Marinette Boat Forum

There is currently a post on the Marinette FB page regarding re powering M's with outboard/s. I have seen this topic before on both here and the FB page. I thought I would pose there here on the forum because I know that there are some on here that are not on FB and/or are more knowledgeable.

I am seriously interested in this idea but have many questions I'm hoping others with more experience/knowledge can help me with. I have considered the outboard option OFTEN; each time this topic reappears on here or the FB page.

I personally see many HUGE benefits to the outboard option for the way that my wife and I utilize our 1989 32 Sedan. It has brought us through over 5K miles of river and Gulf cruising over the past 4 years with the original twin 318's. Me, not being very mechanically inclined, have managed to learn the basics that i needed to keep them running. However, the advantages that MIGHT be addressed (fuel efficiency, noise, smells, less CO2 risk??, longer range, reliability, etc.) all sound VERY appealing to me. We put A LOT of miles and gas into our baby during the 4-5 week period that we are Looping and I feel like the benefits could be more than intriguing for us and the way that we utilize our boat. Plus, an added bonus for us is that we also have a 1973 single Express that we utilize a home in Ohio on the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers; If we re powered the 32 Sedan I could potentially utilize one of the newer (1989) 318's and have it rebuilt for eventual repower of our Express

So..... Some questions:

1) Has anyone actually refitted to outboards on a 32 Sedan? I have seen several who have done this on 28 footers, but not actually seen it on a 32.

2) If someone has done this on a 32, what motor/motors did you choose? I have debated between a larger single outboard (maybe 250hp) with the addition of bow and stern thrusters -vs- smaller dual outboards (somewhere between 60's - 100's).

3) Does anyone know of a marina/person/resource in the Florida/Georgia/Carolinas area who could handle accomplishing a project like this well/right? I, unfortunately don't have the experience/knowledge/time to accomplish this retro on my own. Even if I did, the boat I am talking about is currently stored on the hard in Southern Florida (Glades Boat Storage inland of Ft Myers) awaiting our return for leg 4 of our journeys this coming Spring/Summer.

Any recommendations would be appreciated and helpful.

The only one I've seen is a '59 or '60 model 28 footer with twin Suzuki outboards. Fellow had to weld on an extra foot or so to the hull and then weld on a new shorter transom. There is one of the photo's that is easily found on google images & pintrest. Photo's of how he did it, should be from the old web site archives... http://www.marinetteboat.net/gallery/in ... er-Gallery

Well I just tried to access this and now it won't bring it up on the web. Any of the computer geeks now how to fix the link?? there are some 900 photo's in there...

But anyway.... On a larger boat like a 32' you would be talking about removing 1600 lbs. from the middle of the boat and then adding that much more to the back. And finding someone with serious TIG or MIG welding skills to modify the transom. I see a lot of newer boats with 3, 4 or 5 outboards on them, would be neat to see a big M with 4, 300 HP Merc's on her !!!

Dang Jim...you just went 'all the way there'! I am not trying to accomplish creation of a speed demon
My main objectives would be safety, reliability, added room in the boat, quietness and fuel economy.
The weight shift from center to rear would be one of my primary concerns.
I believe that I could likely offset that substantially by adding additional water storage mid cabin (both fresh and waste water) and also possibly adding a generator, which I do not currently have.

Replace .net with .com to access it on the new domain.

http://www.marinetteboat.com/gallery/in ... er-Gallery

If the image is blank white after clicking on it, click on the blank white area and the image will load on top of the page. After viewing image click anywhere to make it go away. Click "Another Gallery" at top left to get back to main pictures selection

The weight shifting would not be as dramatic as you think. The 1600lbs of engine and trans, plus another 150?lbs for shafts, struts, rudders, propellers is alot more than a couple of modern outboards. Plus you can move all the batteries, fuel tanks and anything else heavy forward to where the engines were. The big advantage to the Marinette is that it has a wide transom. That gives you extra buoyancy at the stern.

There is two ways I see to go about this:
A. Weld a full width extension to the transom, boxed in, giving the proper transom angle and height. This would obviously be very permanent but could be built piece by piece onto the boat and mig welded in place.

B. Have an extension housing built and bolt it on to the transom. This would require more up front engineering but the whole thing could be pre fabbed at a shop and bolt it on. This is common practice on glass boats. A welding shop I deal with just built a unit to mount 4 outboards on a Fountain and removed three 6BT cummins with surface drives.

Let's remember that modern outboards have a power trim. I'm thinking the boat would run bow high with all that weight removed amid ships--plus the OB weight added way back there--but some trim IN should fix that.

Neat project. The result would be a really safe, reliable, easy to maintain driveline with minimal drag without the struts, rudders and etc. And just think of all that storage space below decks!

Jeff

you might want to look into Armstrong Brackets,you can find them on line.im looking into this my self, but not as main propulsion .the Armstrong bracket is essentially an extension of the hull by mechanical means (bolt on )since they are water tight they provide the extra buoyancy to off set the weight of the engines.They also provide some stowage,accessed by water tight deck plate.since you have extended your water line you will see a more efficient hull performance more speed for less power less fuel. good luck and fair weather!

That Armstrong bracket looks very interesting, made of aluminum too !