Pod or not to pod! BIG QUESTION!

[rocksberg6]

:-/ Can anybody give me any information on removing my existing 454 mercruiser and replacing it with an outboard pod? any info would be helpful such as; Can this be done on a wellcraft with an intergrated duckboard? is this a huge job? what would the ballpark cost be minus the outboard? what size outboard 2stroke, 4stroke would i require to comfortably push the boat along?Any help appreciated. I have a 25 ft Wellcraft 250 Eclipse.:)

[ashleyhj74]

For the money it will cost you, would you be better off looking for a new sterndrive? Those swedish marine (i think thats their name) V8 diesels are supposed to be a good option, based on the 6.5ltr Chev. up to 400hp i think. And they, alledegedly, bolt straight in where a V8 merc has been. That'd be my choice.

[gar26lw]

hmmmm, im not so sure but at a guess I would think probably about 5k ?

I assume you need to remove engine, clean up bay, strengthen transom, add pod.

Why change to an outboard? Is the motor bust and you wanna switch?

If it was I think I would trade it in and get a new one. Mercruiser has some sort of upgrade scheme where I think you get a guaranteed minimum of 2500 for your engine

[bastard]

I would re power with a new mercruiser,fixing up old ones seems to be an on going battle,not only that i have never seen a successful pod conversion,what i can tell you is a new 250 four stroke yamaha doesnt perform like two old 470 mercruisers,either in power or fuel consumption.

[Spaniard_King]

The Guy who made this pod below can help you out. Under 2 k fitted. The boat is a HH 213C

[gar26lw]

would the design be compromised shifting weight rear in a boat orignally with an inboard moving to a big outboard ?
or would it be lighter and handle worse because of it?

[rocksberg6]

Thanks guys for your imput. Spaniard King, can you pm me the phone number address ect. :) I suppose i should give you all a bit more info as it dose sound a bit strange i know! I bought the boat about 6 weeks ago (boat of my dreams) and was told by the dealer motor had been reco 6 months ago. Put it in the water for my 1st run, finaly got it started went about 1 km and it got hot. sent it back to the dealer who said it was the thermostat. Put it in for my 2nd run, the dipstick come out of the sump.rang dealer told him the problem he said take it to my local dealer to remedy the problem. To cut along story short engine work done in the last 6 weeks is at follows; New thermostat, New dipstick tube, New risers, New manifolds. New bellows, New cylinder heads, New trim and tilt setup, New hoses allover, New sea water pump, i'm sure there's alot more but i am sick of typing with 1 finger! So know you can see why i'm a little bit pissed off with inboards. I know it should be good when i finally get it back but i've lost all faith in the engine. AND THE DEALER WHO SOLD THE F#$#@#G THING TO ME!>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

[BM]

Have you paid for all the extra work is the selling dealer copping it???

I'd be a tad concerned that the dealer who has it now is stocking his Christmas piggybank at your expense. To be replacing all you have mentioned would indicate the thing was totally stuffed when you got it and would have looked totally stuffed. Did it??

Cheers

[rocksberg6]

Thanks BM, Boat Looks Great! Dealer is paying for all work at the moment but is trying to cut corners. I have already talked to my solicitor and BIA and we are just waiting to see what the dealer comes up with. So as you can see I'm ready to throw the mercruiser overboard and go back to an outboard. Thats why i've ask the questions.:-/

[BM]

The integrated duckboard is going to make it a challenge to fabricate a pod. It would not be a cheap exercise.

From there I would be concerned about the stability of the hull since the replacement engine would be lighter and with a much higher centre of gravity.
This could make the boat very roly poly.

At least the dealer is fixing the issues. Of course thats what they should do but many refuse to warrant inboards. So at least thats a plus.

Cheers

[mini696]

would the design be compromised shifting weight rear in a boat orignally with an inboard moving to a big outboard ?Hmm... Not really, you would have to do the calculations... Work out the COG with the old setup, then compare it to the new.

Remember even if the motors are similar in weight, the extra load out the back would most likely (can be designed to be) offset by the floatation of the pod.

