I would look around for an outboard model. There are a lot of the old 248 sportsmens out there. The OMC's outdrives are nothing but trouble unless you are a mechanic and I am not. I had a 248 with a 235 Johnson on it and had very few problems and I ran the hell out of it . A friend of mine had the same boat with the OMC I/O and it was nothing but trouble from the get go plus it really took up a lot of fishing room, hard to work on etc etc. . Frank