Should I buy this boat????

[shute420]

I have an opportunity to see and buy today a 1994 Four Winns Horizon 190, its in really good condition, its got 213 hours, interior is decent, some of the seats need to be resewn/stiched here and there but over all the seats are all decent.....

now heres the deal, its got a 5.0, which i believe is a Ford and attached to that is an OMC Cobra outdrive. The guy said he hasnt had any major issues with it, did all the regular maintanence himself. Did the gimbal bearing last year I believe though.

It is exactly what I am looking for as far as the set up, its got the captains chairs, the bench seat in the back with a big sunpad and a swim platform. Its got some decent power with the V8....I am just unsure about the motor and especially the outdrive. This will be my 3rd boat, one was a volvo motor and outdrive, the other was a mercruiser and I am capable of doing all regluar maint myself.

I guess my question is......Should I not buy it based on the motor and outdrive?? Ive read mixed opinions about them and also have read that they are just as reliable as others from the same year. Am I to assume that something will go wrong with it and itll be extrememly hard to find parts??....

Any feedback anyone can give me would be great.....gotta decide to leave in a few

 

[Don S]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

94 is the key word here. If it's a 94 engine package the outdrive would be the SX Cobra, which is now Volvo, which would make the boat a good deal.
IF the engine package is a actually a 93, it would be the old style Cobra outdrive which I would avoid.
OMC has gone out of buisness over 10 years ago, so OEM parts and factory trained tech service no longer exists.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Ayuh,....

Personally,.. I'd have a hard time buying/ running a Ford motor,... It's Obsolete...
Ditto with the OMC drive.....

You're looking at buying a Headache,...

 

[danond]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

If you are mechanically inclined and plan to maintain the drive yourself, have a mechanic locally who understands OMC, and don't mind waiting for all your parts to be ordered, late model OMC is no big deal to own and they are reliable.

That being said, keep looking. Another boat with a Merc or Volvo drive will show up.

 

[SPOONMAN1]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

94 is the key word here. If it's a 94 engine package the outdrive would be the SX Cobra, which is now Volvo, which would make the boat a good deal.
IF the engine package is a actually a 93, it would be the old style Cobra outdrive which I would avoid.
OMC has gone out of buisness over 10 years ago, so OEM parts and factory trained tech service no longer exists.[/QUOTE My 1997 crownline had a leftover 95 OMC engine & drive on it. Buyer beware.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Ayuh,....

Personally,.. I'd have a hard time buying/ running a Ford motor,... It's Obsolete......

Now Bond-o, yer showin yer old High School prejudice. SBF's are far from obsolete and they are still giving SBC chevy owners migrane headaches. (read: whipping their butts) There has never in history been so many parts and mods available for the old pushrod SBFs.

 

[Don S]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

The point about Fords is that they have not been used in a boat with an outdrive since 96.
I don't expect it to be too much longer and you won't be finding parts like exhuaust manifolds, couplers, etc. even from Volvo. Once VP bought out OMC, they dropped the Fords like a hot potato. especially with how economy is right now.
Even the inboard ski boats are getting away from them.

 

[shute420]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Well I checked it out today.....didnt buy it, told him ill get back to him later tonight with my decision.....Im up in the air about it really....I like it, but it didnt jump out at me like i thought it might, or like I want my next boat to do........ The motor sounded good and started right up, the interior needed a little more work than I might be willing to put into, overall it was a decent boat and even if i dont buy it, im positive someone will by the end of the week..........

 

[Bondo]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Now Bond-o, yer showin yer old High School prejudice. SBF's are far from obsolete and they are still giving SBC chevy owners migrane headaches. (read: whipping their butts) There has never in history been so many parts and mods available for the old pushrod SBFs.

Ooooh, No doubt ole Wize1,....
I don't follow Nascar, but I do here about that Rouse guy's team winning now,+ then,...
And, I think He's a Ford guy....
But,....
What I was gettin' at is the points noted by Don,...
Manifolds are already Twice as expensive as a SBC,+ Twice as hard to find....

It's a Deadend Road,..... Why go down it,..??

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Well I checked it out today.....didnt buy it, told him ill get back to him later tonight with my decision.....Im up in the air about it really....I like it, but it didnt jump out at me like i thought it might, or like I want my next boat to do........ The motor sounded good and started right up, the interior needed a little more work than I might be willing to put into, overall it was a decent boat and even if i dont buy it, im positive someone will by the end of the week..........

