Volvo Penta outdrive swap....

[justarookie]

So we've decided on a boat. It's a 2000 Four Winns 230 Horizon with a 5.7L Volvo Penta GSi. Excellent shape, extremely well cared for with 247 hours. We chose this boat because of the overall excellent condition and how well it was maintained. Our other options were nice but not nearly as nice and maybe not as well maintained mechanically either. The one thing we had to compromise on was this boat has the Volvo Penta SX outdrive, instead of the duo-prop. The other boats had the duo-props but like I said, they just weren't nearly as nice or maintained as well as the one we chose. We want to swap out the SX outdrive and replace it with a dual-prop outdrive. Other than probably a hefty pricetag, how difficult would it be? The outdrive that's on it is in excellent shape with a stainless steel prop. We're thinking we could probably sell this one to help cover the cost? Has anyone done this swap? If anyone has any advise or thoughts, let me know! Thanks!

 

[Don S]

Re: Volvo Penta outdrive swap....

Best thing to do is just replace the lower unit. It's very easy to do. Go to the link below.

http://www.marinepartsexpress.com/cobraconversion.htm#SXDUOPROP

 

[saintlee]

Re: Volvo Penta outdrive swap....

went from sx to dp this year
main thing i noticed was lower rpms 3200 instead of 3800
for the same cruising speed 28mph
props were expensive 1400 a set f5

 

[justarookie]

Re: Volvo Penta outdrive swap....

went from sx to dp this year
main thing i noticed was lower rpms 3200 instead of 3800
for the same cruising speed 28mph
props were expensive 1400 a set f5

Were the changes worth it for you? Where were you able to find the new lower unit? We're hoping to maybe find one somewhere at a decent cost. We're mainly concerned with the boat having enough ooomph to get up and pull skiers/wakeboarders OK. Our heaviest guy is 275 lbs. Better manueverability is also a perk with dual props, so I've heard. Kind of like 4 wheel drive for a boat?

 

[saintlee]

Re: Volvo Penta outdrive swap....

so far so good
better gas milage and hole shot
i was lucky and found one on ebay
then had it rebuilt locally for a total of 3000 (purchase and rebuild)
but the props cost over a 1000
wont know till end of season if worth it

 

[eddiejaimes]

Re: Volvo Penta outdrive swap....

Hello there, I have a monterey 302 year 200 that came with sx drives and 5.0 engines, the boat was obviously underpower, i upgraded the 2 sx drives for the DP, Nice upgrade very easy to do, I replace the whole drive. Your are probably better off buying a second hand complete drive, also keep on mind the props for the dp will run you about 800$ if you do some research. I was lucky to find a really nice used dp for 900$ and the second one for 1400$, I sold my Sx drives for 700$ each, if you have a iphone you can install a craiglist app that will look for volo duo prop or whatever you set it to. You will be surprised what you can get!, Aftr i upgraded the drives i upgraded from @bb holley to 4 BB edelbrocks, thanks i hope this help!