Oh yeah. I'm screwed. But hello!

Thanks for the rec on the resizer, once photobucket got to it it wasn't so bad. I'll definitely take all the advice on not spending early on the battery. I'll check the junk yard and get back.
 
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On this last picture, note that one of the bolts is removed. I accidentally took that out while trying to remove the exhaust manifolds, and water immediately started pouring out. When I squeezed the biggest hose on the front, it would spurt out faster. I am not sure if this is normal, or a certain sign of doom.
Not a technical expert, just excerpting since some of the knowledgeable folks might have missed your comment at the bottom.

That is a HECK of a project!!!
 
All great suggestions from a seasoned restorer of several boats.

NorCal
Could you post some pics of that 1895 Cobalt:grin:

Jeez....one little typo and you guys have a field day. Little margin for error around here.
 
Well....the good news is it's not the worst boat I've seen but it's pretty rough. Another bit of good news is it's a somewhat unique boat. You don't see many of those and it could be fun to restore and at the same time modernize. Plan on buying a lot of marine plywood and Formica as that is what Sea Ray used for the interior bulkheads.

To do this right you really need a documented plan. You need to decide what you want to do. Do you just want to give it a quick douche, get it running and go fishing? Do you want to do a full restoration and make it something to be really proud of or are you looking at something in between. The amount of money you have to spend will be the limiting factor but once you decide what you want to do write out a plan on how you think you would go about it. The Cobalt I am restoring started as just a re-fresh but as I got more into it I found more stuff wrong. I have had to make all new bulkheads as I found ones that were soaked. The carpet is trash, the upholstery needs to be re-done the engine has problems and I need to go through the whole outdrive. But I have a list and an order to do everything. But as in your case, this is a unique boat and worthy of restoration.

As you start taking things apart be sure and label everything and take pictures. You may think you will know where that funny looking part goes but 3-6 months down the road it will look like something from Mars.

Good luck
Shawn
 
All great suggestions from a seasoned restorer of several boats.

NorCal
Could you post some pics of that 1895 Cobalt:grin:

Here you go.... 1895 Cobalt. I know its a bit rough


But I've decided to do this 1985 Cobalt instead....
 
Man that 1895 just needs a good buffing and a bilge heater.
 
Walmart has cheap batteries and so does costco.

You removed one of your head bolts that exposed a water jacket. those bols are torqued down.

on the sides of the block there should be two drains plugs i would open them and get all that old water and rust and whatever drains out of it.

not sure if your aware you need a specail pump to rempove the oil. dont just open the plug and let it dump in the bilge
 
You might consider pulling the motor and using a motor stand this will make the work go a lot quicker. Once you get the motor out of the boat you will be able to see what you got to do with the hull. Get on you tube search frisco jarretts he has done a lot of rehabs . And before you ask no you should not use any auto parts for your rehab.
 
You might consider pulling the motor and using a motor stand this will make the work go a lot quicker. Once you get the motor out of the boat you will be able to see what you got to do with the hull. Get on you tube search frisco jarretts he has done a lot of rehabs . And before you ask no you should not use any auto parts for your rehab.

Ok, so I gotta ask... Why are you telling him to pull the motor? He doesn't know the condition of it yet let alone us creepy internet folk who aren't even there. Or did I miss something?

Well....the good news is it's not the worst boat I've seen but it's pretty rough. Another bit of good news is it's a somewhat unique boat. You don't see many of those and it could be fun to restore and at the same time modernize. Plan on buying a lot of marine plywood and Formica as that is what Sea Ray used for the interior bulkheads.

To do this right you really need a documented plan. You need to decide what you want to do. Do you just want to give it a quick douche, get it running and go fishing? Do you want to do a full restoration and make it something to be really proud of or are you looking at something in between. The amount of money you have to spend will be the limiting factor but once you decide what you want to do write out a plan on how you think you would go about it. The Cobalt I am restoring started as just a re-fresh but as I got more into it I found more stuff wrong. I have had to make all new bulkheads as I found ones that were soaked. The carpet is trash, the upholstery needs to be re-done the engine has problems and I need to go through the whole outdrive. But I have a list and an order to do everything. But as in your case, this is a unique boat and worthy of restoration.

