"Peter Orban" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone,

I am looking at a '86 of the above boat in our neighborhood that is on
sale. The boat has the OMC Cobra out drive with the 4.3l V6 engine. The
seller is asking C$8k.
Any opinion on the boat, good or bad?

The boat looks clean and maintained from the outside.

This is what I learned from the seller: The seller is the second owner for
the last 7 or so years.
He claims to be a mechanic and working on his boat himself and he says
that the boat is running well and does not have any mechanical problems.
He did not know the actual hours on the boat, but he claims to have used
the boat little. The exhaust manifolds, bellows, water pump impeller (if
there is one on the out drive) have not been replaced by him. The boat was
only used in freshwater (Ontario).
He claimed the motor to have 180 HP and the boat 50 mph max. speed (both
sounds too good?). He did not know the fuel consumption and the size of
the fuel tank.
The boat is on a dual axis trailer with no brakes. The aluminum prop had
lots of small nicks.

Looking around the net, I could not find much on the boat itself (at least
Doral is still around), the engine seems to have good reputation, while
the drive seems to have had its problems.

If I decide to consider this boat seriously, I will have it surveyed by a
marine surveyor.
I am just wondering that with the age of the boat, and the apparent lack
of preventive maintenance, if some of the components/mechanicals would
need replacement/overhaul soon.

Any comments appreciated!

Thanks, Peter


Without knowing the engine hours but considering it's age it can be quite
possible that you may be looking at a rebuild of the engine in the very near
future.....with a cost of over $2,500 USD.

The impellor will have to be replaced (not a hard or costly job) as will,
most likely, the outdrive bellows.

If you decide to go forward with this I would ask for a log of all
maintenance and repairs (along with receipts). Make sure the engine oil and
filter has been changed at least every year. I would also have a mechanic
do a complete inspection of the engine including compression checks on all
cylinders.