1992 FW 205 Sundowner. Good Boat?

[ncwboater]

Here is my deal. I have never owned a boat, but live very close to a great lake. I am looking for a nice Cuddy Cabin for my family of 4 to enjoy the lake.

I have found a 1992 FW 205 Sundowner with low hours, looks to be in really nice condition for $7,000. The motor is a Cobra.

Any thoughts on this being a good fit for me? Thoughts? Overall value of the FW?

Also, (remember, I know nothing about boats) I have heard the Alpha One drive is not made any more and it may be difficult to find parts in the near future. Thoughts?

I apprecaite any help with this. I need to decide in the next week and your comments will help.

Thank you

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1992 FW 205 Sundowner. Good Boat?

I think you got some bad info....the Mercruiser Alpha One drive is probably the most common I/O drive available with plentiful parts and service support. It's OMC that you may want to stay away from. Just read your post again and see this boat has an OMC Cobra. That price is ridiculously high for that old a boat with an obsolete drive system. I'd keep looking.

 

[seaboo]

Re: 1992 FW 205 Sundowner. Good Boat?

The price seems high to me also (although in checking local ads that is what they go for around here too). The OMC drive is hard to locate parts for but (imho) as reliable as any other drive, but if it does have a problem, you may have a hard time in getting it repaired.

One thought, are you SURE you need a cuddy cabin? Are you and the family really gonna "camp" that much on the boat? If so GREAT!!!! If not you are going to pay for an option you don't use. (I'm just trying to make sure you considered this.)

Four Winns (inho) makes a nice, comfortable, stable boat (but I'm bias).

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: 1992 FW 205 Sundowner. Good Boat?

I would say that that type of boat may be good for a first boat. However, I would look at spending around $4k for a boat that age with the OMC Cobra outdrive.

Having a cuddy cabin/closed bow is nice when the weather picks up. It offers some protection from swamping the boat if you stuff the bow into a wave. However, you will use an open bow more than you will "use" a cuddy cabin. More often than not on a boat in the 20' range the cuddy cabin just ends up being used for storage or is wasted space.

As far as the outdrive goes, you will not find a Four Winns factory equipped with any other than OMC between 1988 and 1996. Four Winns was one of many boat companies owned by OMC and so OMC only used their outdrives on their boats. After 1996 the boats used the Volvo Penta outdrives due to the joint venture between OMC and VP. In 2000 OMC went bankrupt and the boat companies were sold off. Genmar purchased Four Winns and now Four Winns are available with Mercruisers again.

The OMC Cobra outdrives by all accounts is a good, durable design. They have been out of production now for about 15 years. So, parts availability is getting to be a potential problem.

Mercruiser is the company that has the Alpha One outdrive and they are still very well supported.

 

[Lou C]

Re: 1992 FW 205 Sundowner. Good Boat?

I agree that 7K is too much to pay for an 18 year old OMC powered boat...I have one (88 Four Winns 200 Horizon) which is the bow rider version of the same hull. I can say it's a good running stable boat...I've had it in pretty big water in LI Sound and it handles very well. The Cobra drive system once I got it set up right has been very reliable...and this is for a boat slipped in salt water 6 months...the hardest use for any I/O system. BUT..there are some parts that are hard to get and it's also hard to find good (knowledgable) OMC service in many places...these drives were last built in 1993 so the # of techs that know them are most likely declining. I will probably convert my boat to a Merc (or Volvo for the right price) when the time comes. Make your live easier and get one a few years newer with a Volvo SX drive system....