I have a small 3m inflatable tender that planes nicely with my 3.5HP short shaft. Problem is that it wont plane with 2 people in it.
So i've found a nice 6HP for it (boat can take upto 10HP) but it's a long shaft. Is there any drawbacks as to putting on a long shaft engine? Apart from it sitting in the water and more chance of hitting something... any safety or performance issues??
For that size don't worry about it you should be fine. I had a 2.6m inflatable once that we used to put a 6hp longshaft Johnson on and it ran fine - would plane easily with 2 people. You might get a bit of spray if your unlucky but thats about it.
Have you tried googling " Shaft too long for inflatable " ?
Nice
Tim - Thank's for the reassurance. I would prefer a short shaft (run in shallower water etc) but i've spotted a nice 6HP for sale, just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be wasting my time.
NO! Short shaft on a long transom may not even reach the water, water flow and cooling will be affected and performance will be dreadful. Long shaft on a short transom is dangerous. The point of thrust is way to low in the water and in the case of say 8 hp opening the throttle may flip a small boat over.
