Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

I don't know where to post this thread but i just have something to say about OMC.

i had two little boat before. both boat was not omc. i believe it was Mercury and Johnson. i think..

well seens i purchase my 1983 Regal Ambassador i was thinking dang big boat. nice boat. FUN FUN FUN.

so far all i ever had was a big cut in my foot. which toke me off work for about 2 weeks. because the engine die and it was drifting to the rocks and i had to get off the boat and push so it will not break the side and sink it.

Second. i hired some guy from craigslist. saying its carburetor problem. ok. i paid little over $200 to rebuilt both carburetor. so far he did rebuilt it. but did not work like it suppose to. so he told me that the carburetor needed to be replace... and here is weird part. i that time, i dint notice that it need to always have water on the stern-drive no matter what before you start the engine. this idiot was warming up the engine for a few minutes to see if the carburetor work with no water at ALL.. NOW i know why my impeller pump is no good.. damm idiot. and he said he has 20 year experience.. Edited . . . Unnecessary, QC


so far.. all i had was problem problem problem.. its my fault because i did not do my research about how boat function and which boat is good to buy and what to look for while buying my first big boat.

now that everything has been replace. iam very nervous. reason.. i hear many user posting problem about my kind of boat. and iam kinda scare of my boat now..

i fell like. fix the boat. maybe use it a little bit and sale the damm thing and just buy a boat with a single engine so i just have 1 problem.. and specially not OMC sterndrive.. .

So far. iam scare of what els could go wrong. so far all the part cost me nearly 1k or over just on parts.. not to mention my wife yelling at me all the time about me working on the boat.

arggg

just wanted to say something on behalf on OMC..

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Is this the big boat most told you to run away from or was that another member?

Sorry about your foot....and your wife yelling... and your probs. But get someone who knows what they are working with to help you out.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

marlboro180 said:

Is this the big boat most told you to run away from or was that another member?

Sorry about your foot....and your wife yelling... and your probs. But get someone who knows what they are working with to help you out.

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Nope this is not the guy who been told to run away from this boat..

I was the Guy who been TOLD to run away from a Boat Similar to what i have now, because it has an OMC Sterndrive..

but yes. i may be this idiot..

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Not an idiot. But, as well many will chime in OMC is obsolete, so one must search for parts. But , as we all have 2 foot itis...I hope you get it straightend out.

Not an expert in any regards in this manner, but if he did not know to run water on it while running it, you have two fried impellers, and hopefully not two fried heads ......sorry bud.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

The problems that you have had and are having, have nothing to do with the fact you have an OMC. So I would quit trying to rationalize it that way.

Yes, it may not be ideal as they are out of business but they are a lot less complex than the alternatives and as a non-professional, you would as likely experience exsasperating problems with any of them.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

I voted to sell it while it's still running.....Just for the fact that you may very well sink way more money in it than it will ever sell for..

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Sell it. It would make sense to keep it if you were in love with it. Since you're here asking about selling it I would say the barge lost its charm for you already. No point in keeping it.
And don't feel bad, many of us bought a piece of junk for our first boat also. Live and learn is all you can do.
Now go out there and find you a sucker to sell it to.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

I have a 93 OMC Cobra 3.0 HO and it works great. True, I have had to hunt for a exhaust flapper, but no real problem for an 17 year old boat. I see a lot of posts on this site about problems with Merc and Volvo too. What it all boils down to is THE LOOSE NUT ON THE CONTROLS. What some people can't tear up, they crap on.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Bronc Rider said:

Sell it. It would make sense to keep it if you were in love with it. Since you're here asking about selling it I would say the barge lost its charm for you already. No point in keeping it.
And don't feel bad, many of us bought a piece of junk for our first boat also. Live and learn is all you can do.
Now go out there and find you a sucker to sell it to.

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I like the way my boat looks for an older boat. i see my boat very sexy and elegant at the same time.. for an older boat which i purchase for almost 4k.


i love the way my boat looks. it dont look so big and not small. its nice.. iam just worry about engine. sterndrive.. thats all. as for LOOKS. I LOVE THE IMAGE OF THE boat. specially when i shine it up and glows like new..

