general questions about my new Cobalt boat

[derekpfeiffer]

First off I want to say what a wonderfull forum you guys have here....by far the BEST forum I have found for boating. I want to start off by telling you I just bought my first boat a 1989 Cobalt 19br w/ a merc 4.3 and alpha one drive (some say will be underpowered). The boat is in near perfect cond. and I gave $5900...i felt was a decent deal??? it needs new exhaust bellows (they were just replaced last year by the previous owner but must not have gotten the clamp tight) and trim sending unit so i'm taking it in to have it done b/c i don't have the time to do it myself and am itching to get on the water. I was just wondering anything else i should do to it. It seems from reading other threads that i should check a water separator??? and the outdrive for water (which i did and it's clean) checked the engine oil and it seems to be overfilled but talking to a freind of mine that has a 5.7 in his boat says his is the same way. the oil seems to smell fine and isn't milky so just wanted your thoughts on that too. was also wondering if I should have the steering cable or shifting cable changed while they got the drive off or just leave it since it acts fine??

Also was wondering if anyone had any manuals...owners or service that one could email me...i would greatly appreciate it. I've worked on cars all my life engine swaps/trannys but never messed w/ boats so i'm a dummy when it comes to this.

One last thing is i've read some sites that people say that the average life of these motors is between 1000-1500 hours and this one has 1255 on it...wondering if i should be a little nervous or not???

Sorry i got a little long winded but you guys have so much knowledge on all things boating i would greatly appreciate your feedback on anything...whether it be good or bad.

thanks guys

 

[rodbolt]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

while the drive is off and the gimbal housing is off , change the drive bellows, shift cable and bellows, water inlet tube,and gimbal bearing. it all comes in a kit, the transom seal kit and the shift cable kit.
job on the alpha,with changing the trim limit and send units is about 4 hours if saltwater corrosion isnt a factor.
shift cable bellows can sink ya, drive bellows can sink ya and cost ya a bunch of money to repair the water damage to the gimbal bearing,Ujoints and input yoke.
Ujoints are 58 a pop, you may wish to have them changed if its not been done recently.
I bought a nifty 29 dollar tool from Matco that will pop the joints apart faster than I can remove the keepers using my air chisel.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

First off I want to say what a wonderfull forum you guys have here....by far the BEST forum I have found for boating. I want to start off by telling you I just bought my first boat a 1989 Cobalt 19br w/ a merc 4.3 and alpha one drive (some say will be underpowered). The boat is in near perfect cond. and I gave $5900...i felt was a decent deal??? it needs new exhaust bellows (they were just replaced last year by the previous owner but must not have gotten the clamp tight) and trim sending unit so i'm taking it in to have it done b/c i don't have the time to do it myself and am itching to get on the water. I was just wondering anything else i should do to it. It seems from reading other threads that i should check a water separator??? and the outdrive for water (which i did and it's clean) checked the engine oil and it seems to be overfilled but talking to a freind of mine that has a 5.7 in his boat says his is the same way. the oil seems to smell fine and isn't milky so just wanted your thoughts on that too. was also wondering if I should have the steering cable or shifting cable changed while they got the drive off or just leave it since it acts fine??

Also was wondering if anyone had any manuals...owners or service that one could email me...i would greatly appreciate it. I've worked on cars all my life engine swaps/trannys but never messed w/ boats so i'm a dummy when it comes to this.

One last thing is i've read some sites that people say that the average life of these motors is between 1000-1500 hours and this one has 1255 on it...wondering if i should be a little nervous or not???

Sorry i got a little long winded but you guys have so much knowledge on all things boating i would greatly appreciate your feedback on anything...whether it be good or bad.

thanks guys

The sevice life of an engine can vary quite a bit depending upon how well it was maintained by the previous owner......
Whether the engine is closed cooled or standard cooled & if it had alot of salt water use is also a factor.....
The best thing you can do at this point is perform a compression test & vacuum test to check the engines overall health.....
The age of the exhaust manifolds/risers would also be a concern....
Again, their service life will be greatly affected by salt water use.....
Welcome to iboats, btw......

 

[derekpfeiffer]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

Yeah I'm going to tell them to replace anything that could use it. I need to do a compression test yet. the exhaust risers?? this boat is cooled by lake water and never been in salt water. how would i check the exhaust risers???

thanks for your help

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

The fact that it has never been in salt water is a +.....
There is no way ot check them other than removing them & pressure testing them.....
They generally have a life expectancy of 5-7 years in salt, maybe ten years or longer in fresh water for OEM ones.....
I reccomend removing the riser from the manifold, and inspecting the mating surfaces between them as well as the thicknes of the walls, (should be at least 1/4")....
Some rust & flaking in the water jacket is normal......
Any signs of rust in the exhaust cavity would mean immediate replacement......
Any signs of rust on the sparkplugs or water on top of the pistons is the giveaway for a bad manifold/riser, especially when you see it on only on cylinder bank......
Generally,

 

[midsouthfire]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

You can download the owners manual for the boat from the Cobalt website, I don't know about the service manual for it, but it won't be long before one of the Merc guys will let you know

 

[tmh]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

Just for fun I looked at the Cobalt web site - great site! You can check all the past year brochures, etc. The 1989 shows the 19.2 bowrider with only 4.3L choices, a 175hp and 205hp version, Merc or Volvo DP. I'm surprised no 5.0L was offered, but I'm guessing that tells you it does OK with the 4.3L.

Sounds like you paid about right for it, assuming it's in very good condition. I think it's smart to pay a bit more for a great condition boat (even quite a bit) because then when you pour more money into it at least you wind up with a beautiful boat, not an old wreck that runs OK! The engine is plenty broken in, that's for sure! There's no set hours they run so if well maintained you should be OK with the engine.

 

[derekpfeiffer]

Re: general questions about my new Cobalt boat

Yeah the boat is in near perfect shape...I'd definitly put it up against any boat half it's age...very sound. no chips in hull...interior looks like new...has new CD player and speakers. Thats what I figured that at least here if i put 1000-2000 into it getting it running like a top at least i know what i have and only have bout 8000 into it.

Thanks guys