86 Islander omc i/o ?

[mark72]

Went to look at an 86 starcraft Islander that a buddy wants to buy. It has a inline 4 cylinder omc with a omc outdrive i have never seen before. The outdrive had a big rubber boot between the motor and outdrive , amd the motor had a trim motor on the front in addition to the power trim. Anywon know much about these ? Why two power trims ? Any pros or cons? Omc any good?

[Nailer]

Most will recommend to stay away from the older OMC drives.

[nickoftime]

Omc is a good set got one on my boat as long as the boot is good shape no cracking.As long as the trim is concearned the out drive doesn"t have a trim it does but not for trimmming the boat with. The outdrive and the motor connect by a knuckle when you raise the outdrive it looses contact thats why you have one on the front of the motor it trims the motor therefore trimming the outdrive. always run the outdrive down when in gear

[N II Deep]

From what I know about OMC the main reason to stay clear is not so much function, but spare parts are getting very hard to come by.

[Broadcast]

Avoid. Can't find parts & costly repairs.

[mark72]

Thanks guys, Its a omc stringer drive i think after looking at somr pics on google. What outdrive do you recommend?

[1mainiac]

That is funny to see a Stringer on a 86 since they quit building it in late 84 so some were on 85's. On that boat it would be a 400 series Stringer drive the trim is on the front of the engine you raise and lower the engine to trim the drive. The rear motor is to raise and lower the unit which must be fully down when running. To be honest they were a good drive but parts are nearly gold plated in price now. I had a 85 Cobalt with one and cost to fix the drive was more than the boat was worth 10 years ago it is in a landfill in Muskegon now. Cobalts are not cheap boats either. I still have a few parts left over from my project.

[DIRTY DOG]

From what I know about OMC the main reason to stay clear is not so much function, but spare parts are getting very hard to come by.

I had this exact same set up on a 78 islander and Jon is exactly write, parts are getting very hard to find and very expensive. Shift springs the last I new we're going for $300.

[luremaker]

I would agree with everyone else to stay away from them ,I had one on a 78 and when the trim system go's out it is a pain to find parts and the cost reflects that. I know that Iboat still have some of these parts, but you can smoke the ball gears so easy and last i heard it was running 600 to repair them

[1mainiac]

Well Terry is partly right however this would be the final production which actually shares some lower unit parts with the Cobra Drives the upper gear box is however nearly the same as the one Terry had but in a different exhaust housing. This the part that will drive you nuts as there are 400 series and 800 series both were made in electric shift, Hydro Mechanical. and Mechanical shift. Prior to 76 they were all electric shift in 77 they changed the exhaust housing and lower unit to hydro mechanical shift. In 81 they changed the lower unit to cable mechanical shift and in 85 they went to the Cobra drive which other than early lower units was a complete new drive. Upper units came in tall and short boxes and multiple gear ratios as it was used to change the final drive to match the motor. I'll be honest I would not take one for free any more that does not mean they can't be a good drive just that they left a bad taste in my mouth. Sending my Cobalt to the landfill was my last straw. Another lasting memory was from my brother who had me help build a engine for a friend of his to put in his boat. It had a early electric shift drive and while doing a final tune at 5400 RPM the shift solenoid shorted out and slammed into reverse taking the transom out and sinking the boat in seconds. As he put it one min they were hauling butt the next the back of the boat was gone. Luckily it was a short swim to shore. This of course is not typical since very few people put that much HP thru one of those drives as it was likely making 400 plus HP at that RPM and the motor was a replacement for a OMC 120hp so some of it was being young and stupid.

[mark72]

Great story, boating can suck sometimes.