409SS stbd catalyst failure replace vs O2 Spoof?

[PNWoke]

I was getting some O2 sensor alarms about 10 hours ago, verified all 4 O2 sensors had wires damaged from lack of shrink wrap to support the wires.  No big deal, replaced them, everything seems fine for a couple days on the water.  Then one of the new O2 sensors failed and for some reason started noticing a little stinkier exhaust than normal which I thought may have been partly bc of cheap gas.  Nonetheless I did what I should have done originally and inspected the catalyst, sure enough the stbd catalyst has failed (port side looks great).

Usually I would just bite the bullet and replace it but there’s none in stock anywhere and I’m probably looking at waiting months for one to come available.  Not a big deal because it’s the end of the boating season here in Oregon.  That said, since the wait is so long I am wondering if anyone out there has good feedback regarding O2 sensor spoofing systems.  Obviously I would rather have operational cats, but I would be interested to know what pro’s and con’s this knowledge rich community can offer.  My goal would be to get optimum/normal performance without damaging the engine components or getting continuous service reqd alarms.  Has anyone done this successfully on these or similar engines?  I searched and found some threads where it’s been mentioned as an option to people but can’t find any where people actually did it.

Edited September 11, 2023 by PNWoke

[csleaver]

Cylinder misfire and water intrusion are the most common causes of catalyst failure.  There are ways to disable the O2 catalyst sensors, but there are not legal ways to do it.