[Noelm]

I have just helped convert an old 25 Bertram from a pair of Mercruisers to a pair of 150HP optis on a "home made" pod, it worked out reasonably easy and the Boat performs really well, with no noticable adverse traits, (except the Boat does not like the speed now available) fuel economy is about the same, speed is way up, but lowdown torque is not as good, so I guess it will depend on your particular hull whether it works out good or not so good! the owner reckons anything would be better than throwing Wallets full of money at the old Mercruisers! the pod was just made as an extension of the hull bottom, a "frame" made of Alloy tube was attached to the Transom and a "pod" made to suit 25" legs was then fabricated out of Marine Ply, then removed and glassed inside and out, then refitted to the frame, easy as pie (sort of) the Boat may float just a tad lower at the stern, because the weight is "hanging" out the back now, but there would be less than a centimetre in it I reckon, and could easily be countered by some weight movement inside the Boat, like (say) a fuel tank moved a bit or something, but it is hardly really noticable.

[BM]

Noel,

Have you got any pics of that boat? Be quite interested to have a look at it mate :)

What problems does it have a slow speed? Steering vagueness?

[gar26lw]

Thanks BM, Boat Looks Great! Dealer is paying for all work at the moment but is trying to cut corners. I have already talked to my solicitor and BIA and we are just waiting to see what the dealer comes up with. So as you can see I'm ready to throw the mercruiser overboard and go back to an outboard. Thats why i've ask the questions.:-/

With all that lot done and fixed up it should be fine. I had similar problems with my boat. The good thing is you know know what the engine is like after all this and its sorted.

I would say
1. keep the engine once its sorted, should be fine.
2. sell or trade in the now sorted engine and put in a new one.

I think going for a pod and then buying an OB is just throwing more money at the problem and will probably add to your time of being out of action.

Why not give it some time once you get it back. See how it goes for a while and then make a decision once youve cooled off. That works for me.

[Noelm]

I can get some pictures on the weekend if you like, there is more a problem with the high speed available, I guess the Boat was never meant to go that fast, we had it up to 5,600RPM for prop testing and it was almost like it was on a knife edge and ready to fall onto either side at any minute, (which it did once) but at "normal" speeds it is great, the steering is a tad less responsive at slow speed, I think it has something to do with the size of the props now (maybe) but still no real drama, just different! in some ways I guess it is not quite as good as it was for trolling, the old Mercruisers just sort of "purr" whereas the Outboards are not quite as smooth, but not bad mind you! and the Boat itself is a much better fishing Boat without the Engines to scramble around, sure the Motors are further out the back, but the legs and marlin Board were there anyway.

[Noelm]

I just remembered, he may have the Boat on the trailer this week, so I will be able to get some good pictures, but if not, I will just get a few as best I can in the water.

[BM]

I reckon the higher centre of gravity would be the cause of it being twitchy at high speed.. Being deep vee and no longer having the weight down really low I would expect that. Course I might be wrong there too :) What sort of top speed does it achieve?

I have only ever seen one other with a pair of outboards fitted. I have also seen one of the apparently 2 only OMC SeaDrive models.

It would be a fun retrofit but personally I prefer larger cruisers to have inboard engines rather than outboards from an appearance perspective.

Cheers

[Noelm]

I guess that could be the reason, it does not have any real problem until you really get going, I will get some figures from him as well and let you know, I have seen a couple in QLD that have been done, and I have read some pretty sad reports about the old seadrives, about as much fun as the old electric gearboxes I guess, there was also a brand/model that had a true reversing Engine, you had to stop, fiddle with "something" restart the engine and it would be running backwards, by that time of course, you have crashed into or missed whatever you where trying to stop at!

[rocksberg6]

Hey You Guys Remember Me!

[Noelm]

yes, we do, and the pictures of the Bertram will help you as well, I guess even though it relates to a different Boat, the concept and pluses and minuses found in other conversions will be of interest and may help you decide if you want to head off in that direction, the actual "doings" where reasonably simple but time consuming.

[Whitey81]

spaniard king, that pod looks like a ripper, can you let me know who built it as im doing a similar conversion to a Haines 233. Cheers. As for the sterndrives get rid of em, horses for courses i guess though.

