I am going to be buying a mud motor in the next few months for a 1756 alweld flat bottom. This rig is for bowfishing so it will have more of a load all the time than most other boats. Rigged out for bowfishing it will have a 5 foot flush deck with 8 150w HPS lights, 3500W generator, 18 hp briggs fan, and 2-3 people on average. Im not looking to get high speeds, I just want it for the slop and to use as a duck boat also during the off season.

I have drove prodrives, go devils, and gator tails in the past I really don't have any preference over either. I liked them all. I don't have alot of knowledge on the specs on all these motors so what I am wanting to know is what do yall guru's think would be best for my application. I know I am going with the highest hp 35-40 mud motor. But how do shaft lengths, vertical vs horizontal motors play in to the equation? This is where I lack knowledge on these motors.

Just for reference, if I could hit 18-20 mph loaded down I would be happy with that speed.

depending on how high your fan stand is, you probably want the lowest profile. mud motors are taller than an outboard. not sure which brand has the lowest profile. i've thought about adding a fan to mine but it would have to be pretty high to clear the motor (mudbuddy) and my boats kinda narrow (48"), i'm worried about stability.

your choice of brand and a stage 1(heads,cam and exhaust) would work very well, i know alot of ppl on here have stage 1s and they have awsome load carrying, you just have to deside what features you want.

Vertical and horizontal motors have nothing to do with performance. The LU dictates wether it will be vertical or horizontal. How high you fan will factor into which brand you can run. Gator tail I believe is the tallest. The out drive of the shaft length effects 2 things. Ease of driving. The shorter your out drive the easier it will be to drive and have less tiller torque. The down fall to a shorter outdrive will be how far you can trim down. Generally the longer out drive will perform better in mud. However, with a longer out drive you have the possibility of trimming down to far. Stating you load posted you will be running around 1000 pounds. I would personally play with a smaller pitch prop before trying to mod something. If you are not looking for speed in the upper 20 with a load a diffrent pitch prop might be your answer.

Thanks for the replies. I will build the fan to whatever height I need to in order to clear my mud motor. I have been doing some research, I'm probably going to go with either a prodrive or gator tail. I need to test drive both not to far apart and get a better idea.

Why would you want a fan when you can set up your mm to push your boat and not fuck with all that weight

With my rig with a stage 2 motor with everything you said you will have plus 3 grown men and say 500 lbs of fish boat will only plow water!! Put the fan on top and it won't do shit!!

Lol ok I do it every time out with 2 mm running !! I'm just saying it's gonna be a toad !! Just to much weight and wind resistance!!

Why don't you just buy an airboat. It wouldn't cost a whole lot more than a $9000 mm buy the time you mod it to carry all that weight, a $5000 hull a the cheapest with a trailer, probly closer to 7 or 8 grand, about a $3500 fan setup depending on how crazy you go with it the fan could run you 5 grand or more with a reduction and such then lights. You would have about 20000 or more in it unles you buy everything used. You can get a 17 ft airboat built with just a beefed up small block Chevy direct drive with lights and front steering for about 25000 brand new as long as you dont get to crazy with it. And you can catch some bad ass used ones on boawfishing country every now and then for good prices also.

Call James over at Boatright here in Friendswood (south of Houston, TX) he builds fan / flounder boats with outboards. You may learn some good information like amp output off your alternator and/or other invaluable information from a quick 5 minute call.

Here's a thread he posted.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17155

Something like this would work.

Hey mudfish what kind of hull did that start as? Did you do all the work on the front deck, catwalks and fan stand? It looks good.

1760 Silver Dollar is what I started with.

bow.fishingcountry_._com/forums/showthread.php?46-What-I-am-working-on

TNBowfish - I have close to the same set up (minus the fan) and found the stock motor didn't quite cut it. The boat wouldn't get on plane with the full load. I did some mods on the motor and now run an easy 26 with it loaded down. The biggest thing I wanted was the boat to get on step with this load so you could get back through the thin stuff. Get one and plan on modding the engine, no mattr what brand.