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New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:59 am
by Kyboater
Hello All,
I’ve been a Lake Cumberland boater for about 10 yrs. Our first boat was a 2007 Four Winns we purchased in 2009. That boat served us really well for several seasons. During that time we fell in love with Cobalt, so I searched until we found the perfect 2005 220 with a 6.2 MERC.( I’m a MERC fan, but no longer opposed to Volvo). We loved the size, performance, etc. All of our Cobalt expectations were met. The only problem is I developed a serious obsession with the R series. So the past year and a half I began searching for the right R series for us. I thought it was going to be a R5. Another step up in size right? After spending countless hours reading reviews, reading opinions on here, sitting in both, weighing pros and cons we decided a low hour slightly used R3 was going to be our next boat. I didn’t have any trouble selling my 220 so the only thing left was acquiring the perfect R3. This spring that turned into a major feat. Nothing was available locally and everything I pursued out of state was sold before I could make arrangements to go get. In the meantime my local Cobalt dealer had a left over new 2019 that met all of our needs: a color we liked, tower, premium sound with sub and transom speakers, table, Sof-trac throughout the boat, led lighting package, docking lights, and 6.2 MERC etc. The only issue was I promised myself I would never buy new.
Well I broke that promise today. They made me a deal way too good to pass up. Plus I really wanted to buy from a local dealer for service.
We take possession next Thursday.
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:42 am
by AsLan7
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Wow. Great into kB. 6.2 is a tremendous engine. Some amazing R3 memories await you and the fam!
Thanks for the pic too.

. Any outside pics? Plan on doing any water sports?
Welcome aboard mate!
.
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:14 pm
by Donedroolin
Congratulations on your purchase. Great boat love the color blue Cobalt has. Hears to the good times.
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:19 pm
by Big Block Power
Congrats!! You will loce it as we say around these parts!!
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:40 pm
by Kyboater
Thanks!
We raised our kids on water sports and my wife and I love to ski. We don’t spend entire days skiing and tubing like our younger days, more cruising and cove relaxing these days. Our daughter still enjoys us slinging her and her friends around from time to time and we do like to show the kids their parents still have slalom skills Lol. Once or twice a season fills the need though.
I was too excited to take any outside pics. My wife snapped this one. I’ll post some better ones once we take delivery next week.
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 2:13 pm
by TR5
Congrats!! on your new boat. Great color and a Merc how could you go wrong.
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:34 pm
by Alaskabound
Welcome Ky boater from another Ky boater. Great dealer and of course, Cumberland’s a beautiful lake. I boat on Laurel and the 220 does fine. If I was on Cumberland, I would go with the R series, too. That’s big water. Good luck, she’s a beauty.
Dub
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:59 pm
by Stagdad
Welcome to the site. Fellow KY Cumberland Cobalter here. I was shopping at Stokeley's before I found mine. All he had was Merc and I wanted Volvo. Although If he would have had the boat color, Horsepower and features I wanted, Merc would have been fine too. Good luck with the new purchase. What part of the lake do you frequent?
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 1:20 pm
by tgrace98
Congrats on the new boat! great color combo and sounds like it is loaded up!
I was in a similar situation as you last year. I was searching and searching for that slightly used R7 with all the goodies. I had looked at a few but nothing that had everything I wanted. Finally my local dealer gave me an offer on a stock boat they had that was just to good to pass up. I have 0 regrets going new and I am sure you will to. Enjoy the break in period isn't to painful!
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:22 pm
by Kyboater
We brought her home this afternoon and I gotta say the delivery process Stokley’s has in place is very impressive. As a bonus, after we got home and took the cover off we found some very nice Cobalt swag they placed inside which was a nice touch!
The maiden voyage is schedule for tomorrow morning.
Stagdad - We boat out of Jamestown. We keep the boat in storage about a mile from the marina.
tgrace98 - I was just reviewing the break in period section of the manual. Ugh. Any advice out there folks want to share? Does everyone follow it to a “T”?
Also, any R3 owners have any suggestions on a better trash can situation? That is one design I’m not a big fan of. It seems like the trash can will easily fall down into storage area below.
Anyway.... I’m on cloud nine tonight.
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:44 pm
by AsLan7
Kyboater wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:22 pm
Also, any R3 owners have any suggestions on a better trash can situation? That is one design I’m not a big fan of. It seems like the trash can will easily fall down into storage area below.
Anyway.... I’m on cloud nine tonight.
Tuscany you want to take this one?

Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:09 am
by Big Block Power
Drive it like you stole it!!! What engine?
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:15 am
by Kyboater
Big Block Power wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:09 am
Drive it like you stole it!!! What engine?
6.2 300 hp MERC
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:20 am
by Big Block Power
Nice. Let us know how she performs!!
Congrats on the merc!
Very the throttle. Mostly from idle to wot



Just kidding. My self I would drive it like I would normally do. That's just me.. These new engines like In a car just need to be run. Cobalt already ran it hard in the tank so go have fun!!
Re: New member from KY.
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:21 am
by tgrace98
Kyboater wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:22 pm
We brought her home this afternoon and I gotta say the delivery process Stokley’s has in place is very impressive. As a bonus, after we got home and took the cover off we found some very nice Cobalt swag they placed inside which was a nice touch!
The maiden voyage is schedule for tomorrow morning.
Stagdad - We boat out of Jamestown. We keep the boat in storage about a mile from the marina.
tgrace98 - I was just reviewing the break in period section of the manual. Ugh. Any advice out there folks want to share? Does everyone follow it to a “T”?
Also, any R3 owners have any suggestions on a better trash can situation? That is one design I’m not a big fan of. It seems like the trash can will easily fall down into storage area below.
Anyway.... I’m on cloud nine tonight.
Only thing I really did is I would not travel at the same RPM for more than 5 minutes. So get her up to 4k for about 5 minutes then go up to like 4500, then back down etc. I did that for about the first 15hrs. It went by pretty quick. I'm on a big lake so I just did a bunch of cruises to get it knocked out. Then take her back to dealer for the 20hr service. They change all the fluids and inspect the drive and what not to make sure everything is good to go.