You can buy those consoles for less than $700 shipped from marine connection liquidators in florida. I would have hacked mine up but given the shape it was in and what i ultimately wanted out of my project, i would have spent most of that rehabbing it anyway so i'm happy. I wanted something without the front seat to give the most deck space possible.
I was going with a 140 suzuki but i ran into a stupid good deal on a NIB 2005 Yamaha 115 2 stroke. I wasn't overly excited about the power plant before running it, but its a really sweet package. I cruise about 27 mph at 4,000 - 4,200 RPM. I plane off instantly with no bow rise at all. I have not calcuated exact fuel mileage but it's 3.5 mpg or better, i know that much. The only negative is, i only top out around 34 - 35 mph.
Honestly though - sweet sweet little boat to run around it. Very versatile and very capable. Lots of storage for a boat that size, my only gripe is i wish it had just a litttttttttle more freeboard.
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