Questions about I/o to outboard conversion

[1224bret]

Also I noticed in looking at old threads that some including mj replaced the transome to seal the outdrive hole I've seen others where a plug was made for the hole and the transom was left intact otherwise. Is there a reason on these hulls to replace the transom or will just plugging the hole and adding reinforcement suffice? I've done fiberglass work in the past so either way I'm confident doing it just wondered if I could save a little time and money plugging it...