Im looking into buying a new rig, up here in mn we hunt out of our boats alot. So hiding the boat, with a good blind and good cover is cruicial. Im debating between an 1848, or a 1752, people have told me that the extra width of a 52 wide, will displace water and carry a load better than a boat that is 48 wide on bottom. Im also leaning towards a backwater swomp 37 lite longtail. Id like the most speed out of a longtail that i can get, i know surface drives are the best for speed, but the price point and performance of a swomp 37is tough to beat.

I have owned two 48" boats and two 52" boats. FWIW, I'll never buy another 48. They don't carry load as well and they're more unstable. I'm sure there are guys on here that run them and claim they're fine for them. Some guys have never run anything bigger and assume all boats handle that way. Added hull surface area is what will allow you to draft shallower in skinny water and carry loads better. Having a few inches of extra width makes a huge difference in terms of lateral stability and the ability to move from bow to transom when dodging dogs, decoys and gear.

With a longtail, the 1848 will do better than the 1752. If you were considering a larger width difference, I wouldn't say that, but that extra ft of length will do you better than the extra 4 inches of width when running or carrying a load. It won't be much difference, so you could probably flip a coin in this case. And yes, I've run a 1652 and a 1748 with a longtail. It's not just "My brother's second cousin had a friend" situation. Extra width does provide more stability, but 4 inches isn't enough to make a noticeable difference over an extra foot of boat. If you were comparing a 40" vs 44" bottom, it might matter more.

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Thanks guys, thats kind of the way i looked at it. Weights arent much different, and 4 inches of width isnt going to be a deal breaker for the stuff i hunt. Mostly running lakes, rivers, rice filled sloughs, and some mud/timber filled swamps.