Shaft length

[Tbeeman]

20" vs 25"  anyone have a recommendation?? looking at a 9.9 Honda. Thanks.

[brackish]

If you do a search in this forum section on "outboard motor" you will find many discussions on this issue.

I had a 9.9 HP, 20" shaft, 4 stroke, electric start, 104 lb. motor.  It came with the boat.  I swapped it for a 6 HP, 25" shaft, 4 stroke, 59 lb. Sail pro.  It has worked out very well, however the shaft length was not the issue, the 20" worked fine.  It was the weight.

[Bob23]

25. I have a Nissan 8 hp 20" shaft which works fine most of the time but in waves it will cavitate a bit.
Bob23

[BruceW]

Bob, curious about your cavitation. What size waves would cause that?

The reason I ask is I need to do something with my motor mount eventually; either put in a spacer at transome, or move it back up to where it was before OP moved it.

[MKBLK]

tigersailor - As the owner of a "new" 1977 Johnson 2hp that I haven't even started yet, I now feel expert in the field of outboard motors... ha, ha.

Seriously, I just got my Johnson (don't even think it!) and it has a long shaft that measures 25 inches from beneath the housing to the bottom of the prop. On the CP16 it reaches very nicely below the hull bottom. I don't think you'd want anything shorter.

Marty K.

[BruceW]

haha, well, I do have the Sailpro; but you know the 25" has to start somewhere. I'm trying to figure out where it needs to be.