Hello, and thanks for stopping by everyone. For this Boat Restoration peek at the Rare and Famous Maltese Magnum Marauder 16.

Back in the days of Thunder Boat Row Don Aronow Built 20 of these 16 ‘ Boats & Magnum. Marine was his Third boat company.

It was formed on the famous street that the owner also called Gasoline alley.

Before We Get Into the Boat Restoration

The First Boat Company Don started was Formula Marine, where he Launched the Famous 233 Formula and the Formula JR 17 ft.

At the very bottom of the post, I will put a few pictures of the Formula 233 and the Formula JR.

Don’s 2nd Company was Donzi Marine. We could go on and on about the boats that Don Aronow produced at Donzi, but that would make this blog post 5 miles long. They are still producing the Famous Donzi Sweet 16, and it’s an icon in the boating industry. That design was responsible for many of the famous boats built latter. The Donzi Sweet 16 is one of my favorite boats, and I just finished a Full Boat Restoration on 1968 sweet 16.

Below you will see a Factory Picture that Magnum Marine used in the Print Adds

This particular boat I located on Lake Erie in Ohio. I flew out to Texas from Fort Myers, Florida, in pursuit of my next boat restoration.

Some call me crazy. But many call it living your dream, and I do this well. 

So I flew to Texas to pick up an f250 7.3 Diesel truck that I located there. It turned out it was actually from Arizona. It’s a clean truck, and I drove through Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, then to Ohio. It was a cool trip that even ended crossing the Mississippi River.

You will see a few pictures of the boat as I picked it up. Yes, there it is, a 1969 Magnum Marine Maltese Marauder.

Check out the new tires and rims. We aren’t going to have a break down on my 1350 mile trip back to Fort Myers Fl 

Below you will see that I loaded the boat onto a boat dolly, making it much easier to work with and roll around. 

Most of the older Donzi’s and Magnums need some fiberglass repair, but this Magnum was very solid.

The dash area needed some support. Below is the new transom I fabricated out of marine ply ¾ inch that I later sandwiched. I also used fiberglass and resin to make a watertight seal before installation.  

You will note a special template I cut out of marine plywood and fitting it perfectly to create some structural support for the dash area

Below I added some bow strength that is in rough stage once sanded and gel coated. It will look great and add the much-needed strength to the upper deck.

Another view of the underside of the bow and deck finish with the stringers attached to the Transom.

That is the top deck after many hours of prep and blocking with the final coats of epoxy.

As you can see this was before I repaired the dash area

 What sleek lines this 1969 Magnum Marine Maltese Marauder has!

New Transom marine ply 3/4 inch doubled sandwiched with glass and resin completely sealed.

3/4 inch floor installed resin on both sides cleaned and glassed all stringers installed floor with stainless screws

We cut out a stainless plate to install on the transom outside before the engine gets mounted.

That is a picture of the deck and a side shot of the hull with the original black and white colors. That could very well be the photo boat in the Magnum print ad. It was originally black and white

Closer Look at the spray-on bedliner on the trailer.

We spray many boat floors with spray-on bedliner after having prep work done.