Help me understand shaft length terminology

[klondike]

Hey fellas. I'm new to these forums, and here's the deal.

I have a 1542 aluminum flatbottom from the 1960's that I've completely redone. Now I need a motor. The transom height is 16''. In looking around at motors, I've seen short shaft, long shaft, and standard shaft. I'm wondering is short shaft and standard shaft the same thing? Please help me determine what shaft length to get.

Also, the max hp tag is unreadable. Please provide suggestions on the appropriate hp for this boat. Is 25hp too much? Thanks, Justin

 

[klondike]

Re: Help me understand shaft length terminology

The manufacturer is Ouachita, which has been out of business for quite some time. There's virtually no information on the web to help me determine appropriate hp for this brand of boat. FYI

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Help me understand shaft length terminology

the standard shaft lengths for most outboards are

15" =short shaft

20" =long shaft

25" =extra long shaft

now I say standard, because it is feasable somewhere some how someone made a motor a little "different"!! ha ha

good luck

bob

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Help me understand shaft length terminology

you measure from the transom mount where it sits on the boat, to the plate just above the prop, straight down the front of the leg. this gives you the motors shaft length.

the older motors are 3 inches longer than never motor.

on your 16 inch transom you need a short shaft motor. either 15" or 18" on an older motor.

 

[dthrckt]

Re: Help me understand shaft length terminology

I've got a 1957 evinrude, 35 hp, long shaft on a 15" transom 16ft arkansas traveler. Runs great but I've had it out once and the starter loosened so I didn't get to run for long. Seemed to use a lot of gas but really wasn't out long enough to get any good data.
My question is, should I use the type of riser that I've seen on here to go up 6 inches? I guess I'd want to be very sure the riser is built well. Maybe make the surface (and brackets) that attach to the inside of the transom extend as far down toward the floor as possible?
If the handling and gas consumption are acceptable as is would raising it be wasted effort?

edit: ok i looked at tashasdaddy's jack plate again. don't know why i was thinking i'd bolt it to the inside. bolted to the back would obviously be much stronger, but i'll probably still extend it down as far as possible (if it shouldn't be left as is...)