Hi Sobie2, was in the same situation with a 23 Bell Boy last spring. I ended up to repower with the existing drive and that worked for me. Realistically for all the money and effort to get an outboard or a different sterndrive on the boat you should be able to rebuild-remanufacture the existing one and have some cash left over for upgrades. What really sucks on the old OMC for me was the steering but there are ways to get around that and upgrade.
I had a 302 rated at 175hp which was enough power but having said this, fully loaded a 225hp would have been nicer, anyway the OMC were used in bigger boats as twin 225hp configurations. Since the OMC is not putting any loads on the transom you should be fine as long as your stringers are in a good shape. I wouldn`t be afraid of the OMC, in the end they lasted 20+ years without to much trouble (propper service is a no brainer ;-) ) Sure in case of an outboard conversion it`s nice to gain the room inside but at what cost. I ended up to just buying bigger boats 24 command bridge and finally a 31 uniflite command bridge. In the end the inboard engines are cheap, easy to rebuild and if fuel economy is an concern (lot of use, long trips) with a fuel injection and ignition update the differences can not be that big. It needs fuel to produce the power. This is just an opinon or better the path I took. Good Luck. Keep us posted. Oliver --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
