atx111
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2009
- Messages
- 145
Got this a couple of months ago, but finally got around to putting it up. It's a 1978 Cobalt 19BR in great shape. It has a Ford 351 with (I know I'm gonna catch crap about it, but whatever) a Stringer 800. And yes, I took it to a mechanic who completely checked it out before I bought it and said it was in fantastic shape(engine, outdrive, transom, floors). I'm the third owner and the boat has spent its whole life inside.
I've been looking for a late 70's Cobalt for quite some time(love the look and the ride), and even though I prefered a Merc, the ones that I found were otherwise total junk and I wasn't willing to drive hundreds of miles. So I figured as long as the mechanic said it was fine, I'd take a chance. The mechanic did explain how I need to run it so I minimize any problems that he said were the products of ignorance and abuse with the OMC drives.
The boat just needs a good buffing and some cosmetic work done. I'd(the wife) would like to find a teak swim deck for it eventually too. The trailer does need some work. First up is the brakes, new coupler, new lines, and hopefully just master cylinder. I'd also like to get it blasted and repainted. I was also toying with the idea of Rhino lining the trailer, just weighing the pros and cons. There is some surface rust, but nothing all the way through and all the welds are good. Tires are new and first thing I did was repack bearings. Oh yeah, why did they put those itty bitty 13" wheels on those trailers back then?
All in all I'm pretty happy with it. We did get it out a few times before it got cold and it ran like a champ. My wife is glad, she was getting tired of getting beat up behind my Kawasaki Ultra 250X.
Thanks to this site, I have already learned alot of information about boating, and look forward to more reading.
I've been looking for a late 70's Cobalt for quite some time(love the look and the ride), and even though I prefered a Merc, the ones that I found were otherwise total junk and I wasn't willing to drive hundreds of miles. So I figured as long as the mechanic said it was fine, I'd take a chance. The mechanic did explain how I need to run it so I minimize any problems that he said were the products of ignorance and abuse with the OMC drives.
The boat just needs a good buffing and some cosmetic work done. I'd(the wife) would like to find a teak swim deck for it eventually too. The trailer does need some work. First up is the brakes, new coupler, new lines, and hopefully just master cylinder. I'd also like to get it blasted and repainted. I was also toying with the idea of Rhino lining the trailer, just weighing the pros and cons. There is some surface rust, but nothing all the way through and all the welds are good. Tires are new and first thing I did was repack bearings. Oh yeah, why did they put those itty bitty 13" wheels on those trailers back then?
All in all I'm pretty happy with it. We did get it out a few times before it got cold and it ran like a champ. My wife is glad, she was getting tired of getting beat up behind my Kawasaki Ultra 250X.
Thanks to this site, I have already learned alot of information about boating, and look forward to more reading.
