gas performance i/o vs o/b ?

[barnacle]

If it was my boat and it had a sterndrive in it then thats what I would replace it with. I would go with a single MerCruiser 350 MPI Horizon with a Bravo 1 outdrive. The Horizon series from MerCruiser gives you a three year maintenance cycle. Cloosed cooling is standard. Plus it comes with a 3 year warry. I would choose the bravo 1 over the bravo 2 due to the Bravo 2 is designed for single engines in big heavy boats. If you had a 27 or 28 footer then I would say the bravo 2. Cost on it is 12,235 plus your rigging parts. As for Outboards I would use a Armstrong Bracket. I would run a single 225. Or if you wanted twins I would run the 115 DI engines. The MerCuirser package would be much cheaper to install, run and maintain then the outboards. It comes down to what you like. Last months trailer boat mag. did a test between the same boat running a 5.7 Volvo Penta and a Yam. 250 HPDI. They pretty much broke even between the two in all aspects but the price.