Sea ray outboard conversion questions??

[BryceWCP]

Tossing around the idea of swapping the mercruiser I/O setup for a pod and an outboard. Boat is a 1989 sea ray 268 sundancer. Originally I thought that style cruiser (witch I have outfitted for salmon and halibut fishing) wouldn’t gain any be if it’s from a pod and outboard. The motor is tired. I’m in the process of pulling it right now to freshen her up. Manifolds and risers need replacing for sure. I have a new upper steering pin for it also as it has been leaking through there for a while. I suspect the gimbal ring is also shot. Who knows what els I’ll find. So now I’m thinking for the money I’m going to spend rebuilding everything a guy could buy a pod and find a used outboard for a bit more money. Now It seems like everyone wants outboards these days so maybe removing the gas guzzling 454 would be a selling feature in the future. Curious to what you guys think and have to say. The next question is how big of an outboard would be necessary. 300? 350? Thanks in advance guys

 

[Maxpri]

Tossing around the idea of swapping the mercruiser I/O setup for a pod and an outboard. Boat is a 1989 sea ray 268 sundancer. Originally I thought that style cruiser (witch I have outfitted for salmon and halibut fishing) wouldn’t gain any be if it’s from a pod and outboard. The motor is tired. I’m in the process of pulling it right now to freshen her up. Manifolds and risers need replacing for sure. I have a new upper steering pin for it also as it has been leaking through there for a while. I suspect the gimbal ring is also shot. Who knows what els I’ll find. So now I’m thinking for the money I’m going to spend rebuilding everything a guy could buy a pod and find a used outboard for a bit more money. Now It seems like everyone wants outboards these days so maybe removing the gas guzzling 454 would be a selling feature in the future. Curious to what you guys think and have to say. The next question is how big of an outboard would be necessary. 300? 350? Thanks in advance guys

Definitely worth it in my opinion, for your size of boat I would definitely go for a 350, and I think the Suzuki 350 duo prop would do you really well.

 

[BryceWCP]

Definitely worth it in my opinion, for your size of boat I would definitely go for a 350, and I think the Suzuki 350 duo prop would do you really well.

Thanks! Yeah I’m starting to lean that way. The duo prop zuke would be pretty awesome but that’s out of the budget. Would need to find something a bit cheaper than one of those would run. Boat is not my dream boat but I’ll have her for a few more years until I can afford something more my style!