Hi Ferg,

I feel badly being the 'critic' here on some of these replies, but
they
really go against my experiences with sailboat engines at sea.
As far as long shaft vs. regular length engines, I have been in
choppy waters
where the long shaft was just about in the water at a wave crest and
almost buried
at the waves low point. A shorter shaft engine would have either come
out of the
water at the high wave or have been swamped at the wave low point. If
you are
sailing calm waters all the time (never happens for most people), you
don't need
the long shaft.

Ferg wrote:

Hey Bruce,

You've got alot good replys already, so I'll be brief..

When my Catalina 22's 10hp longshaft died, I replaced it with a shorter
shaft 5hp Merc. Cost was a consideration, I was starting a vacation and I
quickly bought the cheaper motor at the local west marine.

I got the short shaft partly because I wanted a motor that could also use on
a dingy for another boat. I simply remounted the Catalina's outboard bracket
down 4".

If the San Juan 21 is similar to my boat, 5hp is plenty.

That depends on the weight of his boat. A lightweight trailerable
boat has
less power requirements than a fixed keel heavier counterpart.

A bigger engine
would just run at a lower throttle at hull speed and eat through your gas
can faster.

I thought running at lower throttle uses less gas.


As for spinning the prop in choppy seas, My big 10hp longshaft
evinrude 2-cylinder did that too.

You probably had the engine height set too high for the longshaft.


Sometimes it's just safer to use your
sailing skills than to depend on that egg-beater dangling from the rear.

Yes, if you are willing to run with the wind, or 'heave-to', but if
you want
to make directional headway to get somewhere's, the engine is your
best bet.

Please post a follow-up and tell us what you choose.

John.

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
I need to buy an outboard for my San Juan 21 and not quite sure about how
big to go. I would like a 4 stroke and I am thinking that about 5 HP
would
be a good size. Any comments about the different brands would be
appreciated.
Also, do I really need a "long shaft" motor. With the motor mount
currently
on the boat, it seems to me that any motor would easily bury the prop.

Regards,
Bruce