A few months ago i bought a used 23hp GTR on a 14 ft .125 gauge aluminum boat. I live in north LA and the only time i'm really in serious mud is during the early teal when they let the lakes down...but i was thinking that the mud motor would be good for getting on back into the timber too. I've taken the boat out 3 or 4 times and i'm really having a tough time getting up on plane. I know that 14 ft is pretty short and the weight of the motor really sinks the back of the boat...i've been thinking about adding pods to raise the back of the boat up out of the water a little but i don't know too much about them.

I haven't used a gps but I would imagine that about 15 is my max speed so far and i was really hoping to get around 20...the boat is a custom boat 14ft long and about 60'' wide and like i said its .125 gaugue instead of .100 so it's HEAVY! Is the boat just too heavy for me to go any faster or is there something i'm missing? Im gonna take some pictures tomorrow and put up so yall can see what i'm working with.

is the bottom of the boat beat to hell??? Hooks?

no i forgot to mention the boat is slick bottom...in good shape...only 2 years old. Motor is in good shape only about 40 hrs on it.

We put the pods on one of our rigs and it helped out tremendously. Lifted the back of the boat a good 3 or 4 inches. Better hole shot, and no more backwash. It was for a pd though. Did not affect the turning radius, but did make the FPR no longer funtional. Turning radius would be the only thing I'd worry bout with the pods, but don't know enough about the GT's to know if you would have a problem. How wide is your boat? That may determine if you can even use pods. I would think it would need to be at least 48" at the transom not to affect turning radius, maybe wider. Also have them built for your boat by someone who has built them before. If not built properly, they're useless.

His post says around 60"s wide.

60" bottom or at the gunnels??? Hell a 14'x5' is a airboat hull.

If its sixty inches wide at the bottom, you should be able to get pods with proper clearance no matter what. Although a boat that wide should already be floating that motor fine. You tried moving all your weight to the front? Gas tank, batterie('s), any extra gear? Thats where the longer boats come in handy. The extra length helps to hold the front of the boat down so you run flat and up out of the water.

You may be able to bring the pods back a little further than normal to push the front down a lil. Or may look into getting some trim tabs put on. I would look into some other options and moving around your weight before putting the pods on. Our boat is a 1648 with transom tapered on the bottom, and the ass end just dragged before. The pods just lifted the back of the boat up a little which fixed our problem, but may not fix yours.

Woops, boats 42'' wide at the bottom, 60 at the top...sorry bout dat. Beavertail shows 3 different sized pods on their website, the smallest one would fit fine withought having to worry about the motor turning. The middle one would be close but i'm 99% sure it would fit...biggest one is way too big. Im gonna move the gas tank up to the front of the boat but im gonna have to rig up somethin to keep it from slidin back because the floor slants up at the front. I'd like to move the battery up to the front but theres a million freakin wires commin out of it with solenoid valves and what not and im about half scared to touch it...if anyone has any advice on movin the battery i'd appreciate it. Im plannin on takin the boat out tomorrow so ill take some pictures to put on here so yall can see everything. Thanks for all da avice so far

Pods should help you out for sure.

You can have them built for about the same price. Then they will be tapered perfect for your boat. The back of them needs to be tapered up a lil higher than the bottom of the transom so they don't drag once you get up on step. Probably be able to build them a little longer and wider than trying to guess on the pre-fab ones also. I want to say we paid around 500, but he welded up a few other things on the boat for us while it was there.

And yeah, the pods should help alot on a boat that narrow.

Could put a little huntdeck on it.........

Any idea what RPMs you are turning?

I could take a guess at rpm's but it would pretty much just be a guess. Ill let you know for sure after i take it out tomorrow.

Yea im with you cb on the huntdeck...im obviously nowhere close to being an expert on this but it seems like the hunt deck would add some lift, but would mostly just add to the length of the boat where the pods would just lift the back of the boat up. Im gonna call f&f, the company that made the boat, here in the next few days and see how much it'd be to get them to do the pods. Plus I like the idea of using the pods as a dog platform!

They make a great step for climbing in and out of the boat in waders also. Put some hydro turf or carpet on em though.

Pods are just 2/3s of a huntdeck. The other 1/3 has got to play a part somewhere.

didnt mean to sound like a huntdeck wouldn't lift the boat...just thought that maybe since the pods were "beside" the motor then that would raise the back more?? But like i said i'm nowhere close to an expert...that's why im asking for yalls help! Im not very familiar with huntdecks, but from what i've seen im guessing it would just add about another foot onto the back of my boat for floatation, and the motor is attatched to it. How much would you guess it would run me? I'm just a college student and even though i work money is still pretty tight. I do love the idea of not having water come into my boat when im in reverse because that sucks!

I think they average 20" wide. I bet it would make a big difference. And then you dont have to worry about turn radius issues. My next hull will have a huntdeck PD with a little sumpin-sumpin special just for Terry..............Project-Z......... Whooops, I've said to much already.

