Thunderstruck--you are 100% correct! That is exactly what the engine builder did (they forced the engine onto the drive which caused the drive to blow up my third time out on the water).

The motorbuilder is the one who was doing this shoddy R&R (there were two companies I was dealing with--the marine shop who did the R&R twice and the engine builder). Youll have to read the whole thread but I ended up having to buy a new drive and had it installed (correctly) at a reputable local shop.

Tough stuff to go through but you definitely aren't the only person to go through it. Hang in there and learn as much as you can to avoid this in the future.