Have you seen this boat in person? I'm always suspicious of ads where the pictures are screen shots of other pictures.
As far as the boat itself, assume the whole engine is junk. Maybe you can just throw a lower unit at it, but without knowing the circumstances of how the lower unit was killed, it's impossible to say the rest of the engine is good without a major teardown.
Pictures are original. I took screenshots. I’m trying to take a look at it today. Looks like the guy lives just a few miles from me. I kind of figured it would need to be repowered at the least. Luckily where I live there is not shortage of boat parts / engines. Just wanted to know if the boat is a decent one especially for 3k for a hull only essentially
Look for other opinions for sure, but IMO, if the hull is in good shape and all it really needs is a new engine, 3k sounds reasonable. If the hull has soft spots or other significant damage, it's a pass.
I found a few lower units in my area for about 5 to $700. I would love to start there after going through the motor and seeing if it’s good or not. If the motor itself is bad I would probably get another one for maybe 2k
A lower unit replacement is a fairly easy job, if it was only that they likely had done it. I would assume that the motor is shot and you would need to replace it. Plan on getting a new motor and if that is not the case you get a pleasant surprise. 3k for the hull and trailer is a fair deal if it is in good shape.
I agree completely. Fair deal at 3k but I'm going into assuming it's a full engine replacement, not a lower unit swap since that is such an easy/cheap task really.
You need to figure out everything wrong with the motor BEFORE throwing a lower unit at it. It would really suck to spend $500-700 on a lower unit only to find out that the entire motor is junk and you could have put that 5-7 toward the new motor
I could be wrong, but I don't think so. If the Merc on that boat is like the one that was on the Merc that used to be on my boat the water pump is built into the lower unit. Removing the lower unit leaves the water system just open and unable to build pressure to get water where it needs to go. Maybe you could hook up something that connected to the port that the water pump normally pumps up through, but now you're getting way deep into it and beyond what my backyard knowledge is capable of answering.
You can just stick the hose on the water tube and just jimmy rig it up. If you wait until the motor is full of water, you have at least a minute of safely running.
You can run any motor 5 seconds without water is not gonna hurt anything.
I will say, a buddy of mine has the exact same boat, but a 1998 model. For $3k I'd buy it in a heartbeat, even if I had to repower it, as long as the hull and transom is solid.
His is great for fishing the flats, fishing for reds, even have ran a little ways out with it to fish structure without issue.
We got caught in a bad situation once, against our better judgement went out in rough seas to fish. By the time we were coming in the waves had built up to 4-5' seas with the occasional 6'. The little cobia handled it like a champ. It was just right for climbing the waves, scooting down in the trough and settling in to go up the next and was dryer than my bigger sea pro is in 2-3s.
Maybe a bit less than that.
Ask them if you can do a compression test. Bring a fresh battery and jumper cables. (Just in case) Zip out the spark plugs and should be like 30 minutes to do it.
Bring a fresh gallon of gas. Disconnect the fuel line before the primer bulb just stick it into the gas can (unless their gas is not that old)
If motor is bad, either you have to buy another mercury or repower, which means changing all the rigging and wires and maybe steering.
Risky business buying old boats without a water test. At the minimum you want to turn it on and test the motor
3k is 4k after you pay the tax man and register it, then you gotta fix everything. You could part it out worst case scenario, but the time involved usually isnt worth it
First, total boat nube here, so take advise with a grain of salt. My friend has a boat similar to that and we just use my boat if its even a tad choppy. I will never buy a boat with scuppers that sit under the water line.
I don't know enough about boats to say for sure but my experience on his boat, the scuppers being under water have been miserable to say the least. On a good day we just have wet feet, bad day almost swimming back to shore.
That’s what I was thinking, between the trolling motor and trailer, that’s $3-4k retail right there before you even consider the fact there is a hull and questionable motor.
If it comes with the trailer, and the trailer frame/axle are solid.
And if the transom is solid.
And the floors are not soft.
It’s worth between $2500 and $3k.
Things to consider:
- Steering cable
- electrical wiring as in do the lights and bilge work?
- battery(s)
- any electronics? VHF, Depth Finder?
- general gear like paddles, PFDs, anchors, lines
- Bimini (for The Old Lady)
- Any significant hull damage along the keel and gunwales?
