We are renovating a 1973 Coronet Oceanfarer. The engines appear to be the originals and are in bad shape. Our local marine repowering expert suggests replacing the original Chrysler engines with Mercruisers (350 Mag Horizon V Drive (300hp) 630 V Transmissions). Any suggestions? Does it make sense to put in new engines as the boat is so old (the hull seems in good shape & we love the style, but these boats are not well known here in California)? Any help would be welcome.

You might consider smaller engines than 300 hp. The boat performs well with two Mercruiser 4.3 MPI 220 hp or 5.0 MPI 260 hp.

Why not keep the boat with Z- drives with trim ? The new engines with new Z-drives with trim system will give the best performance compared to the traditional V- transmission system.
With V- transmission you will have to install rudders and propellershafts in your boat with considerable extra costs as a result. The boats maxspeed will also be a little lower if you choose the new engines installed with V- drives compared to the performance from the same type of engines installed with Z-driveinstallation. Best regards. Finn 1786.