2003 Cobalt 240 ski locker lock

[nlmajors]

Anyone know what the replacement is for this?

[Titaniumboy]

Is this latch the latch you’re looking for?
It appears to be a T-H Marine RL-1-DP that is discontinued.

https://www.boats.net/product/accessori ... NE-RL-1-DP

6E60638A-D8DC-4676-A302-EF54EB1E9245.jpeg

Do you think yours is original from Cobalt? My 2007 240 came with a stainless steel locking Southco latch M5-83-100-8-18 as OEM equipment.

246DCC11-2EC9-4C44-99CA-4D397655219B.png

[nlmajors]

I’m starting to find a lot of things that aren’t OEM on the boat. This may be on of them. I like that stainless steel one. May just have to replace the whole thing.

[Titaniumboy]

The Southco latch M5-83-100-8-18 on my ski locker appears to have also been discontinued by Southco.

I did find this latch that appears identical to the old Southco latch, but there is no clue as to the manufacturer. I have shown the locking version here, but there is also a non-locking version available for $64.95. The original Southco latch was made of 316 stainless steel, but the description of this latch doesn’t say whether it is the cheaper 304 stainless or the preferred 316 stainless.

https://www.boatoutfitters.com/square-c ... -d-latch-2

21E8D8A4-EBA0-4FA7-9701-A07CA90E4F0D.png

It seems expensive to me for a latch, but then everything nowadays seems expensive to me. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the $400 raw cost for a 2” stainless steel tube.

[Titaniumboy]

So after a bunch of sleuthing I found out that this latch is being made for Boat Outfitters by Marine Town. This latch is indeed made from 316 stainless steel. Apparently Marine Town has some long history with Orcas before Orcas was acquired by Southco.

https://www.marinetown.com/about/


Now that Southco has divested themselves of their marine line, Onmar does stock some of the Orcas/Southco latches and deck fills, but not the entire range that used to be available. Onmar sent this to me in an attempt to clarify who is who.

Marine Town is one of Onmar’s long-term partners that has been producing Orcas and Southco items. We still stock some Southco/Orcas latches and deck fills to a certain extent, but not all are a part of our standard product range. Therefore, we were suggesting some items we do normally stock instead.

However, Marine Town has a US office (https://www.marinetown.com/contact/) so I would recommend that you contact them directly with your questions as I am sure they can help you.

Good luck with your search, and you are of course welcome to contact us again if you have any further questions.

Best regards,
Onmar Customer Service

Marine Town appears to be a legitimate source for some of these orphaned parts. I don’t know if Marine Town has any other diistributors than Boat Outfitters. And to make things even more interesting, this little tidbit was on the Marine Town website.

Where are your products manufactured?

Marine Town products are currently manufactured in production facilities based in Asia.

The whole situation seems quite complicated.

[Titaniumboy]

Do you think yours is original from Cobalt?

So your black ski locker latch may be original after all. I came across this picture of a 2003 240 with the same ski locker latch as yours. I wonder what model year that Cobalt changed the latch style?

https://www.boattrader.com/boat/2003-co ... 0-8443785/

62440C6F-62BF-4CFC-A09F-107FBD6AB3BD.png

[Titaniumboy]

A T-H Marine RL-1-DP locking latch finally came up for sale on eBay. This is the first one I’ve seen in five months of watching. $36.99 with free shipping.

T-H Marine RL-1-DP

552D5C3C-07B3-4DE7-B728-745FD5EC024E.jpeg

[Titaniumboy]

Fixed the eBay link.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/T-H-Marine-RL- ... ect=mobile