'93 190 Horizon. 20 year revival (Pic heavy)

Jdpber · **Posted:** Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:51 pm

Yea not too worried.

Jdpber · **Posted:** Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:29 am

finally pulled the trigger on a Skeg Guard. My skeg was missing about 2.75" and well i did not like that.. so here it is.. paid $71.83 shipped from oddly enough WALMART online was the best price by a land slide and i paid $2 for 2 day delivery.. next will be a shiny SS prop.. possibly a high five.. we will see.. i plan to test a few SS props this summer and see what performs best.. little bit of transom bling..

Review. the construction and welds are top notch.. the install took all of 10 minutes. i used a rubber mallet, slipped the Guard over the skeg until tight then a few precision sacks of the mallet and she was all the way on nice and snug.. Drill 2 holes (i went half way from both sides to insure that the holes were perfect straight thru to the opposed side.. Then instal the supplied flush mounting alen bolts and flush alen nut that have blue lock rite already on the threads.. good and tight and she was done... i plan to do a dinner cruise tonight and i will report any performance changes.

SurlyClay · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:22 am

This is an amazing rebuild, totally going to take some inspiration on cleaning mine up.. once I know what condition the engine and prop are in, starting to read plenty of bad things about the cobra drive.

Jdpber · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2014 1:09 pm

The cobra drives are better than the alpha merc drive as long as the cobra was maintained. They hold more oil and do not overheat near as bad as the alpha drives constantly do.

Capt. Hoss · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2014 1:22 pm

I am pretty sure ric will be by to tell us OMC users we need to get rid of them, but on the other foot LouC will be by to tell us how to keep them running like a top.

LouC · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:10 pm

The main thing with the Cobra is that its not that easy to find mechanics who know how to set them up right (shift cable adjustment). Some parts are not that easy to find but I have been able to get anything I needed, either OE from BRP, or aftermarket.
The shift cable adjustment procedure in the original shop manuals was confusing and difficult to follow. There are updated instructions and special tools available that make it much easier. I was able to do it myself in about 2 hrs last spring. What happened was that the adjustment changed on the cable that goes from the control to the engine bellcrank so I was not getting equal throw in fwd and rev. So it was starting to grind in rev. I pulled the drive off, set the shift rod height first. Then adjusted the transom shift cable with the cable tools. Put the drive back on and adjusted the cable from the control to the engine bellcrank. After that checked that it was getting full engagement in fwd and rev. Perfect, shifts with 2 fingers like a new drive.
A Merc Alpha does not shift as well, has less oil capacity, but every marine mechanic around knows them. I see no reason to get rid of a Cobra if you can do what I did in 2 hrs. In fact, Crowley Marine in Colorado is selling new units (they have a company making the parts they can't get from BRP) and when the time comes I'll buy one of theirs. The only other options are:
1) Convert to Volvo SX (nice but the drive is very pricey and a properly set up Cobra shifts as nice as a Volvo....yes....IT DOES...)
2) Convert to Merc Alpha with SEI transom mod kit (good idea, clever but unless I can try one to see how it shifts I'd rather have another Cobra).
3) Pull engine, remove transom mount, convert whole works over to a Merc Alpha system (if you're keeping the boat forever, might make sense, but a lot of work and expense)....

I used to tease my OMC mechanic that he could not retire till he taught me how to set it up (they did it for me like 10 years ago) now I can tell him yeah you can retire LOL....

Maybe when I retire from my present job I'll start doing Cobras, there are not that many here in the salt pond but I bet there are in freshwater regions.....

Jdpber · **Posted:** Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:37 am

Well after 2 years the GENERIC "one size fits all" 18-20' boat cover for $70 or so from Academy Sports finally dry rotted, inside covered in mildew and tore all up a month ago in a store. i had to duck tape it back together to last the 3.5 weeks that is took for my NEW CUSTOM Fitted SUNBRELLA cover to be made.. and HOT DAMN! i love this thing.. i had them put reinforcements at all of the contact points, interior support post points, the stern swim platform upper gunnel corners. I had the length go to the rub rail and a cord for tightening to the stern eyes, 10 tyedowns on each side. It is bouble seamed double stitched joints. reinforced double material at the windshield. And most important the extra material for the bimini top in front of the windshield. As that is where i store the bimini when down and under cover. the last cover was lacking in material in this area.. Well it is a custom cover that took 3.5 weeks to have made well worth the wait and well worth the $$$ spent. The Sunbrella has a 10 year warranty against everything.. will not Fade, rot, tear, mildew, etc etc.. basically if you do not know about SUNBRELLA it is the best baddest mamma jamma canvas in the marine industry.. Both my cover and Bimini are Sunbrella and i highly recommend the stuff.. not cheap not cheap at all but you get what you pay for. My dads last boat cover lasted 18 years and you guessed it. It was Sunbrella.

rear corner at the start of the down slope to the swim platform. note the 12"x12" reinforcement square..

under the rub rail rope tie

LouC · **Posted:** Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:48 pm

Back in 2003 I had a cockpit and bow cover made of Sunbrella and it still looks good. This boat sits on a salt water mooing out in the sun all day from May to Oct. In the winter I take off those covers and use a canvas cover that I built a support for to keep it from caving in under snow load. Sunbrella is good stuff because it holds up and allows the boat to breath, which is very important in reducing both mold and rot.
Here's a pic of the frame I built. I made supports that are attached to the windshield frame that the cross bows fit into. This winter was a real challenge due to the amount of snow we got but it held up fine.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fplh6p6z0q3aw ... er%202.JPG

Jdpber · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:38 am

yea it is great stuff.. one of the reasons i went ahead and got what i paid for.. a top quality bimini and now a cover.. i am at the point in my life that i can get what i want and i will do so..

GottWhat · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:41 am

I am new here and wanted to say awesome thread and keep up the good work!

kd4pbs · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:34 am **Posts:** 350

One thing you'll notice about the skeggard; it holds water. I can't imagine that having water sitting in there all the time between aluminum and stainless is a real good thing.

Jdpber · **Posted:** Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:02 pm

kd4pbs wrote:

One thing you'll notice about the skeggard; it holds water. I can't imagine that having water sitting in there all the time between aluminum and stainless is a real good thing.

was planning to drill a hole in the bottom

kd4pbs · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:34 am **Posts:** 350

Excellent solution! I have also wondered if filling the skeggard up with epoxy before putting it on would help. Sure would be a mess to clean up, but not impossible, and would likely seal it well.

Jdpber · **Posted:** Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:47 am

easily can just allow it to drain as over half of mine is hollow because of the missing skeg. i will say that the top seal is TIGHT!

Jdpber · **Posted:** Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:38 am

We'll i found some scans of the original dealer options lists for my boat.. i was needing these fuel flow charts. Come to find out that i was cruising about 5-600rpm lower than optimal cruise.. now i have hard numbers to compare current performance to and to make changes.. also thought that i had about a 20 gallon fuel tank and come to find out that i have a 35. Which is nice to know these little things.

www.iFourWinns.com

'93 190 Horizon. 20 year revival (Pic heavy)

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