25' Checkmate Convincor I/O to twin O/B's

[Instigator]

Always wanted to do this and finally flipped the switch after stumbling on this donor.

Timing couldnt have been worse with it requiring a road trip to Philli a wk before we were to move but I try not to let common sense interfere w/my boat buying decisions.

I've restored two twin O/B 24' Sonics and owned them for 14 yrs collectively. Way longer than any other boat Ive owned.
I loved them.
Not the Sonics so much as that type boating. They were inner liner boats and I didnt like that.
But, something about driving them and then being able to spend the weekend on it.
I remember shopping for the first one and talking to a dealer in NY w/one for sale and he told me on the phone, "they're a drivers boat, and a hand full to drive fast".
That was all I needed to hear.

Anyhow, to the Checkmate.
I sold them in '89/90 and we had two I/O 25' Convincors and I spent that entire time looking at dealer pricing trying to make the math work on a O/B model but I wasnt even close to being able to afford a new one at the time.

On top of that, the O/B versions had splash wells and no sun lounge. Two big strikes for me.
If you pull the motor out of an I/O version you end up w/a garage under the sun lounge! And we use our boats as boats.
So that storage will hold our two fold up bicycles for exploring, the Walmart dinghy to get to shore from anchor, chairs, grill etc for the beach.

So yrs ago I came up w/the idea of finding an I/O boat w/a popped motor (making it cheap), pull all the cast iron crap out and selling it and the drive train to help fund the project.
And to find a clean one.
So Im only doing the conversion and not a complete restoration like both Sonics.

The donor:

'1986 Convincor w/a stroker 454 that dropped a valve and a Bravo drive on a near new aluminum trailer, which I really wanted.
Previous owner redid the interior but unfortunately stored it outside w/a leaking cover so a bunch of that wood needs redone.

The boat is a very rare white w/silver stripes, which Ive never seen before, that I love.

W/our move, I lost my shop until building a new one which will probably be spring thanks to our Ohio winters.

All I have now are "before" pixs.

On power, I explored all options.
I established a $10K budget for power.

Im still brain storming on brackets too. At current prices of new, Im inclined to either draw up plans and take them to a local fab shop or build one out of glass.
The bracket on the 2nd Sonic was glass.

Today I committed to a pair of '2009 300 hp E-Tecs with '2013 factory replacement, full dressed powerheads.
Having them inspected/tested Monday.

The good is, these are the 3.4 liter stroker motors.
The bad is, they have the gargantuan magnum gear cases. Likely, I will replace them w/the smaller standard 3.0 cases and keep the magnums as backup.

Ill also paint them silver to match the stripe on the boat then do graphics for them in black.
They should pop.

Wont be able to do much until new shop is built, or spring, whichever comes first.
That will kill me.

Should be a really nice, rare piece when done though.

PS, mistakenly put this on the tech page orig.