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I/O conversion to Outboard

3K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  My Demeyes 
#1 ·
I have been having some issues with my 1987 bayliner trophy - I love the boat, but I really want an outboard so I can fish the fall brawl.

I wanted to see if anyone has had any luck converting an IO to an outboard. I watched a few videos online and it doesn’t seem too complicated.

I was looking at a few boats online, but I was hoping to keep it within 10k for a nice Erie boat. I love my trophy and already know it in and out.

I figure if I’m going to drop that on a new boat I might as well stick it into the one I got.

Any thoughts?
Vehicle Transport Bass boat Boat Watercraft
 
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#10 ·
Cant you drain inboards with 3 drain screws on the engine and exhaust manifold.
Or you can run antifreeze through your inboard at the end of every trip, ive heard of people doing that.
Or dock it somewhere during the brawl, i see guys fishing inboards during the brawl most dock there. They drain their engine with the drain screws and say as long as the lower unit is in water it wont freeze
 
#13 ·
The outboard if used will be half your budget, bracket and time is the other half! My thoughts are buy a different boat or a 18-20 aluminum w/outboard for early/late season fishing.

Just get one of your fishing buddy's to buy the smaller boat w/outboard!!
 
#14 ·
The question that I keep asking myself is why would you seriously want to put that much effort into converting 31 year old boat. I certainly think that putting the original driveline back into really good shape would be much more economical & certainly less labor intensive. I was still working as a service manager in our family owned marina back in the mid-late 80's & we sold Bayliners along with numerous other brands. I'm certainly not knocking your rig.....we all have budget constraints & financial limitations. That being said, SOME of those older Bayliners are getting to the end of their acceptable service life from a structural perspective. Mike
 
#15 ·
I appreciate the advice - I went ahead and pulled the trigger on putting a crate engine in it and running it for another year or two before I buy something newer with an outboard. I’m just going to remodel this one and try to get some of my money back in a year or two. That being said, does anyone know someone that might be able to upholstery a few of the seats for me?
 
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