Seasport skipper 19 podding project

[MRWood]

After careful consideration I have decided to pod my Seasport skipper 19 and go to a single outboard with kicker. I reached out to some of the guys on this site who’s opinions I respect and using their advice and recommendations I now have the basic game plan.
The current motor and outdrive is the Volvo Penta 4.3L V6, rated at 190HP with Volvo Duoprop DP-C outdrive. The motor has 1550 hours on it and has served me quite well. Kicker is a 1999 Yamaha 9.9 which still runs nicely.
I am going to go with a hull extension aluminum pod. Whiskey Creek Marine formerly E&D will build the pod. Power will be a Merc 225 V6 DTS with 30” leg (hopefully Stizzla will ok that). Kicker will be a Merc 9.9 EFI pro kicker. Hydraulic steering (Seastar) and Lowrance autopilot system.
I’m now starting to pull things apart in preparation. Leg is off. Next is getting motor ready to be pulled. Not sure what to do with the motor. Don’t know if it’s saleable as is or part out or someone will rebuild. Motor ran well all summer. Likely needs new heat exchanger, as I’d been losing some coolant. Also been 5 years since I’d changed the risers.
Here are a few pics of boat etc.

 

[MRWood]

 

[Ringo]

You’re one brave soul. Good luck with your project.

 

[MRWood]

 

[MRWood]

You’re one brave soul. Good luck with your project.

There’s a fine line between brave and stupid in fact they are very close cousins lol.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Good choice, and your doing it right by adding everything/same time.

The autopilot with additional rear helm secondary hydraulic steering was a complete game changer. Use it all the time. When you do the autopilot make sure you get the remote with it.

Jealous it is so much fun doing this.

 

[kaelc]

It sounds like a good time to do it. I'm a fan of the Merc V6 and seaports, it should provide a ton of get-up-and-go at low RPM. What is the price difference between the 200 and 225 Merc, I would even take a 175 but I think they are digital only? Where do you keep her moored in those photos? I sometimes have an empty pickup truck if anyone needs an engine delivery

 

[Tips Up]

This should be great! You love your boat. Its a beauty. Going to have a lot more deck space with the pod and outboard.
Will you be able to have cooler on pod or what's your plan for replacing that?

 

[MRWood]

It sounds like a good time to do it. I'm a fan of the Merc V6 and seaports, it should provide a ton of get-up-and-go at low RPM. What is the price difference between the 200 and 225 Merc, I would even take a 175 but I think they are digital only? Where do you keep her moored in those photos? I sometimes have an empty pickup truck if anyone needs an engine delivery

The price difference between the 200 and 225 with taxes is between $4-5k. The 200 doesn’t come with a 30” leg. I suppose they could switch legs but I’d rather have a bit more power.
I moor my boat in the bay by our house. It’s called Nuttal Bay and is the next bay over from Northwest Bay.

 

[MRWood]

This should be great! You love your boat. Its a beauty. Going to have a lot more deck space with the pod and outboard.
Will you be able to have cooler on pod or what's your plan for replacing that?

I suppose a cooler could go on the pod if the motor is down. I’m going to do something with the space that will be available once the inboard is out. There is also space available under the deck between the outside stringers that has not been put to use. I’m open to ideas

 

[Aces]

That’s going to be an amazing transformation

Good luck with your project, Mike

 

[Brando]

Looks like you’ve done your homework. Flatten the doghouse space and you have tons of room for a cooler on the deck get a nice rotomolded model with some rubber pads on the bottom and it won’t slide around on you. Also allows you to shift weight around as you need. Look forward to the build.

 

[MRWood]

I’m going to need to start selling things. Some things may be worth something others maybe not. I’ll post them up on the sales string on this site before I go elsewhere.
Items like:
-bus heater (heater runs off inboard cooling system)
-Volvo duoprop outdrive
-Engine 4.3L v6
-Props if no one wants the leg
-lowrance hook 7 gps fishfinder with transducer (I need to upgrade if I want to run the planned autopilot)
-1999 yami kicker tiller XL
Other things may come up as I go along.

 

[Rayvon]

Great project,as you know i have the same boat with a 200 Suzuki on factory bracket.The V6 Merc will be tons of power for the boat,lots of extra torque when needed.Just be very sure the pod builder compensates for the extra weight to maintain your self bailing deck.I was thinking of going with a full hull extension pod with swim grid and integral kicker mount but have fine tuned mine enough to eliminate a lot of the porpoising.But your for sure doing the right thing,you should be very happy when all done.The fish deck is really big without the engine cover.I'll be watching your progress and you might convince me to do the same to mine.

 

[MRWood]

Great project,as you know i have the same boat with a 200 Suzuki on factory bracket.The V6 Merc will be tons of power for the boat,lots of extra torque when needed.Just be very sure the pod builder compensates for the extra weight to maintain your self bailing deck.I was thinking of going with a full hull extension pod with swim grid and integral kicker mount but have fine tuned mine enough to eliminate a lot of the porpoising.But your for sure doing the right thing,you should be very happy when all done.The fish deck is really big without the engine cover.I'll be watching your progress and you might convince me to do the same to mine.

Thank you and that is great news that you’ve been able to rectify your issues. If mine works out and I’m expecting it to then you could copy it.
I figure I’m going to be about 300lbs lighter in the back. The guys that are doing the pod have done plenty and do know about that. I’m expecting to sit a bit higher in the back than currently.