have a mac 2-22 need to know best shaft size, 20in or 25in for out board. looks like 20 would work but if heeled over might come out of water any insite?
shaft size
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I have a 9.9 w/25" shaft on my V25 and it works/fits perfect. It even comes out of the water sometimes in bigger chop, so I would say, the longer the better. If you do mostly calm water cruising you might get away with the smaller. And don't worry about when you heel.....you'll be sailing and the motor should be UP and OUT of the water anyway!
25" hands down. and even then you can have problems in a choppy seas with short period waves. it is no fun trying to go in our out of a cut, and have no power because you engine is out of the water.
The 20 inch long shaft will probably work fine in most cases as it is longer than the normal short shaft 16 inch outboards. We have the 25 extra long shaft on our Mac, but raised it...
...on a mount I made so that it is the same depth as a long shaft and it worked fine in Florida, but we don't go out in aggressive conditions but were in some 3-4 foot swells a couple times. Your waves up there are probably shorter steeper so a longer shaft can help in that situation.
We still do have the option of pulling off the mount I made, 4 bolts and just a couple minutes and dropping the outboard down into the well for the full 25 inch depth. The main reason we went with the 25 inch length was....
... to raise it 5 inches which puts the controls closer to Ruth and on the mount it has full rotation. In the well it doesn't.
The mount and control mods start here....
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/outside-25.html
Sum
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...on a mount I made so that it is the same depth as a long shaft and it worked fine in Florida, but we don't go out in aggressive conditions but were in some 3-4 foot swells a couple times. Your waves up there are probably shorter steeper so a longer shaft can help in that situation.
We still do have the option of pulling off the mount I made, 4 bolts and just a couple minutes and dropping the outboard down into the well for the full 25 inch depth. The main reason we went with the 25 inch length was....
... to raise it 5 inches which puts the controls closer to Ruth and on the mount it has full rotation. In the well it doesn't.
The mount and control mods start here....
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/outside-25.html
Sum
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Being that it's a sailboat, and not going to go very fast even under power, I'd be mostly concerned about keeping the prop in the water when things get rough, which suggests the extra long shaft. Use an adjustable mount so you can tilt and raise the unit to clear the water. You can run the ventilation plate at the surface when things are calm, but drop it further when pitching and rolling, which is when you need it the most. Or just run it deep all the time when under power, since efficiency really isn't a concern (to me at least) on a small sailboat with a small outboard.
I would have lowered this one even more, but the tiller would have been unusable. If it was centered like the 'standard' A23's, the prop coming out of the water wouldn't have been as much of a problem since they have the O/B mount in the center of the transom. An extra long shaft would put the power unit higher, too, or allow deeper operation without losing the tiller.
I would have lowered this one even more, but the tiller would have been unusable. If it was centered like the 'standard' A23's, the prop coming out of the water wouldn't have been as much of a problem since they have the O/B mount in the center of the transom. An extra long shaft would put the power unit higher, too, or allow deeper operation without losing the tiller.
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I have the same problem if its just me or if its only me and one other. When the whole fam is there, I have enough weight in the aft area. I'm thinking of moving my battery to the laz for different reasons but that may help some.
I still need to make a locking bar to hold the motor straight. The only time I need to turn the motor is when backing. This year I learned that I was spending too much time and activation backing into my slip. It's a lot easier to back out than to back in.
Finances dictate I will not replace the motor anytime soon so I need to deal with what I have.
Most people are actually moving weight forward on our boats. Is there any chance that your outboard is actually a short shaft (16 inch)?
We run with our outboard unattached from the tiller when motoring (not anchoring/docking). The clamp that you can adjust below the outboard head seems to hold it there 90% of the time and still be loose enough to turn it while anchoring and such.
Also depending on wind and such and if we are motorsailing the outboard is not always dead straight ahead. If we are motoring I put the tiller straight ahead and then adjust the outboard to where we go straight or at least close to straight most of the time,
Sum
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thank you for everybody taking time to reply , I was going to get a 9.9 with 20inch shaft cost would have been 1900$ but took read the posts and decided 20 in would not be enough. price on 25in was 2200$ so i decided to get a trolling motor with 40 in shaft . my last boat was a coronado that was 2500# a 40 pound trust moved it at 4-5 n this 2-22 mac weighs 1800# i am running a hybrid with 120 amp battery charger run by 1k genset to feed batteries. house battery will be isolated to prevent noise.
Curious about this. You will run something like a Honda genset to power the battery charger to power the trolling motor?
One thing I've seen is that smaller trolling motors do fine moving the boat to and from a dock or mooring in fairly calm conditions, but can be overwhelmed in high wind conditions (also current, but I assume you don't have that). The Mac might be less weight than the other boat, but does it present more surface to the wind?
You want a combination that will bring you home no matter what the conditions are. Personally I'd much rather have the 20 inch long shaft outboard myself as the trolling motor just can't touch it in bad conditions.
I realize that there was emphasis posted on a 25 inch shaft, but I'll bet over 90% of the macs out there including the ones on this board have a 20 inch shaft outboard on them. We have the 25, but it is raised to the same depth as the 20 inch Honda we had on before,
Sum
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I'm with Sum, but channel width is a consideration. It is a sailboat after all.
I am from Cape Cod, and you can time current...in fact it is required.
Jeff
P.S. - per another post, I must say living in fear of not solving all factors pre-accident will lead to shorter lives. If you are concerned about someone suing you, don't invite them. Period. These are sailboats. Sailors are comfortable with more risk than the average person. I WILL sail solo to Hawaii from LA...it's on my bucket list. My affairs will be in order prior and my wife comfortable with everything before I do it. But I won't live in fear of a lawyer.
