Looking to possibly upgrade a little on my 18 HP Copperhead. Wondering which motor you guys thought would be a better motor for my 1542 flat jon? I know the Copperhead 23 in new but still hoping to get some feedback. Thanks

talked with for a while the other day about the new 23 and it seems like it's a bad ass little motor, apparently getting 30 mph empty out of a 400 pound 15 foot boat, and 26 with 3 folks. If i can ever track down a damn 18 ft go devil duck skiff ill be ordering one for sure. And copperhead's customer service is top notch.

Just so you know, a 23 Vanguard will fit on your current frame. I'm guessing you'd have to swap pulleys and propeller, but I believe that's it. There's a guy here in TN that has a 23 Copperhead on a custom mud hull. I believe it's a 1548 that Corey (thirdtimesacharm) built. He's very happy with it.

The clutch is well worth it. I Can't go back to a direct drive motor after having a couple with clutches.

They will not run the same, I have had half a dozen customers come in over the past several years with the 23 MB and they have been disappointed with the load carrying of this motor. All of them we have seen will not run with the prop at the surface for top speed, it is buried in the water and the motor stuggles with more than two guys and a very light load. The 23 Cooperhead will run at the surface and will carry a good load. We ran one at our demos again yesterday in Winona, MN. We put four men and a boy in our Prowler Extreme 1744 and ran around at an average of 17-18 mph, this was with a load of around 1000 lbs. With two or three men only (so two men and gear) we where running around 20-24 depending on wind and water depth. This was all pretty much deep water, at least 3-5 feet in most areas in flooded cattails.

Cooperhead does something that no one else does with these smaller motors, they seem to get more performance out of their gear ratio and props than anyone else making small MM's. I just think Gil spends more time testing and tweeking then the others and his background in racing carts give him a little extra understanding in the power to weight ratio game. That just my opinion, but pound for pound, HP for HP, his stuff just runs better.

PW

Hey Ryan I didn't realize this was you until I read an old pm from duck hunting chat.

Yeah jb I'm already looking to upgrade. Might have to just suck it up and buy the 25 gatortail.

I took a ride with josh on thursday. One of the boats we took out was running the prototype of the 23 and HOLY CHIT!!!!!!!!!! That thing is a beast! Greased fuggin lighting on the back of a jon boat!

Other than the lack of a clutch, I don't see how the mud buddy could hold a candle to the copperhead. I would think that if a.clutch is a must have for you that they woold be happy to add it for a reasonable price. (not to put words in their mouth)

This is a review from a customer who demoed with us last weekend:

"For all the skeptics out there, my hunting partner and I made the trip from Milwaukee to Sterling on Saturday morning specifically to demo the 1744 Prowler Extreme with the new Copperhead 23. We were lucky enough to have Paul take us out on the river for a spirited ride and we were beyond impressed.

Conditions were "extreme" to say the least. Wind gusts of 30-40 mph and rollers in the 2'-3' range. We ran everything from shallow to deep and calm bays to open water (we even traversed some dry land). Ran most of the test with 3 in the boat (650lbs) but also had a chance to run with 5 (1100lbs). GPS speed with 3 people in deep water was 21 mph and 17 mph with 5 people. Stability in all conditions was fantastic and never once did we feel nervous, even while navigating the rollers in open water. At one point we had all 5 men standing on the gunnels and never came close to tipping or taking on water.

Another thing I was somewhat concerned with was spaciousness of the cockpit area. There's actually quite a bit more room than most of the pictures show, with additional storage on the sides under the cockpit where the total beam widens to 60". I see no problem hunting up to 3 people with a dog and gear.

In my opinion, the combination of safety, stability, performance and light weight make this hull a home run! I'll be calling Paul very soon to get my order in.Johnny-O
hunter

Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:38 pm
Location: Greendale, Wi


Here is our reply and review from yesterday in MN:

"Jonny-O, it was great to run around with you guys, thanks for making the trip down to Sterling on a cold wet and windy day, sorry for the bath when we got out in the really rough stuff (yes in 2-3' rollers you will get a bit wet in only a 44" bottom boat from the spray, but we never one put water on the bow). We ran yesterday in Winona and it was the opposite of Sterling, no shallow mud to be found, but miles and miles of thick flooded cattails with 2-5' of water and floating bogs in them. The 23 Cooperhead chewed right through them, even with a four and five man load. We only stuck the boat once on a hugh bog, but once we got the nose clear of it we motor right through 50-60 yards of 3-4' cattails with no trail to follow. We were also able to get in the timber and willows in 6" -12" of water at idle with 3-4 man loads, slide over deadfalls and stumps all day long. Same as with Sterling, everyone who ran the rig was amazed at the stablity, safety and load handling of this rig.

Look forward to talking with you soon and thanks for the review."

PW

A couple of reviews from Saturdays demo day in Winona, with phowler boats and pro drive, and cooperhead motors.
To start off with I have a Jon boat with a longtail. I have been reading and watch stats on these motors and boats. Now on Saturday my youngest son and I made the ride down to Winona from Rochester. I was rather impressed with the engine response of the new efi on the 36 fpr was awesome to say the least. Even though the prop needs more pitch I was more than impressed with the motor and the load, along with how well the boat handled. This new set-up will out run a stage one prodrive all day long. The second review is on the prowler extreme 1744 with the new 23 copperhead. Wow! We had four adults and my son in this boat, so I would say a load of around low 900-1000 lbs. this boat drafted what I would consider very little water. Now we couldn't find the skinny water so to speak but cattails,weeds,and the woods was no problem for it. Got on step quick, handled the woods and turning very well jumped some logs and this motor and boat just kept on moving. It was very easy to stand up and operate or sit. The boat was very stable we could move around and it didn't rock and roll much at all. Now I live in town but if I had the room I would have this 1744 with the 23 cooperhead, and also a 1866 with the 36 fpr efi. With out a doubt and would not look back. Thanks again guys for the great day my son and had a lot of fun! And will be in contact. What a outstanding group off guys you are!

Get the 25 GatorTail

Yeah I could really go for a power trim on the motor. I wonder how much weight it would add tho.

The 23 will bolt to the 18 frame but that's it, the gearing is different so you would see no speed advantage by swaping 23 to 18. The 18 runs a smaller top gear than the 23 so now the belt becomes too short and the list goes on.

I was just confirming what you said, im the lucky one that gets to put the units together;) the whole chassis on the 23 is shorter to allow for the taller gearing, you'd have to swap so much to get it to work its not worth it to most.

Gotcha.

Thank you guys for the info

I want a copperhead 23 ...with my trade im close to getting one .. only need 3 grand more ..

Don't do a trade in. I was going to trade my 1995 25 evinrude in and was offered 300 bucks. I sold it in a week for 1000 and at the dealer they were asking 1800 for my same motor. You will get a lot more selling it yourself!

Anybody got any pics or videos of the new Copperhead 23??

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1370911869.318565.jpg

Well what's the verdict on the debate between these two motors?

I went with the copperhead. The copperhead pushes my heavy ass 1542 jon 25 with two 200+ pound guys and a decent fishing load in 4+ foot of water.

What are the 23's running? Price wise?

Backwoodslanding.com

I bought mine from backwoods landing and I had it shipped to my door in michigan for $4500. They are great people to deal with down there.

I know them at backwoods ... They are outstanding folks