Still been looking at surface drives but I'm still not sold it's exactly what I need. We hunt a River that for the most part is loose packed sand. However there are quite a few gravel bars and areas where the bottom is fairly firm. I've never run a surface drive through these areas so having a hard time dropping the money with these questions. Keep thinking about a jet but afraid of running sand and small gravel through it. Opinions?

Sand an surface drive don't mix. Get u outboard

Surface drives are excellent in soft muddy bottoms. Sandy bottom with less than 10" of water, they are a waste.

A jet would do good in stuff like that. We run em when we go further down the coast and get into some shallow sand flats as well as oyster reefs. The whole boat will lift up off the bottom and amaze you how shallow they will run on hard bottom. Had one in 2-3" of water over sand and it never even slowed down. Thd jet will shoot down off the bottom and lift the back of the boat up and go alot more shallow than i care to be over hard sand

We run a very shallow sandy river all summer and thru duck season. Last BB prop lasted 22hrs before most of cup was worn off. We made a cement mold of a new BB prop and welded our props back up to diameter and used a disc grinder to put some cup back in them. Got another season out of them before retiring them. One of our trapper friends runs a Yamaha 60/40 jet on the the same river, he gets two seasons out of his pump casing before sand grinds a hole in it, casing gets paper thin and blows out. Casings are pretty pricy so he says. He is looking at a surface drive as a replacement, props are cheaper to replace, and surface drives get a whole lot better gas milage.

Shit Happens, seen one chip a gear, and loose tooth destroyed gear housing. Belts are abit more forgiving and cheaper to replace.