Parts available for old OMCs?

[farginicehole]

I'm looking at some older (early to mid-80's) fishing boats in the 22-25' range. Should I stay away from those that have OMC I/O's on them, or are the parts for these still very readily available?

 

[Mahoney]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

I like my OMC and it works fine, but to answer your question. NO, they are not easy to find parts for, they are expensive, and depending on the age, you most likely will not find any shop that will touch them.

Better to check your area and see what drive system is most readily supported, be it Merc or Volvo.

I saw a Lexus boat yesterday with a Toyota inboard, didn't even know they made those!

 

[farginicehole]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

Thanks Mahoney. That's kind of what I was afraid of. This is a really pretty old Tiara too. :'(

 

[Manipulator]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

I have an OMC too, its not impossible to find parts but they are expensive. I would go with a merc from that time frame.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

Thanks, Manipulator. That sucks - this is a really sweet-looking boat and appears to be much nicer than the few I've seen advertised that have Mercruisers on them. I suppose a Mercruiser retrofit would be major $$ if I ever had big problems with the OMC?

 

[Mahoney]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

If it's a Stringer drive absolutely. It requires transom work as the older OMC stringer drives did not bolt directly to the transom but instead were bolted directly to the motor which in turn was mated to the boats stringers.

Way to much work unless you really need a good winter project.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

This is a 1982 Tiara 2500. I've seen several other Tiara 2500's of the same year, give or take a couple years, that have Mercruisers. Like I said though, this one looks to be in a lot nicer condition than the other ones.

 

[speedholes]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

I don't know when they came out, but if you found one with a Cobra, I would think it would be better than a stringer. Like was said, my stringer works fine, but eBay is my best friend for parts, and they are USED.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

i'm lookin for a boat too man. i already got headaches with the old boat i have and it's a mercrusier. my issue is with my boat though. so if someone tells me or i read it's a omc while i'm lookin for a different boat. that's where i stop. it don't matter how nice the boat is. if it's got a omc or a soft floor. i would think run, don't walk.......if ya can't get parts for it. what good is that..personaly i'd rather boat than fix. but don't mind the mix of the two if it don't lead me to rotton stringers(as in my case) or nla parts (as in omc).

i found me a nice boat i could live with yesterday. last thing i inspected was the swim ladder being loose. geez. this thing had a bolt hole, below water level, leadin to the transom. had the silicon ontoit and was the next size up bolt that was loose. (i don't want to hear about rotton transoms or floors) that's where i stoped lookin at that boat. other than that it was great.....theres always something that stops me it seems. but then again, something will turn up too for both of us. i think? keep lookin

 

[farginicehole]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

I talked to the guy and I didn't get a real good feeling that he knew what I meant when I was asking if it was a "stringer" type outdrive or not. Probably doesn't help that aside from what you guys have told me here, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about when it comes to I/O's! Guess maybe I'll have to have a mechanic have a look at it before I get too serious. Thanks again!

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

If its a Stringer it will probably be white.Stringers have a big rubber boot around the outdrive.
A Cobra should be dark gray and will have the two trim cylinders on the sides of the lower unit..

 

[DukesFin]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

If its a Stringer it will probably be white.Stringers have a big rubber boot around the outdrive.
A Cobra should be dark gray and will have the two trim cylinders on the sides of the lower unit..

Here is my Stringer:

 

[farginicehole]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

Hey, that's a big help, DukesFin - thanks! I just forwarded your pic to the broker so he can hopefully tell me what the Tiara has. This boat is WAY out of state for me, so I can't just drive over and take a look at it.

 

[cobra 3.0]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

Cobras came in in 1986. Anything before that is a Stringer.

Here's a good place for additional info for Stringer and Cobra parts:

http://www.sterndrive.info/

 

[farginicehole]

Re: Parts available for old OMCs?

Thanks cobra 3.0. Most likely a stringer then, unless it was ever updated. I'll have to check out that site when I have time (getting ready to go on vacation for a week, and will hopefully be fishing instead of playing around on the internet 8)). From what others have said here, I should probably run not walk away from this one!