1984 Cobia Odyssey 170 VBR rebuild project

[omc_parted]

Latest and greatest: My weld on the exhaust logs failed spectacularly. Ended up buying the OSCO replacements, waiting for their arrival. Rebuilding the back bench while I wait. All 1/2" plywood, mostly water logged. Got enough of my 10 yards vinyl to do it. By the way, those manifolds are hard as hell to locate..

 

[omc_parted]

No Title

Latest and greatest from the underwater kingdom of Atlanta, Georgia. I put the motor in Friday, started hooking everything up. Funny side note: The cherry picker topped out about 4" too low to clear engine oil pan, so I had to put a jack stand on a floor jack, raise the bow 4", and slowly turn engine, lower engine, turn it again, rinse, repeat. Totally unsafe, especially doing this by myself, but got it in with minimum damage

Got to steering cable assembly and realized I had mounted too far towards transom (engine too far back). Now I have to PB the holes in the mounts cause I failed to read my own notes Thinking about mounting outboard, temporary clamp engine mounts, and adjust forward, backward as needed. No more wrong holes in engine mounts Dangerous for sure, but I've learned how to minimize risk as I teach myself all this stuff.

 

[omc_parted]

No Title

Made myself a quick and dirty outboard stand, will be installing probably Sunday. After mounting, gonna adjust engine and all to correct position and then install motor mount bolts. Bad thing is once I got this on, the garage is no longer long enough to hold this baby., so its all outdoors for me

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Keepin on moving forward, I make notes and wonder if I'll remember what they mean when the time comes to use them.

Good thinking putting wheels on your stand, when I did the impeller in mine I fabbed up a quick stand but didn't think about wheels so it was muscle time when it went back on.

 

[omc_parted]

Necessity is the mother of invention, LOL. I end up doing pretty much everything by myself, so I have to do the unusual a lot. The missus offers critiques and then I think around what really needs to be done. Been holding off doing the final install cause of other events taking up my time (see Friscoboaters videos ) Need a full uninterrupted day to install outboard and drill new motor mount holes, etc... Once I get her on the water, gonna winterize correctly and then do some gel coat and final touch ups, weather permitting

 

[omc_parted]

No Title

Well that's odd. Tried to upload the pictures, but it gives me a size limit fail.Only ones it lets me upload is the motor mount pix. Oh well, whatever.

Got the outboard mounted, all engine mounts done. My stand worked perfectly! Took about an hour of raising the bow, playing with the trim. Got the caps on, adjusted the tilt, and it popped right in! Shift cable went in easier after I added a little Marine 2-4-C.

All that's left is the shift cable routing to the helm, the rubber ring mount to the hull/transom. And I can still get the missus car in the garage This week should be able to get her water tested at the lake. Then its all the pretty work

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Woo hoo a boat ride. Looking good OMC.

If you didn't seal them during the final install I'd pull the bolts out and goop them with some 42/5200.

 

[omc_parted]

Yeah, I got 6 1/2 bolts that I hafta run some 3M5200 to seal the mounts from water.The way I redesigned the mounts allows me easy access should I ever have to pull my motor out. I'm gonna go totally anal on the mounts and run resin down each hole just for extra waterproof.

I have learned to hate that 3m stuff with the hot passion of 1000 suns. Gets EVERYWHERE! Dries in the tube every use so I have to drill out the dry part before I can even use it.

 

[omc_parted]

Update November 6, 2015: Scratched the old "put it in the water this weekend" idea cause I'm gonna gelcoat the hull. I had bought some back in May of this year, but it has expired its shelf life (3 months unopened). Got a lot of scratches and thin spots that I found during the stringer removal process and I don't want ANY WATER at all seeping in when immersed. I got great waterproofing on the stringers, etc. but why bother letting water in at all. Bilge cover is installed, bench seat is mounted. The OSCO manifolds caused me to raise the bilge cover a lot (to keep from banging into the cover). Still might go with the old "hood scoop" thing after all
Everything else is in place to test run, mebbe throw on the muffs this weekend and give it a go outside of the lake just for a final waterproof check. But we;re looking good for now.

 

[omc_parted]

Took her outside today, just for a watertight check. Runs fine, no leaks. Hull sanded down ready, for gelcoat. Gonna order today from uscomposites.

http://vid1067.photobucket.com/albums/u438/joey_blowey1/running_zpstsldinme.mp4
http://vid1067.photobucket.com/albums/u438/joey_blowey1/reverse_zpsvjktig2k.mp4
http://vid1067.photobucket.com/albums/u438/joey_blowey1/forward_zpsnxno4dmq.mp4

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Man that looks so perty all nice and shiny and new. Well done :encouragement:

 

[omc_parted]

Update November 11, 2015: Gelcoat came in, plan to use half gallon unwaxed, then let kick, then follow up other half with wax added. Should be able to do this tomorrow, mebbe hit the water Saturday. Should have video of launch

 

[omc_parted]

Latest and greatest. Had leak in the boot and drain plug found when putting boat in the lake. Had to tighten plug and change screw lengths for the rubber boot. Filled bilge with water sort of a reverse leak test (my missus came up with the idea) Passed, but found bilge pump was loose, had to clip it down. All is working now. Gonna try again prolly Monday.

Got bad news this past week. My brother has stomach and colon cancer. Only 56 yrs old. Same age my mother passed from the same cancer. Surgery today to see how bad it has metastasized. He;s in really bad shape, lost a ton of weight. Hoping for the best. Might have to make an emergency trip up north. Makes all my little problems seem minuscule right now.

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Makes all my little problems seem minuscule right now.

So true, sucks to be in a situation that gives you a perspective check. Best wishes to your family and I hope all comes out ok for your brother.

 

[omc_parted]

Well, damn. The rubber boot leaks like a sieve. Gonna pull the stern drive off and try again. Used 3M5200 around the outside of the ring, guess I should have used it where the boot meets the transom hull. Found this out by adding a lot of water to the bilge and waiting for the leak. Oh well, getting pretty good at installing/removing drive. Always time to do it twice instead of doing it right the first time

 

[omc_parted]

7 days have passed for the 3M5200 to finally cure. Tomorrow I'll leak test one last time before reinstalling the outboard. Hopefully the weather will stay warm enough to avoid freezing the water hose. Dislocated my thumb somehow, hopefully can get it popped back in at work tonight. Tried myself, couldn't get it right. Just damn.

 

[omc_parted]

Been awhile since I posted. Sadly, my brother passed from cancer right before the New Year. We can't even bury him until the ground thaws in the spring. So to keep my brain occupied, its back to the boat. Got a seal that should hold until forever, will drag it out into the driveway and fill the bilge again to verify before I put the outdrive back on. Looks like Sunday will give me the weather and time to do this. If it holds, back to the LAKE FOR A REAL TEST DRIVE.

 

[kcassells]

Geez omc, my condolences. What part of the world do you live in that allows this kinda time frame for a burial like that? Must be awful cold there. Why isn't the lake frozen.
KC

 

[omc_parted]

My brother lived in North Dakota. Its kinda normal up there, My grandfather passed in 74 in Minnesota, same thing there. They can't dig cause the ground is frozen, the backhoe won't cut. They put the casket in an above ground vault and wait. Weird but they are used to it. The temperature never got over 20 when I was there.Ice fishing is popular there.

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Sorry to hear about your brother OMC. :frown:

With the boot sealed hopefully all will go well for your splash.