Well, it looks as if the 482 Mercruisers in my 35' Magnum Sportfisher need rebuilding. I am estimating between 10-13k for the rebuilds, plus an additional 5-10k for the removals and install.

I am contemplating whether I should take this time to upgrade the propulsion, or stick with what I got.

Repowering to diesel will be too much money (75k??).
Modern Mercruisers such as the 8.s do not come in a counter rotating configuration, so I would need to change out one of the Walter V drives (6k).

Does it make any sense to think about going with stern drives? Would the labor of the switchover be outlandish?
Would the change drastically change the handling of the vessel since the weight would be further aft?

Has anyone done a repower from inboard v drive to sterndrive that would like to share their experience?
Thanks

A Sterndrive would be my last choice , Arneson would be the first .

I would say stick with what you have. The boat is set up for the V drive and you are familiar with it. If you take the motors to well known builder, they can make them as good as new, bump up the power, and down the road you can say it has "So & So's" motors in it.

I use Ron Potter Down in Sarasota. He does amazing work and is very reasonable.

Too big a boat for stern drives.
Is it a fly bridge model?
We had a 38FB w/ blueprinted engines on vdrives.
Boat cruised approx 24kts.
I can't see you acheiving much w/o going to BIG power and ASDs.
But any big power, including diesels or blower motors will have clearance issues and wont fit under the cockpit floor.

Keep what you got, just rebuild.