WOT Chevy 350 4BM??

[Fishy McGee]

Unfortunatly I've already comitted to the work and it's due out any day. I'm not ready to give up on it just yet but any more pricey fixes come up I definitly will be looking to ditch the OMC. I could'nt even find a marina that would touch it anywhere near me and had to trailer it 90 miles to find this guy. I'm comfortable with the I/O set up because of the engines similarity to a car wich I'm used to. Any idea what the cost of having a transome redone to accomodate one of these other drives? Who does that kind of work anyway? And as always thanks for the adivce, it's definitly not falling on def ears....

[spareparts]

the thing about replacing the transom on a stringer drive boat is the transom will need the thinkness increased. the original idea(and reason they ccall em stringer drives) is the engine is attached to the stringers rather than the stringers and transom. Its supposed to be smoother. The boat manufactures generally didn't put as much glass/wood in the transoms of a stringer drive boat as they did on a merc/volvo or outboard boat. As far a price goes, the skys the limit, especially if the stringers are rotten. Do a search on this forum, there are plenty of threads covering transom repairs/replacemnt. For your boat, a 1992 and up Alpha gen 2 drive set up, or Volvo SX/DP would be a good idea. You could use your existing engine as long as you swap over all the accesories. Look for a boat that has been damaged, repoed, sunk(fresh water only), Has a bad transom or floor. Look at dealers and repair shops. Its best to find a complete engine/drive setup if you can find one. You will need to know what to look for if you are mixing pieces, a lot of the merc stuff interchanges, but it can get confusing

[Fishy McGee]

Hey??... Not sure what to call you... Anyhow, thanks for all the info, you've helped me more than you know. I always wondered why it was called a stringer. Takeing your last post into consideration, I think I'll just keep up the maintenance on this one, run it for all it's worth and hopefully get a couple of good years out of it. After that if I still even want to set foot on a boat I believe I'll just look for something a little/lot newer that I can actually buy parts for....Striper season is just around the corner so there's no off season for this V.
Thanks again, I truley appreciate it.

[spareparts]

don't forget with those stringer mounts you usually don't have a trim, only a tilt, operating the drive in any position other than all the way down will wipe out the ball gears. Some of the stringers had a trim system that used hydraulic motor mounts that raised and lowered the front of the engine for trim.