If you were giving advice to someone who wanted to buy a duck boat and wasnt sure where to start would is some advice you would give. I want a boat that can go open water or timber, but ideally something the wife could fish out of as well. Mud motor vs outboard? Obviously the MM can go if very shallow water, but are these things super durable? What are things you wish you would have known "then" that you know now about boats? Whether it be to buy bigger boat? More HP? MM over Outboard? Where do I begin? I see all these customizable options but I dont even know where to begin there?

If you can run an outboard where you wanna go, then go that route.

I bought a regular ole alumacraft boat with a 25hp longtail not knowing what i was doing. i sold the long tail for a GTR 35hp and saw a huge difference. went from going 13 mph top speed with the longtail to pushing 30 with the GTR also have reverse now which is awesome. But i still have it on the alumacraft boat. i want to get a mud boat hull for the motor in the future just funds wont allow me to right now. Personally i like the open floor plans with the front deck but those kind of options are for you to decide what you want. My suggestion is make sure you get what you want first like for me the GTR with matching 18ft GTB otherwise you will be like me and start trying to sell everything for less than what you paid for it and loosing more money in the end to get the best set up for what you want. i fish a lot of river that flows directly into the lake and having the GTR is awesome because i can get over the shallow sand bars 6"+ no problem to get to some deep holes where fish are trapped. Also my wife drives the GTR no problem just running a tiller wears her out a lot quicker than me.

Ask cb5331 he likes newb's

I learned this after owning five different boats:

Buy what caters to what you want to do 80% of the time and don't try to tailor your boat to the other 20%.

Multiple boats is not out of the question if you have the scratch to fund it.

Take a look at your environment. Surface drives are very nice but if you do not need one, don't get one. A surface drive is all I use because I use mine for several different things. Frogging, duck hunting, bass fishing in grass beds and running the marsh. I use it in deep water in Morgan city but it can be a pain on windy days. If I fished deep water more than 50% of the time, I would want an outboard.

As others have said. If you don't absolutely need a mud motor, do not get one. They are slow and not as durable as production outboards. However, if you really need one, it will be one of the most worthwhile purchases you can make for your hunting and fishing.

You begin by taking a hard look at how you plan to use your new rig.