Repower/ referb

[Shredhook]

Hey there fellas, I run a 2003 Cobra 201. It is powered with the Merc Pro XB 250. I love this boat and am considering a repower. Used boats are now over priced and new - well I'm in the wrong tax bracket... But anyway has anyone gone through an older motor and made it reliable or is a repower the best option. It is a strong motor but high hrs, and I like the fact it will hang with most new boats. Guys get pissed when an almost 20 year old boat smokes them. Any info is appreciated.

Cheers

[KYRANGERMAN]

If the engine is still running good then why get rid of it? I would take it to a mechanic and have him go over it completely and give you a list of things that are worn or should be changed. Probably save you a ton of money in the process.

[nightbasser]

You have one of the most reliable outboards ever made! As long as the injectors are kept clean the efi mercurys will run hundreds of hours

[Shredhook]

Good to know about the reliability of the motor. As far as why repower, I fish Lake Powell a lot and make long solo runs into the middle of know where. No cell service minimal radio contact ect. Sounds like it might be dialing in the XB. Like I said, love this boat and motor. Thanks for the info fellas

[javelin90]

Efi mercury's are very reliable.

[Jumping Jimmy]

if you can afford the gas and oil then keep running her. Worry about a replacement when you need a replacement. No need to fix something that is not broken.

[Mcrider55]

I think we have entered a new era in bass boats where people aren't impressed with all the new boats and find far better values in buying the older, classic designs of 30 years ago and the restore, update, and repower them for a fraction of the money today's rigs cost.

[Scott S.]

Send it off to a builder/tuner, Hop it up while freshening it up. Monty Racing works wonders on the Old Evinrude loopers, they get 450 ponies out of the old V6.

[Slicefixer]

I think we have entered a new era in bass boats where people aren't impressed with all the new boats and find far better values in buying the older, classic designs of 30 years ago and the restore, update, and repower them for a fraction of the money today's rigs cost.

Yep.....100% what I did. It's not that I'm not impressed, in many cases I'm beyond impressed. It's the COST to enter THAT game that's beyond belief....to me anyway. But I don't do the financing bass boats gig so I'm irrelevant in today's boat world. Plus, for ME, it's way more rewarding to take what some would call "junk" and attempt to reinvigorate it to a point that's unrecognizable from the starting point. It's a challenge plus I've learned so much from just diving in and getting it done.

[Lil Mo]

If she’s running great, don’t mess with it. Have the injectors cleaned, tune-up, etc… and run it. As far as keeping older boats, definitely with today’s prices. The way I figure, I can do a complete restore/repower(if needed) of my old rig and spend only a fraction of the cost of new and it would last the rest of my lifetime. My rig is an ‘89 and I’m 52.

[Mcrider55]

I took my 89 Champion 184 DCR to the lake today, first time since I have restored the boat. It's about 90% done and taken some hard work and a lot of elbow grease to get her to this point. I wasn't prepared for all the comments and questions I received, many of them from people with far newer boats. When I told them I had been restoring the boat, then the questions really took off. The best response was from a husband/wife couple who gave it a good looking over and then they asked how much I have in the total rig, which right now is about $15K. The wife immediately blew up and started berating her husband about spending so much money on their new Ranger. Somewhere in her talk she asked him why he spent 4x the money and asked him what his boat would do that mine wouldn't.

I bet that was a very long day and even longer night for him because she was PISSED.

[moldman]

Just finished a 1998 3.0 225 EFI to go on my 1995 Cobra 201D that I restored years ago. All bores cleaned up at .015 so that tells you how long one of these engines will last if you take care of them. 23 years is pretty good in my book. Have $1100 in parts and that includes injector cleaning. Parts are from ProMarine and they have good quality parts. Have never had a problem with anything from them. I do my own machine work and assembly so that keeps my cost down and I love doing it since I retired. If you have to have your block bored that would be an extra $50-$60 per hole in my area. Absolutely love the deep throaty sound of these 3.0 motors and the torque they produce.

[Finlander]

If you have a solid hull that you are happy with and would not mind keeping it much longer, re-power is a reasonable option. Re-build is way more practical, especially if its already a proven motor. There is not much in the way of cutting edge innovation in the past decade or so and the all composite construction has made holding on to a particular hull longer a viable option. The new new boats are just not offering enough juice to justify the squeeze IMHO.