So for years we have been hunting out of a 17' flat with a 25 outboard, and finally took the leap this year and got into my first mud boat. I went with the PD 36 Manual Reverse and hydraulic trim tiller on an Excel 1854 SWV4 with the .125 hull and flotation. We spent all last week painting and fabricating a bada** pop up blind that I am thrilled with. I am not looking for pd vs gtr vs mb, etc... I went with pd because I don't hunt right off the launch... I like to run a while, and when I took a pd rig and a gtr out for a test drive in loreauville pd won the tiller torque battle hands down, not to mention the thing is just SOLID! I'm a louisiana native, and like to support hometown business if they make a great product. Oh and when you decide to buy one of these in September(teal season) and want something new by the end of October.... Had to work with those that would work with me.

Anyways my question is fairly broad, but with 3 people, boat blind, gear, 30 deeks, and a full tank of gas I am observing about 17/18 mph in deep water maintaining ~4100rpm (got her up to 20 this afternoon running shallow.) 10 hrs on the clock. Does anybody else have this Boat/Motor setup that could let me know if this sounds right? I don't need speed... I've got an alarm clock and 60oz off fresh coffee on reserve for those 1 am road trips, just curious if those numbers would indicate everything running right. Can't wait for my tiller extension to get here!!! If youre just looking into this rig the biggest problem with the simplest fix is the freakin tiller length.

No problems starting the motor up, buttt it likes to die at LOW idle. When cranked all the way down in gear it will start to sputter and kill itself... Just annoying in no wake zones and when circling the pond picking up ducks! Otherwise it seems to work great!

Manual reverse works great unless you are high centered on grass and you can't kick the prop around! Thank goodness for the winch and spud poles! I have heard that there are kits to make engaging the manual reverse ratchet system quicker/easier, and if anybody could point me to one that would be great! I can't find the suckers anywhere. Anybody else have issues with these things spitting grease out of the t handle when you pull it to ratchet?

This hull is freakin AWESOME on the cut, it doesn't walk/slide hardly at all. Working it through alotta cutbacks I was impressed... Literally handles almost as nice as my Baja (but not quite as fast :p ) The transom step is great, layout is awesome as a dual purpose rig (I fish when I can't hunt, and if it's a 2 person trip, not 3 or 4, we load up the fishin gear and make a day out of it.). Bait well is nice and storage is great.... Very comfortable/functional boat. Had to remove fuel EPA valve POS that wouldn't let me full my tank more than half way, but a pail of long nose pliers and 12 seconds took care of that problem! Cool unintended feature... When you set up your blind, you can fill the live well to help balance the boat for visibility purposes. How comfortable should I be jumping grass and hitting stumps/cypress knees? Never been a mud boater so I hope I don't sound like an unsafe dbag here, but is it safe to take on a hard patch of grass/cypress knee at 10/12 mph or should I try to crawl over that stuff?

Can someone break down what stage 1,2,3 entails? I don't need speed... But it never hurts 8) I plan on modding the motor next season and want to start budgeting. I will be adding a poling platform, trolling motor, and yeti 105 when it comes time to full time fish it. Rock guard is on the way to protect prop from oyster bottoms.

What is the best way to transport these suckers?? I put alotta miles on it (just moved to little rock arkansas area, but hunt south LA) and just want to make sure I'm dragging her right, been trimming all the way up, turning to the side, and ratcheting from eye to eye through the skeg (not tight, but firm.)


Any other advice just post up, I appreciate it fellas! Tight lines and straight shootin!

I have the 18/54 f86 with a pd 36 . I run about 25-26 with three people and gear .
I have a lot of mods .Dont know if that helps

Is your pd a gen3? What sort of mods you got/what does that stuff cost? Do you recall what your numbers looked like before you modded her out? Manual or auto reverse?

2007 36 pd Stage 2 on a 17'10 x 48" (I built the hull). If the boat will float with the load, I can run with it with no problem.
I have heads, cam, carb, exhaust
I really can't remember all the prices but I know its close>
Heads - $600
Cam - $300-$325 ???
Carb - $750
Exhaust - $450 - $550 ??

It pays to play, but mine runs 34.3 and probably could go faster with some prop work. But when loaded to the gills, I can still run 30.

It pays to play!!

About the same as u. I can run 32 max deep water . I have head work cam crab muffler etc.
The excel is a not a boat that going to run with some of the other boats . I fount out the hard way

I have a 18'x54" Uncle J boat with 3/16 bottom - the boat is a real tank. with a stock PD I was getting 28/29 mph in shallow water with just me and 27/28 in deep water with just me. The real problem was with carrying hunting loads (3 hunters, dog, dekes, pop up blind, etc.) I would only get around 20/21 mph which meant for a long ride to hunting grounds. Before this season I brought my boat to Calen to get a stage 1 (cam, heads/valves work, rework stock carb and gutted exhuast) for $1800 + tax. it made a huge difference. Picked up 3 mph on light load, but the real difference is when carrying a hunting load -- can hold 27 mph now with a hunting load -- very pleased!

One other thing I forgot to mention. I actually had heads, stock carb and exhaust and it would still haul a load very well. You don't really need the cam. I started to have crankcase gasket leaks, so I was going to have to pull the block to change the gasket. Thats when I decided to do the cam. Since it was already torn apart. So all of the other "bolt on" mods will work great.

How would an outboard run on these boats?

I have a 1651 vf4 for outboards with a 40hp Yamaha four stroke. It will touch 34mph on occasion but with three people dog and gear it runs around 30.