Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos

Posted by Northern Exposure on 06/06/11 - 12:21 PM

Anyone ever tried adding an extension kit to a short shaft motor. Is that a good sound way go? I've been looking for a long shaft kicker but am having trouble locating an 8hp or so. There are TONS of short shafts though. I wondered if it would make sense to buy a short one and a kit to convert it. I have not seen firm prices on the kits but I think I saw a website that specializes in them and it was around $150-175. So - if I could buy the ss motor right ?????

Posted by dreilly on 06/06/11 - 12:27 PM

I added one to my 150. The Yamaha V-Max motors are short shafts and I needed a long shaft. It works fine and has the standard warranty. The dealer ordered it directly from Yamaha.

Posted by Gamalot on 06/06/11 - 4:06 PM

I think the only difference is a longer shaft and a spacer. There are tons of older OMC (Evinrude/Johnson) 6 -9.9HP motors out here in either length. Many of these motors are pretty much bullet proof and with some very basic maintenance they tend to run forever.
I have an early 1970s 6 HP SS and a mid 1970s 15 HP LS sitting in my shed and I can't kill either one of them. The difference in weight is a non issue and I doubt more than 20 pounds.

Many of the parts are interchangeable if the model years and HP are close. You could buy a SS in great condition and a LS with a blown power head for a song and do a switch- A - roo.

Posted by Northern Exposure on 06/07/11 - 5:15 AM

Hey, good idea gamalot - I will look around for a dead LS and a good SS.
There have been a few good LS on ebay but they usually are local pickup only and way across the country. The ones nearby always seem to end up SS models.
By the way - for anyone looking - make sure you verify the length before you buy/or travel. I had three different deals started and was kind of excited but when I got model numbers or had the people measure the shaft it turned out that they were just guessing that they had LS and they were actually short.

Posted by Binkie on 06/07/11 - 10:12 AM

If you have an OMC motor, that uses a 5 " spacer to make a long shaft. you then need the spacer a long shaft driveshaft, a long shaft shift rod and you need to solder a 5 " copper extension to the water tube. Simple to do, I went the other way with my '61 Evinrude Starflite 75hp. I removed the spacer had the driveshaft sectioned 5" by a machine shop cut the water tube 5"s and installed a short shaft shift shaft. By the way all the parts you need are available from your Evinrude dealer.