Used my 23 Dixie for one duck season. This is what I think about Dixie now.

Pros
1. Great motor for the price
2. Very easy to work on
3. All the parts are cheap and available online. bearings ,belts etc.
4. If you are handy with tools you will love this motor. Simple design
5. Very strong frame. I did manage to break a weld but fixed it for $ 30.
6. Excellent warranty work prior to duck season

Cons
My motor was down for a week because of a $ 6.00 bearing. They did not answer the phone during duck season.

The new owner Mike seems like a good guy. I hope he can continue building the company.

Moving forward
Dixie was a good starter mud motor for me but I’m moving on.
I’m ordering a custom 1754 with a hunt deck from one of the boat builders on this site. Thinking of GTR or 45 black death or 45 mag (mud buddy). Can’t figure out which is the best combo. I’m going to ask on a separate post.


Thank you.

All my breakdowns were clutch related, total of 2 ditched it and it ran fine until my trim started leaking on 2nd to last day.

Rudy, glad you joined the ranks of the "afflicted" waterfowlers! Everyone morphs in the duck boat field. My quick opinion on the new rig- get all the horses you can afford and get reverse (GT or PD) or you can be patient and maybe after the prototype MB V and H series go into the field and prove worthy get one of those- right now that is wishful thinking. I would add a good trolling motor up front- this will make any breakdown a little less weary- this will help you putt back to port. You will love the added room, carrying capacity, safety of the bigger boat. An 1854 or 1848 will be just a tad better IMO.

Great hearing from you. I hope Flaco’s doing better. What a great group of guys.
Anyways back to this duck thing. Hunted the last 12 days of the season on/off weekdays. Explored the lake all over. I purchased a new mud motor 23 hp.

Will need to upgrade again for the new boat. This time I’m going for the 45 or 55 mag or tricked out 35 GTR from GT

The boat will be 1754 J or GT. Need to figure out how the hell to ship the boat to Miami.

ive been running a dixie 6.5 since sept. dont have a hour meter but i guess i prob put 30 hours on it. we hunt the marsh for duck and deer and i have it on a 1436 riveted boat. i must have gotten a good one cause nothing broke. i changed out the throttle to a twist grip as i didnt like the cheap bike handle that came on it. i did notice the long bolt holding the motor on the swivel bracket has a bunch of play and is very loose. i plan on replacing it with a high grade bolt. as far as the little briggs 6.5 im pretty sure its about to blow. its very hard to start, backfires and dies. every now and then when im running ill get a big backfire as loud as a shotgun and a blue flame about 2 foot of the exhaust. im pulling the engine off and putting a 6.5 predator. going to stage 3 it and run a 9x9 prop. might have to weld up some support as i expect to get around 12hp out of it.

Rudy, if you are going to invest that much moolah, go ahead and plan a trip to Louisiana. That way you can TEST DRIVE all the rigs and get what you really want. You can visit GT, PD, and even GD, and maybe the custom builders and get a better deal. At the same time you eat crawfish gumbo and all the other heavenly regional food there. Heck, you might just book a hunting trip out there- that is a ducking paradise out there! If I were investing like that it would be worth it to go there- my wife has always wanted to go to New Orleans- Katrina changed our plans- and what better way to see that part of the country. The shipping charges are better offset with first hand inspection and trial running. You may also find the boat of your dreams in stock or a demo model or slightly used and save money that way. I repeat what I said earlier- get all the horses you can!

With that 6.5 briggs did you have to run that engine with a little bit of choke still on, with mine i do , it has about 5 points of choke from full to close i would have to leave it in the 2nd notch for it to stay running ,junkey little spring and plastic lever ,but it runs great besides that ,have not had one problem with it or any of my other 2 units so far[/quote]

mine ran great at first. then i had to do like you said, running with the choke one click to the right. then it started running sluggish and i would click it over to the left after warming up and it would run better. now its just running bad on every position. ive torn down the carb twice and have never run ethanol fuel in it. i use to be able to get in thick mud and trim the motor all the way down, dig and the motor wouldnt bog down. now it bogs down till it almost dies. we have some longtails with hondas that we have been using for 10+ years, being sunk and everything else and they are still kicking.