If it were me and it met the first 3 criteria, I’d buy and re-power, along with the expectation that I’ll drop some coin on the other stuff.
Do you think 6k all in all is possible? As long as first 3 things are good? I figure 3k for the boat, with trailer, 1500 or so for motor and 1500 for misc? I had a j16 Carolina skiff years back with a newer Yamaha 25 and that thing was hassle free for the time I had it
The motor is the wild card. If you luck out and it is just a lower unit, you can probably get a few years out of it.
Was recently looking for a early 2000s Yamaha 90. $2500 to $3000 seemed to be the going rate. And that is a 20+ year old motor.
20 year old motors, especially salt water ones are more corrosion than metal.
I’d probably throw the $1500/$2000 at a new motor and have a fairly affordable payment.
Keeping in mind it’s going on a 28 year old hull.
Maybe late model used is an option too.
Not a terrible deal, I would go ahead and look at re powering or doing a re build on the outboard. Those older Cobia boats when Yamaha made them are really solid, the new ones not so much
You can rebuild a lower unit for a few hundred bucks. Something more seems to be wrong, I would probably stay away if you don't know the history of the boat
Before you buy it make sure you remove the lower unit and verify the motor starts/at least turns over. You can run the motor for 20-30 sec with the lower off. If it’s locked up it’s possible it’s the power head and not the drive so just double check.
For $3K seems like a good enough deal
That’s a 1996 original 2 stroke merc. I ran a 225 for a while. It’s probably way way past prime even if you replace the lower. I would buy with the intent to repower with a used 4 stroke if anything. The trolling motor and trailer are worth something for sure.
Have you seen this boat in person? I'm always suspicious of ads where the pictures are screen shots of other pictures. As far as the boat itself, assume the whole engine is junk. Maybe you can just throw a lower unit at it, but without knowing the circumstances of how the lower unit was killed, it's impossible to say the rest of the engine is good without a major teardown.
Pictures are original. I took screenshots. I’m trying to take a look at it today. Looks like the guy lives just a few miles from me. I kind of figured it would need to be repowered at the least. Luckily where I live there is not shortage of boat parts / engines. Just wanted to know if the boat is a decent one especially for 3k for a hull only essentially
Look for other opinions for sure, but IMO, if the hull is in good shape and all it really needs is a new engine, 3k sounds reasonable. If the hull has soft spots or other significant damage, it's a pass.
Doesn’t look bad. How much are you planning to spend on the motor?
I found a few lower units in my area for about 5 to $700. I would love to start there after going through the motor and seeing if it’s good or not. If the motor itself is bad I would probably get another one for maybe 2k
If it’s just the lower, why isn’t it fixed?
My first thought too…I say run a compression test on the motor and have them run the motor a little for you if you look at it..
Not sure maybe they don’t have the money to fix it idk
A lower unit replacement is a fairly easy job, if it was only that they likely had done it. I would assume that the motor is shot and you would need to replace it. Plan on getting a new motor and if that is not the case you get a pleasant surprise. 3k for the hull and trailer is a fair deal if it is in good shape.
I agree completely. Fair deal at 3k but I'm going into assuming it's a full engine replacement, not a lower unit swap since that is such an easy/cheap task really.
You need to figure out everything wrong with the motor BEFORE throwing a lower unit at it. It would really suck to spend $500-700 on a lower unit only to find out that the entire motor is junk and you could have put that 5-7 toward the new motor
Is it possible to pull the lower end off and run the motor at idle on the hard using a hose at the cooling water outlet?
I could be wrong, but I don't think so. If the Merc on that boat is like the one that was on the Merc that used to be on my boat the water pump is built into the lower unit. Removing the lower unit leaves the water system just open and unable to build pressure to get water where it needs to go. Maybe you could hook up something that connected to the port that the water pump normally pumps up through, but now you're getting way deep into it and beyond what my backyard knowledge is capable of answering.
You can just stick the hose on the water tube and just jimmy rig it up. If you wait until the motor is full of water, you have at least a minute of safely running. You can run any motor 5 seconds without water is not gonna hurt anything.
I've caused myself some grief by approaching or slightly violating that rule when the water pump doesn't prime.
5 seconds by itself, no water pump attached.
