drift boat motor depth

ampersat · 10-26-2002, 10:37 PM

hey gang,
how deep into the water is an outboard motor supposed to be? everyone says you have to have a long shaft on a drifter but fwf1 ran a short shaft on the boat that he's selling and got away with it because the angle on the end wasn't as steep as the newer boats. curiously, my boat has that same "close to vertical" profile on the end and i'd like to get a motor. is running a motor too deep into the water going to cause any problems? (except for the obvious shallow water situations)

Ken Drifter · 10-27-2002, 05:48 AM

ampersat, I run an 8horse long shaft on my Driftboat. Its a wooden 16ft built back in 81. It has a fairly low rear and not a huge angle. Before I bought my motor I tried a buddies short shaft and wasnt at all pleased with how well it did on the bigger waters. Any 2-3 ft wake and the motor came up out of the water. And when trying to cross through the wake the boat would get real tricky to control. I also noticed that if two or three people are in the boat with you its to much weight up front and the motor wont even be in the water no matter where you are. Longshaft I feel is the only way to go. I can adjust it so its level with the the boat and it just touches the water when drift fishing, backbouncing, trolling etc. and can still drift 4"-5" water without hitting the prop. (90% of the time) On lakes and big waters adjust it depper so that at full throttle you get the best speed, Of course it wont actually plane, but with an extension handle you can sit where you row or even further up and that helps alot with leveling the boat out. Anyway my two cents. I noticed Tigard in your post, drop me an email maybe we can hook up sometime, always looking for people to fish with. And bs about boats, fishing, sports.
Ken (Picks Landing off Durham)

mallard0311 · 10-27-2002, 07:57 AM

The cavitation plate on the motor should match up with the bottom of your boat for optiman performance. A short shaft will work but won't reverse real well with pushing water back at your boat vs under it. You can also adjust your transom height to fit a short or longshaft. No more than an 8hp is needed and a six is ok too.

[ 10-27-2002, 09:59 AM: Message edited by: mallard0311 ]