Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

[dclange]

Was looking at buying a pontoon, 28'er, finally found one, 1986'. Like the boat for a project boat, but, it has a I/O 140 HP OMC.
The transom boot has big cracks I can put all my fingers through. Not good right? Owner says motor has no known issues? ;-) Ok. Has anyone ever converted a I/O to an outboard? Was thinking about hanging my Mariner 175 off of the back of this thing. Could this be done? Stupid thinking? If it could, how hard would it be, lining up the prop height etc?
I have had allot of people tell me to stay as far away from this OMC as I can!!! I really like the boat and been looking a long time, priced right, etc. Need a new power source. Can the outdrive be converted to a merc? Allot of questions, I know. All reply's appreicated. Thanks, Dave.

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

How much would you be paying for this "project boat"?

By transom boot you mean bellows, right? The exhaust bellows have holes on the underside. The u-joint bellow should be water tight.

To run an outboard you're looking at a whole new transom pretty much. Search I/O to Outboard and you will find people who have done it. Sounds pricey and very time consuming.

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

1 more person? O.K. Parts are still available, there's a company that bought up all the spare parts when OMC went out of business. No new parts are being manufactured so if you break it and the parts are high failure then odds are there are none left except maybe salvage but that's even a crap shoot if it's a high failure part. No, sorry, I don't know what parts are high failure rate and what aren't.

You should buy this and every other one you find if you want to get into the parts business and have room to store them all.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

By transom boot you mean bellows, right? The exhaust bellows have holes on the underside. The u-joint bellow should be water tight.

He may be looking at a stringer. 85 was last year of stringer but may be on an 86 boat. A picture would help.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

run away.
there.

 

[Don S]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

OMC = Obsolete Marine Corporation.

They went out of business in 1998. Hope you don't need a tech to fix anything you can't. They are becoming hard to find.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Was looking at buying a pontoon, 28'er, finally found one, 1986'. Like the boat for a project boat, but, it has a I/O 140 HP OMC.
The transom boot has big cracks I can put all my fingers through. Not good right? Owner says motor has no known issues? ;-) Ok. Has anyone ever converted a I/O to an outboard? Was thinking about hanging my Mariner 175 off of the back of this thing. Could this be done? Stupid thinking? If it could, how hard would it be, lining up the prop height etc?
I have had allot of people tell me to stay as far away from this OMC as I can!!! I really like the boat and been looking a long time, priced right, etc. Need a new power source. Can the outdrive be converted to a merc? Allot of questions, I know. All reply's appreicated. Thanks, Dave.

Ayuh,... All those things can be done if ya throw enough Money at it,....

'course, by then, you've spent what a runnin' boat costs...

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

I'll talk you out of it. . .

C'mon man !?!?! :facepalm:

How is that?

 

[dclange]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Ok, guys here is a picture of the boot I'm talking about. It is located where the lower unit goes thru the transom area. Just for info I'm a outboard man for the last 20 plus years, have never owned a I/O. The asking price for the project boat, 1986 Landau 28', $1500.00. I think I could get it for like $1000-$1200. Hope the pic takes. Both sides of that boot are like that. Oh, the boat, motor last run in the fall of 2007.
;~) Put a battery in it and see if it turns over? Are maybe air up tires, take to ramp, back in water, leave on trailer and see if it will run??

 

[southkogs]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

That's a Stringer. Consider the boat an antique restoration/rebuild.

If the engine runs ... don't spend more than $500 and only if you can risk it. At $500, if the thing is a complete dud you can make your money back parting out the stern drive on eBay. You can't really float it to find out what kinda' shape the drive is in.

At a $1,000 ... go find something else. It's not worth the hassle.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Owner says motor has no known issues? ;-)

No issues other than the boat would sink rather quickly if you launched it!!!

And you're asking us to "talk you out of it?"

 

[aspeck]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Flip side is my bro is still running a '78 (I think) OMC that was purchased new. Very few problems over the years, maintained, and can still find parts - although it is getting harder every year and a few parts for others he has worked on needed fabrication for the necessary part.

Can you fab your own parts? Not necessarily a deal breaker, just buyer beware. If not run for 5 years, you have a lot of work to get it running. Might be more work than you want to get into.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

OK, let's put it another way . . .

You are buying a $7,000 boat. The purchase price is merely a down payment to the work that is before you. So, take that $7,000 and go spend it on something that is good-to-go.

 

[Boats-A-lots]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

I have owned an OMC for um.. 20 yrs.. it has ran flawless for about 17.. I have just started tossing parts at it. I needed a housing bearing, shift rod and plate for the lower unit. I also need an ESA mod, but I just bypassed it instead of paying another 100 bucks. I found the parts I was looking for easy enough but they were not major parts. Today, I would buy an OMC but it would have to be turn key, or just needing some minor parts. Hate to talk you out of a boat that you have your heart set on, but if you research what 7k would buy, you might find something ready to go, as nice.

In some cases.. BOAT stands for Bust Out Another Thousand.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Self proclaimed OB guy, looking at a pontoon, with an IO. And,that IO is a Stringer drive too? Yikes!

Nah, I'm not gonna talk ya out of it, buy it! You'll have the only one like it on the lake!



Just kidding, pass, keep looking man.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

OK, let's put it another way . . .

You are buying a $7,000 boat. The purchase price is merely a down payment to the work that is before you. So, take that $7,000 and go spend it on something that is good-to-go.

^ awesome analogy
that's so true in this economy, can get a running boat with a 1 season warranty from a reputable marina for way less

 

[emoney]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Still need one more person to talk you out of it? Ok, it's simple, really;

Chicks do NOT dig OMC stringers. As a matter of fact, most of them point and laugh when they see one. Now, it's up to you.

 

[Don S]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Just send me the money you was going to pay for the boat, You will get the same thing in return. Nothing,

Only thing is, if you send me the money, it won's cost any more.
If you buy the boat you will be paying, and paying, and paying, and paying, and paying, and paying, for a long time.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Buy an OMC sterndrive if you want, just not that one. Or the next one. Or the next....

 

[halfmoa]

Re: Need one more person to talk me out of buying a OMC I/O! ;~)

Well...you asked for it.

You're thinking about buying a boat that uses parts that haven't been made for 20+ years. Bad idea.

Are you sold on the idea of an OMC or a cheap float boat? I can answer that question and I hope you can too.

As a general rule of thumb: Don't buy anything that's liable to leave you broken down and completely screwed whose manufacturer went out of business 20 years ago, that parts aren't readily available for, and you're not willing to dump money into just for the sheer enjoyment of spending cash. It's not a 57 Chevy, it's a 25 year old float boat. You're making a mistake. Run. Run like the wind. Don't do it. You're making a mistake. Don't be that guy. Don't be the guy who asked for advice on the forum and ignores it then begs for help to fix the problem we tried to help you avoid in the first place. Don't. Do. It. Wait for a better deal. Buyers remorse hurts. You'd be a fool to buy that boat after reading this thread. And "fool" is being polite.


Hey, you asked for it.