace. This thing has literally been a can of worms.
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rickym20

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Looks Good! My brother has a 92 and they ride great in rough water. Please keep the pictures coming . Thank you
 

UltraLucky

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Great transformation, That revised helm came out real nice.
 

Mike L

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Thank you! I'm really happy with how it turned out. Still going to fine tune it a little more. The switches are almost impossible to read. Getting rid of the black gauges, and wood made a huge difference.
 

MrCntry

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Hello Mike, I have a question. How do you like your new controls now they they are separate? I am in the process of purchasing the exact same boat but it does not have the swim platform. I have been all over looking at restoring the boat. I wanted updated controls and came across this thread. I am worried about someone else driving the boat and forgetting to put it in neutral after the throttle is down. Does the control automatically go to neutral from full throttle or do you have to remember to do that separately? If I am off, can you please explain how your setup works? Thanks for any feedback if you are still on here.

Again, sorry for bringing up an old thread but it is the only relevant one I could find.

Chris
 

Mike L

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Hello Mike, I have a question. How do you like your new controls now they they are separate? I am in the process of purchasing the exact same boat but it does not have the swim platform. I have been all over looking at restoring the boat. I wanted updated controls and came across this thread. I am worried about someone else driving the boat and forgetting to put it in neutral after the throttle is down. Does the control automatically go to neutral from full throttle or do you have to remember to do that separately? If I am off, can you please explain how your setup works? Thanks for any feedback if you are still on here.

Again, sorry for bringing up an old thread but it is the only relevant one I could find.

Chris

I never thought much about the use of the controls as i've had many styles of offshore type boats with these controls. I feel right at home with them. You do need to back the throttle all the way down before you can shift from forward to neutral or reverse. These also had an adjuster in the throttle to adjust the tension so you would be able to set it and leave it vs having to hold the throttle in its position. I've got a little over a year on the boat since i redid the helm and couldn't be happier with how it has all worked out.

If i can answer any other questions or point you in the right direction please let me know.
 

MrCntry

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Thanks for the quick reply. I might be going up to Bullhead this weekend to pick up the boat. I hope the engine lasts a little longer before I need a new one. :)

I just realized you are from Riverside. I am in San Bernardino.
 

MrCntry

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Where did you take your boat to get your work done at? Was the price reasonable? I am sure I will need to do new carpet for it. Do you mind me asking what they charged for the new carpet?

Chris
 

MrCntry

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Hey Mike,

What size prop do you have on your boat? it was just my wife and I this weekend testing out the boat and our top speed was only 38mph.. We have a S.S. Quick Silver 48 13702 A45 21P Prop. Just curious what you have on yours.

Any info you have would be great.

One other question. Did you put new side paneling on in the inside? Your inside side panels looks new. If you did, what did you use for the paneling and edging?

Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
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StevieHops

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Hey Mike,

What size prop do you have on your boat? it was just my wife and I this weekend testing out the boat and our top speed was only 38mph.. We have a S.S. Quick Silver 48 13702 A45 21P Prop. Just curious what you have on yours.

Any info you have would be great.

One other question. Did you put new side paneling on in the inside? Your inside side panels looks new. If you did, what did you use for the paneling and edging?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

Seems like way to low of a pitch, I would find a used prop shop that will let you test some out till you find the one you like. Or call over to hill marine and give him your specs and they will set you up.
 

MrCntry

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Seems like way to low of a pitch, I would find a used prop shop that will let you test some out till you find the one you like. Or call over to hill marine and give him your specs and they will set you up.
Thanks for the heads up. This is what was on the boat when I purchased it. I have called about getting a new prop and was told that is a lot of pitch for a pontoon boat. the boat weighs only 3400 pounds empty. I was asked how long does the boat take to plane.. It doesn't take any time to plane at all. Does it extremely quick. I don't even notice the front up at all on this boat as I did my Ebbtide Deck boat.

I will call hill marine and see what they say. No one seems to really know since it isn't your standard pontoon boat and it is older (1989)

Chris
 

Mike L

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Where did you take your boat to get your work done at? Was the price reasonable? I am sure I will need to do new carpet for it. Do you mind me asking what they charged for the new carpet?

Chris

I'm good friends with the guys over at Eliminator. They did it for me when i replaced the drive and motor. I dont remember what the carpet price was.
 

Mike L

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Hey Mike,

What size prop do you have on your boat? it was just my wife and I this weekend testing out the boat and our top speed was only 38mph.. We have a S.S. Quick Silver 48 13702 A45 21P Prop. Just curious what you have on yours.

Any info you have would be great.

One other question. Did you put new side paneling on in the inside? Your inside side panels looks new. If you did, what did you use for the paneling and edging?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

I've played with props a little bit on it and currently have a 19p three blade stainless Hill Propeller on it. I liked the way the boat got out of the hole better. Top speed i've been in the mid 40s but really the boat spends a majority of its time just cruising around 30. These boats with the 350 were never known for anything on the top end. There are a couple newer ones that have bigger motors but i dont know what they are getting for speed. Post a couple of pictures of yours when you have a chance.

As for the paneling it was replaced prior to me getting it. They replaced it with Aluminum sheet instead of the fiberboard. It's really nice but a little tinny sounding. The edging is just real thin aluminum angle.
 

MrCntry

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I've played with props a little bit on it and currently have a 19p three blade stainless Hill Propeller on it. I liked the way the boat got out of the hole better. Top speed i've been in the mid 40s but really the boat spends a majority of its time just cruising around 30. These boats with the 350 were never known for anything on the top end. There are a couple newer ones that have bigger motors but i dont know what they are getting for speed. Post a couple of pictures of yours when you have a chance.

As for the paneling it was replaced prior to me getting it. They replaced it with Aluminum sheet instead of the fiberboard. It's really nice but a little tinny sounding. The edging is just real thin aluminum angle.
Thanks Mike for all that info, The guys I just talked to mentioned trying an OFS Prop 19p. Do you happen to remember what diameter your prob is? My current prop is 14.750 dia and the prop they recommend is about 15.25 or 15.5 dia. So if you know what yours is that gives me a little to go on. If there is a number on the prop that would even be better. :) Most of my time is just cruising. I do go a little more towards the top end when I first get to the lake in the AM to get to my cove. This is when I clocked my top speed at only 38mph. With a prop that is not too good but does get me from A to B. No issues when just cruising.. My cruise speed is around 25-30 mph.

The panels on my boat have all been replaced a long time ago and they are just vinyl wrapped board. I will probably be re-wrapping them once I replace the vinyl. Cleaned the heck out of the boat when I first got it. Lots of buffing / Polishing / Cleaning.. Lots of work to do. None of the doors stay up. the Piano hinges all seem very loose. Did you replace yours with new piano hinges or did you go with traditional door hinges. (one long hinge or 2 hinges)

Thanks for getting back to me.

Chris
 
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