What a great site - I'm glad I ran across this today. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. I currently have a 1571 Polarkraft duck boat (Mod-V), which pulls double duty as a bass boat in the Michigan summer. It's powered by a 25 horse Mercury 2 stroke. This motor does great in the open water, but I hunt an impoundment with very heavy weeds around the edges. We have lilly pads, coontail, hydrilla, bullrushes, cattails, wild rice and all kinds of other stuff growing. The bottom is silty, and there are some stumps and old logs, although the weeds are the real problem because they start out 100+ yards from shore in most areas. The Merc gets fouled up quickly and I am forced to pole into the weedy areas. However, it's alot of work and with three guys, dogs and gear, we can never get in where we need to be, particularly in the dark morning hours. I don't need alot of speed - although I can reach 28mph with the current motor in the open, that's way more than I need on this 2000 acre flooding so I'm willing to give up speed.
I've been thinking about taking the plunge on a mud motor, but I'm confused with all the different types. Longtail, or direct drive? How many HP do I need? Do I need reverse? Is it realistic to use the motor for fishing or should I just keep the Merc for the summer? Will it work well in the cold (sometimes we break ice)? Thanks for any help!

Transom height will be an important detail....

The standard longtail or surface drive is intended for a boat
with a 15 to 17 inch tall transom - but tall transom models are
also available....

In the Go Devil longtails I would go with the 23hp - for two reasons
A. 9" prop is great in shallows, weeds, and stumps
B. the 23 is a handfull to operate and the bigger ones will
whup yer butt if you are not experienced with them

The 23 LT with a 9x6 prop should get you to 20 mph solo and 18 mph
with a hunting load....

I have never needed reverse - just a good pushpole for picking up coys
and heading the nose around before blasting out with the motor...

Keep the outboard --- if you do much with the MM you will begin to
shake that hull apart and abuse it by just driving thru the stumps
instead of around them.... Limited use the hull will be OK --- but if
you find yourself really using the MM --- get a true MM hull they are
built much tougher and perform better too...

Cold - we only get to upper 20s here in Texas but never had any more
trouble starting than with my outboards - just use 93 octane all the time
cause these things barely burn any fuel compare to outboards...


Welcome to MMT !!!

In the longtail verses surface drive decision....

Think of them both as wicked 4x4's --- where the LT is stuck
in 1st gear alltime and the SD is stuck in 2nd gear alltime....

The SD is more fun to drive and is easier to operate....

The LT is wicked powerful but more tiring on long drives with
lots of twists and turns...

You need more HP with the SD in the slop to match the performance
of the LT from a dead stop with loads....


So on your hull --- I would go with the 35 hp SD or the 23 hp LT....

WELCOME TO THE SITE !!!!!!!!!

Couple things to you need to know.. Take Notes !!!

#1 DONT TAKE ANYTHING SERIOUS THAT PEOPLE MAY SAY. 99.9% of the time, it is a Joke. Chances are since you are new, it will be on you.

#2 At the end of the Day, its all in Fun. And, you will get your answer.

#3 Have fun... Join the crowd...

#4 Welcome to the site again...

With Love,
Uncle-J

#5 use the search feature, cuz its prob been asked

#6 b-coonass will want to know what kind of speeds you get once your set up

#7 welcome to the site

to answer your questions, i would go with the SD over the LT. i have driven both and SD is the way to go. for your boat i would get a 23 hp with stage one for your load carrying capabilities or a 27 hp. imo the 35 hp would be to much. reverse is up to you. i dont have it on my boat but after using my rig w/o it durin huntin season and makin some rides, im gonna get it added during the summer. and as far using the mm for fishing, i use my rig to fish out of and it works great. i even fish in bass tournaments on the big lakes down here in it. what brand of mm are you thinkin about gettin?

u can go on a free demo ride with any good dealer of all the mudmotor brands.
that's a good place to start.

Fuk the search feature...

JUST ASK IT AGAIN...
Sometimes Old questions have new answers.
(a quote from the book of Uncle-J)

Welcome to MMT!