1988 OMC Sea Drive

[pk22]

Looking into buying a Wellcraft 210 Coastal with a 2.0 Liter Sea Drive. Unit has a new powerhead & runs smooth. Looking down the road a few years, I plan on re-powering. I have heard that you can mount a new Johnson/Evinrude motor to the existing Sea Drive bracket instead of installing a new gil braket. Is this correct? Any comments on the Sea Drive performance & reliability? Thanks?

 

[R L PLAYER]

Re: 1988 OMC Sea Drive

YO,PK22 I,m thinking about putting a bracket on my 24 cuddy.I have an 86 2.6 seadrive.I don,t know if I would trust welding to seadrive bracket.You would have to weld a plate to the back of the bracket.As for the 88 2.0 you have if it,s in good cond.it is a very reliable engine.My 2 cnts.<br /> Master Chief

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1988 OMC Sea Drive

You can convert Sea Drives to outboards and vise versa. A lot of work, but it has been done. A more popular, and easier, route is to install a bracket (Gil, Armstrong, Stainless Marine, B bracket) and use any brand outboard as is. The down side of a Sea Drive is that once it's mounted it can't easily be adjusted without removing, filling the holes and drilling new ones. Also keep in mind that there are a lot of Sea Drive parts that are no longer available. <br /><br />Good luck!