[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Dr. Hook

Actually I was comparing the 5.7 to the 4.3 V6 weight. However I just looked it up and its only a difference of 150 lbs or so.
A complete dressed motor with outdrive and everything is roughly 1050-1100 lbs for a 5.7, and about 900 for a 4.3.
Both are pretty heavy, I'm thinking I'd rather have a 500 lb outboard and keep the scuppers a bit higher in the water.
Then again with I/O you have the seaworthiness of the closed transom, so tough call.

The weight difference between a 4.3l and a 5.7l is only about 75 pounds actual difference if comparing them with the same drive and cooling system. Mercruiser tried using aluminum exhaust manifolds to get that 150 lb difference, and lets just say that experiment failed. The only real advantage to the 4.3l is it's length being shorter for tight installations.

I personnally like I/O's, but one thing is a deal breaker with them, if you ever plan on leaving it in the water for any length of time, I would not have one. Theres just to many places where water can leak in with an I/O. 4 stroke outboards have pretty well taken away the mpg advantage, but you do end up with a large outboard smack dab in the middle of the transom in your way. And one last thing to keep in mind when deciding between an I/O and an outboard is maintence and repairs. Unless you're doing all the work yourself, plan on shelling out big bucks to have work done on an I/O vs an outboard.