so im looking to get an excel with mud buddy. i dont know a whole lot about mud motors. how will these hold up on stumps cause alot of these motors have power tilt/trim ? my duck boat now is a outboard that stays unlocked and has a kick up. ive seen where some of the excel have a kick up transom. we have alot of stumps where im at. any info would help alot. thanks.

Mud motors kick up also.

if your getting an xcel i advise gettting the 125 gauge 5086 alum.,otherwize your jus wasting money

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. So even with power tilt and trim the motor will kick up ?

No comparisons w/ surface drives & outboards other than they mount on the back of the boat. The frames of all the brands are tough as nails & yes they do kick up. Go to websites for the manufacturers & look @ the videos.

Yes they all kick up with power tilt. There would be a lot of tore up mud motors if not.

Stumps are the devil.....if you are mainly running stumps id go custom and get a tank built with extra bracing in aft and a 3/16 bottom....have them reinforce transom....banging off stumps ain't easy on a boat.

Yea lol. I always was like how do these guys give these thing so much hell and not rip off transoms. Yea this year i was in a 14 ft riveted. Lets just say i had a few leaks busting rivets lol. Deff have looked into hull thickness. The boat im looking at now is a .125 with double thickness on front half of boat. Have another question for u excel guys. This guy has a boat with the back two pods (for lack of a better word), im speaking of inside the boat up under where driver sits and on opposite corner. His are solid. I want the livewell/dry box and storage in other like u can get in the f4. Could excel or a dealer install this for me ? Also it has the smaller gun box that is almost flush with floor. Could this also be exchanged for larger gun box/rod box ? Can u install seat bases through middle of boat also ? I have seen this in pics of excel's but not sure if it can only be done when boat is built. Dont wanna drill a whole in the bottom of my boat lol. Once again thanks for yalls replies. Very helpfull forum. Sorry for all the questions. Just wanna make sure im choosing the right boat if i spend 12k$ on it haha.

It sounds to me like you just need to get a custom built boat exactly how you want it with a 3/16 bottom. Where are you located? With a custom hull you will get a stronger boat for a better price

x2.........double thickness in the front? the back, about 2 foot out from transom is where you dont want a hook.

for the money you'll spend buying and 'modifying' that excel, you can get a custom hull that is tailor made for your situation. contact one of the builders on this site and toss some numbers around before getting that hull.

I wouldn't get the excel unless it was alot cheaper. Especially if you want to run stumps. I have a 3/16 bottom and pound on stumps (even broke one that I know of) with not a sign of impact. It happens to be a gator-tail, but I'm sure all the custom boats are just as solid if they have as much surface area on the stringers.