I am from Cape Cod, and you can time current...in fact it is required.
Jeff
P.S. - per another post, I must say living in fear of not solving all factors pre-accident will lead to shorter lives. If you are concerned about someone suing you, don't invite them. Period. These are sailboats. Sailors are comfortable with more risk than the average person. I WILL sail solo to Hawaii from LA...it's on my bucket list. My affairs will be in order prior and my wife comfortable with everything before I do it. But I won't live in fear of a lawyer.
Sum, I meant to agree that when solo or with just one other, when I move my fat butt forward to raise the jib in chop is when it happens. If I'm in the cockpit, all is good.
If it were me, and the 9.9 extra long shaft put the price over the top, I'd go for the long shaft (20"), or drop down to an 8 with 25" shaft, or even a 6 with 25" shaft, with the final choice depending on how tall the transom is off the water. If it's high, the extra long shaft makes more sense, but if it's low (like an Aquarius 23 with the notch for the outboard, which is also centered), that wouldn't be necessary.
The prices seem to drop a few hundred with each drop in hp category, less so with a drop in shaft length, but that depends on brand.
Edit: My opinions are coming from experience trying to get out of trouble, in surf (very skinny water with a very narrow channel), with some stiff wind, and the prop coming out of the water as the boat pitches (a problem for any outboard) and rolls (made worse with the outboard off-center) to where it was like those dreams where you're trying to run and just can't get traction.
The prices seem to drop a few hundred with each drop in hp category, less so with a drop in shaft length, but that depends on brand.
Edit: My opinions are coming from experience trying to get out of trouble, in surf (very skinny water with a very narrow channel), with some stiff wind, and the prop coming out of the water as the boat pitches (a problem for any outboard) and rolls (made worse with the outboard off-center) to where it was like those dreams where you're trying to run and just can't get traction.
100 yard to lake erie from dock, then wide open lake i will let you know how it works. other boat had 700# more weight and alot more surface area and 40pound trust motor in20k winds still made way with chop included. it might be a task to get to dock with river flow and southerly wind since this river flows north and dock is south. did i tell you we own a hybrid car? i will carry a tow line.
My data point on the electric motor.. I have a 15 foot dingy that I use a 30 pound thrust trolling motor on. My reason is probably a little different than yours, I like it because it only puts 13 pounds on the transom and the battery weight is used as ballast being just slightly in front of the mast and low in the hull.
30 pound thrust is supposed to use slightly less than 1/2 hp in electricity, don’t know what power gets delivered to the prop. I can get this boat up to about 3.5 mph with the trolling motor, maybe get about a 5 mile range without stressing the battery much.
This trolling motor has got me home a bunch of times in some fairly good wind but last fall I found its limits. This day a wildly fast October front came through and I got knocked over - would have probably turtled the boat except for the mast float at the top. I got the sails down, had the centerboard down and with the electric motor, just could not get back to where I had left the truck. This was some fairly big wind, you can see in the picture. I had to leave the boat on the opposite shore and hitch hike back to my truck. Came and got the boat the next morning - of course the temps were below freezing.
I still almost exclusively use this electric motor since I have that boat to sail but it does have its limits.. I’m thinking of buying a 2.5 hp 30 pound gas outboard for it for times when I might want to motor some distance, use the electric motor when I want to sail fast.
FYI, for you’re boat, I would vote for something like the 6 hp single cylinder. It’s plenty for the boat and a lot less weight than the 9 to 10 hp. I have an extra long shaft on the 26S that I raised by 2.5 inches so that it would full rotate and the only time I really need that extra depth is for motor sailing on one tack where the outboard is on the high side. This is all lake sailing but that boat and I have seen some fairly wild conditions.
30 pound thrust is supposed to use slightly less than 1/2 hp in electricity, don’t know what power gets delivered to the prop. I can get this boat up to about 3.5 mph with the trolling motor, maybe get about a 5 mile range without stressing the battery much.
This trolling motor has got me home a bunch of times in some fairly good wind but last fall I found its limits. This day a wildly fast October front came through and I got knocked over - would have probably turtled the boat except for the mast float at the top. I got the sails down, had the centerboard down and with the electric motor, just could not get back to where I had left the truck. This was some fairly big wind, you can see in the picture. I had to leave the boat on the opposite shore and hitch hike back to my truck. Came and got the boat the next morning - of course the temps were below freezing.
I still almost exclusively use this electric motor since I have that boat to sail but it does have its limits.. I’m thinking of buying a 2.5 hp 30 pound gas outboard for it for times when I might want to motor some distance, use the electric motor when I want to sail fast.
FYI, for you’re boat, I would vote for something like the 6 hp single cylinder. It’s plenty for the boat and a lot less weight than the 9 to 10 hp. I have an extra long shaft on the 26S that I raised by 2.5 inches so that it would full rotate and the only time I really need that extra depth is for motor sailing on one tack where the outboard is on the high side. This is all lake sailing but that boat and I have seen some fairly wild conditions.
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Sounds like you may be a candidate for one of those new light weight propane outboards.walt said:
I used to have an 8 hp 20inch, I started the engine and went forward to pull up the anchor. I had not noticed that that the outboard was running dry when I was pulling the anchor and I burnt up the impeller. I replaced the engine with a 9.9hp 25inch shaft,,I have had no more problems ever since. I can walk to the bow with the engine running and the shaft will remain in the water. I vote for longer outboard shaft, I too have a 222.
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