Hi everybody! I'm not sure if there's a better place to put/ask this, but as it's my first post here goes nothing. Also, sorry ahead of time if I'm asking for too much help or wasting peoples' time or something. Just hoping to get some advice from those who are more experienced than me.
[Note: Originally, I made a post on r/sailing asking for help on this matter, and feel I have gone down the rabbit hole just a bit. Link to that post is toward the bottom for anyone interested.]
Anyway, my family owns a Columbia 28 sailboat. When we bought her, the original engine didn't work and the previous owner had an outboard mounted to the transom with a bracket. So, we just kept it like that since price quotes at the time on repairing/rebuilding whatever is wrong with the Atomic 4 were far in excess of the cost of the whole thing to begin with.
Then, our outboard was stolen about 6 months ago (and in hindsight, we probably made it pretty damn easy for them). Now we finally have the ability to replace the outboard, and we've decided on a Yamaha 9.9 high thrust. It will require a new transom mount as well. However, during the process of doing research and trying to decide what to buy, I saw some posts from people buying and selling Atomic 4s for what I consider very reasonable prices. That got me wondering if maybe we should consider trying to get the A4 running or even buy a new one. I am no motor expert, plus taking on a big side project would be very slow-going, and I hear that even a crane could be involved. But, if the price, effort, hassle, complications, etc. are all acceptable, it might convince us.
I guess my questions are:
Please feel free to check my original post over at reddit for some more history/background info. I appreciate anybody who might be able to share a little of their wisdom.
[Note: Originally, I made a post on r/sailing asking for help on this matter, and feel I have gone down the rabbit hole just a bit. Link to that post is toward the bottom for anyone interested.]
Anyway, my family owns a Columbia 28 sailboat. When we bought her, the original engine didn't work and the previous owner had an outboard mounted to the transom with a bracket. So, we just kept it like that since price quotes at the time on repairing/rebuilding whatever is wrong with the Atomic 4 were far in excess of the cost of the whole thing to begin with.
Then, our outboard was stolen about 6 months ago (and in hindsight, we probably made it pretty damn easy for them). Now we finally have the ability to replace the outboard, and we've decided on a Yamaha 9.9 high thrust. It will require a new transom mount as well. However, during the process of doing research and trying to decide what to buy, I saw some posts from people buying and selling Atomic 4s for what I consider very reasonable prices. That got me wondering if maybe we should consider trying to get the A4 running or even buy a new one. I am no motor expert, plus taking on a big side project would be very slow-going, and I hear that even a crane could be involved. But, if the price, effort, hassle, complications, etc. are all acceptable, it might convince us.
I guess my questions are:
- Should we go back to an inboard?
- If we try to go back to an inboard, what would that kind of undertaking encompass?
- Would it make more sense to repair vs replace, and what sort of cost-range should we anticipate?
- Or, should we just stick with the outboard for the convenience, and possibly cost?
Please feel free to check my original post over at reddit for some more history/background info. I appreciate anybody who might be able to share a little of their wisdom.
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