I'm kinda wishing I would have ordered the longer one for those "just in case I need the longer shaft in really rough water" situations. but again, like just mentioned, I rarely had to drop the head of my MG tour all the way down. But like you, i too thought bout the times I may want to move to the back of the boat to fish on "spot Lock" and hope the motor stays in the water. That in itself is a concern. With the collar adjustment knob taking up the last 2 or 3" of travel it may make a difference. My MG did not have the adjustment collar. I won't know til I can get back out on the water and test it. Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that the lower unit may not rest on the guide rails when stowed if a 45" shaft is all the way down. Same thing with the 52". But the good thing with the 52" is you can lower it down far enough to keep the lower unit in the water and still have enough shaft up top to get the lower to rest on the guide rails when stowed.
