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Buying 94 Liberator 201

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11K views 56 replies 15 participants last post by  MrSmokes73  
9
#1 ·
This past week I looked at a 1994 Liberator 201 with the King cobra 350. It looked pretty clean other than a few minor cosmetic flaws. It has been a lake boat since new with only one owner. The boat has been stored at a marina since new and the mechanic who has been working on it for the past 6 years showed it to me. He said the boat has hardly been used and has a very strong motor and out drive. My only concern was that while listening to it idle while on the trailer it sounded almost like it had a knock in the engine. The mechaninc told me that it was the flapper in the exhaust and the engine was fine. Does this sound right? Is there anything else I should know about these boats before going ahead and buying it?
 
M
#4 ·
I have metal internal flappers on my boat and it does sound like an engine knock while its idleing.

My boat has thru hull exhaust and you can just stick a broom handle in and hold them still and it goes away.

I don't see thru hull on that boat though?
 
9
#6 ·
I'm pretty sure the boat is entirely stock. It looked like the exhaust was coming out from right above where the outdrive goes through the hull. I thought about it afterwards and thought that if I had revved the motor a little it would have gone away if it was a flapper or sped up if it was a knock. But unfortunately the boat is 2.5 hours away from me so it's not real easy to go back and look again. I did put a small deposit on it though and have a sea trial scheduled on the 24th. At this point I'm just looking to educate myself as much as possible so I don't end up buying something that will need to be rebuilt in the near future. Other than that and a small tear on top of the engine hatch it seemed to be in extremely good shape. The interior was immaculate and comes with a bimini top and mooring cover.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Interesting, they must have added through hull after the boat was built, the 201 had exhaust like mine. Looks nice and since it's a Liberator, I like it :)

As noted above just apply pressure to the flappers with something to make it stop "rattling".

Here is a pic of mine for reference on the exhaust location.
 

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9
#12 ·
I'm not sure how I could hold the flappers open with bends in the exhaust pipes. I'll have to look at it closer when I go back up for the sea trial. Is there anything else that I should be checking on this boat before going ahead and buying it? Also would $5,500 be a fair price assuming everything works on it?
 
#13 ·
$5500 would be a steal for one in good shape where I am at, if it's in good condition. I sold my 87' 211 for $9300 just over a year ago. 94' is the last year of that boat, but the OMC probably scares a lot of people.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Take a picture of the exhaust, it has tips that come out under the swim platform??? The baffles should be jut inside the exhaust tip if they are internal.

EDIT: After looking at the picture on a real monitor (not on my phone), that doesn't have thru hull exhaust, it has thru hub (through the outdrive).

You have a found a rare libby right there, not many like that, you are the third I am aware of. Does it make it more valuable...no :)
 
#16 · (Edited)
This guy would know!!! Really rot was the only thing I looked for when I bought my boat, turns out I should have looked closer at everything else!

Surprised nobody has said it, but a quality marine survey could save you a fortune if you don't know exactly what you are looking for and are newer to boating etc.

One quick easy way to check for rot is to stick your finger in the drain hole from the hull into the bilge (the front of your engine area) and see if it is all rotted out, a little is ok, but if it feels like you can pull out several inched of rotted stuff, you'll need to look much closer. Like Ghawk said if you have someone check the engine mounts and they feels loose or they won't tighten up you need to take a closer look!

One more thing in 94' they don't show a 350 option, is it a 351 Ford? http://www.fourwinns.com/past_product/specs//1994/16 201 Liberator (p58-60).pdf


Good Luck! Oh and welcome to the site :)
 
#17 ·
Good luck with the Lib shopping:)
There are internal flappers in each leg of a "Y" pipe that flows down to the transom plate exit...
They will clatter, but you may want to be sure that is the noise just to be safe.
The boat looks nice. It is still a buyer's market too.
Enjoy the shopping! Again good luck!
 
9
#18 ·
Thanks for all of the great responses. I did some research about these boats before I went up and I did check the stringers and the floor and they both looked/felt very solid. That's some great advice about checking the drain hole for the bilge, I have been around boating for a little while and have never heard that, I'll definitely check that out when I go back for the sea trial. Sorry for the bad information, it is a ford 351, not a 350. The only soft spot I could find on the entire boat was on the engine cover. Where the hinges screwed into the plywood was a little rotted. But that's a pretty easy fix I can do myself. From what I was told this boat never sat in the water, it was either on a lift or on a trailer unless it was in use which wasn't very often.
 
L
#19 ·
5500 sounds like a good deal even if you did have some engine work to do. Only thing that would worry me is the drive. King cobra (cone clutch) is a good strong drive, but parts are very hard to come by. As far as the lay out of the interior and the ride, Liberators are very nice.(I might be a little biased)
 
Z
#26 ·
Hi burns my but when people are told cobra's are bad or hard to get parts for, ebay has 32 pages of parts then there are after market parts readily available and there are tons of used parts out there. Cobra had a problem of chewing up gears in the early go so they changed the pitch from 3 to 5 same problem come to find out it was the shifter cables after a change good to go , if the cables are red you should be good. buy it and enjoy it. With the bad rap the cobra's get from people that don't own one you get a lot of boat for a little money.

Gregg
 
9
#20 ·
I researched the drives and although a lot of people have said stay away from them because of the lack of repair parts available, I'm fairly confident this one is in decent shape. I'm buying it from the marina that has been doing the yearly maintenance on it it's entire life and it has been good so far. If I could get a couple of low maintenance years out of this boat I'd be very happy.
 
#23 · (Edited)
For $5500 it's not like you are sticking your neck out to far, if that KC is in fact in great shape it's worth over 2 grand (possibly 3g's) on ebay, they sell for a fortune...

There are some on there right now from $2899 - $4199!!!! Insane. That's just for the drive, the gimbal assembly is worth another thousand easy.
 
9
#24 ·
Well that makes me feel a little better. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly and it runs well and I can just enjoy it. But if something were to go seariously wrong with it at least I could recover most of my money.
 
#27 ·
Just in case some strange catastrophy occurs, the volvo sx drive is its twin so you may find an identicle part. But if you break that drive you are seriously doing something wrong. Keep it maintained and it will outlast you.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Let me be the first to say, If you're concerned about something, google it. If you want to see what part supply is like, check online part stores.

Dont let the people here scare or fool you with the insanly overpriced repair parts.

You can get almost everything at a resonable cost online.
 
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