As you start taking things apart be sure and label everything and take pictures. You may think you will know where that funny looking part goes but 3-6 months down the road it will look like something from Mars.

Good luck
Shawn

This is the best advice in my opinion. Figure out what you want out of the boat, figure out where the boat is now and then make a plan.

We are all interested in the project and rooting for you. We can help with technical questions, point out safety concerns (spliced wires, automotive parts in the ER, etc) but you are the one that needs to plan since its you thats doing the work and writing the checks. For example, there are some that would pull the motor and outdrive to rebuild it for the peace of mind regardless of the current condition which is fine and I totally understand. And then there are others that would perform the needed repairs and maintenance (which is ALWAYs needed). I see you in the latter category since you want to get out fishing this season which is also fine but keep in mind when making your repair list that you want her to start and perform everytime you ask it to being off shore.

Best of luck!
 
Well....the good news is it's not the worst boat I've seen but it's pretty rough. Another bit of good news is it's a somewhat unique boat. You don't see many of those and it could be fun to restore and at the same time modernize. Plan on buying a lot of marine plywood and Formica as that is what Sea Ray used for the interior bulkheads.

To do this right you really need a documented plan. You need to decide what you want to do. Do you just want to give it a quick douche, get it running and go fishing? Do you want to do a full restoration and make it something to be really proud of or are you looking at something in between. The amount of money you have to spend will be the limiting factor but once you decide what you want to do write out a plan on how you think you would go about it. The Cobalt I am restoring started as just a re-fresh but as I got more into it I found more stuff wrong. I have had to make all new bulkheads as I found ones that were soaked. The carpet is trash, the upholstery needs to be re-done the engine has problems and I need to go through the whole outdrive. But I have a list and an order to do everything. But as in your case, this is a unique boat and worthy of restoration.

As you start taking things apart be sure and label everything and take pictures. You may think you will know where that funny looking part goes but 3-6 months down the road it will look like something from Mars.

Good luck
Shawn


Thanks again to everyone who is following along. Just knowing that there is help makes the project far less overwhelming.

I'm probably closer to "quick douche" to go fishing than I am a full restoration, at least for this season. This is mostly due to impatience and dying to get out this season, but cost is also a factor. I went to pick up the pink slip last night and apparently I had misunderstood our deal (bought it from a good friends uncle, we were mildly intoxicated, at best). The 200 bucks was only for the boat, he wants another 1,000 for the trailer. This doesn't seem wildly unreasonable to me, but still, it is my first official hidden 1000 dollar cost, haha.

The good news is, the guy has every single maintenance record from the day it was bought (suuuuch a big file, haha). He also gave me the original manual that came with the boat, which can't hurt. Also, he gave me a run down of how things went the last time the boat was out (2008).
The electrical was fine, as he remembers.
Planes on each side of stern were not functioning properly.
I/O drive was not going all the way down.
Boat was capable of 15-20 knots, but he generally ran at 10-12.
Compression test was solid. Ten years ago. LOL.
 
You might consider pulling the motor and using a motor stand this will make the work go a lot quicker. Once you get the motor out of the boat you will be able to see what you got to do with the hull. Get on you tube search frisco jarretts he has done a lot of rehabs . And before you ask no you should not use any auto parts for your rehab.


Had Frisco on in the background for the last few hours, I'll pay more attention as I know specifically what I am doing, step by step. I'll be leaving the motor in for now, half because I don't know how far away it is from functionality, and half because I have not the tools or the know how to do such a thing :). No auto parts, check :grin:
 
Walmart has cheap batteries and so does costco.