You know,

Fords vs Chevy aside,


In this terrible market for EVERYTHING, there's a LOT of Boats out there for sale with Mercs and Volvos inside.....

Why buy a boat with an engine/drive combo that will absolutely be a problem in the future with parts and limited service availability when theres a multitude of other boats out there that don't have that problem?


Make it easy on yourself.... Boats have enough problems on a regular basis without compounding them with additional problems......

 

[shute420]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Thanks guys......I didnt buy it...and next time I wont even bother looking at one with a OMC or Ford motor. Im convinced itll be easier on myself and smarter for me to go with a merc or volvo right up front......so Im still looking....hopefully will be buying in the next week or so

 

[shute420]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Heres my next boat Im going to look at.........tell me what ya think....

1988 Renken Italia 20ft bowrider, its got a 5.7L merc with an Alpha outdrive...looks like a nice boat, sent me more pics of the interior and it really looks nice, says the motor runs good....Ill find out on thursday

it was a trade in on a new boat, they were asking 4900, i asked him over the phone if theyd take 3500 and they said they would......i said ok, im free thursday to come take a look and hear it run......heres some pics

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd230/shute420/renken6.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd230/shute420/Renken-1.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd230/shute420/renken4.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd230/shute420/renken2.jpg

 

[Bondo]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Ayuh,... This is the Motor,+ I/Os forum,.....
You didn't even include a picture of the Motor, Or the Drive,....

Nice lookin' boat though...

 

[Don S]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Moving to Boat Topics and Questions.

 

[meesh]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Nice looking boat. The only thing that scares me is you have'nt even seen it and they came down $1400 on the phone. look it over real good!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Certainly seems like a heck of a nice boat for $3500.

 

[shute420]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Sorry for no pics of the motor/outdrive Bond-O....

Thanks for moving to the appropriate forum Don S

Meesh, thats what my thought was too when they said they'd take $3500, I just thru it out there not even thinking he'd bite on $1400 less than asking price...but they did......so Im going to see it and hear it on Thursday....my thoughts were that, this was a trade in on a new boat and its been on the lot for a while and now they just want to get rid of it at this point. I saw it about a month or so ago, so I know its been up for sale for a while at 4900, even 5k at one point........guess they figured someones interested in it for less than asking but lets just go with it to get rid of it......?....

 

[Chevysolid]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

That is odd that they came down that quick over the phone... means that they would probably take less... Interior looks nice though...
Interested in hearing what you think of it... 88 is getting up there in age too...

good luck

 

[shute420]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

That is odd that they came down that quick over the phone... means that they would probably take less... Interior looks nice though...
Interested in hearing what you think of it... 88 is getting up there in age too...

good luck

looked at it Saturday morning....decent shape for its age, they had to tinker with the carb for a bit to get it started, it was sitting for a while and plus it had no gas either.......but the motor ran good after that, although it needs some sort of flap in the exhaust...??.....you could hear it and feel it in the exhaust elbow....sounded like a ticking or something. The mechanic said it was some sort of flap thats inside the exhaust.....i dont really know what it was or is..... but he said it would need to be fixed soon. Some of the trim was coming off, but an easy fix, just needed to be rescrewed in.....and the only gauge that worked was the gas gauge and you could tell that was new and not original.....

all in all it was decent but definitely needed some time put into it to get it good to go......i told him id get back to him, and im going to tell him ill give them 3500 and fix the gauges and the flap in the exhaust......if not...then im still looking

on saturday afternoon i looked at a 93 Chaparral 200slc sport bowrider.....nice looking boat, 350 merc, alpha one outdrive, sounded really good....but the deck was rotted all around the storage door and a little bit into the bow area, seats were good, could use as is, but itll need a new deck or at least a will need to be repaired big time.......good luck selling that for 4k, if it wasnt for the deck....id be the new owner right now....but dont know much about replacing the deck or what it costs......

 

[shute420]

Re: Should I buy this boat????

Bought a boat saturday......a 1989 Bayliner Arriva 2050 with a 5.0 merc, merc lx outdrive.......good condition, motor runs great, interior is in good condition too!!.....he wanted 4200, i brought 3500 cash and he took it!!....

heres a pic......