Starcraft Outboard to Sterndrive Conversion

[smiles16]

Helping out a friend and could use some direction,,,

He has a mid-70's 18' Riveted Aluminum Starcraft open bow that came original with an outboard. The boat was bought cheap as a shell (full resto project) and is to be set up as a dedicated fishing rig.

In the search for a motor, the idea of converting to a sterndrive has come to mind. The transom wood has to be replaced anyway and (as some of you know from my previous posts) I have a turnkey Mercruiser power and drivetrain laying around.

Is it as simple as I think?

-Match the 2-2.25" transom thickness
-Cut keyhole
-Fabricate and install front mount
-Install engine
-Align
-Mount drive

????

 

[GA_Boater]

Sounds easy. But you need to raise the transom, fab an outer skin to match the new transom height, do something with filling in the big hole left after removing the splashwell and build a doghouse.

That's a lot of work to add a more weight and reduced cockpit size.

 

[smiles16]

No Title

Just got some pics from him, doesn't look to hard to cut out the well and rivet in a new transom panel

 

[smiles16]

Looking at his splashwell, I don't think switching to a 4cyl. Mercruiser is going to reduce the cockpit, he wants a deck across the back.

But anyway, if we move forward, what's the best route for raising the transom height?

My first thought is to rivet a new and properly deminsiined panel to the inner side of the existing skin.

It's my understanding this boat is purely for purpose, not looks. We can have fun with this.

 

[jasoutside]

and is to be set up as a dedicated fishing rig.

Question....

Do you mean it's currently set up to fish? Or do you mean his intention is to build it as a dedicated fishing rig?

If the sole purpose of this boat is to fish, it should probably stay an OB. If he wants to build a cruiser with an IO there are plenty of old rotten IO hulls out there that would be a lot easier structure to start with. Knowhattamean?

 

[smiles16]

I hear ya Jas.His intention is to MAKE it a dedicated fishing rig.

Outboard is still top choice, but money is a factor. I already have a sterndrive that I'm going to lose money on anyway and used outboards in our area are priced way to high. The goal is to get it on the water asap, worry about the money later.

I think we all agree it is best to repower with an outboard as the boat was designed for. But the question is IF we proceed with a sterndrive, how to do we ensure we do it right.

 

[jasoutside]

I hear ya Jas.His intention is to MAKE it a dedicated fishing rig.

Outboard is still top choice, but money is a factor. I already have a sterndrive that I'm going to lose money on anyway and used outboards in our area are priced way to high. The goal is to get it on the water asap, worry about the money later.

I think we all agree it is best to repower with an outboard as the boat was designed for. But the question is IF we proceed with a sterndrive, how to do we ensure we do it right.

I still think I'd suggest the same in his case. If the goal is to get it on the water quick, put an OB on there for sure. Installing an IO into an OB boat will make for a fair amount of additional fab work, which takes a bunch of time.

You could sell your IO and put that $ towards an OB. That would probably be the best route.

If you are totally dead set on using your IO than I'd sell that OB hull and find an IO hull. I'd be willing to bet you'd spend less time/money doing that than fabbing up new structure in the OB hull for the IO.

What you are suggesting can certainly be done. But, you are talking both time and money, both of which you are short on by the sounds of it. If he had a bunch of time and a small chunk of money and was looking for an interesting project, yah that might be all right.

I'd say, he's better off being patient and waiting for the right deal on an OB to come along. I think if he heads down this road, he'll regret it later.

 

[jbcurt00]

Lots of great info, tips, methods, best practices and help w all manner of rebuilding tin boats, esp Starcrafts, can be found here
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owner...tarcraft-boats

But as pretty much a 1 of 1 build, this question

But the question is IF we proceed with a sterndrive, how to do we ensure we do it right.

Is going to be an exercise in trial and error engineering at best. If you pull the splashwell, you'll need to tie the gunwales back together. Take a look thru some of the I/O Starcraft rebuilds

Good luck w your project.

 

[ezmobee]

When you're looking for outboards, remember the best deals are usually the ones still attached to crappy boats. Bare motors seems to always be more expensive.

 

[Watermann]

I had to read the title twice to make sure I was reading it right and didn't come down with dyslexia. This is a first for me to see someone wanting to convert OB to IO, it's always the other way around. I love my cruiser with the V6 IO but an OB is on my fishing boats so I can use them in the cold months.

I believe the conversion can be done alright with the transom conversion being the toughest part of the job. Weld new piece in to increase the transom skin size is the most simple course, with the only big issue being heat and warping.

Don't cut out the SW, it's easily removable in one piece.

 

[smiles16]

Well he may have gotten lucky. We found a couple Johnson v4's attached to boats real cheap. I'm gonna travel with him to run the compression tests. Hopefully it works out.

Mod EDIT