A few days after my last post I heard back from the repair shop and the outboard is shot. With a fair amount of effort and money I could probably get it running again, but there are several things that, if they went south on me, I would be hard pressed to find parts and could easily have it become a money pit.
As a result I am selling a 1957 Johnson outboard if anyone is interested. And I am in the market for a new outboard engine.
During the process of researching motors and what to get I learned some important things about purchasing outboards. One that I thought was rather useful is how to determine your shaft length.
Why You Need the Right Outboard Shaft Length
Choosing the right shaft length allows your boat to perform efficiently and reduce the chances for damage to your outboard motor and/or propeller.
The best way to think about choosing your motor is to think about what happens when you are cruising through the water. As your boat gets on plane the majority of your boat is actually out of the water with only the very bottom skimming across the top.
While on plane it would be unwise to have your propeller coming out of the water, or too close to the surface. It would be like spinning your wheels on ice, you just aren't going to go anywhere fast. The other extreme is that you don't want the propeller to be too far under water. A prop that is too far under water is will try to both push the front of the boat up into the air, and will create more drag on the motor.
As a result, the aim is to have the bottom of the cavitation plate even or just below the bottom of your transom.
Fortunately shaft lengths are measured with that in mind:
How to Measure for Outboard Shaft Length
The easy way to measure shaft length is to simply measure from the top of the boat transom to the bottom of the boat. On an outboard this translates to the distance from where the mounting clamp bracket rests on the transom to the bottom of the cavitation plate.
Shaft lengths come in 5" increments, with the short shaft being 15". As long as you are within an inch or two of the shaft length measured on your boat you are in business.
I was recently given a boat . . . a death sentence for many. A death sentence because one of two things typically happen. 1. The boat takes up space in the owners yard and rots (similar to what happened with the previous owner of mine), or 2. The new owner spends countless hours and dollars restoring a boat that never really functions properly. I intend to do neither. I plan to do this boat restoration project with a reasonable amount of time and money.
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