What Houseboat Engines Should We Use?

Rogue Wave Ep.6: On this episode of Rogue Wave we are continuing the restoration of our $6,500 1976 houseboat, the "Enigma." We pull the old Ford 351 engines and V-drives out of the houseboat, discuss why parts are getting so hard to find, and ponder what the best engines would be for a houseboat in 2021.
Motiv8 Labs is a group of friends who make videos about cars, boats, racing, science, technology, fun projects, and having fun together. We have two shows we do, Speed bump which is for everything with wheels, and Rogue Wave which is everything related to boats.
▶ Playlist of all the Enigma houseboat restoration videos:
• Enigma Houseboat Resto...
▶ Playlist of all our Rogue Wave videos:
• Rogue Wave
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• Speed Bump

[@ready4pullback]

Ok, I’m in. I live near Texoma and restore boats as a hobby. This is going to be epic. As far as the engines, I would rebuild them- those 351 Windsors are good motors for this application. Fuel economy would be the last of my concerns, especially on a lake like Texoma. You’re not traveling great distances, and they’re easy to work on. Parts are getting a little tougher to buy new, but there are so many of these engines out there you shouldn’t have a problem finding a couple parts motors to tuck away. I 100% agree with getting rid of the V-drives and just going with some new transmissions. I’m most interested in how you’re going to tackle cutting and adding a new section of hull to this boat. That’s going to require some serious glasswork skills. I absolutely cannot wait to see how this shapes up, and see this boat back out on the lake. Not sure how I stumbled on to your channel, but I’m so glad I did. Was even cooler that you’re local to me. Cheers guys!

[@toddrosenbaum9761]

So I'm several months late to the game, but would love to see the transom beefed up and a conversion to outboards. You'd gain a ton of space, but would have to figure out what it would do to your weight distribution.

[@Motiv8Labs]

Our buddy JT likes the idea of outboards since the engine room would be open for lots of space. We still haven’t picked a direction yet though.

[@jstar1000]

My son just bought a 1978 Carlcraft 37 foot house boat. It has a single engine in it. Our dilemma so far is the plumbing of the boat, we have no idea what kind of holding tanks it has if its just a grey tank, black and grey or what or how big etc. Some videos about all that mess would be great. Also I can not find a water heater on the boat so I assume it has none.

[@jjohnston5061]

Lots of education in just a little time. Great work! Motorbike, keep it simple stupid is the motto. It's not a race boat, but doing good on gas wouldn't be bad either. Maybe go fuel injected but see if the fuel mileage will actually outweigh the costs.
Diesel motors would be cool too. So many options and I know anything you guys decide will be done to perfection.
Helicopter motors aka flash gordon?! Lol not sure tesla motors would be a good idea unless you can really use solar panels to keep them charged.

[@Motiv8Labs]

Should we keep these old 1970s Ford 351s or switch to something more modern to repower the houseboat?

[@keithreiffenstein9909]

I would upgrade to something newer and bigger..

[@judgeradar1319]

You mentioned Tesla. If the new Generator puts out enough power, this could be an option.

[@michaelgries8214]

Rebuilt LS junkyard motors

[@enochgentry1497]

Diesels by Cummings

[@karibakid]

diesel for safety reasons and fuel costs