repower from stern drive to outboards

 Hi guys,

just wondering / chasing some advise from anyone who may have repowered their boats from inboards / stern drives to having a pod attached & new outboards.

I am working on a plan to purchase a 26 - 28ft boat & removing the engines & replacing them with twin outboards.

I would just like some in fo from those that have done it with regards to

-- approx costs of engine removal

-- cost of pods, including engineers reports - or are they included / done by the fabricator of the pods

-- any pitfalls to watchout for

 

thanks in advance, it would be much appreciated

 

regards Wez

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Wez0062


black gen's picture

Posts: 762

Date Joined: 13/04/11

plenty of rescues over a

Tue, 2020-07-28 07:48

plenty of rescues over a period of time have been for pods that have fallen off the back of boats.....

Another point to note is lots of boats built with inboards have been engineered to make use of the low down central weight, removing that and putting the weight on the back can make them absolute pigs in a sloppy sea.

 

Just my observations

Posts: 1097

Date Joined: 19/06/14

Be wary of weight

Tue, 2020-07-28 07:56

Ive done it.
If you're going to be removing one or two big heavy stern drives make sure the weight redistribution is done properly. Having all of the weight down low and on the bum can be upset easily by having lighter outboards ( higher c of g ) off the rear of the boat. Also make sure your pod has enough flotation to support the new donks. Sometimes a hull extension is a better way to tackle the job, an extra 600 mm on your hulls running surface can make a yooooge difference in how the boat performs. It maybe easier for you to find a boat with these mods already done as it's not going to be an easy and cheap exercise, a good pod will set you back 5-10k to get it done properly, add in 5k for fibreglass work, chances are the transom is going to need to be beefed up to support lol of the new weight hanging off it. 30k for a set of newish second hand donks. Add in money for trailer mods and you're looking down the barrel of 50-60 grand for the job. I've just put 850 hours and an unholy amount of money into rebuilding a big Shark Cat and it's not a job for the faint hearted!. On saying that if you're up for it give it a red hot go. Just multiply your time budget by a factor of four and the dollars by at least double, be prepared not to have a life other than boat refit for the next 3-12 months.......:) 

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 My wife understands why I clean my rods n reels in the shower....

 

Posts: 334

Date Joined: 02/09/14

repower

Tue, 2020-07-28 09:12

 thanks mate.

I am looking at doing a conversion on a LEEDER, ABOUT 28FT LONG, WHICH HAS V8 petrol motors & stern drives. I don't want anything to do with Stern drives & buying this boat around $40k, i was thinking it might cost me about $60k to do the job & fit a couple of 150 - 200hp motors !!

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Wez0062

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

Without seeing the boat this

Thu, 2020-07-30 09:25

Without seeing the boat this may seem harsh but 40k is a lot for a Leeder 28 that you are going to turn into a project - these come up fairly regularly in the 15-25k mark with ageing motors
I would also pay a shipwright to advise on whether the leeder is suited to a pod (not withstanding the other comments about weight distribution) the later ones have a big flybridge for 28 foot boat and that amounts to a lot of weight up high....just my observation

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17835

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 For that money why not look

Tue, 2020-07-28 17:49

 For that money why not look at diesel motors. More reliable and hard wearing than petrol . Less hassles than the outboard and pod

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

 After having diesel

Tue, 2020-07-28 18:14

 After having diesel inboard.... I went to outboard. 

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

davewillo's picture

Posts: 2223

Date Joined: 08/09/16

Pardon my ignorance but what

Wed, 2020-07-29 14:47

Pardon my ignorance but what are the major concerns with sterndrives? I've had two baots with them and had little trouble. One was new which is probably not surprising but one was old with twin sterndrives. Maybe I was just luck or perhaps good regular maintenance worked?

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 PGFC member and lure tragic

Cruise Control's picture

Posts: 970

Date Joined: 03/11/10

 A mate picked up a Penguin

Wed, 2020-07-29 20:41

 A mate picked up a Penguin Striker 26' with twin V8 outboards. Stripped the motors out and had the transom rebuilt with a well to take twin 250's. All up cost him circa $70k with a new tri axle trailer that he built. Ripped the flybridge off and turned it into a giant runabout with a Bimini. Put in additional fuel tanks, kill tanks, underfloor eskies to name a few improvements. The guy is a perfectionist and the build took close to 2 years. He did all of the work himself except the transom rebuild which he subbed out.

He now has a 26' that does close enough to 50 knots and has all of the creature comforts. He picked up the twin 250's with warranty still on them off this site for an absolute steal.

I would strongly suggest that you do your weight sums very carefully as he was easily over 3.5t and ended up registering to 4.5t and using a F250 to tow. Good luck with the project.

Posts: 108

Date Joined: 27/07/16

There is a really good

Thu, 2020-07-30 09:16

There is a really good facebook page that has a lot of info about fitting pods. Australian Old School Trailer Boats

Posts: 334

Date Joined: 02/09/14

thanks for the heads up mate, really appreciate that

Thu, 2020-07-30 15:01

 cheers

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Wez0062