[Thebuffalo]

The twitching at high speed will be due to the pod. Is it full width? I put a pod on a Bertram 20 and didn't make it full width. It works fine at speed. If the pod is not full width then you have effectively taken the stability away from the back corners of the transom. Less footprint. My 2c

[Thebuffalo]

I must add that the depth of the pod does not go down to the keel, it is effectively an oversized bracket for the outboard.

Going from the inboard to the outboard was worth the effort for me. I think it is a great concept and works well.

BM, I like the job you are doing on your Bertram 20 by the way. I did the similar thing just not to your standards.

[Crestcutter]

I'm podding a 213c haines at the moment, i opted for a center mount pod as to a full width transom extension just purely for expensen reasons. Gold coast outboard repairs recons that the pod mounted in the center and just above the bottom of the hull(hard to explain)works excellent for his hull.
Hopefully this set up will work on mine .

Otherwise i will pm Gary again for the hull extension guys number.The 318 chrysler and penta leg wasn't an option for me as it had to much moving shite that could go wrong for my liking. But each to there own , but in my logic i could just by a secondhand donk at worse if mine blew up for 5000 grand round abouts compared to spending that easy on inboard dramas. JMO.

[BM]

Thanks Buffalo,

I never intended it to be a slow thing. I wanted to turn it round fairly quickly but I have boats coming out of the woodwork presently and I cannot justify the time to spend a day a week on the Berty. Put me too far behind with all the paid boat work.

I'm tempted to pod it as that would give it greater sales appeal but I also prefer to keep it original. Also I don't have any late model V6's in stock to drop onto a pod.

Rocksberg if you zip over to fishnet there is a topic there by member Spargs on a Haines 16 restoration. Thats one that I am in the middle of finishing off. Might be worth a read for some ideas.

Cheers

[Thebuffalo]

Crestcutter, that is exactly the type of pod I made. It works very well and I think is the best option if you don't want to do a full pod. From what I have experienced these are the best two options.

BM. I have a 7.5 sailfish and my Berty. I absoloutly love driving the Berty. It eats the rough stuff. They are supposed to ride better with the inboard. I never rode in it with one so can't comment. Given the ride now though it must have been awesome. Either way you have a classic to work with.

[BM]

Buffalo,

A mate of mine worked for International Marine in the 60's (was the Mercury National Manager, back when International were the Australian Mercury distributor) and he spent a good deal of time in the Berty 20's (along with all the other boats they produced).

He said to me several years back that he would have no hesitation driving a Berty 20 from Melb to Sydney. And of course that goes through some of the worst water in this country.

Marvellous to see that a boat built in the 60's has fibreglass stringers and many companies here are only just catching on in the last few years!!

I have been seriously considering reworking the one I have and producing a new set of moulds. Could probably offer them at about $65-70K with everything (canopies, clears, rocket launcher, anchor winch, colour plotter and sounder, multiroller breakaway trailer, V6 sterndrive or look at a 200hp outboard setup etc etc etc)

cheers

[Thebuffalo]

BM. I think that would be an interesting project if it was cost effective. I think a lot of manufacturers are trying to re invent the wheel. I am a strong advocate of repowering the older hulls as there are a lot of good ones still around.

There are a few blokes here on this site that have done the same sort of thing with good results.

As for the moulds, there must have been a reason for the manufacturing of these hulls to have ceased.

[RonboC]

The Guy who made this pod below can help you out. Under 2 k fitted. The boat is a HH 213C

Gday spaniard King
I have the same boat and looking at the pod option do you have contact details for the person who did this conversion? I now this is an old posting I posted a similar question today and was given this page to look at
Regards
RonbooC

[poundalead]

This is what I am having done to my boat at the moment. Its costin me around $1200 with a small duckboard either side as well as widening and stiffening up of the transom. I am also putting the batteries on a shelf below the transom. It works for me but I can't wait to test it out!

[ozlongboarder]

There are a few 25's here with outboards, with and without pods.

http://simplifying.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=207

[Travip]

Hi Spaniard King,
I have a HH213 with a Volvo AQ170 , I am concidering swaping out for a set up like this , could you possibly put me in contact with this guy also , I am very keen to pod my 213 as the old inbord takes up a bit of room , nice hh by the way Thanks