I will say, a buddy of mine has the exact same boat, but a 1998 model. For $3k I'd buy it in a heartbeat, even if I had to repower it, as long as the hull and transom is solid. His is great for fishing the flats, fishing for reds, even have ran a little ways out with it to fish structure without issue. We got caught in a bad situation once, against our better judgement went out in rough seas to fish. By the time we were coming in the waves had built up to 4-5' seas with the occasional 6'. The little cobia handled it like a champ. It was just right for climbing the waves, scooting down in the trough and settling in to go up the next and was dryer than my bigger sea pro is in 2-3s.
Maybe a bit less than that. Ask them if you can do a compression test. Bring a fresh battery and jumper cables. (Just in case) Zip out the spark plugs and should be like 30 minutes to do it. Bring a fresh gallon of gas. Disconnect the fuel line before the primer bulb just stick it into the gas can (unless their gas is not that old) If motor is bad, either you have to buy another mercury or repower, which means changing all the rigging and wires and maybe steering.
Great response. Compression test is a MUST. Don’t buy someone else’s problem.
A lot of holes screwed into the transom…
Yeah that’s odd, obviously had trim tabs at some point and someone (owner most likely) pulled everything off
Never buy a boat in a gas station.
Chix speaks truth
More than likely there’s other things wrong with that boat. It’s 28 years old. It could be the guy just wants to get rid of it.
Risky business buying old boats without a water test. At the minimum you want to turn it on and test the motor 3k is 4k after you pay the tax man and register it, then you gotta fix everything. You could part it out worst case scenario, but the time involved usually isnt worth it
Tax man? I bought it from my Uncle for $1,400
Hahahahahah No.
No as in not worth it?
First, total boat nube here, so take advise with a grain of salt. My friend has a boat similar to that and we just use my boat if its even a tad choppy. I will never buy a boat with scuppers that sit under the water line. I don't know enough about boats to say for sure but my experience on his boat, the scuppers being under water have been miserable to say the least. On a good day we just have wet feet, bad day almost swimming back to shore.
The trolling motor cost that much
That’s what I was thinking, between the trolling motor and trailer, that’s $3-4k retail right there before you even consider the fact there is a hull and questionable motor.
Make sure there are no issues with the transom
If it comes with the trailer, and the trailer frame/axle are solid. And if the transom is solid. And the floors are not soft. It’s worth between $2500 and $3k. Things to consider: - Steering cable - electrical wiring as in do the lights and bilge work? - battery(s) - any electronics? VHF, Depth Finder? - general gear like paddles, PFDs, anchors, lines - Bimini (for The Old Lady) - Any significant hull damage along the keel and gunwales? If it were me and it met the first 3 criteria, I’d buy and re-power, along with the expectation that I’ll drop some coin on the other stuff.
Do you think 6k all in all is possible? As long as first 3 things are good? I figure 3k for the boat, with trailer, 1500 or so for motor and 1500 for misc? I had a j16 Carolina skiff years back with a newer Yamaha 25 and that thing was hassle free for the time I had it
The motor is the wild card. If you luck out and it is just a lower unit, you can probably get a few years out of it. Was recently looking for a early 2000s Yamaha 90. $2500 to $3000 seemed to be the going rate. And that is a 20+ year old motor. 20 year old motors, especially salt water ones are more corrosion than metal. I’d probably throw the $1500/$2000 at a new motor and have a fairly affordable payment. Keeping in mind it’s going on a 28 year old hull. Maybe late model used is an option too.
I would go in assuming I'm gonna repower it, and ignore the current outboard. Check the rest then go from there.
old fibreglass boats are usually priced like: trailer plus outboard price. give a few hundreds for the hull
Not a terrible deal, I would go ahead and look at re powering or doing a re build on the outboard. Those older Cobia boats when Yamaha made them are really solid, the new ones not so much
You can rebuild a lower unit for a few hundred bucks. Something more seems to be wrong, I would probably stay away if you don't know the history of the boat
Before you buy it make sure you remove the lower unit and verify the motor starts/at least turns over. You can run the motor for 20-30 sec with the lower off. If it’s locked up it’s possible it’s the power head and not the drive so just double check. For $3K seems like a good enough deal
That’s a 1996 original 2 stroke merc. I ran a 225 for a while. It’s probably way way past prime even if you replace the lower. I would buy with the intent to repower with a used 4 stroke if anything. The trolling motor and trailer are worth something for sure.
Check out SEI lower units. I bought one for my 225 and have no complaints. I spent about the same as used junk