Re: Do I need a longer shaft?
That motor has a 15" shaft, you need a 20" . Sailboats usually use a 25" . What is the HP rating for the boat? I don't think there is any way to modify that motor like the later 9.9's. I would get an adjustable transom bracket and mount the motor off to the side and use it as a kicker until you can get a larger motor. If you get the leg in the water and the boat don't way to much that motor may push to a plane anyway. But it's never gonna be fast.
Edit: I have aslo seen several river sled setups that they notch the transom off to the side where the kicker bracket would normally go so you don't have to deal with lifting the thing up and down. The boats are made with a 5' deep square notch that is reinforced and wide enough to accept the kicker. I'll see if I can find a pic. On further thought this would only work with console steer and not with a tiller.
Near as I can tell they made an extension for the 9.5, but finding all the parts would be a nightmare I think.
The boat is rated for 25 or 35 HP I can't remember, some of the lakes around here only allow less than 10hp, I would be happy with about 10mph, which I figured I'd get out of 10hp, guess not!
The darn motor just isn't running right either, it runs OK but smokes a bit too much and likes to die randomly at idle, always starts back up but I lost about $10 in tackle today because it died and I got hung up. But that's another story for another thread.
I'll just use it until I can find a longer shaft motor and buy another and sell this one I guess.
