Looking at buying a complete new set up this year. I am loacted in ARK and the best brand around seems to be excel boats. My excel dealer is also a mudbuddy dealer. I usually run the green timber and the rivers. I would also like a motor that would allow me to run the fields along the river when it floods. Very rarely do i ever get into mud like that of most of yall. Is mudbuddy a good motor or should I go with a different brand? Reverse would be nice but not a need! Thanks in advance!

18x38 skiff (not gd) with a gdsd

Mudbuddy is good, but they dont have reverse. After running a mudbuddy for 2 years, I have determined that reverse is a must. If I were you I would get a 1842 skiff with a 35 GTR.

Love my PD for hunting the marsh
When I hunt the timber I wish I had a Gator Tail with Instant Reverse

PD reverse lets you bang off a lot of stuff before you get in reverse.

If you like push poles Mud Buddy is a good choice.

Copperhead. They are light and quick and you can use them on wma's that have a hp restriction. I wouldn't get a boat that is too wide. Id go with a 1542 and a 18hp copperhead with a modified v to bounce off the timber.

why get a Mud Motor... just get you a Excel/outboard and ram the chit out of the timber...lol..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufrBwyy6nxg

Thanks for the imput! I have been looking at the GTR motors but havent been able to find out how much more it would be compared to the mudbuddy. any ideas?

price is listed on website

Get 3/16 bottom skiff with a long tail

Get a GatorTail rig and be done!I hunt in the timber and the marsh and couldn't be happier

Screw running a longtail in thick woods!! Get a PD or GTR

If your going to be running WOT through stumps and logs get a GDSD. Id you're just going slow a GTR, MB, or GD will do. I have to eliminate PD just because the reach isn' there. They are tough motors but if you like crawling on the logs and stuff it's too short. Thats why a few have told you to get a longtail. Thats Ultimate reach to crawl. You can hit something WOT with a GDSD and it won't do anything to the lower unit. Not saying the MB or GTR tail wouldn't. The GD are simple but made strong. Hunted with a guy with a GTR and we both went up into the timber. His did pretty good also. Whatever you buy, test drive em.

What are your speed/distance requirements?

How deep is the water you want to go in and is it a hard. Bottom?

hard bottom swamp a pd or gt struggle, going over logs and such at slow speeds can be bitches. thats why everyone down here still keeps a longtail rig at home

mine is a 13x38 skiff with a 11hp called cupcake

Man whatever you get just remember It's JUNK if it doesn't have reverse. No reverse is A PAIN IN THE ASS. Well I know a lot of ppl that crawfish with GTR in worst shit than you'll ever hunt in and there isn't a gdsd in this world gonna make it In alot of there spots

Lol...you must be on the rag. I don't follow any crowd...I buy and do and say exactly what thephuck i want to. Not because I want to be "in". Yes im buyn a pd but i dont have anything bad to say about gd. It has put me everywhere i wanted to be this yr. I just didn't see anything particularly wrong with what robn said. Ideally tho running in the timber I would want neutral mainly. Shaft length come second. My round chine don't turn worth a shit at slow speeds and I leave a trail behind me from the prop wackin on trees.

And btw fashion does matter. That's why the drake coat I bought is in duck blind, so it would match my waders. Now go take some ibuprofen and lay down for a while.

Run a longtail in this? I say go for it.

P1200037.JPG


BTW a PD works just fine in the timber.

I gotcha. "I" was not saying pd was a bad choice or that the gdsd was better. He gave the guy his opinion on his brand. He favors the gd. Guess I should have made myself clear on that. I want a pd for the reverse. I'm tired of push poling off off grass mats to turn around. I agreed that the reach of the gd was a plus. I've got hung up on some shit yhis year yhat I think the additional reach helped me. Maybe I just didn't hit it fast enough..lol

In the swamp, my lt is awesome I can crawl over things like beaver dams and the boat is over it by the time the prop needs to come up, that extra reach is nice.

But in thick green timber I hate it, when you do a lot of turning and picking the prop out of the water you get all tangled in the trees and sometimes it will wedge you and you can't turn because the shaft is against a tree 5' behind you. The only real advantage I see of my longtail in timber is when I am in 6-8" of water over a hard bottom in pipelines and logging roads I can ease through places that the SD's struggle quite a bit in... Saw it first hand with a 23 GDSD last week.


I agree with Owen though, a Suzuki on a jack plate paired with some balls will get you in and out of most green timber.

I love how y'all are fighting what's second and third best!! Shit one of them could even be fifth best with beavertail and all!! Bawhahaha

I run a PD in NE Ark flooded timber. Outboards do great...but I can take shortcuts thru the buckbrush. I think were the motor really shines when the water is low. there are places outboards can't go.... The thing I like about the PD is that I can crank it up at the ramp while I am putting my waders on and loading up the boat...the motor is warmed up when I hit the water.

It all depends on what you want to do. You give up and gain w/ everything you do. I agree w/ Owen on the outboard if you are hunting the flooded timber that I have hunted in AR. I also think that the neutral is a must.
Like DeadBird pointed out, the excel has the kick up for outboards to take some of the punishment off an outboard.
If your not running water too shallow for and outboard it would be best. IMO!
I have hunted all sorts of different terrain. Some folks may have only hunted their timber. Every situation is different.
If you go w/ a MM its basically your choice. They are all tough.