1999 Cobalt 232 restoration

[baktasht]

Welcome from Illinois. Love the dash panel, I’ll be doing something similar, but I’ll probably hydro-dip them. Keep the pics coming!

I'm not 100% sure that I like the hammered gray color yet. I'll post more photos once I get it installed.

Dropped the boat off today with Andrew at Castaway Marine here in Round Rock. Super nice guy. He's going to go through everything mechanical and fix what needs fixing. Should know an update from him tomorrow.

[Lockey14s]

Love these build threads!! keep us updated! great looking 232

[skno]

Looks fantastic, cant wait to see the seadek in place.

[rrfisher]

Thanks for the warm welcome. Another member on another forum pointed me here. Looks like a great group of folks here at CobaltChat. Yup, those are my two little boys helping. They love getting involved in all the manly projects I'm in Round Rock, right outside of Austin.

Sweet! Glad you made it.

[baktasht]

Andrew over at Castaway Marine should be finished up with the maintenances on Monday. I'll post some photos of the drive shower installed and the boat once it gets back. List of things that Andrew is fixing up so far:
* Some bearings in the outdrive/bellow area that were letting drive oil through
* Raw water pump
* New spark plugs
* Oil change
* Steering fluid change
* Checking all the other components while he has things apart, and replacing parts as needed

I ordered a Simrek Halo Max drive shower. One of our last boats with a Bravo3 outdrive always seemed to burn off drive oil after long runs even at 25mph, and on one occasion the cap on the reservoir popped off. After some research this time around it looks like a drive shower will help keep the drive oil temperatures down and also the outdrive temps down considerably. And another benefit is that there is almost no white chalky residue buildup on the outdrive since the water doesn't "burn" off of the outdrive after it gets hot.

If you want to order one for your Bravo outdirve, I would recommend the Simrek Halo Max. After much research and talking to a couple of local Mercruiser oldtimers, I'm convinced the Halo Max is the best performing one for the Bravo outdrives.
Link here: https://www.driveshowers.com/simrek-mul ... p117459061

Just arrived yesterday. Such a simple device, but very well made with good attention to detail. No crush bends, good solid welds on the tabs, deburred drill and cut edges so that there aren't any debris or sharp spots. Overall, very good workmanship.

[Big Block Power]

Very cool. Bunch of us that had our have mercs have all purchased that drive shower for the same reasons. Glad she's getting fixed up.

[thunder550]

I ordered a Simrek Halo Max drive shower. One of our last boats with a Bravo3 outdrive always seemed to burn off drive oil after long runs even at 25mph, and on one occasion the cap on the reservoir popped off. After some research this time around it looks like a drive shower will help keep the drive oil temperatures down and also the outdrive temps down considerably. And another benefit is that there is almost no white chalky residue buildup on the outdrive since the water doesn't "burn" off of the outdrive after it gets hot.

If you want to order one for your Bravo outdirve, I would recommend the Simrek Halo Max. After much research and talking to a couple of local Mercruiser oldtimers, I'm convinced the Halo Max is the best performing one for the Bravo outdrives.
Link here: https://www.driveshowers.com/simrek-mul ... p117459061

Just arrived yesterday. Such a simple device, but very well made with good attention to detail. No crush bends, good solid welds on the tabs, deburred drill and cut edges so that there aren't any debris or sharp spots. Overall, very good workmanship.

Don't forget my favorite part....NO DRILLING! (sorry Driller)

[baktasht]

I was trying to figure out what to do with all the plywood from the crate that the swim platform came in. I used a bunch of it today along with some left over cedar fence pickets to make a temporary doghouse for one of our pups that spends most of it's time outside. We bring him in at night on the nights when it gets below 40. This will give him some shelter in case it gets cold for the winter here in Texas.

[Big Block Power]

That looks like a turtle sanctuary

[baktasht]

That looks like a turtle sanctuary

[baktasht]

I picked up the boat from Andrew at Castaway Marine yesterday. WOW WOW WOW. I have to say, by far the best mechanic/shop that I have ever come across, and I've come across a lot of them in my years as a gear head. I highly recommend Andrew at Castaway Marine if you're in the Austin/RoundRock/Temple area. He's amazing.

On to the fun stuff. I had some parts arrive that are ready for install, and a few things still left to finish from before I dropped it off for service with Castaway Marine.

I received the following over the last week or so. New steering wheel (I'm in love with this design, hopefully it looks good when installed). Battery tray for a second battery, and mill-spec terminals to replace the old stock ones on the existing battery, and the new battery.

[baktasht]

New steering wheel on.

[baktasht]

Now that wood looks so yuck. Any ideas on what to do with the wood?

[baktasht]

Simrek Halo Max drive shower installed. Very easy to install. No drilling. No modifications. Just a straight bolt-on installation.

[Big Block Power]

Nice. Use some toilet bowl cleaner on the top of that drive to clean her up. Lysol gel worked great for mine.