We will be relocating our O’Day 20 to the Chesapeake Bay and getting a new outboard motor. Would there be benefits or concerns going with the longer shaft?
20” or 25” shaft for Chesapeake Bay?
- Thread starter tkyoung04
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- chesapeake bay o'day
The shaft length is determined by the boat and the motor mount so that the prop is sufficiently submerged to propel the boat. Where the boat is sailed is inconsequential.
When I had my 23 foot Clipper Marine with an outboard the propeller coming out of the water in rough conditions was always a limiting factor - even with the long shaft option. My opinion is the longer the better.
I’d get the 25. You can always raise the mount if for some reason you want it shorter...
(show me one guy who wishes he had a shorter shaft)
(show me one guy who wishes he had a shorter shaft)
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Different point of view.
The 20” on a properly located bracket can be low enough to sufficiently propel a boat on flat water such as on a smaller lake or bay.
Move that same boat to a much larger lake or bay with lots of power boat wakes and or large fetches producing large wind driven chop and the 20” shaft now will spend some time out of the water.
That’s where the 25” shaft would be more appropriate.
For the Chesapeake Bay I’d go with the others who suggested the long shaft.
I concur with this. I had a Catalina 27 I sailed all over the mid and upper part of the Chesapeake Bay, and when it was snotty out and we were motoring even that longshaft Yamaha 9.9 came out of the water a fair amount of the time in that short chop. I'd get the longest shaft you can find for the motor.