Yeah I wasn't sure either. Like I was saying before, the huntdeck would theoretically add more lift, but then you are still placing the motor off the very back of the boat. Where the pods hold it up from either side. The pods also don't drag in the water once you get on step like the huntdeck would. I wasn't ever any good at physics, but what I'm saying sounds right to me. The deck is def another option to look into.

I'm guessing it would cost more to have a deck put on, and also guessing it would need some added bracing being that the motor would be hanging on it too. May be better off selling the boat and buying a bigger one if your gonna go that route. Pods would be relatively inexpensive and should help out dramatically.

Lets not overcomplicate this.A 23 horse surface drive should plane out and run well on a 14x42.The difference between .125 and .100 in weight is not much,maybe 50 or so pounds approx. If your prop is good and your rpms are good then you should be alright.If you are sure these are good then call the boys at GT and talk to them. Dont know them personally but they come very highly recommended.

Depends on the boat. We put a 24lt on a 1442 and it simply would not float it. The top of the transom sat about an inch from the water. It would not even get close to planing out with only the driver in the boat. With another person up front, it was a lil better, but not much. We also have two 1648's, one pd and one legendcraft. The pd floats the motor fine, but the legendcraft was dragging ass. Took forever to get up on step. When you slowed down even a little bit or took a sharp turn water came flooding in over the back. The pods fixed both of those problems completely.

PM sent to ya

Im back from runnin it today....i got some pictures so yall can see what im working with....ill put them on here tonight...i guess you just add them as an attatchment?

As far as rpm's go....at idle i was around 1700....with just me in the boat at WOT i was a little under 3600 with the bow strait up in the air (you can see better with the picture) going 8mph!!!! Got one of my buddies to get in and sit at the very front and bumped it up to a little over 10 mph running about 3700 rpms WOT....Got my last buddy to get in and sit at the ftont too and bumped the speed up around 13mph about 3750rpm. I think this shows that there is definitely way too much weight in the back of my boat and not enough floatation in the back, so pods are probably going to be the way i go...still I dont know why im not going any faster??

i have test drove a 23 GTR on my 16x38 GD boat and it did the same thing. with the rounded chimes it just squated in the water and would not jump out. they wanted to put a splash rail and wedges but i didn't want to do all that. i said screw and we ended up just getting a completely new rig for a surface drive motor. kept the other hull with the LT on it for flooded timber. pods may help but honestly I would get a new boat made for that motor. give GT a call and i'm sure they can give you some more tips.

how do i upload pictures? i've tried to add it as an attachment and it says the image is invalid?

you may have to resize them to fit, the pics that is

just upload them to photobucket and then copy and paste the IMG code into the thread and the picture will appear in your post.

This is just me in the boat at idle [img][IMG]http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/rmc020/GTR%2042610/006.jpg[/img][/img]

This is just me in the boat at WOT [img][IMG]http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/rmc020/GTR%2042610/011.jpg[/img][/img]

This is just me again WOT [img][IMG]http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/rmc020/GTR%2042610/013.jpg[/img][/img]

Me and another guy at idle [img][IMG]http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/rmc020/GTR%2042610/017.jpg[/img][/img]

ME and another guy WOT (only about 10 mph, 3700 RPMs) [img][IMG]http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/rmc020/GTR%2042610/020.jpg[/img][/img]

That looks about like the 14ft boat I mentioned earlier. We scratched that whole idea. Wound up selling that boat back to the guy we bought it from and bought the legendcraft. Then sold the lt and picked up a 32 pd.

Our problem on the legendcraft wasn't that severe. That looks pretty bad. The pods should flatten it out a little bit, but don't know how much. Too bad you won't really know how much it will help until you just break down and do it. Looks like a nice boat. Have you considered trying to sell it, at all?

Trimming it all the way down doesn't flatten it out at all?

Hey thanks slambin .....cb i've thought about it but not too hard...the boat is 2 years old and is in gret shape...motor has 46 hrs on it...would $5000 be too much to ask for it? I figure motor must be worth $3.5k alone huh?

Oh, I'd keep the motor. Your gonna have a hard time selling it as a package if you let someone test drive it anyway, and I wouldn't feel right selling it personally. Just sell the boat/trailer, and look for something like a 16 or 1748. There ain't nothing wrong with the motor, and I'm sure you would love it on the right hull.

any hull makes you'd suggest me looking into? I might even keep the hull and put a regular outboard on it for hunting in the timber...

Honestly any boat 16 ft or longer should have no problem floating the 23. Even like a 1638, or 44. Just make sure its a smooth bottom and I'd prefer the lengthways bracing. Ever driven a skiff? Seen quite a few pop up pretty inexpensive over the last few months.

Don't put pod on a 42" bottom boat wit a GTR, when you turn hard da prop will eat da pods up. Check to see if you need a new prop. If your prop is good get a longer boat.