Well, fwiw, here's what happened: I spoke to a product advisor at
Worst Marine who told me to go with the shortest shaft possible and
that the unit would be able to be raised. The shortest shaft turned
out to be Motor Guide, now a division of Mercury which has a 36" shaft
and reasonable thrust. However, no website specified the length of
the cable and whether the cable was mechanical or electrical. (If
electrical, I felt I could lengthen it)

I called Motor Guide and their tech support said it was a bad idea
because (1) the cable was only 6'9" (not enough to get over the
upholstered rear seat to the floor from the swim platform, (2) the
motor cannot be pointed in the reverse direction and even if it could,
(3) that would further shorten the cable, which, by the way, (4) is
mechanical so it can't be extended. However, they do make a digital
motor which can be controlled by a key fob remote and is highly
adaptable to installation on a curved bow. I've ordered that motor.

So if there are any other folks out there who want to add fishing
functionality to a sport boat, that's the scoop.

I also figured out how to add downriggers, but since nobody responded
to that post, I won't go into that. If interested, email me.

--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com