Converting a 20' Celebrity cuddy cabin I/O to O/B

[Instigator]

Just bought this for a day boat on Lake Erie.

Used to sell them back in the day and being a cuddy cabin guy, I always thought Celebrity did them better than anyone.

This one is a '93 and clean as a pin.
Has a 220 HP 305 4 barrel Mercruiser now. 43 MPH's w/one person and a full tank.

GREATTTTTT rough water hull design! We got stuck on one of the Erie Islands and came back through 6' waves w/no issues.
Wouldnt do it again.....

Anyhow, missing my twin O/B 24' Sonic but not willing or able to go back to that, this may be just the recipe.

After studying the transom, built in swim platform, notch for the I/O, inside of transom etc, should be a piece of cake.
I will build a fiberglass "pod" (for the O/B) to fit into the notch for the I/O and bond/bolt/glass it in place w/o modifying OEM style/structure.

I'll also convert the existing interior to dual buckets and a sun lounge. Getting rid of the back to back seats will add a ton of cockpit floor space that I do not have and the sun lounge will turn the existing motor box and jump seat into a huge storage area.

For power, it will need to be a 25" motor to work and am debating between finding/rebuilding a popped 225/250 E-Tec or older/cheaper/simpler carb'd version of same.

Should be a fun project and cant wait to get started.

A bonus will be recouping 50%+ of my initial investment when unloading the virgin I/O power train.

Probably be Fall before starting the project as we're still using the boat and will give me time to save $$ and collect components.

[Stoker1]

Absolutely loved the Sonic build. This one will be great!

[CHICKENHAWK]

Interesting conversion. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product and more importantly curious to see the performance of the conversion.

Also, good to know Celebrity's were/are solid boats...I had no idea.

What is your reasoning behind converting to an outboard if there's nothing wrong with the current setup?

[Instigator]

Interesting conversion. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product and more importantly curious to see the performance of the conversion.

Also, good to know Celebrity's were/are solid boats...I had no idea.

What is your reasoning behind converting to an outboard if there's nothing wrong with the current setup?

Converting it to O/B to drop 500 lbs, gain 10 mph and gain a ton of cockpit and storage space.
Plus I like unique projects and it should be fun

On construction, for lake boats they're killer.
W/my projected performance improvement, and being on Lake Erie w/a 20' boat........., it wont be happy.
Ill look at structural improvements when I have the current power out.

[TooStroked]

Wow, that one's in great shape! Quite the find. Remember though, that vintage of Celebrity tended to leak water at the hull and deck joint towards the stern. More than a few transoms rotted out on them. (We used to sell them.) Good luck and keep us posted on progress.

[Instigator]

Wow, that one's in great shape! Quite the find. Remember though, that vintage of Celebrity tended to leak water at the hull and deck joint towards the stern. More than a few transoms rotted out on them. (We used to sell them.) Good luck and keep us posted on progress.

Rock solid and I thought the same about that part of seam.
Luckily that is about 2" above water line at rest.

[delawarerick]

Gary I had the mach 1 1900 challenger which was a 20 foot cuddy i/o of all the boats I have owned this one provided some of the best times. It had the I4 140 iron duke and when I got rid of it had 3500 hrs. Not alot of companies made outboard cuddies more walk arounds. We sold sunbirds and the like of omc boats not much of a choice and not the best quality. Look forward to seeing your work. Rick

[Instigator]

Gary I had the mach 1 1900 challenger which was a 20 foot cuddy i/o of all the boats I have owned this one provided some of the best times. It had the I4 140 iron duke and when I got rid of it had 3500 hrs. Not alot of companies made outboard cuddies more walk arounds. We sold sunbirds and the like of omc boats not much of a choice and not the best quality. Look forward to seeing your work. Rick

I really like the Sunbird O/B cuddles too but they're all rotted out due to that poor quality.

And 3500 hrs ��

[speedfreak3.6]

Instigator, this would be a good project for the v8 johnrude you've always wanted. I have one on a 92 Baja outlaw and love it. Also you could use a flotation Gil bracket to get the engine past the swim platform. I know where a 36" one can be had for cheap. Good luck with this project. Bruce

[baja200merk]

Cool project. I need that 305 I'll call u in a bit.

[Dave Strong]

Post on your progress.

Dave

[Instigator]

Instigator, this would be a good project for the v8 johnrude you've always wanted. I have one on a 92 Baja outlaw and love it. Also you could use a flotation Gil bracket to get the engine past the swim platform. I know where a 36" one can be had for cheap. Good luck with this project. Bruce

Have actually considered it.

[1954bmw]

Instigator, this would be a good project for the v8 johnrude you've always wanted. I have one on a 92 Baja outlaw and love it. Also you could use a flotation Gil bracket to get the engine past the swim platform. I know where a 36" one can be had for cheap. Good luck with this project. Bruce

So, you are still alive, was also wondering about some sort of tubular bracket to mount the engine, something else, remember those 16 and 18 foot Sea Rays that mounted the engines on the swim platform, could you possibly fill in the notch in the transom??? The Checkmate keeps getting closer, floors in, knees in, finally picked up my Merc 115 short shaft, you should see the old Carlson Contender it came on, good luck, mark Ps, how's your Checkmate coming?????

[Instigator]

So, you are still alive, was also wondering about some sort of tubular bracket to mount the engine, something else, remember those 16 and 18 foot Sea Rays that mounted the engines on the swim platform, could you possibly fill in the notch in the transom??? The Checkmate keeps getting closer, floors in, knees in, finally picked up my Merc 115 short shaft, you should see the old Carlson Contender it came on, good luck, mark Ps, how's your Checkmate coming?????

Spent several hrs dialing the 3.3 on the Checkmate and getting close.

Glad yours is coming together.
We have a new dock neighbor w/same cruiser as yours.

For the Celebrity, I will build a pod to fill the notch for the IO.
It will integrate w/the platform.