[abl1111]

I had a buddy help me with this part ( he helped me with a lot of the finesse stuff ). He is a fiberglass guy and has done extensive refits before.

We used (2) 2x8, or 2x10's, I forget, and laminated them together - as well as screwing them together ( obviously they are completely glassed-in). The bottom of the motor beds were angled to exactly fit the contour of the hull - they snugged up against the chine in the hull too. We had to build a forward bulkhead for the motor beds to tie into, as the orig (2) motor layout did not have the same motor bed config.

With this design, it fit beautifully, although I did have to nick out and re-glass a small peice of motor bed to make room for the alternator pulley - it all looks factory or better.

The motor I bought, a Mag 350 w/ a Bravo 3, from a local mercruiser guy here on LI. He helped a lot, i.e. supplying the gimbal jig, and lots of advice and input. Best of all, I traded him the original (2) 4 cyl i/o's and drives for use of an inside garage/storage place where a lot of the resto happened over a winter. He was happy to get his hands on some old 'iron dukes' and I was happy to be rid of them and have a place to work.

If you have any questions, or want pix, I did document my whole resto, so if I can help I certainly will try ( I asked this board just about every question under the sun when I was doing my resto ).

# 1 thing learned: beer is the lube you need to truly do the job right... Good luck !