18' Aluminum Lund to diesel inboard

I am considering purchasing an 18' Lund and converting it into an inboard 3-cylinder diesel. Coupling the diesel to a jet drive was my original thought, but I am also considering installing a tunnel with a prop and rudder set-up.
I am not concerned with speed, just want reliability and the ability to go in as shallow water as is reasonable.
Thanks for your thoughts.

 

This is an 18' Lund. My original pic was a 14 footer.

 

One idea which would work but maybe a bit out of the box is to build yourself an asian style longtail with a small diesel on it. You would just clamp it on like an outboard and still have diesel power. Brilliant in shallow water.

 

What is your goal on converting an outboard to an inboard?

 

This will cost a bomb if using new equipment, and will have very poor performance. Which you say isn't a concern, but it will have little resale value.

 

The goal is to utilize a boat I think I can get for cheap, utilize a repurposed diesel, and still have a bit of shallow water access. I run my diesel Range Rover and whole-house diesel genset on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO), and I want a boat to run on the same fuel. The water is pretty shallow around here, too!

 

The jet units are not cheap, and you need one that matches the engine properly. What's with all this shallow water, is the tide always out ?

 

"I am not concerned with speed, just want reliability and the ability to go in as shallow water as is reasonable."

That's why outboards are installed.

A diesel is no more reliable than a gas engine in similar repair.

For really thin water , tilt up the outboard and use a DC trolling motor on the bow , where you can see and avoid real thin stuff.

A long push pole is next , in thin water.Then its walk alongside.