engine swap

[72searay190]

A friend bought a 1983 18ft VIP outboard boat with no motor. We would like to take the motor off my boat which I finally gave up on restoring (I don't have the time or funds to make it happen) and put it on his. The previous owner had a 85hp Mercury on it. It is rated for 165hp boat per the USCG plate. The motor I have is a 1973 Mercury 1500 150hp. First Question is about the weight of the motor. Even though it is rated for 165 hp, since this is an older engine, it is quite heavy. Is it too heavy for this boat? Second Question would be what kid of cost would we be looking at to have a shop take the motor off one boat and install it on the other boat?

Thanks!

 

[erikgreen]

Re: engine swap

It's ok for that boat. The newer four stroke motors are just as heavy if not more so than that older one.

Shop prices will vary a lot, depending on what's needed to modify the boat for the engine... control line runs, bolt holes in the transom, fuel line routing, etc could all add some cost.

But it's mostly going to depend on how busy the shops in your area are. Around here they're backed up for several weeks with the summer folks just getting their boats out.

Erik

 

[ondarvr]

Re: engine swap

Do it yourself, it won't cost much money (if any) and takes less than half a day. If it weren't for the controls being different (sometimes it takes a little while to route the cables) and possibly needing to drill new holes (20 minutes) to mount the motor, it normally only takes an hour to do the whole swap.