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

you get the engine runnign good, and fixed RIGHT, then it will be fine. You should have no problems after sepnding a lot of money to fix it right. At least you know you will not have the same prob again. With a new boat, you don't know it at all.
stick with the devil you know.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

The twin 3.8's with Stringer drives....It would cost a fortune to repower and the transom would need completely reworked.
For what that would cost you could buy another boat that is much newer....

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Gary H NC said:

The twin 3.8's with Stringer drives....It would cost a fortune to repower and the transom would need completely reworked.
For what that would cost you could buy another boat that is much newer....

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when you mean Repower. did you mean the Engine it self??

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

longstand said:

when you mean Repower. did you mean the Engine it self??

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Thats what i was thinking because of the stringer drives. It would be a job to re-fit the transom and close those big holes in.
That way you could put Merc drives and engines in it.After that service and parts would not be a problem.
It would be a ton of work and money though.

Is it in running condition now? I thought the drives were missing?
I might be thinking of someone else's thread...

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

I used to own an 1986 Searay that had an OMC stringer drive. I believe it was the last year OMC produced the stringer before switching to the Cobra. I bought it under similar circumstances as you. I wasn't familiar of the problems with OMC stinger drives. Keeping the drive sealed(no water leaks) was difficult. To find a good mechanic that would even work on it was even harder. Most shops refused to look at it.
I sold mine about 5 years ago and still feel relief from getting rid of it.

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

The stringer drives are fairly EASY to work on, good solid outdrives with proper operation and maintenance

my advice if you like the boat is TO LEARN all you can , buy a repair manual,
hope you didnt fry too much running the engines with no coolant that long,
you CAN run them with a fried impeller if you attach the water ears, so if you can get it running right (find a new mechanic for the carbs)

then you can...........

replace the impellers in the outdrives ($50 per kit)
if the big boots are torn or have any cracks replace em ($45 ea)


alot of people say run from old OMC, that may be true if you break a housing or something, but the parts are available and arent that much more than any mercruiser....

SO FIX IT YOURSELF... or ditch the boat....unless you have money to burn on more shadetree mechanics

my 2 cents

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

double post ooops

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

I second the folks who say these problems have nothing to do with the make of the boat you bought. These are problems that occur on ALL boats and have more to do with maintenance than manufacturer.

Would it have been better if you bought another brand to start with? Probably, from a maint cost point of view.

But you own this one now. You may not get what you paid for it plus the work you have done if you try to sell it now, so you are likely looking at a loss to unload it. Then there is the cost of another boat. With another boat in the 4k price range that is similar to what you have you will most CERTAINLY be putting some money into the power plant. If not you won't find it for the same price.

So if you sell it now you'll probably lose some money, then pay the same or more for another boat just to dump a bunch of NEW money into it and be right back here again.

From a purely economic angle I would keep the boat for a couple years. You have a lot invested in it now. You may need to invest a little more, but not nearly as much as if you start over with another boat. USE this boat to LEARN on. It's clear from your posts that you have a long way to go to understand these contraptions. Once you have a couple years under your belt and understand all the components and systems in terms of design usage and maintenance, then start looking for the RIGHT boat.

But for now leverage the money you have spent and use this boat as a classroom. If you are scared of THIS boat that you already know, you should be more scared of a boat you don't

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Post Above. you make total Sense to me..

I got everything running yesterday. both engine. both cooling system has been good. both empeller pump is working good after i replace it with the new housing..

I got this guy who repair my friend boat. he had a shop here near my house a few years ago. he has alot of people as refference..

this weeks before Saturday. iam going to pay him to check all my work that i have done and tell me if everything is good. and time my engine and tune my new carburator so the engine will get good Fuel Economy..

if he said everthing is good. i will test run it on saturday. and see what happen..

if everything runs good like i want it to be. i will keep the boat.. i love the way this boat looks. i really do..

i will keep an update of what happen this week..

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

Sounds like you have a good handle on things.

I hope it all checks out and runs good. If so,keep it and enjoy it for a season or two...
Best of luck!..

Re: Nothing Important!!! Just a Opinion!!

What happened with your tilt issue?