what should i do?

[ermaclob]

i have a 22 ft I/O boat with a fairly nice hull. now my problem is that this boat has a OMC 800 Stringer sterndrive one it, that's not in that great of shape and the engine also needs some work. im told that the out drive is crazy old and hard to maintain. is there any way that i would be able to salvage this boat, i had thought to replace the stern drive with a mercruser ? from what im told this required you to re power the boat and to fill in the transom hole and get a new stern drive which is all $$$ is there any cheaper way to save the boat?

 

[jigngrub]

You've got to pay if you're going to play. Boats are expensive toys to begin with and should be considered a luxury... a hole in the water you throw money into.

You can either fix what you have now and run it until it dies and then swap over, or do it now. Either way it's going to cost you money. Or you can sell this boat and buy another boat that may cost you less money... or it may end up costing you more and you might wish you had this boat back.

Or, if you want a nice dependable boat that you won't have to worry about spending a lot of time and money working on it... one that you can use right now worry free, go buy a new one. A little money down, a little money every month and you're happy!

 

[alldodge]

i have a 22 ft I/O boat with a fairly nice hull. now my problem is that this boat has a OMC 800 Stringer sterndrive one it, that's not in that great of shape and the engine also needs some work. im told that the out drive is crazy old and hard to maintain. is there any way that i would be able to salvage this boat, i had thought to replace the stern drive with a mercruser ? from what im told this required you to re power the boat and to fill in the transom hole and get a new stern drive which is all $$$ is there any cheaper way to save the boat?

IMO sell the boat for what ever you can get from it and go find a new (lots of payments for many years), or good used (payments for not so many years) boat which still will take some money but a lot less work

 

[JaCrispy]

Can you rebuild the drive yourself? If you can, search Ebay for NOS/used parts. One thing I've learned restoring vintage motorcycles is everything, at one point, will show up on Ebay. You just need some patience.

 

[RStewart]

There's nothing on it that can't be fixed. It really just depends on how much work you want to put in. Boats are going to cost you money either way. I personally will not have a boat payment so I must fix up this worn out boat I have. I don't mind spending the money, it's just I'm not committed to a payment every month. if you do decide to fix this boat, you came to the right place for info & guidance. Good luck in whatever you decide.