Transom mods for large O/B

[rufus]

Not much romance, but maybe some technical interest. I want not to spend $5000 or more repowering an i/o drive in an old houseboat and end up with the same problems 5 years down the road. We're in salt water and the boat won't get used much while the drive sits in the water and corrodes.

I confess to hating i/o drives. They sit in the water and corrode, they're just about the most complex expensive rube/goldberg devices I've ever seen, they cost more than gawd to repair/replace, and they require constant use and service to live. They do allow raising the drive for beaching or trailering, and I guess they will handle lots of (inboard) power - but that's all I can figure out in their favor.

I can probably get this boat for $1000: 40'x12' full glass hull (not pontoon), don't know displacement, interior dry clean and ugly, skin dirty and intact, single engine; existing V8 (mercruiser?), about 300ci(I think), i/o may be a volvo 280.

The transom needs to be rebuilt, under any circumstances. Given that, I wonder whether I can install an O/B bracket and put "duck tails" on either side of the O/B to extend the effective length of the hull, add flotation, and possibly aid tracking. There is a swim platform at the moment, and I'd think "duck tails" could provide the same fucntionality.

I've heard that house boats can be real dogs to handle if you change to an outboard, and that's why I'm thinking ducktails - or some other feature to aid handling and deal with the 300lbs or such at the transom. Also, would be intersted to know how much horse power would do the job. I'm not familiar with this type of boat and I don't have a clue how the hull is supposed to move (when it moves). Do these things _plane_ ??? Also, I'd like to get that motor completely clear of the water at anchor, so some sort of mechanism to raise the bracket might be necessary.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Rufus