New to the forum and wanted expert advise. I'm going to be buying a new boat and motor soon. Which company would you go with?? Reverse would be a plus....I will typically be hauling 2-3 guys, a dog, and 8 -10 dozen decoys. I mainly run deep water but I'm tired of tearing up pros and not having a stable boat.... **Need the boat to be rock steady too***. So my question is what size motor and boat would you guys recommend??? Thx

If you gona be running rocks get a jet-drive. These motors are designed to run in mud, grass, shallow water, etc. A rock will put a hurtin on any prop.


Edit* I misread your post. I have a mb/excel combo and I enjoy it but as you stated, reverse is a big plus. My boat is a 1751 and its pretty stable. I don't hunt out of mine tho

I totally agree with what SCmudder7071 say's but..I am in northeast Tennessee were our rivers are nothing but rock bottom and in and out of shallow water.We don't have many issues with mud here.It's a personal preference on what you want to go with.Around here in the fall of the year we get a ton of grass floating in the river which presents a problem for a jet and my mudbuddy just pushes right through it.
I am running a mudbuddy with a rock guard and I have run some really shallow rocky bottoms and not had a problem with the rock guard attached.If i get really shallow...It just bumps off the rock guard and keeps on truckin and never touches the prop.

18' is the sweet spot for performance and load carrying. A 50" width makes a pretty solid platform. On the boat, consider the chine design. Square chines slide, round chines turn.