TOPIC: Help me Identify

Been lurking for a while - decided to see if I can get any more detail on my boat I bought a few months ago - It is a 1967 made by southern fiberglass products - 15 1/2 foot, runabout, 198? 50hp merc - been lots of fun. I can't seem to find any detail about the manufacturer.

Thanks

Welcome aboard! We are picture people here. Very nice looking boat. If you were to post some pictures of the dash board area and the transome area it would be helpful

More pics

Steering wheel says Cobia on it

another pic

and a final

tag

Hi,
I am not sure what information you would like, but you do appear to have a Cobia boat, and 1967 would appear to reasonable for the year model. They were a prolific builder from Sanford, Florida (as your capacity plate states). I seem to remember that they were produced into the 1980's at least.
You appear to have a 1984 or 1985 Mercury Merc 50EL outboard, but the serial number can pin point this. These are excellent motors with an water pump impeller replacement at least every five years (in fresh water)(never start it out of the water though), check or preferably change the lower unit lubricant once a year, and use a high quality outboard oil such as Mercury or Quicksilver Premium Plus Oil @ 50 to 1 mix. An inspection of the wiring under the cowlings may be also wise, as the wiring is now 25 years old. Rotten wiring will cause costly ignition component failure if not corrected or replaced before arcing to ground occurs.
I enjoyed seeing pictures of your "new" rig.

Regards,
Joe
www.fergusonpoolemarine.com

Thanks Joe,
Many of the assumptions I made were confirmed by your info - I was just hoping for things like being able to find the brochure in the Gallery and such. Is it odd for the plate to say Southern Fiberglass and the company to be Cobia?
All of your maintenance recommendations are part of my regime, and the first thing I did when I picked up the boat was replace all the wiring .
Thanks Again

I see you have a NY registration. Looks like Sacandaga or ADK lake?

You're from Albany eh Red? Were you out on the Hudson yesterday? We saw a boat like yours, but I think it had a j-rude on it, not really sure.

We're down in Coeymans Hollow, mailing address Ravena, usually launch at the Henry Hudson Park in Bethlehem, but launched out of Coeymans yesterday and went down to Catskill.

Nice lookin boat ya got there!

Frank

Hey folks - First picture is actually Canada Lake - fantastic little lak, northwest of Albany - on the fringes of the adirondacks - I was at Cassayuna lake yesterday - great little mouth fishing there, I typically won't take that little boat on the hudson - much rather cruise it on the mohawk - way calmer waterway - haven't gotten a trolling motor yet so i like to drift and fish -

Thanks for the comments -

Boy Red, if you live in Albany, you got a lot more time that we do! I'd love to get to some small lakes up north, but it takes a while to get there and back. There are no lakes south of us, and the closest west is Blenheim-Gilboa, and the docks there are concrete. We've been up to the Great Sacandaga out of Northville, but that's it so far. Just got the boat on the water a few months ago, and still working on it. Seats today.

Frank

Frank,
I've only been on the water in my boat a few months also - but I am pushing to get as many hours as possible. South of Albany look around the route 17 - ellenville region - that's about 1.5 hour south of Albany - I was just at a lake in Pennsylvania and we passed by a whole bunch of lakes on the way there - they all had Indian type names - kerhonksin, minetontka and such. I have been exploring as many different lakes as possible this summer - did the 4th of July weekend at Indian Lake in the adirondack park - and it is by far one of the nicest lakes I have ever been on - large, clear - the only problem with it is it is so long when the wind gets whipping - watch out.

check out this link it will help you find them


www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9920.html





Enjoy

a guy by the name of Harold Slama started two companies and built boats under the name of Southern Fiberglass Products and Modern Fiberglass. The name was eventually changed to Cobia Boats which became a pretty big manufacturer in the 70s/80s. It looks like they had already started the transition to Cobia when your boat was built. A vintage Cobia Boats website probably has much more info.

cool thanks - so is that the MFG boats I see talked about?

MFG was a boat builder named Molded Fiber Glass Boat Co. located in Pennsylvania. No connection to Cobia or Southern Fiberglass Products.

Many companies used a "trade name" for their boat other than the company name.

Andreas