Crazy fast Hustler, about 10 years ago, and as I recall this was a Bravo conversion.

First, for some reason everyone seems to have the wrong conception about Arnesons and Surface Drives. This is in fact the answer to your question as look no farther than how people are giving you the idea and feedback about how a rudder boat is and how they believe a rudder boat is going to react with one engine.. This does not apply to the topic, rather that applies to how a race boat setup reacts and it is the same way for a Merc drive with a rudder.

You don't need a rudder in order to have an Arneson. In fact far from it.

There is no specific boat that is specifically designed for a "Surface Drive".. Unless you consider, Skater, Cigarette, MTI, Spectre, Eliminator, Donzi, Fountain, Magnum, Hustler, Nortec, etc, etc... specifically designed for a surface drive. They are the same boat you see in the same bottom configuration as they always were.

I put some motors in Raymonds 53' airborne few years ago, steerable/trimable Arnesons, seems to work and steer good at all speeds. Did throw a couple blades though when playing with trim settings.

I know Arnesons steer. The post above mine talked of the BPM setup with a rudder.
I am now curious about the price. What would a Arneson setup cost?

Curious in price as well.

Also what is involved in a #6 to arneson conversion? Transom cutout, motor mounting, etc.

A #6 to Arneson (depending on which model) would be more involved than a Bravo to Arneson Conversion as we do not make a kit for this. (Not that it cannot be made)

Another advantage that surface drives bring is efficiency. A cat w/ surface drives will be the "hybrid" for performance boats in fuel economy. This will matter more. They also help V's of course.

If building a new boat w/ any kind of power that needs more than a Bravo, Arneson seems like a no brainer to me. I assume comparable costs to a NXT (?) but you pick up speed for "free"!

AND THEY DONT BREAK..well you know what I mean.

I had a chance to run a 72 Manhattan Sunseeker Yacht with Arensons drives with Mann 1200's. From my experince in running a boat that size is when it came to docking< I found it was a breeze. It beats outdrives hand down and a lot easyer than water jets. The other advantage with arenson drives is if you get cought in shallow water, you raise the drives up and back out to deeper water. Did that one year in Palm Beach inter-coastal waters. A life saver. The only cons to the Arensons is backing up toward a sea wall. You have to watch it very closely. But thats where a long swim platforms comes in. Would I build a baot with them ? I would ina heart beat.

when I measured years ago.. a asd-7 is the same length as a #6 around 46" if memory serves me correctly, A asd-8 is around 50", not much different..