Quote Originally Posted by Orca View Post
Well, the weather finally settled a bit here so I took the Nissan 6 HP extra long shaft (25 inch) down to the mooring today and installed it. I checked and it fits sideways in the lazarette just fine. I found that the top of the motor barely cleared the top of the lazarette which makes me wonder if the mounting board is higher than other boats as somebody previously reported 2 or three inches of clearance. I think I have less than 1/2 inch clearance.. I intend to visit Orca in the AM and motor around a bit. I think its a bit noisier at low speeds than the 8 HP I took out and it isn't as smooth because it is a single cylinder and the old engine was two cylinder. I'll report back on how it handles with the prop around 10 inches more underwater after I use it a bit.

Very Best, Ed
Hi: After using it a bit I can tell you the following. The 6 HP 4 cycle is quieter than my 8 hp 2 stroke Nissan but not quite as fast into the wind. It does seem to do something close to 6 knots when its calm (I'll have to wait a bit to try duing a slack tide as I rely on the GPS which showed a range of 4.8 to 6.5 knots over the ground). The clearance is less than 1/2 an inch on my boat and seems to touch the top of the lazarett when under load. The lazy rat buggered up the top of the motor a little so I now jimmy it open a little when running. My old motor was a 15 inch shaft. It had some issues in rough seas and was pretty much useless if a bigger person went up on the bow. For my money I think the 25" shaft is good insurance for some of the high chop that develops around here in the river mouths like the Kennebec where closely spaced, steep 5' or larger standing waves are a regular occurance . . . I suspect that 5" additional shaft would not be enough. The extra depth makes it a lot easier to back the boat down. The fuel economy is very good. After a few hours (mostly at 3/4 throttle or less) the little tank is still showing mostly full. I'm glad to see that the fuel connection on the motor has been reconfigured. I had to buy several of the old connections on the Nissan before I found one that worked.

Thanks, Ed