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I’m a new member of the forum and a “new” Cobalt owner. I saw this 1980 18’ tri hull on a country road with a For Sale sign about 2 weeks ago. My son and I stopped to look because I’ve been looking to purchase a vintage Cobalt runabout. The guy selling it said that it didn’t run, that there was water mixed in with the oil and it had been sitting for a couple years. I asked him how much he wanted for it. He said $400. I told him that I would Ike to come back and poke around when I had a little more time; also needed to convince the better half at home that this was a deal too good to pass up. After talking with my mechanic about repower options I went back and purchased the boat. Spent the past 2 days cleaning and scrubbing the grit and grime off.

The good: hull is CLEAN. No rot. A little oxidation but nothing that some elbow grease can’t fix. Lower unit appears good and I didn’t pay $400
The bad: doesn’t run and may need a new engine; upholstery is shot, carpet is on its last legs. I think they are original
The ugly: don’t see many trihulls anymore....because they’re kinda funny looking.

Pictures below show the boat in the field where I found it, in my front yard before washing, and in my front yard post washing.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress. Wish me luck!

Terry



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Nice find. It is always fun watching the old ones come back to life with a little love.

Welcome. The bones are there. Now let's stick a 502 in her and her r done.

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Wow Terry.

Fantastic job cleaning her up. Sounds like a long road of Cobalt surgery now that she’s out of life support. Great to hear you and your son are up to the task of bringing her back to her glory days. Some great advice from forum members will also help in the restoration process.

So glad you found us. And welcome aboard mate!

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Welcome from another Nor Cal member! That’s actually where it started as tri hulls where popular and unusually fast .
Keep us posted on the resto and look forward to seeing a Big block in there!

Cool story and welcome from Oklahoma! Some of us just came from a Classic Cobalt bomb run and those babies will fly in smooth water! When it gets choppy, yeah, it's not so smooth, but that's what that speed control stick on the right is.

Go to Older Boats and start a build thread where we can all watch!
(John should we have a Classic Category?)

Welcome from Ohio. I enjoyed your story and look forward to updates. Consider starting a thread to document your revival of that beauty.

Looks like a fun project. Be sure and share lots of pics.