Cobalt Boats Forum

This was sort of a known issue for a while - the official service documents from Volvo said 8.5 or 9 quarts, but the engine only took 6.5. You're right and the "official" answer is wrong.

Marine-Tex and Devcon are similar products, both made by https://itwperformancepolymers.com/

I've never used Marine-Tex, but have heard it's similar to Devcon and has very good dimensional stability over time. A great solution to your problem - thanks for reporting back!

10W-40 is kind of a weird viscosity. You can find it in the high mileage oils bit not in regular synthetic. I would just use the Volvo at $43/gallon. Rumor is that Volvo Penta's 10W-40 is relabeled Amsoil, which has quite a good reputation. This was apparently an actual Volvo product photo from sev...

What viscosity oil does the manual suggest using? I would be surprised if it was 10W30 but I don't know what Volvo recommends these days. It's their own 10W-40 synthetic. Recommendation if that's not available is to use that or higher (i.e., no 5W-40, 10W-30, etc.), but also specifying that it be N...

I'm not sure that the Nauticus tabs, which seem to "retract" on their own once moving, will work as well as adjustable trim tabs when underway in choppy water. The whole "shock absorber" concept seems interesting though, and I've heard they can be significant step up over no trim...

Parks were not my favorite when I was looking - little wiggle room on price, and this general sense that I was lucky they let me in the showroom. I also visited Nisswa and Erickson Marine, and Erickson ended up being my clear favorite (and where I bought my boat).

Boat, RV, and other such dealers have had it easy since Covid - they could sell more inventory than they can get, and prices and profit margins just keep going up. It will be interesting to see how various dealers fare in the next economic down cycle - people tend to remember experiences like yours.

If it's really in need of some work, consider using a rotary buffing tool to make it easier on you and on the polish. I've used a full-size 6" one I have for my car and boat, but I've seen people use smaller ones (like 3") that are more maneuverable around stainless hardware with good succ...

A dive flag typically indicates a diver may be in the water, but is really for the safety of the diver when at the surface. It's commonly used for snorkeling, spearfishing, etc. too, so may be a reasonable option for swimming off the boat if they don't like a solid flag?

Not sure how I missed this late last season, but it was very timely then. My crew and I religiously used the orange skier down flag when starting or retrieving a downed skier or tuber (etc.). We also ALWAYS use the flag when we are stopped / at anchor, and we have someone around us in the water. Th...

John. @jhnmdahl Did you end up getting that wifi router that you linked above? If so, did it work as expected to get a network going on your boat? Anything that didn't work as you expected? I didn't install it on my boat since I don't do the party bus thing, but knowing that I could add WiFi for a ...

45 to 50 ft seems to be about the minimum, with people having different preferences between 50-75' Lots of sites recommend 60-65' for a beginner, up to 75' or more once you've got some skills nailed down. I wonder if FirstStar is thinking about wake surfing instead of wakeboarding? That would put hi...

I believe the letters are Times Regular (not Times New Roman) stretched to 125%, and the numbers are Garamond Italic stretched to 120%. Both fonts are easy to find online if you don't already have them.

Is there an insert the screws are crewing into, or is it just fiberglass? If it's just fiberglass, I'd think an epoxy-based filler like Devcon would be a good choice, maybe something like

https://a.co/d/8vuwFo3

There have been hints that Cobalt is bringing the Monsoon engines (GM/Mercruiser engines) made or tweaked in-house to Cobalt boat soon. They've been doing it with Malibu boats for a while - just curious what info people may have on their adoption into the Cobalt line.

John