My Cobia Project......

[GiMLit]

Working away on my project.
Bought it knowing I was going to be in for a bunch of work and I consider myself totally hooked on this hobbie now.
I went from buying boat thinking I was going to clean it up and repower it and now I have

1. pulled half installed motor and out drive, found intermediate shaft bearings had desinagrated and was likely the cause of the noise the previous owner heard, which caused him to try to repower to the 4.3l
2.pulled interior to find poor floor replacement job
3. pulled floor up to find poor stringer replacement job
4. replaced stringers and floor - pulled rub rail and deck to do it right!
5. went and pulled a engine and outdrive off this week which I am going to freshen up and use for repower.
6. to do still, reassemble including new rub rail, painting top half, redoing gauges, trim, carpet, freshen power plant and reinstall. Heck I am almost done LOL.

Having a blast, sold off some parts I collected over the past 5 months (since I got into boating - nothing like jumping in with both feet eh!) and I am at $450 out of pocket at this point. NICE !!!! At this rate I will be well within my "target" budget and will have alot more than I ever expected!

Thanks to all on this forum to this point for your help.
I would like to share some pics up to this point and beyond. Can anyone suggest a good online picture storage to do so ?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: My Cobia Project......

great!!

 

[Fish n Geer]

Re: My Cobia Project......

For picture storage you can use Photobucket or Shareaproject both are nice programs.I started my shareaproject page lastnight.Pretty cool program.

 

[GiMLit]

Re: My Cobia Project......

Thanks for the info Fish n Geer

Here is a link to what I did and uploaded so far.
http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/projectThumbs,p,426,00.html

I lost (think someone deleted) the stringer install pics.

I still haven't decided on if I repower with the 4cyl or go with the 4.3 V6.
I like the look and size so much and it is going to be done nicely I am tempted to jump in a little farther and go with the 4.3 so I won't be dissappointed with power. I would have to sell off the collected 4 cyl parts that I have and get a intake and carb for the 4.3 and regear the outdrive or trade 2 electric shift 4 cyl geared units for one geared for a 4.3

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: My Cobia Project......

go with a 4.3 merc or volvo. that omc is outdated, and not supported with parts. you will have to do the transom, as there are not adapters for the outdrives. other wise great boat, i've had several cobia outboards.

 

[Fish n Geer]

Re: My Cobia Project......

Moving right along there! Looking good GimLit!

 

[GiMLit]

Re: My Cobia Project......

K well I fell WAY behind on this project due to knee problems and surgery but it hit the water last week for the first time. I was hoping for the 1st week of July and I guess I made it just under the wire!
As I had planned I had pretty much all the work done other than a few minor jobs.
Due to putting the rush on and still hobbling around I don't have many pics but I will post what I have once I get time.

Ended up powered by a 3.8 Chevy with 2bbl and 800 series drive from a Tempest I gutted last year.

Tach was inaccurate first weekend out and had some carb idle/transition issues but all and all we had a weekend and logged approx 12 hrs total.

Pulled carb apart today and cleaned it up, hit the water tonight and idle issue is good to go but I have a power circuit issue now, seem to be missing a bit of snap I had last weekend. LOL I had no carb kit to put in it so I will go over it again this week.

Have a low RPM issue at WOT but over all once that is fixed up I think it will go well.
I had 3 adults and 3 kids, cooler, bunch of other crap incl tube strapped on back, 110 liters of fuel (both tanks darn close to full) and we hit 38 MPH @3900 RPM. I have a 15 inch 17 pitch prop.
Not bad for a heavy load and a good OL OMC

 

[EricR]

Re: My Cobia Project......

Very nice GMlit!

Ya, I know OMC stringer systems are not the prefered power and they certainly have drawbacks, but one ADVANTAGE of them is nobody wants them and they can be had relatively cheap!

Looks like you put a lot of elbow grease into her and have a very nice useable family cruiser as a result.