Hey guys, new to the page but have been on numerous times. A lot of neat stuff out there. Was just wondering if anyone might have some solid advice and ideas on building a mud motor. Right now I've only got a p.o.s 14' flat bottom that if I remember right is 32 or 36" wide..I've got a 5hp Briggs mudmotor that is nothing to write home about and a dinosaur 1950s 10hp johnson that I use on a different boat. I have an infinite supply of 25hp kohlers that my dad and I fix up and sell on eBay ect. But my thinking is that even that might be quite a bit of overkill for a boat as small as mine for now until I get redneck rich and score a bigger boat. As far as weight and power and all of that maybe I m wrong but I was thinking maybe I need to go down to a 12? Or do i need to go lower yet?? Anyways I just wanted to pick all of your brains to see if I might be able to come up with something.

-Mike

what you lookin to spend? not sure where youre located but i had a brand new 13hp honda sittin at the house...godevil sold me a frame shaft prop everything all i had to do was bolt up the motor i wanna say it was 1400 not bad in my opinion

and on that size boat a 12 is good

I'm from south dakota, I was thinking I should be able to build most of it myself, my dad owns a custom trailer shop so as far as getting steel and all that I think we should be okay plus we can get just about anything wholesale like engines and all that. But of course the shaft, prop and throttle act I'll have to get from who knows where. Some of the frames and what not that you see some places looks like it could be from Walmart, so I'm kindof hoping to build one up fairly strong so in the case that I hit a boulder at speed it just cuts the boat in half instead of ripping everything off the back Haha!

theres a few home builds on here..look around in the reviews and go to google and search mud motor talk _______ then whatever youre looking for get better results than searching through here

Sounds good thanks a lot!! What's you're opinion on the rig you have? Is it actually fairly sturdy and strong? I'm wondering if I might just buy one to resell and use as a template for something stronger built. Any pics? Also what s better? Long tail or surface drive?

Well most of the stuff we hunt is on average anywhere from 6 to 8 inches up to 8 ft. (ish). One spot in particular the average depth on a given year is about 3-4 ft. But it has a lot of weeds and floating cattail bogs. With those moving bogs everything changes and there's a lot of water trails that lead to small pockets with ducks on em or they want in them, that no one can really get to without a canoe and two strong guys to pull through the weeds or one smart guy that has a mud motor. (Me) well soon anyways Haha. I'll tell ya I'm a 28yr old army combat vet in what I would consider the best shape of my life and the guys I hunt with work way harder and go further than most anyone I've seen around here for ducks, but. Those floating cattail bogs are some of the toughest $#@% I've had to get myself through. Like kick the bucket I'm gonna die wtf am I doing kindof stuff Haha!! Anyways, done ranting. So mostly that stuff, but I would love to be able to take it out on the missouri river maybe late season too, I've never been but always have wanted to go. Maybe ill save that for a bigger not so tippable boat.