Two major issues with a repair today for a catastrophic failure... finding reliable parts and the people with the skills and availability to work on them.
Although I did break both engines down to the shortblock in my slip at the marina it really was in violation of the local policy. Any boat there must be able to vacate under its own power with 72hrs notice. I skated under that while doing my work when I took down the running port engine (turned out to be down 1 cyl).
But at that point it would not be possible for me to remove both engines and another fuel tank while in the slip. Not on a 34' Tolly. They did not design this boat with that in mind. So going on the hard again, was the only option.
Two facilities would do the work but only if doing a repower with new factory available complete engines, nobody sells a new 454 and the 8.1L would require a lot of custom work which would bring the costs way up upon completion (essentially duplicating some of the work the diesel repower involved). Nobody within a normal distance to me would touch these older carbed engines. I mentioned the word 'gas' during the initial call and they would decline to touch them. Deemed too dangerous because of insurance. Outboards only but no inboards is what I kept hearing over and over. Then the discussion was about warranty work. Reman'd engines are too unknown for a business so that was not an option either. Could I have had them install a reman'd pair of shortblocks and then do some other work that I cannot do so easily.. yes, but with a huge caveat.
So, I opted to go diesel which is what I truly wanted when I went shopping. Our plan was to do a repower at some point... it just came a few years too early is all. If I had had a couple of seasons I could have waited and figured out a lot of the unknowns on my own after much research and discussions, I guess I could have eventually got it done, but then I would be facing more yard storage time being added. I worked on the boat quite a bit but was not charged those fees as I have been charged by other yards (a yard that ruined some of those items they touched) that 'other' facility will never see my boat dollars again. Finding good help is real hard these days. North Harbor Diesel did a wonderful job and I have no regrets about what they did. But, I should have bought a diesel boat all along. Now I have brand new engines that I know the entire history about (my history).
I do realize I could have saved thousands of dollars on this entire process, but then the boat would still be in a yard somewhere in who knows what condition. It is hard to work on a boat full time when you have a job that is full time. At this point, the money I spent was worth the boating satisfaction I am now enjoying each weekend. We are going on our first overnight trip out of town this season and I am so looking forward to it.