73 Seacraft 23 CC total rebuild

[SledDogFishing]

Hey all,

My very first post on the board. A buddy has a 73 Sea Craft 23' CC that after years of commercial fishing, charters and dragging dozens of BFT giants over the rail has decided to rebuild as opposed to selling out for something newer. I have been building custom cold molded SF in the 34’ to 53’ range for close to 20 years, but this is my first Sea Craft rebuild and instead of re-inventing the wheel I thought I’d try to get some info from those who have done it all before.
The boat had an OMC King Cobra 7.4L I/O which has been pulled and is for sale, I’ve closed and re-cored the transom to hang a bracket and am researching both the Armstrong and the Hermco (Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?). The boat with the I/O was very stern heavy and took a while to get up, is moving the engine 3’ further back going to cause issues, or will the positive buoyancy of the bracket compensate? Looking at Suzuki 4 stroke OB a single 250 or 300 vs. a pair of 140/150s. Economy is very nice but so is a fast cruise to the Channel 50 miles out. Anyone have a boat similarly rigged and can give me an idea on performance specs?
Other issue is the cockpit drains through the hull bottom, can they run straight out the back with a scupper and a backflow stopper?
He also complained that the ride got a little wet, as wash would come up the side of the hull hit the rub rail and end up in the back of the boat. I noticed that the newer hulls have added a spray rail in the bow. How have other owners handle this?

Thanks for your help,
Kip