# Swapping lower units



## Scottinva (Jun 7, 2011)

I was wondering how easy it is to swap from a jet to a prop and back. I have a 115 etec and was going to try to switch back to the prop to do some lake fishing. I have a 6" hydraulic jackplate, so I know I can lower it down 6" - that will be easy. Just not sure how easy or hard it is to swap the lower unit.

Scott


----------



## optaylor823 (Jun 10, 2011)

I have heard some guys say they can do it in about 1 hour. I have never tried it, but also have heard it is not to hard to do.


----------



## bulldog (Jun 13, 2011)

I called a local company called Trout and Sons to see if this is possible. I had the idea to do this and that was the plan the whole time I was building my boat since I run the deeper larger rivers along with shallow rivers. I bought a 6" hydraulic jack plate and all. I tried to set it up myself and it will not work for me with the 6" jack plate. I need to put my motor futher off the back in order to clear my steering mechanism. 

I have been thinking of it lately more and more but Trout and Sons said it would cost me $800 to set it up to work and that is a basic installation. In my opinion I could just buy a static jack plate and mount it to my transom and then mount my hydraulic jack plate to the static plate and then mount the motor to the hydraulic plate. I hope that makes sense. I think I could do it myself for less than $800 for sure but the b.s. you would go through in hooking it up..........

The boat I got my motor off of was a 16" fiberglass Basscat and the motor pushed that boat 67 mph. I'd imagine that it would push my 18' aluminum atleast 60 mph and that would be freakin' sweet, until it caught some air underneith and flipped over backwards. :shock: 

My question would be if I put my motor 10-12" off the back of my boat, would the transom need to be re-enforced in any way and would the jet still be as effective that far off? I've heard the jets work better the further back you set them but 10-12" seems excessive. 

I think you could switch the lower units out in about 1 hour. I know the hardest thing to hook back up will be the shift linkage for the lower units. It is just tough to get it right, at least on my older motor.

60 mph sure does sound sweet though. Now you got me thinking about it again. =P~


----------



## fender66 (Jun 14, 2011)

I too gave this some serious thought with my last boat. It was a 1648 with a 40HP Yamaha Jet. I even found a lower unit that would have worked (I think)...but never pulled the trigger. Everything I've heard is that after you've done it once, you will be able to do it again in about an hour or a little less time. I just couldn't justify it though.

Let us know if you do go this route.


----------



## Scottinva (Jun 14, 2011)

I think I am going to try it soon. All I need is a prop -already have the lower unit and jackplate and have another small jet boat for the river. I will let you know how it goes.

Scott


----------



## S&amp;MFISH (Jun 18, 2011)

I, like Fender, thought about doing the same thing with my 115/80Merc. Estimated that I could get about 10-15mph(from 40 to 50-55). But after much reflection,I decided to live with what I have. I would spend so much time changing back and forth,because I will go from shallow rivers to deep lakes sometimes days apart. The added speed would be nice,but....


----------



## ramuh2121 (Jul 29, 2013)

Hey guys. I'm new to the forum and just going through some old posts and thought I'd put my $0.02 in here.

I have an old 86 Yamaha 40 that I slapped a jet unit on last year. I've only made the swap a couple times, but from start to finish, including screwing the manual jackplate up and down, takes me about an hour and half as long as I don't have any odd problems come up. It's the little things take take the most time (shift linkage, jack plate, etc). Actually swapping the lower unit is pretty simple and stright forward and can be done in about 20 minutes.

I'll try to get some details and pics up of my rig soon. But let me warn you, she's not pretty...


----------

