Hey gang, I'm looking at upgrading to a slightly bigger boat than the 16' Invader bowrider we have with the 2.5L Merc (Alpha One Gen 1).
I'm interested in a '92 Four Winns Freedom 180 with a 4.3L OMC Cobra engine/outdrive. The hesitations I have are;
1. It's an OMC...which has a bad rep around most boat forums...however, this outdrive is the one with the red shifter cables, so apparently those are much better than the old gear chewing ones! I know parts can be hard to find, and many marine mechanics don't want to work on them. The engine seems to run well (new bellows in '16).
2. The other issue is that he's changed the battery and gone through 2 different alternators due to an overcharging issue. Something is telling the alternator that the battery needs more juice...and the alternator gets super hot and charges at 15-16 volts. Could be a bad ground...bad send wire...bad regulator...bad harness.....
He's taken very good care of the boat (it's worth 8k easy, but he'd take 5k because he's frustrated he can't fix it...and he bought a camper trailer, and his wife said "one or the other!". Vinyl looks like it's 10 years old with little wear.
My question is...should I be concerned about it being an OMC...and should I be concerned about the overcharging issue being more than a 1k job? If I pay 5k for the boat, I could put another 2k into it and still be ahead value-wise.
Thoughts?
I'm interested in a '92 Four Winns Freedom 180 with a 4.3L OMC Cobra engine/outdrive. The hesitations I have are;
1. It's an OMC...which has a bad rep around most boat forums...however, this outdrive is the one with the red shifter cables, so apparently those are much better than the old gear chewing ones! I know parts can be hard to find, and many marine mechanics don't want to work on them. The engine seems to run well (new bellows in '16).
2. The other issue is that he's changed the battery and gone through 2 different alternators due to an overcharging issue. Something is telling the alternator that the battery needs more juice...and the alternator gets super hot and charges at 15-16 volts. Could be a bad ground...bad send wire...bad regulator...bad harness.....
He's taken very good care of the boat (it's worth 8k easy, but he'd take 5k because he's frustrated he can't fix it...and he bought a camper trailer, and his wife said "one or the other!". Vinyl looks like it's 10 years old with little wear.
My question is...should I be concerned about it being an OMC...and should I be concerned about the overcharging issue being more than a 1k job? If I pay 5k for the boat, I could put another 2k into it and still be ahead value-wise.
Thoughts?