My $600.00 20' Seafari

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by bigeasy1

. . . but then one of the owners went and butchered uo the area where the steering cable exits the inner transom wall.It looks like they used an axe to make the hole.They also cut out a small piece of the stbd stringer where it meets the transom and let the foam get saturated and never glassed in the top surface of the stringer. . .

Anyone tell me if they think a 100-115 would perform well,and any pointers on what used four stokes to stay away from and which are good.I would go with a 2 stroke as well,but its easier to just skip the worry of trusting an automatic oil injection system.I'm an I/O guy so my outboard knowledge is limited,could use some help in that dept.

You're right John, original owner was probably very meticulous but a subsequent owner, maybe the one who installed that motor, must have been a real klutz! Those gouges in gelcoat look recent, so good thing you rescued that boat when you did!

No point in getting a full height splashwell tub until the splashwell itself is watertight! Most newer outboards have all the control cables, wiring harness and fuel lines going into one opening on the motor cowl, so it's easy to make a neat installation by running everything thru a watertight rigging tube. If the old steering cable is shot, I'd switch to hydraulic steering, so then you could replace that big cable with a couple of hydraulic hoses that are also easy to seal. I'd cover that big hole with a piece of 1/2" starboard or PVC board and then mount the rigging tube flange up high and near the transom so most of the lines going into it will be aft of the seat opening.

Regarding the stringers, your hull has the 4 narrow stringers, so what looks like a hole in the 7th pic is really just a cut through a layer of glass over the top over the 2 stbd stringers; the stringers themselves, which are only about 2" wide at the top, are completely intact! My boat didn't have any glass there; the space between the stringers was just filled to the top of the stringers with flotation foam and everything was covered with grey paint or gel coat. I cut out all the foam between the stringers under the stbd seat and found there was enough room to mount a 2nd battery between the stringers (see pic below; notice all my rigging is up behind the seat to keep area under the seat open.) Even with the 2nd battery there, there was still enough room between the batteries for 100' of line and my stern anchor. Although we cut out most of the splashwell when I had the transom filled in, I'd also recommend installing a watertight hatch in the bottom of the splashwell to provide access to all the space under there, where you can mount a bilge pump, Racor filter and trim tab pump.

As for motors, a 100-115 hp motor is plenty of power that will let you cruise at 20-25 mph, with a WOT in the low to mid-30's, and if it's relatively light, plane at about 12 mph. Lighter is definitely better. And I wouldn't be afraid of an oil injected 2-stroke, at least an E-TEC. They don't smoke and the oil pump is a solenoid controlled by the computer and appears to be very reliable. It has a couple sensors to warn of either low oil or no oil pulses. If the latter, it won't shut you down but will go into safe mode with a 1200 rpm limit.