Problems To Expect?

[zpolston]

I just bought a 1990 Seaswirl Cuddy Classic w/ OMC Cobra 4.3L off of my buddy who let it sit for two years after he bought it. Actually, he never even took her out and sold it to me to buy a trailer for his RZR. I bought the boat for $1k and it seems to be in decent condition, other than some of the vinyl which I can look past and just throw a towel over.
After putting muffs on I found the power steering oil cooler failed and leaked like a sieve so I replaced it. Took it to a local lake, ran it and everything was good. Fast forward to last weekend, I took it to Lake Powell and she ran great for an hour. Long story short, the fuel pump went out. Got that fixed (after being raped $800 for the repair because I didn’t want to tow it home and do it myself). I’ve read a lot of good and a bad on these engines/out drives so my question is, should there be anything else I look at or should be prepared for that could fail again while on the lake? My tow bill was $465 and I’d like to avoid that again. I thought about selling it and just recoup the $ I have into it but I love being on the lake, it would feel like giving up and I’m a glutton for punishment. Any advice from experience with the notorious OMC Cobras would be appreciated.

 

[achris]

Hello zpolston and :welcome: aboard...

Being a Cobra, the transom cut out is the same as a Mercruiser, so when it all gets too much, and you can't find parts for the drive (OMC stopped producing stern drives 22 years ago), you can find an old boat that's got a Mercruiser 4.3 (post 1992, so it's a Gen II) that wasn't winterized properly, and buy that for near trailer value. Then you can pull all the OMC stuff out of your boat, swap the engine block and all the Merc gear into your boat. You'll then have a 'current' Mercruiser in what looks like a nice hull (I looked them up )

You'll hear a lot of current OMC Cobra owners who'll tell you there's nothing wrong with them, and how great they are, and solid and reliable. This is their experience from owning 1, maybe 2 of them... Ok, I was a dealer in the 90's, and still moonlight, and I can tell you, having worked on more than one of them, not reliable (one of the reasons they stopped production), and now that the last was produced 22 years ago, parts are difficult to get...

Run yours until it's beyond repair, then do the whole 'Mercruiser swap-over' thing.

Good luck, and enjoy your new hobby.

Chris..........

 

[Lou C]

The other option you have is to convert it over to a Volvo SX by changing the pivot housing over to the Volvo part and adding a crankshaft mounted raw water pump. This conversion is possible because Volvo utilized most of the OMC Cobra transom design. It is more money for the drive but you do not have to pull the engine and replace the entire transom mount so it is much less work. And you will have a drive with cone clutch sifting no more interrupt system etc.
I have one of the good ones. It’s not been back to a mechanic in 15 years. Nothing but regular maintenance. The problems were due to defective shift cables which were recalled and mechanics not knowing how to properly adjust them. OMC came out with 3 special tools and revised adjustment instructions to make the adjustment more accurate and easier to do. I got the tools and taught myself to do this in a few hours. I haven’t had to touch the adjustment in 7 years. And my boat is not trailered it has always been moored in salt water for 6 months of each season.
If you have the bat wing manifolds and want to change them it’s an easy conversion with the right parts; Volvo 90* exhaust pipes and hoses and Barr Marine manifolds and elbows. I had 3 sets of batwings replaced at 5/6 season intervals and they never leaked. But I have heard of problems just like the Merc batwings on the 4.3 V6. I’ve posted up pics and part #s to do this.

 

[Lou C]

PS:
Ive been hearing about how “bad”
these are since I bought mine in 2002. I initially considered the Volvo conversion but it has not been necessary, other that replacing a few seals and the trim hoses (cut by barnacles) all the gears bearings and the clutch dog are as I bought it 18 years ago.