www.iFourWinns.com

This is what I am wrestling with at the moment. Moving from a 25 to a 35 pretty much doubles and triples all the costs.
If I was in salt water I wouldn't even consider outdrives left in the water. LouC does a LOT of work to keep his in good shape.

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2004 248 Vista "Amante"
MC 5.0MPI/B3

It costs me $140 to dry store my boat at the marina with unlimited put in/pull out, plus the mandatory insurance with raised limits, plus the insanely expensive "marine" gas, plus food/beer at the various places we stop at on the river......

In the end, it costs me around $400 a month to keep the boat at the marina on average.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Maybe I could store the boat at your marina?!

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2011 Four Winns H180 SS.
Aussie built Mustang 2800.
SOLD - 1997 Four Winns Horizon RS

Costs....
for me...
Mooring rental 400, beach assn dues for boat owners, 300, bottom paint (boat yard, I won't do that) 400, outdrive paint (that I do because I don't have to lie under the damn thing and get toxic paint dust on me) $40 or so averaged out. So that's about $1140 plus about 4 hrs of my labor, for the season.

Deaf there outboard boats with swim platforms that will address your concern.
Think of what you don't have with an OB...
no driveshaft bellows to leak
no periodic replacement of exhaust manifolds
no concerns about explosive fumes in the bilge
cooling system hose failure does not flood the bilge with seawater
engine is self draining very easy to winterize

OK parts cost a fortune (think modern Japanese car engine parts) and they are fussier about fuel than old school carbed inboards.

But winterizing is not crawling around in the bilge for 3 hrs.
You don't have to pull the drive off every season (but should change the impeller about every 3 seasons, lest the bolts seize in place).
In a salt water area, an OB will sell much faster. Esp a 4 stroke Yamaha.

http://www.starcraftmarine.com/showroom ... 250-ob-scx

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

"must epoxy barrier coat at a minimum." It won't hurt, but not true.

You need to bottom paint it. I do it myself, and some boater hate to do it. So my cost comes down a lot.

If the boat has never been bottom painted. Than you must remove the wax and go with at lest 3 coats. Theres more to this, but to keep it simple.

As Lou mentioned, painting the out-drives and keeping them clean is a pain. I have been using a paint from Blue Water that so far out of 3 brands, has worked the best. I can go from mid May to mid August without a problem. Than the paint on the drives were thin and in October, I need to work a little to clean them off.

I mention to every one, join a yacht club. At 26 per foot for a slip and 210 a year for power and water. Its a deal. We do pay a 200 water wat fee that includes pump outs from the town and pay for the harbor master.

Winter storage is were I take the hit. In buying a new house, the wife said "if we find a new house and the boat can not fit in the driveway, I will pay for storage." Thats what happened, so that cost is 2200 a winter. They pull it, pressure wash it, shrink wrap it and in the spring, launch it. The flip side, at 29 feet trailers are big money just to use twice a year for me. I save 200 and maintenance cost by not having one.

bottom paint isn't waterproof. Epoxy is, so unless you enjoy a water saturated hull I'd put epoxy before bottom paint.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

If you kept it in 24/7 & 365 I would agree.

This also depends on the quality of the resin used in the layup and gelcoat. My boat has only bottom paint on it but no barrier coat. It does not have blisters despite being wet stored for over 10 seasons. But some boats do.
If I ever have the old paint stripped, I will have it barrier coated because I think its a good idea.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

My 2004 Sundowner sat in the water for 9 x six month seasons; no blisters either. The antifoul paint was redone each year, but not stripped off. Redoing it was real chore !

If you are getting it all stripped off, rather than just use an epoxy barrier coat, I'd seriously consider using an epoxy based material like "coppercoat"; it works to prevent fouling for something like 6+ years. That was no more antifouling required each year ( the undersides of olden times wooden battleships were clad with copper to prevent fouling).

Upon speaking with a few local marina based Mechanics, they don't even remotely seem concerned with outdrives in our salt water...
They suggest a 6 monthly lift, that allows them to check anodes/ gear oil etc and suggest only an annual antifoul.
Would converting a Bravo2/ Volvo DuoProp to a thru hull cooling water intake be advisable?
I'm thinking this could be one less critical thing to go wrong?!

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2011 Four Winns H180 SS.
Aussie built Mustang 2800.
SOLD - 1997 Four Winns Horizon RS

I can't see the advantage.

Did you find a boat you like, or does your recent trip have you back on the hunt for a cruiser?

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2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP

Then in Australia you must have anti fouling paint for aluminum that actually works
Because the stuff we have (Interlux Trilux) maybe works for half the season. Now there are a few newer paints that I have not tried yet because they are not available in a spray version which is needed to get in the nooks and crannies in the transom mount.

Whether you change to a through the hull water pick up or keep the drive water pick up you can get marine growth inside. I think the through the hull style ones with the clamshell that you can open (like on big boats with inboards) might be easier to deal with. I have to clean out the water passage on mine about every 3 seasons. This involves pulling and splitting the drive but since I've been doing it I have a system that makes it easy. The Cobra drives had a plastic screen in the water intakes exactly like the Johnson/Evinrude ouboards. And barnacles would grow on the screen even when I sprayed with Trilux. Finally I just pulled out the screen and painted the inside of the passage with Trilux. This worked out much better because the Cobra has 4 large holes for the water intake on each side. This allows me to use a tool made of thick wire that I use to rod out the water passage. This way I do not have to split the drive as often but I will still do it every 3 seasons so the bolts do not seize in place.
If you wind up slipping a sterndrive boat in salt then you have to really maintain it. I use OMC/Bombardier gasket sealer on the threads of all bolts on the drive. It seals out the salt water and I don't have problems with bolts seizing up. You really should pull the drive at the end of each season to check the bellows for water and check the gimble bearing and u-joints. Even in fresh water.
It can be done, but if I had a choice in the boat I wanted I'd take an outboard. The OB has other advantages too, in safety.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II