A brief prelude... I own a Lowe 1448M - Mod-V. Had decided i could not put a 27 or larger prodrive on my boat (the motor i want) and cant afford this day a new complete rig. Had decided i could live with my boat if I could find a SD to match. Research led me to the 18 copperhead for its weight and report on power. Drove 3.5 hours to Illowa Marine/Phowler boat to test, and, I really thought, highly likely to buy. Arrange with owner Paul to test the 18 first on an 1840 Phowler Lite Jon, then on my boat. My thinking was that I was going to get great performance on my Lowe, but that I would soon be in a position to buy bigger, and wanted to see how the Copperhead 18 performed on the bigger boat, if and when i wanted to make that move.

MM Brand: Copperhead
Horsepower: 12
Boat Brand: Phowler Prowler Sneak Boat
Boat Size: 1436
Boat Layout: Narrow, with cockpit, pointed nose
Speeds | Shallow Water: 16
Speeds | Deep Water: 16
Total Boat Load With Gear Etc: 3 guys total weight 610
Conditions Tested In: Calm river / high water / good flow

Comments: Fun! I could really see myself in this boat with another guy and dog. Might be a little pinched, and little slwer to the honey hole, but could work for 3 as well. Stable, light, low, sturdy. Was worried I might feel cramped but did not. That said, if I buy, I'll likel go to the 15 or 16-foot. Cockpit on the 14 was 9-feet. They had a 16 in the shop and that had a cokpit 11-feet.

Was surprised how well it moved with the 12hp, with three guys. Needed a little muscle to keep 'er on line, but that was made much better with a little trimming. As noted on another post, the weight of these motors make the trimming pretty easy.

Final comment... The guys at Phowler / Illowa were great. Thanks to Paul and Bubba for taking the time to do this, to answer all our questions. To give us items to consider. To recognize, in the end, that I had not yet found "the answer" , and to not try to push me into something for the sake of the sale.

Bubba said he had a blast demoing you guys last week, I am glad you came down and ran all the rigs you did, it is worth to trip to know what will work for your needs and what will not. Hope your time spent will help you in your decisions to find a rig that will do what you need it to do.

Thanks again for taking the time to come demo with us.

PW