Switching from Outboard to I/O - What should I expect?

[biglar155]

Hey gang.

I'm looking at moving up from my 17 foot bowrider to a 23-26 foot bow-rider.

My current boat has a 1990 85 Horse  2-stroke Yamaha hanging off the transom.  Maintenance on this motor has been minimal - I change the lower unit lube every year, give it a fresh set of plugs now and again, keep the fuel filter clean, and the fittings greased.  It doesn't have power/tilt trim so I've been dealing with a very "basic" setup all my life.

I'm looking for an idea of what to expect when I enter the I/O world.  (Keep in mind that I'm a fair-to-middlin' backyard mechanic - I ENJOY doing the work myself whenever I can.)

What kind of maintenance will I be dealing with?  I know I'll be changing crankcase oil now as well as lower unit lube.  What else should I expect?

Is winterization a big deal?


What kind of "suprises" am I in store for? 

Thanks in advance!

[DaleM]

If you're half decent mechanically you can handle it.  Buy the Clymer manual for whatever model year engine you get and you'll be fine.  Winterizing can be a bear but you can streamline the process once you understand exactly what you're doing.  I'd say do it by the book a few times prior to shortcutting it.  You'll be changing oil, replacing filters  and fuel water seperators, not too tough.  Drive alignments aren't too bad but best to have someone that's done it before help you a time or 2.  Also going to have to be able to change water pump impellors more often.  Hope that helps and if you get into any snags post up, great group here to help out!!

One other thing, steering is alot different.  I find outboards to be way more responsive.

[biglar155]

Thanks for the info DaleM!

That whole alignment thing was a new concept to me so I researched it a bit and of course that research lead to other things like gimbals, boots, hydraulics, oh my!!  It opened my eyes to a whole bunch of new stuff to go wrong!   

Makes me wonder if I shouldn't stick with outboards...

[Black_Diamond]

Plusses and minuses to outboards, I/O and inboards.  As you get bigger in boat, you almost always will have I/O or inboards.  while there are more parts with I/O per se, look around..see how many boats have I/O drives.  Outboards put the engine drive weight at the worst location too.  Plus at some point, you can't get big enough outboards or start running 2 and 3 at a time..so always something to go wrong or maintain. 

[alswagg]

Current production outboards are more of a pain in a$$ than any stern drive.  Cost are basically the same or even higher on the outboards as for basic maintanance.  Stern drive is much nicer any day in my book.  Leave the ol outboard for  the tin can pontoon guys.  lol   Al

[Rinker342]

So Al, let me ask something specific.  I keep my 342 on a lift in Maryland, but am considering an outboard fish boat (for easier cleaning/maintenance) for my house closer to the ocean in Delaware.  I was considering outboard because the boat will likely always be in the salt water (no lift) and I wanted to be able to trim the motor(s) up all the way when at the dock.  You can't ever get the I/O drives out of the water that way.  Do you still see an advantage to the I/O in this case?

[alswagg]

The option to tilt the entire unit out of the water is an advantage over the stern drive.  Since you are in Salt water flush regulary, remember the salty cooling water flows through the engine block made of aluminum.  Al

[DaleM]

The only drawback I see to tilting OB motors up is that you may trap salt water in places of the block while it is not being used.