Anyone around South Louisiana builds surface drives?
Very interested in buying one but go devil, gator tail, pro drive, etc. run a little bit over my budget.

This has been covered before.... You're buying a lot more than just what you're looking at hanging on the back of a boat. Honestly, if a GoDevil is out of your budget, you should reconsider this purchase all together.

-there are used units for sale all over the place but as with anything you get what you pay for.

lol i love how alot you guys on here are all snoody and look down on people that dont have the funds to always buy a $4000 motor for a boat. I wasnt asking about a new high dollar motor, i'm asking about a home made cheaper option. Hop off my junk and go showoff your 37hp go devil sd, douche bag.

Outstanding!!!!

I guess offering simple clear advise is taken as being a douchebag to someone defensive about what they can or can't afford.

I was in no way looking down. I've been in your exact spot and it was just a few years ago. I bought a used rig with a longtail. It was cheap. Served my purposes and got me to where I wanted to go. I learned a lot with that little setup. But hey, I guess I'm a douchebag. Owning these things isn't a one time purchase. You'll break stuff, trailer needs tires, you're gonna burn a prop up, etc. it doesn't have a damn thing with showing anything off. If I was the showing off type, I probably wouldn't own what I do. I'd just go sign up for 5-6yrs and a 30-35K loan and then talk shit about anything that had a different sticker on the side than mine. But that's not the case. you've got your shit waaay outta whack buddy, you know nothing about me.

-good luck with it.

*grabs popcorn*

hahahaha, speaking of the devil...

That dude just misunderstood and got butthurt with someone actually trying to help him. He'd flip out and go kick his puppy if if I went total ass like I was accused of a couple days ago. I'm not sure why he thinks we all have money and can't stand when someone is working with a budget. Hell, half of us here have run pieced together low budget rigs. A lot still do by choice. It's just as finances allow, some have things they want and eventually got to where they could spend the money to get those. And of all people, setx an uppity douche bag? Not hardly

Save your money and buy one of the 4 major brands. The piece of mind of being able to make a call to the manufacturer and have a failed part sent to you is very convenient.

These guys are trying to help you from making a mistake and spending more money than what you have to.

Man if only dixie mudmotors was still around. This schmuck would be a prostaffer.

Advantage surface drives anybody?

I'll be the douchebag he wants me to be. I'm ok with that....

viewtopic.php?t=66838

Just look hard for a deal and be patient. Their out there. I found a 23hp mbsd on a 1648 Jon boat on CL for $2,200 after looking for months. If u ain't willing to shell out the big bucks gotta wait for a deal. GL on the search!


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Don't bring advantage into this. That's what got me called a total ass the other day. Or was it asshat. I don't remember. Oh well. Stop bringing them up. Until people buy them and post their experiences after extended use, they're a crap shoot. Pure experiment. Good luck if that's what you choose. Home built can be the same thing. These things are simple, but the little details are what makes them last, perform well, and customer service is some of that cost. Research and development matters, but costs, too. You don't get much of that with a homebuilt. The ones that tend to do well are the small ones, but part of that is due to the stress they don't get put through because they're so small.

Btw, don't be such a sensitive twit. You're getting the answers from people that are trying to help. I've personally helped someone bolt up a 35 hp briggs engine they picked up for 800, on to a mud buddy frame they paid 1400 for. They waited until they found a deal, and were ready to purchase. That same motor new is out of your price range. That's fine. But with a bit of patience and listening to others, he found a helluva deal and didn't spend "snooty" money. These guys that spend that money aren't any better than those that don't, and it doesn't mean they're looking down their nose at you. They just worked to save that money. Takes time. There are other solutions, as I just explained, and you'll see if you look around. If this post doesnt fall on receptive ears, go to facebook or somewhere else. You aren't worth the effort of these guys trying to help if you aren't gonna listen anyway or have the patience to find what you need.

lol yall crack me up and i understand the advice and am not knocking it, im just wondering about home made builds, not major brands.

Maybe look these guys up?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=64701

The point here is simple.

You have a budget, so you don't want to waste money.

You want to get the best that you can while staying in your budget.

If you buy a no-name surface drive kit, you are likely going to have to put more money into it and always be disappointed with the results. It will have little resale value, except to someone uneducated on MMs.

You're best option would be to hunt for a deal on a used unit built by a reputable MM manufacturer.

In the end, you'll have less headaches, frustration, and money spent going this route.

I ran a 22HP predator on a Backwater Inc. long tail for about a year. It wasn't the cheapest option - but it was definitely the cheapest new option. Honestly, I only sold it because I had a friend who wanted to buy my whole setup - and I wanted a custom hull. I had about 2,600 in that setup with everything being brand new and warrantied.

If you are going home made then a long tail is most likely to yield good results, as Russ suggested. Simpler design means less things to go wrong.

I was you 2 or 3 years ago. I wanted to build a frame or find a kit to buy. I didn't post on the forum, but I searched and found lots of topics like this. I was dead set on finding a kit or building one, but the forum guided me to going the Backwater route. After I sold the Backwater, I bought a used GTR frame that head everything except the motor. I bought a brand new engine for it, which had a warranty. It was the most affordable thing for me to do to have the motor I wanted.

I'm not saying don't build one or buy into a kit...just give it plenty of thought and weight it against all options.

How did you like the backwater longtail? I've heard nothing but good about them.
Also any of yall ever heard of or had a mayhem or muddhog longtail?

Mayhem was the guy on here that got really mad about something i think. If so, that thread was awesome. You can search the forum for that one. The other, never heard of.

I liked the Backwater enough that I'm going to buy another one with a 35 one day.