Cigarette 38 Top Gun, the Classic V-Bottom Explained

Why a Cigarette Top Gun for sale still draws a crowd

Few boat names carry the cultural weight of Cigarette. Don Aronow built the first Cigarette in 1969, founded the Cigarette Racing Team in 1970 after a non-compete clause expired, and sold the company in 1982. In between, the brand became the shorthand for an entire class of offshore performance boat, so much so that people still call any long, narrow, fast V-bottom a cigarette boat.

The Top Gun name arrived after Aronow's time. Cigarette introduced the boat at the IMTEC marine show in the fall of 1986, the same year the film made the phrase famous, and the first model year was 1987. It was part of a line rejuvenation that also included the 31 Bullet and the 35 Cafe Racer, and the 38 became the model most people picture when they hear the brand. Cigarette displayed the 600th Top Gun at the 2003 Miami International Boat Show. The boat has been revised many times since, but the core idea stayed: a 38-foot V-bottom, 8 feet wide, with a small cabin, a big engine compartment and the deep, sharp entry that makes it comfortable at speed in rough water.

When you look at a Cigarette Top Gun for sale today you might be looking at a late-1980s original, a 2000s boat with fuel-injected Mercury Racing engines, or a late-model boat built in South Florida with carbon dash panels and twin 600 SCi engines. They share a name and a silhouette, not a spec sheet.

Eight feet of beam and 24 degrees of V

The current 38 Top Gun measures 37 feet 6 inches long with an 8-foot beam, a 24 degree deadrise and 238 gallons of fuel, according to Cigarette's own specifications. That ratio is the secret. A long, narrow hull with steep deadrise slices through waves rather than slamming over them, and it is the reason classic offshore racers looked the way they did.

The 8-foot beam has a practical benefit American owners love: it fits on a trailer within the standard legal road width in most states, so a Top Gun can be towed without oversize permits. That means you can store it at home or in a dry stack, trailer it to Lake of the Ozarks, the Florida Keys or a poker run, and avoid paying for a wet slip.

The cost of the narrow beam is interior volume and stability at rest. The boat rolls at anchor more than a wider sport boat, and the cockpit seats fewer people than modern 38-foot catamarans or wide-body V-bottoms.

• 37 ft 6 in length, 8 ft beam
• 24 degree deadrise
• 238 gallons of fuel
• Trailerable without a wide-load permit in most states

Cockpit, cuddy and what you get for a weekend

The Top Gun is a day boat with a cabin, not a cruiser. The cockpit places the driver and co-pilot in bolster seats behind the dash with a bench aft for more passengers, and the engine hatch dominates the stern.

Current boats use a hydraulic cabin door that opens into a compact cabin with hand-stitched upholstery, a composite storage cabinet, LED lighting and a dual-compartment cooler. The helm carries Mercury DTS digital controls, 8-inch Garmin displays and carbon fiber dash panels, with a JL Audio system aboard. Earlier boats were simpler; the 2003 boats came with a power cabin door, a wraparound cabin sofa, fresh water with a shower and a full head.

Buyers coming from express cruisers should be realistic. There is no galley worth the name, limited storage and a cabin that is best for changing clothes, napping and escaping the sun.

From big-blocks to Mercury Racing 600 SCi

Cigarette lists the current 38 Top Gun with twin Mercury Racing 565 engines or twin Mercury Racing 600 SCi engines, both driving through Bravo XR sterndrives, with a maximum rating of 1,200 total horsepower. That is a modern, warrantied, fuel-injected package with digital throttle and shift, much easier to live with than the race-bred big-blocks of the past.

Cigarette does not publish official top speeds for the model, and owners' claims vary widely with engines, propellers, load and conditions. Late-model boats with 1,130 to 1,200 horsepower are very fast, older boats with less power are slower, and modified boats can be faster still. Treat any claimed number as unproven until you have seen it on a GPS during a sea trial.

Fuel consumption is the price of admission. Twin high-output gasoline engines run hard burn fuel at a rate that empties 238 gallons in a few hours, and Cigarette does not publish fuel curves for the boat. Most owners plan their day around fuel stops and log their own burn figures.

Three eras, three very different buys

Boats from the late 1980s and 1990s are collector pieces. Expect older big-block engines, older drives, vinyl upholstery and simple wiring. They are cheap to buy and can be tremendous fun, but they need a mechanic who understands old performance engines.

Boats from the 2000s and early 2010s bring fuel injection, better drives and more refined interiors, and they form the heart of the used market. In 2003 the standard package was twin Mercury 525 EFI engines with Bravo One drives, and the 2012 spec sheet listed 205 gallons of fuel and a 9,900-pound weight. Look for Mercury Racing engines with documented service and drives that have been rebuilt on schedule.

Late-model boats with 565 or 600 SCi power and current electronics are close to new in every respect and priced accordingly. They benefit from Mercury Racing support and warranty transfer where applicable.

The real cost of owning a Top Gun

Plan for $25,000 to $60,000 a year excluding depreciation. Storage, insurance, routine engine and drive service, fuel and trailer maintenance are the predictable costs; rebuilds and drive repairs are the unpredictable ones. Insurance for a high-performance boat requires a good driving record and often a performance boat course.

Drive maintenance is essential. Bravo XR drives on high-horsepower engines need regular oil changes, gear inspection and periodic rebuilds. Owners who run hard at poker runs and offshore events should budget for that work every few seasons.

What to check before buying a 38 Top Gun

Start with a compression and leak-down test on both engines and a full drive inspection. Then move to the hull: stringers, transom and engine mounts take enormous loads on a performance boat, and any cracking or delamination is a serious concern.

Ask for the boat's history. Has it raced, run in rough poker runs, or spent time in a dry stack? Does it have its original engines or replacements? A complete record of engine builds, propeller sets and drive service is worth a lot of money at resale.

Legacy, resale and why the name helps

Cigarette has kept the Top Gun in its current lineup alongside the 42 X and 515 performance models and its center console range, which supports the model's resale value. Buyers know the name, dealers know the boat, and good examples sell quickly.

The brand's history, from Aronow's racing success to its appeal for celebrities and the go-fast culture it helped define, keeps classic Top Guns in demand among collectors. Few performance boats of this age hold value as well.