Re-powering a houseboat - Stay with Stern drive?

Sorry for the lack of input folks! My reply notifications got filtered to junk. For record I attached a pic of the boat. I expect it to run about 5mph. I don’t know the difference between a floating home and a houseboat. The pontoons will be aluminum with a hull shape similar to a pontoon boat (but massive).

 

She looks nice. Do you drive her from a console on the top deck?
Do you have any photos of her out of the water?
How many pontoon hulls are you proposing, and what diameter will they be?

 

No out of water photos yet. Just bought it a few months ago. There’s a helm inside, nothing up top.
The current fiberglass toons are (3) 4ft wide, 2ft tall rectangular logs, that Angle up at the bow. The center toon has an engine bay.

The new aluminum pontoons will be similar width, but I’m trying to get 12” or so more freeboard. They will not be square logs but actually have some structure and shape. I’ll def post some pics when we start building.