I Have an Addiction
 

Lately these unbelievable deals are landing in my lap! This 2002 Cobalt 263 hasn’t moved out of the rack barn since 2014! It has a Volvo Penta 8.1Gi 375hp and a DuoProp drive. The hour meter is under 300 hours. I won’t even talk about what I paid for fear of being called a thief! 😁 It’s gonna take a lot of elbow grease to clean 8+ years of fork lift soot out of the vinyl and it will need a high speed wheel and cutting wax to bring back the shine! Can’t wait to get started!
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Your addiction is still less expensive than cocaine!
I would recommend a very extensive fuel system service as well, maybe even a fuel tank flush.

Great looking ride. Please post pics along the way!

What will you be using on the interior?

Great boat!! I had a 03 with a 8.1GXi. Motor was finicky but the hull was a peach. I went nuts on the options with teak walk through, stainless windshield and that massive stainless arch. The ones that came with the pickle-fork top were really cool looking.
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I'm not sure what I'll use on the interior. I'll try soft scrub with bleach or maybe a degreaser, possibly both. It's going to be an experiment to find out what works best without destroying the vinyl! Any tips on cleaning fork lift soot let me know!

https://themarinestrip.com/

Give this a look. That soot is going to be a ***** to get off, I bet.

Bleach, if it gets on the treads will ruin them just so you know.

Thief! :party-smiley-004:

Do not use Soft Scrub on the vinyl. All marine vinyl supposed has a UV coating or something along those lines that will end up getting stripped off. Same reason they say do not use Magic Eraser on marine vinyl. Try Spray Nine first and see where it gets you. Soft on the bristles if you use a brush.

Great boat. That was not cheap back in the day.

I think you could even order those with the HP500 blue motor...

Great boat! Keep us posted with pictures.

Agreed. The surface coatings will get destroyed by anything that’s even a mild abrasive. A few years back I used Westley’s Bleche Wite (now made by Black Magic) on an all white interior that had some deeply embedded staining. It came out amazingly. It’s safe for rubber and vinyl. Followed it with 303 Aerospace UV protectant.

Great boat, have fun with that project!

Starlite has a vinyl cleaner that did wonders on our interior

3M marine vinyl cleaner/ conditioner has worked well for me over the years. Getting harder to find locally.

Love the Cobalt. Was looking at a 323 recently.

I just had a crazy issue on my 246 Cobalt with the seats last season. They literally over night mildewed like they had been sitting for years. I tried Marine 31, bleach and water and another brand of a neighbor had and what worked best for me was the CLR mildew remover from Dollar General. I live pretty rural so we live off of Dollar General. I couldn't get the seats back to like new condition so Tank hooked me up with this. Seats turned out amazing and still holding up. My Cobalt is the same color. Your going to love that boat! Congratulations and pm me what you paid for it or post it. Ive got to know lol!!!!

Stored my boat for 2 years indoors with a loose fitting cover, no shrink wrap. Didn’t change the damp rid containers after year 1. When I took it out of storage, the seats, sunpad, even some interior fiberglass was full of mold. Tried everything but finally had no choice but to use a bleach spray. Everything came out amazing, just stay away from the stitching if possible. Even where I hit the stitching with bleach spray, no problems. Then used 303 protectant twice, everything turned out fine.

The Cobalt 263 is cleaning up nicely for a 20 year old boat! Wheeled out and shining, vinyl scrubbed and clean, cabin scrubbed and clean, etc. it’s time to start working on the motor!!
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Wow that thing looks brand new!

Looks great!!!!!

Hope it's not a gutted interior underneath that cover. :)

The boat looks Bristol now. Great find, and work!

Most of the vinyl is in good shape. There is a small tear in the sun pad insert, but I’ll probably have it replaced in time. I’ll get some pics of the interior next time I uncover the boat..
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Looks fantastic!!! I’ve always liked the lines of Cobalts.

The locked up Volvo Penta 8.1L Gi is getting replaced with a MerCruiser 8.2L Magnum. Gaining 5hp but I will need to get creative with matching the 8.2L to the Volvo Penta drive
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Nice job looks great
Hey I have two questions for you one when you go to Merc from Volvo how much of the wiring harness has to be replaced?

The next is thinking out of the box. I know it has a secondary swim platform that can be removed, but do you think it could be made into an outboard version the transom has the side the pods on an angle so is there enough width to mount a twin engine bracket?

The reason I ask is have you priced out a new Cobalt outboard boat in that range you know.

Long overdue update. I did not do a MerCruiser transplant. It was jumping through too many hoops, Ultimately, I purchased a remanufactured long block from Bishop Engineering and rebuilt the VP 496. Other than the oil pan, intake, timing chain cover and pullies, everything on the motor is brand new; fuel system, exhaust manifolds, risers, belts, plugs, starter, alternator, etc. The boat is back together and I'm enjoying the comfort of the extended cockpit and ride of the 22 degree deadrise hull with extended after planes. The VP Duoprop drive launches the boat on plane like a rocket and handles very nicely. I'm still under break in time so I have not done any full throttle runs but I have brought her up to the mid 50's a few times.
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Here's a photo of the freshly completed rebuild of the Volvo Penta 8.1L Gi (375 hp) big block. With the GLS exhaust manifolds, I'm probably closer 380-385 hp.
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