Short shaft going the way of the Dodo??

[Czar]

I was just talking to a Mercury dealer and he was saying that short shafts are getting harder to get and in 2 years they will all be longshafts as boat manufacturers are only making 20" transoms. Is this true ? If so then am I wasting my time buying a short shaft and should I modify the transom to accept a longshaft ?

 

[JB]

Re: Short shaft going the way of the Dodo??

Your dealer is probably right, Czar, but that doesn't mean you need to use a long shaft engine. Outboards with reasonable care will last 40 or 50 years. <br /><br />I recently found a short shaft Johnny 9.9 4 stroke for my little Boston Whaler Tender 11',(I just had to get a smaller boat to fish from that 12Footer ) and while I was lookng I found a number of excellent deals in Nissan/Tohatsu shorties.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[Czar]

Re: Short shaft going the way of the Dodo??

Was looking at buying a new Merc 25 for my 14 ft. aluminum and if I needed a new boat in the future then maybe modifying the transom for a long shaft would be better and easier than cutting down a future transom for a short shaft. So if the dealer is right (thought maybe he only had a long shaft in stock) then that's probably what I'll do.