outboard motor- is a long shaft necessary

[len goldsmith]

i have a 1966 beautiful daysailor I, rose, which i have been sailing motorless for several years. it has made me a much better sailor but there are times i know a motor would be helpful

 

[Tom Duarte]

Short Shafted

Maybe. It may be ok but if you have any kind of wave action the prop or at a minimum the intake will probably see air. Any variation of the load water produces on the prop as it spins, i.e. by coming out of the water resulting in high engine revs is not well suited for the motor. I had a 15" short shaft that came with my O'Day 20, I switched this year to a 25" long and the difference is remarkable...and worth it.

 

[Mike]

Go long

A standard (short) shaft outboard might be marginally acceptable, but I can't recall ever seeing a mounting arrangement where it was anything but barely functional. Wakes, waves and other natural forces often pull my long shaft out of the water far enough so that the water intake is briefly exposed, and that's on calm days in Long Island Sound. In choppy conditions, the prop has come out of the water completely. In smaller boats, this effect is even more pronounced, as they will pitch fore and aft more readily than a larger, heavier craft. In fact, I will often start my outboard to let it warm up as soon as I get to my boat. When I go forward to hank on the jib, just my weight will draw the bow down and stern up enough to bring the intake partially out of the water. Part of the problem is that I have an old outboard, and it seems that the definition of "long shaft" has changed over the years, with the long shaft models getting longer and longer. My long shaft is not as long as some that are offered today. Go long, and compare the lengths offered by the different manufacturers.

 

[Jake Taylor]

The longer the better...

A few years ago, I moved away from an 8hp Yanmar inboard on our larger boat, a 26'(not an Oday) and went to a 9 hp outboard. As was posted previously by another gent, even on that size boat with a fixed keel, you could walk to the bow and pull the stern up high enough to raise the intake out of the water. It also would lose bite when run in choppy conditions (I sail on the St John's River in Jacksonville most of the time). The Merc longshaft I had gotten a good deal on was still too short! We went out and scurried up a new long(er) shaft Tohatsu and it, in addition to being longer, has run like a dream. Look at the specs on shaft lengths as you shop. I looked at a longer shaft extension for the Merc in the dealer's catalog but was told by uninvolved parties that the scab-in would compromise the overall reliability.