New 3.7m tinny - go short shaft or long shaft?

[CT]

I'm wondering what leg length to go with for my new tinny. I'm going to get a Sea Jay 3.7 Nomad HS which can come as either a short shaft or a long shaft. I'm going to power it with a Merc Super 15. What a the pros and cons of short shaft v long shaft other than its always better to have a long shaft?

The only things I can think of is a short shaft might be a bit easier to store when car topping and a long shaft might be a benefit by being up out of the spray a bit more.

Any wisdom?

Cheers
Craig

[VictorOscar]

Hey Craig,

Other then the possibility of the long shaft being hard to store, the only other cons are the small increase in price and weight, though being only a small outboard I would say these would be marginal.

P.s. Good choice with the Sea Jay!

[bugsytwoshoes]

You may want to change your motor for some reason down the track and it would be a lot easier to sell a long shaft than a short shaft. You may even want to change hulls and keep the motor, the new hull you buy may not be suited to a short shaft. I would go the long shaft.

[aussiebasser]

There is less likelihood of water sloshing over the transom with a long shaft. I'd rate the 15hp as a much better motor than the 15 Super. The integrated throttle/gearshift is awesome, as is the ease of tilting into shallow water drive.

[Noelm]

Yep agree with the gear throttle setup, I had a 9.9 years ago, and it had the combined gear throttle, and at first I thought it would be crap, but when I upgraded later on to a 20, I wanted the same thing again, it's great to use. OH, and go long shaft!

[GBC]

Long shaft is a bit of a pisser trying to mount onto camper trailers etc - everything is designed for short shaft in the camping world. I've got a long shaft 9.8 that I'm thinking about swapping to short for that only reason.

[beerhunter]

I traveled with a short shaft yami 15 for many years as a car topper. My mate did the same with a long shaft Johnson.
I'd go short shaft if your doing a lot of bush trips with the boat on the roof.

sent from the beerhunter

[rayken1938]

Nothing like backing a short shaft into a chop or pulling up quickly and taking one over the transom.
Cheers
Ray

[CT]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Looks like long shaft is the majority. It will only get put on top of the camper two or three times a year and the camper bracket barely fits my short shaft 8, so modification is in order anyway. I have heard that the merc super 15 is more agricultural than the normal 15 but I can get one for the right price and I want the extra ponies.

Cheers
Craig

[CT]

Long shaft would also be more suitable as an auxiliary for the big boat.

[scottar]

I've got a Merc Super. Good little donk but if you want to do a bit of trolling, the US built engine will by all reports be far superior. The little Super idles about as rough as I suspect an engine can without stalling to the point you have to give it some revs. Apart from that though it is a great little donk.

[sportfish58]

G'day Craig,
Kinda defeats the purpose of having a high sided tinnie and putting a short shaft motor on it. I am ordering a 3.7 Nomad (standard) for fishing the Cape in a long shaft yamaha 15 and having the transom made to suit. The yamaha long shaft is 22" and the transom on the Nomad is to suit a 20" outboard. They are charging me an extra $100 for something they should have gotten right themselves.Cheers