You removed one of your head bolts that exposed a water jacket. those bols are torqued down.

on the sides of the block there should be two drains plugs i would open them and get all that old water and rust and whatever drains out of it.

not sure if your aware you need a specail pump to rempove the oil. dont just open the plug and let it dump in the bilge

Awesome, this is very good to know. Headed out to drain the rest now. Thanks.
 
Looks like a GM 350 engine and Alpha out drive. Check out the pics of Oldskool in my profile. There are a few 76'ers here. Mine's a SRV200 with a Ford 302. Great project boat and if the haul is in good shape she'll make a good looking hard top.

If you want to peak at your 76 via Sea Ray check the link out.

http://www.searay.com/boat_graphics/electronic_brochure/company1729/1C1_27_74DERNIRI222.pdf

Yeah, if I can get her looking half that good, I'll be totally psyched. That thing looks awesome :)

Thanks for the PDF! I had found it earlier and then lost it again, so definitely saved me some time.
 
That's a cool looking boat & rare as others have said. That hardtop will be awesome if/when you get out fishing in the baking sun for hours.
As for the motor, hmmmm, I know that you want to keep costs down, get a quick turn around but need it to be reliable for offshore use. I'm not sure all three of those conditions go together. If that is a raw water cooled engine (assuming salt water as you talked of going offshore) and it has that many hours on it, it's closer to an anchor than an engine in my humble opinion.
When my 1979 260 DA hit around 1100 hours it had significant blow by from the cylinders making it's way into the crankcase. That combined with all those hours of salt water in the block convinced me to just purchase a new marine crate motor and drop it in. Well, that & my mechanic telling me rehabbing the old one was a total waste of money. Only you know what you can afford etc. But, if the hull proves sound with little work required, then I'd recommend a new motor, rebuild the drive & get out on the water for some trouble free (relatively speaking-it is a boat after all) boating & fishing.
If you go the other route, I wish you well but caution- be prepared for many calls to Sea Tow (yeah, you're gonna want a contract with them) and frequent, unforeseen problems. At least that was the experience my brother & I went through with the old Sea Bird we tried to restore on the cheap. Many tows back from the middle of the bay. Thank god we weren't using that one offshore. Best of luck with your project no matter how you tackle it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Todd
 
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As for the motor, hmmmm, I know that you want to keep costs down, get a quick turn around but need it to be reliable for offshore use. I'm not sure all three of those conditions go together.
That combined with all those hours of salt water in the block convinced me to just purchase a new marine crate motor and drop it in. Well, that & my mechanic telling me rehabbing the old one was a total waste of money. Only you know what you can afford etc.

Todd

Thanks for the input Todd. Are there more of you who feel this way? Let me be more specific: If you were planning on spending around 3-5k getting this beast in the best shape possible (cosmetic improvements aside, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it), would the current motor be the one you would use? Do we still need more information about the current motor, or is the 1182 on the hour meter and the pictures enough?
 
If I was going to be going offshore with a single engine boat, I would want the engine to be in optimum working order. It may be that the engine has survived the lack of operation, but most motors and mechanical things in general do better when run on a regular basis. Water in the engine is a red flag, even if it's where it belongs in there, I'm sure there is quite a bit of rust which could have some consequences down the road. But for what it's worth, see if you can get it to run. Do you have the manifolds and risers? That will be a $600.00 to 800.00 cost if you need to buy new, and if the engine is shot you'll have a set of manifolds to either sell or save for the next engine if they fit. Keep us posted, and Good Luck.
 
Welcome to the site. What an adventure you have coming your way. One area that i would look into before jumping in to deep would be around any screw penetrations on the transom. Carefully backout one or two screws and look for black dirt or root. These are the same it just looks like dirt.

If all goes well put some 3m 4200 in the hole and tighten them back up. If not then you have some more detective work to do.

A compression test would also be a good test for determining the health of your engine.
 

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