Noticeable drop in speed over the years

[Tx 201]

I have noticed my boat is not a fast on the top end as it was when new, figured I was just carrying a lot more weight in the boat with all the equipment. Have noticed a couple Cobras for sale and when asked about top speed, boats with 225s on the back are running upper 50's and low 60s. The 201 was a low 70s boat loaded fairly well. I was talking to my brother that used to own a 201 like mine, he said his mechanic let him know Cobra didn't seal the top cap to the hull very well and over the years water gets in and gets trapped, the foam gets water logged and the boat is much heavier, thus reduced speed. His Cobra loaded would do 72 all day any day new, and only upper 50's when he sold it. He has a Triton now, and had it for the same length of time he had the Cobra. No drop in speed in the Triton, and same mechanic told him the first day he bought the Toon that he would not have the same problem with water intrusion. Has anyone else experienced this?

[*c*p*]

Original owner of my 216 said his would go 67 full load back in the day. I only get 61-62 out of mine with a 225optimax.

[yumdinger]

My 201D started dropping speed last year. I assumed it was a coil breaking down under load. I finally took it to the shop and when they did a compression test and leak-down, the numbers were all over the place, ranging from 90 to 115, with one as low as 65. The 225 EFI ('97) is supposed to be a 1000hr engine. Mine has only 303 original hours, and now it's going in for a rebuild. Kinda broke my heart.......... You might consider having your compression checked. Mine ran 77mph@ 6100rpm loaded and dropped to mid 50's around 5000rpm.

[MMosher]

Sick motor or your prop needs cleaned up and worked over.

[TomM]

I have no problems with mine. Mine runs the same speeds as it did when I got it in 2002. I have a 188.

Tom

[smithwind]

Due to a what seamed to be a small accident I had my Cobra 201sc looked at by a fiberglass repair shop and learned that my boat had water intrusion and that the transom was not structurally sound. Further investigation uncovered soaked flotation foam, stringers, etc. etc. and that the boat would cost more to repair than it was worth in their opinion. This damage did not result from a large hole in the hull or any such damage but instead from small holes drilled in the transom for mounting items such as transducers and from the two piece plastic drain tubes in the splash well. I had noticed that my boat was just a little slower than my son's 201dc and I have a larger motor 225 vs. 200 but I never thought much about it. As the shop told me the boat was no longer safe I have decided to completely rebuild it and replace everything that is wet and soaked myself, as the quote for having it done was more than I could justify spending. One sign of the damage I missed was brown lines or marks running down the transom from the tie down brackets and the same brown stains from the mounting bolts on the jack plate, it is vital to properly seal any intrusions through the transom on a plywood transom boat. One other item the shop weighed the rig and figured it was 500 to 700 pounds over what it should have been, easy to see how it would lose some speed being that much over weight. I was also surprised to learn the boat had a plywood transom as there were stickers on the transom that said "coosa" I made the assumption that the boat was one of the coosa composite boat Viper had made, however someone must have added the stickers over the years as the build sheet I obtained for the boat did not mention coosa anywhere on it. Still love my Cobra and can't wait to have it good as new this summer.

[Tx 201]

So did you take the entire top cap off and remove the flooring? I am going to weigh my boat/trailer once i find out how much an ez loader trailer weighs to see if I am carrying extra weight. For the price of new boats, I could turn this into a winter project if it shows signs of being water logged. So far all my transom area is still strong. Earlier it was asked if my motor was in need of a rebuild, did that a couple of years ago and with low water conditions I haven't run the boat much until this year. I had some work done to the motor while it was apart, runs better than stock. I am sending the prop off to get it reworked as during low water conditions I curled an ear a little.

[smithwind]

Yes I am removing the top cap currently at that stage of things but slowed down by the weather and other distractions. I will most likely post some photos in the restoration section when I get into the real meat of the rebuild. I don't remember what the weight of my boat was but it was a lot more than it should have been.