Re: 205 OMC Outboard
I just saw your post. This boat has an older OMC Sea Drive set-up. it was really a basic outboard motor who's parts enterchange with a Johnson/Evinrude of the same vintage. I believe they actually were rated by the litre, and an actual HP rating was not given; however, I had a V-4 bubbleback which was a 140hp Evinrude really. Later on , they did come up with larger V-6 motors, and I am not sure of the true HP ratings for them. I would find it hard to believe a 205 HP rated outboard was accurate. A 175 or 200 hp would be more like it.
The Sea Drive set-ups were seen down here quite often in the mid to late 80's . It allowed the boat builders to put full transoms on their boats, yet still get the full benefit of outboard power. Also, it was OMC's way of getting into the "outboard bracket" market which was becoming popular. Unfortunately, the Sea Drive never really found it's way. Not a bad product at all if maintained; however, if a boat needed to be repowered, then it became a problem, because one could not simply bolt on another outboard motor. I have seen conversions, but they are few and far between.
I doubt if this boat was a conversion project. Several boat manufacturers used the set-up, but I remember (and still see) seeing Sportcraft boats using them the most. makes sense, since OMC owned the company!
