Transom Cut Down...

Well, it has come down to cutting my transom down to fit a short shaft motor...I hate to do it but it seems that both of my 40's are junk. I don't have the resources to purchase another long shaft motor and even if I did, seems they are non existent around here. So, anyone here ever cut one down? I know the pros and cons of doing it, just not sure about the process. I've researched it but haven't really found anything I can use, maybe something with pics? I hate to do it but I got to get this boat going.

I made my own cut down transom. It was pretty easy.....just measure measure measure.......I used a mason blade on my angle grinder to cut the aluminum. It hurts to cut that section out, but I had to do it too. You can always change it in the future if you go back to a longshaft. there are some pics on my mod of how it looks.

I'm gonna give it a few days. My father in law has some things going and he said he could probably get a long drive shaft for a 25 that he has. If that works out I'll be good to go, if not, let the cutting begin

From the way it looks, I'm only gonna have to make a 3" cut to get the cavitation plate even with the bottom of the boat...correct me if I'm wrong. This will be alot better than a 5" cut IMO. The motor that is on it is exactly 5" longer than a short shaft.

I forgot to mention, the extra section that makes this motor a long shaft is 3" for the bottom of the boat, if my thinking is right, with a shorty, that section you see, the bottom of it is where the short cav plate will be...3" above the bottom of the boat.

Hold the phone JG.... Unless the pic is waaaay out of tilt the actual "cavitation plate" is BELOW the bottom of the hull already!!! If you do a transom cut out it will only get deeper below the bottom of the hull...... Looks like you need to be raising the transom, not lowering it....

Actually what you are seeing is the Long Shaft motor that is on the boat now. The pic below shows the 5" addition to the motor that makes it a long shaft:



I want to put a short shaft on it so removing that section will bring up the cav plate and prop:



So now this section will be where the 5" section was:



Which will be a short shaft motor and above the bottom of the boat 3". My measurements on a short shaft motor is 18" from the transom bracket to the cav plate. On my boat I made the same measurements, I measured from the bottom of the boat UP 18" and that left 3" from there to the top of the transom, so a 3" to 3 1/2" cut should work with the short shaft motor, again, correct me if I'm wrong. That cut would put the cav plate right at the bottom or right below the bottom of the boat.

Don't cut anything until you have the motor! All your doing now is guessing.

True. I plan on taking the boat Back to my father in laws and mount the motor to see exactly how much needs to be cut out. Thanks for the replies, I thought I was being ignored there for a few...IMPATIENT is what my wife calls me.

I understand what you're trying to accomplish but there is more than just unbolting the "extension". You'll need: a new drive shaft, a new water pickup tube, new shift linkage and a gasket set at a minimum. It would be much easier (and probably cheaper) to trade, or sell your long shaft and buy a short shaft.

I already have everything to switch it over. My parts motor is a short shaft and I would only need a few parts from the long to get it running