tohatsuguru 6hp question or anyone else

[Lolrus]

Hey, this is my first post so if I'm in the wrong spot, lemme know.

I have some questions about Tohatsu motors and tohatsuguru really seems to know his stuff so if anyone can point him to this post I'll be really grateful.

I am curious about swapping the shaft length on a tohatsu 6hp motor from a 15in short shaft to the 25in xtra long shaft. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it an easy couple of hour job or is it a nightmare? Should I choose to switch back and forth more than a few times would this cause any undue wear on the motor or parts?

Also, I'll be using the xlong shaft with my venture 21, fully loaded it's under 2000lbs closer to 1700lbs actually. Should I get the elephant ears prop or do you think I'd be ok with the factory prop off of the short shaft?

Thank you all in advance for any help you can offer.

[lans0012]

I had a 6hp Nissan 4 stroke on my Ranger 22 that weighed about 2200lbs dry. Nissan/Tohatsu/Mercury are all the same up to 9.9 or something like that. I had the standard issue 3 blade prop and not the high thrust elephant ear kind. I couldn't tell you which pitch prop it was but it was plenty of thrust for that boat and wouldn't overwork the motor in the slightest. I motored through some soupy scary crap chop too going through the Skyway Channel in Tampa bay.

I had a 25" shaft and I don't have a clue on what it would take to convert to a shorter shaft. My guess is that it is that it would be easy.

[Lolrus]

Yeah high seas and chop are my concern. That is why I'd like to switch to the xlong shaft. The channel between the Channel Islands and the california coast can get really rough sometimes. a short shaft motor on my jack plate will spend about 50% of the time completely under water (including the engine) and 50% of the time with the prop out of the water when things get messy out there. I'd like to stay safe out there.

[TohatsuGuru]

You would need this: InternetOutboards.com - 25 Inch Shaft Conversion Kit, Fits All Nissan/Tohatsu, 4-STK, 4, 5 & 6 HP Models, FREE SHIPPING and a 20" leg. I think the leg is about $80.00. Regardless, it involves a complete dis-assembly and reassembly so figure 1.5 hours for someone who knows what they are doing or three hours for a "I have never done it, but it looks simple enough" to do it Going back and forth would be a nightmare. The easy way to do it would be to convert it to the 25" and leave it. On the boat that uses the 15" I would install a mini-jack plate.InternetOutboards.com - Jack Plate, T-H, MJ-1, Mini-Jacker, Small Engine Jack Plate, FREE SHIPPING.

The propeller is a guess, but for that load I think you could get by with a standard 6 pitch rather than the 5.9999 pig prop. We usually put pig props on loads over 2500. I'm not saying you can't use a pig prop, you can, but I wouldn't buy one unless you were unhappy with whatever you have on it now.

[Lolrus]

TohatsuGuru, You sir, are awesome. I appreciate your quick response, it sounds like I should just buy a 6hp sail pro and not get the short shaft and conversion. The high jackplate should solve the problem that I was worried about with running the motor on a dinghy or jon boat in the off season and will save me the hassle of tearing down the motor twice a year.

Do you work for internet outboards? If so do you get commission? I'll totally order the motor directly from you if you get anything out of the deal, otherwise, I'll just call however is there.