While I am no stranger to boats (I run a fishing boat for a living) I am to MM. No one sells them or really runs the around here (northern NY). I am about to purchase an Alweld 1548 and put either a 12hp or 18 hp Copper Head on it. Aluminum welded blind with welded hooks on the side for a one man canoe and a 15 ' aluminum bleacher bench parallel with the boats for seating. Only for duck hunting, only for marshes (already have a Lake duck Boat).

Thought, Opinions, Advice?

By the way, This site Rocks!

Thats alot of shit get the bigest motor ya can

And maybe a lil wider boat

Is te 18 CH going to be enough? Dont need to go fast just get into my spots. Was going to add elec start, clutch and remote fuel too. Better motor for same price?? The 18 CH is $3800 cant reall go over that.

Just a word of caution. Copperhead may be having financial trouble.

Hey Gear Head, im not sure whose mouth that came from but i would like to inform you your statement is false. My name is Josh Glidden son of Gil the owner of Copperhead. While im not on here to advertise but to help fellow sportsman and enthusiasts alike with small mm questions. I can asure you Copperhead is doing better than ever and growing considerbly, we have just moved into our new facility as our product and ideas outgrew our old space. If anybody has any questions or comments I will be more than happy to answer them.

Don't know anything about CH MM but i love the gator tail.

I think you will like which ever MM you choose.

i rode in a copperhead at the last micosukkee mud run and I was really impressed with the power it had for a small hp engine. It was an 18 hp on a wigeon duck boat.

Do I need to do anything special as far as rigging? I'm going remote fuel, elec start and cent clutch. What are some good lights?

Thanks!

You will more than likely be underpowered with the 18.

What do you consider underpowered? This is for duck hunting only, i imagine most of the time I will be putting along between 5-10 mph due to it being dark and safety. But if I can get up on plane loaded and get anywhere above 15 mph when running its doing it's job. I was told with 2 guys the 18 should push around 25mph with that boat, how much will I lose with a couple more hundred lbs of blind and decoys?

Thanks again.

With the load you just said and a hard blind on it all is to be expected is putting around!! It will do the job if that I'd all your looking for to get from point A to B. As fir as it running 25 kinda hard to believe that!!

Think maybe he forgot the - between the 2 & 5

I was told 25 with 2 guys no equipment from gil. Is that not accurate, like I said never ran one nor does anyone around me. Knew I would lose some with blind and equipment just figuring how much.

Thanks

Copperheads are impressive motors, Ive seen one step three 200lb guys in a 14x51 and run 13-15.

25mph with 2 people, a hard sided blind, and all the gear is a strech for a stock 35

My GTR 35 runs 24mph according to my GPS. They advertise it running 25-32 I think. I have a 1648. When I GPSed it I had two grown men and two kids, two cools of bait, one cooler of beer.

For the record the beer was my brothers I don't drink when my kids are with me.

Crimped bottom hull & a lot of weight, that's about right speed for stock.

My boat aint crimped. Matter of fact it aint got a dent one in the hull............

and i went through and over more stumps than I can count this past weekend.

You boys got to open you mind up to other boats than MM boats. Not everyone wants a boat that is flat on the bottom and don't turn

a crimped hull is a mass produced hull like Alweld, Weldbilt, War Eagle, etc that has crimps in the bottom from front to back that give the thin aluminum strength. As far as opening our minds up to other boats that "don't slide" one day your eyes will open & see what we're trying to tell you & then you'll look at how much $ you wasted because you were too smart to take the advice of others who've already been there & done that.

My bad................It is not that I dont take advise. Hell I been looking for advise for 8 months. (and still looking for all i can get) So I know what we are talking about. The ridges running the length of my boat are called crimps. i knew they were there for strenght but did not know what they where called.

Yep they're called crimps. As far as sliding, that depends on the style hull you have. A square chine (built like a crimped hull, but without the crimps) will slide. My GT Extreme only slides if I make it slide, a tapered chine also only slides if you make it & a round chine boat doesn't slide. There's a lot more thought engineering that goes into them than most folks see. In all honesty, the crimped hull I started out with slid worse than any of the 4 mud hulls I've had.

I guess I underestimated the importance of weight in comparison to our Duck Water being pushed by a 140hp (weight has never been a huge concern with my boats, my work boat is a 31' sportcraft). New plan is to get boat and gps with 2 guys then add weight and see where it goes from there. For the big lake a welded hard frame with canvas is real nice but maybe a lighter more traditional blind like an Avery might be the ticket for this. Thoughts?

Just ran across this thread researching a new boat and MM, am in NNY also. Maybe they will catch on up here yet.

Not sure but from what I have read so far I think you will want more motor and maybe even more boat with that load. The weight and way you load the canoe might make a huge difference.

Some thing to keep in mind also is the wieght of the MM itself. Removing 50lbs from the transom is like removing 100lbs from the center of the boat. Its also less wieght to have to get moving and with these smaller rigs it is important, not just for all out speed but if your by yourself its less to get unstuck too.

Thanks for all the input, I think I am going to scrap the welded hard blind and save some pounds with the same design as poker1, was thinking I would take the pics and have a local canvas shop build it, probably out of SS for the strength. Also I am going to be using a 30lb 1 man canoe. Figured with just a couple changes I knock 150 lbs off my original estimates.

Ok scrap he SS just started a price list and outa budget, galvanized it is, nylon fittings I'll build it my self and spray it with zinc primer.

Ok, update: decided after talking on here that the 18 CH was a better choice than the 12, so I called Gil and had a nice conversation with him and decided to add the cent. clutch, remote fuel and elec start (found out RF and ES come standard on 18). Gil told me they were a little behind, I offered to pay for the motor or put down a deposit so I could make sure I was taken care of, Gil refused my money and let me know he didnt want to take anyones money that didnt have a motor ready. Told me it would be about 2 weeks before he would have one to sell. Well, last wednesday (about 2 weeks) I payed for a new 18 over the phone and within an hour it was shipped and I got tracking info! Gil gave me a wednesday delivery date and I had the motor monday. I cant say enough about how great this process was and how much I enjoyed doing business with copper head. I fired the motor up still on the crate and it ran well and seemed very well made.

1548 alweld is due to arive july 15, keep you updated!

I have a 12 and its a great motor. Do you know any of the guys in north east xtreme?

Not trying to steer you away from the Copperheads because they are good motors, but Orion Outboards has very similar small HP mud motors and are ALOT closer to you in Red Creek, NY.
Steve Bush, the owner, is great guy and very easy to work with. We have 2 of their 15 hp units here in Texas and testing them on several different boats to start building a perfect boat for the areas yall run up there.

Check out their site: www.orionoutboards.com