Which mud motor will run the skinniest. We dont have mud to dig into, our bottom is pretty hard. I am asking how much water do you need to get up. A foot or more. Say i got a 16x48 boat, with a 35hp motor, how much water do i need to get up? Trying to decide on a motor?

Hard bottom is not good for mud motors. I can run over 4-5" of hard sand at WOT. Anything shallower & I come screeching to a halt & wait on the tide...

Hope you have a smooth bottom and chines and your really in for trouble...

Getting on plane with a hard bottom is tough you need about 10" to get up. You can get up shallower but you have to put weight on outside & do a couple of 360's as you get up on plane.

You need a bigger boat to draft less too.

in my 18 x 52 with a 45 mag with a 40in Outdriver I can run 4 to 5 in... before with the 27in outdrive I needed 6 or 7in but I had a rock gaurd on also... as far as getting up on step... I need about 1ft of water for about 20ft with a load... if no load is in the boat I can get up on step in 6 or 8 ft.. we don't have mud on the snaker river.. nothing but hard bottom and not sand... rocks... been running a surface drive for 7 years and wouldn't think twice about mud motors for shallow hard bottom water...