replacing universal atomic in '82 O'day

[dickybrewer5]

Hi all, this seems like a better place for this post. I have a nice 37 foot 1982 O'Day center cockpit sloop with a seized motor. It is the original Universal Atomic 4 cylinder, 32 HP, Diesel motor. I found a re-manufactured motor from a supplier who says the replacement is the same footprint. My problem is I can't figure out how O'Day intended for these motors to be removed/replaced??? The obvious way would be for the floor of the cockpit to be removable, but it isn't. It looks like I would have to remove allot of the kitchen area to get the motor to come out through the main cabin and that seems really difficult if not impossible. I talked to another sailor who told me that he knows people who get a good fiberglass pro to cut out the floor of the cockpit and then remount it after the motor work is done - this seems like a good idea if I would not hurt the integrity of the monohull. I am looking into these ideas, but wondered if anyone could offer me information on what the proper procedure is? I appreciate any info and wish you all happy sailing, thanks, Rick