I currently have a 1648 Lowe Mod V Jon Boat. I believe it is .070 aluminum. It has a long tail on it right now but really would like a surface drive. Until I can find the cash to buy an actual mud boat and motor...could I get away with throwing a 25hp gatortail on it? I really would like something with reverse for the stuff I do with it. Just wondering what my options were.


Thanks in advance.

A 25 SD is just a tease ---- get a 35 or else you will end up buying the 35 next year....

Almost everyone who bought the 25s put them up for sale in a year....

It takes a 35 to really roll with hunting loads - it also takes a true mud hull 18' long...
The exception is when you hunt areas with HP and prop size limits - and you have no choice...

PS - I started with the 16' hulls and smaller 23hp LTs and 27hp SDs....

Been in my 18x44 GD with 35 GDSD for over 8 years now that I wised up...

So I speak from my own personal experience....

Sell it and go big to start...

I got a 55hp Sport V Ill make you a good deal on.

Yes, I had the same boat with a MB 29 hp. on it, and a hard sided blind. Hunted it three seasons. It will get you there and back. No problem.

I know I won't get the true mud boat and full performance out of the motor. But would the performance with a 25hp SD do better than my current longtail setup?

Buy a 35 hang it on the mod V then order the hull later it won't preform near like the mud hull but will get the job done until you get more $$$

I ran 35s on 15/48 for years and still needed more

Like DE, I've been running a 1648 alumacraft, with a 31hp GT completely stock. The motor has had it's issues, but when it runs, it pushes that boat with no trouble (27mph by myself) and carries a load as well as I would expect it to. Both our boats are true flat bottoms, front to rear. My only concern with your boat is the mod-v hull. Is it flat at the transom or is it V'd? Your longtail prop is far enough back that it isn't affected by the wake off the transom. If your boat has a pad or V at the transom, it may cause some performance issues with a SD prop being so much closer. Whether the boat can handle the motor is without question....it's more like can the motor handle the boat!!

What hp longtail are you currently running and what kind of speed/load carry are you getting? Typically, longtails perform better with the narrower bottomed boats (34-36) inches as far as speed is considered, but the stability you get from a wider bottom takes away from that. The 25 gtr is a bit lighter than what myself and DE are running, but not by much, maybe 20-30 pounds, which would get your draft up a bit, which is a good thing, but those extra few horses will be helpful if you plan on carrying much of a load at all. When it's all said and done, as long as you're not concerned with speed, and your usage doesn't involve a lot of mud or heavy grass, you'll be fine with the 25.....but you'll be wishing you had more.

Get at least 17 ft 48 wide or wider mud hull and I'd go 35hp as long as there's no restrictions on hp where you'll be running at. This is from my personal experience I run a 1648 that is .100 thick and it's not near big enough or heavy enough on the bow for a mud motor

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All I have ever had in 50+ years of boat ownership, is riveted boats, never had a problem with any of them. But then again I've never abused any of them either. The dealer I bought my motor and boat from has sold several rigs setup like mine. Folks up hear don't run thru the same type of waters you folks run thru. Mostly just shallow rivers with out stumps. Any boat that is abused will fail eventully, we have welded a couple commercial rigs, made of heavy gauge aluminum. seems they crack next to a weld where the flex is needed. Riveted boats are like airplanes they have a flex factor built into them. To keep them from cracking. Still a lot of manufactures building riveted boats, if they were doomed to fail, I don't think Lund and a few others would still build them with riveted aluminum. IMO.

The problem isn't that you found something that works for you (sounds like a tunnel and outboard would work fine where you're at) the problem is you try to shit on everyone who buys a mud boat to go with their mud motor. Basically nobody else runs terrain where that sort of hull is feasible. Maybe yours has lasted a decade or whatever but it sounds like you are running outboard territory.

I can guarantee in one hunt where I run (and probably the vast majority here) you'd have a couple nice dents in that flawless hull of yours I've been there, owned them, ran them, torn them up too.... It's not abuse, it's running in the conditions these boats and motors were designed and built to run in. It's a fact that you stand a much higher chance of running into and over something operating where these things are meant to go... If I was worried about putting dents in boats I'd still have a thin, riveted 1448 and a 25hp outboard....

Like you said though, y'all don't run through the same stuff we do. I am not lying when I say a thin hull will last 1 season with me. Maybe not this year because we have had a lot of water.

But I know some fellas runnin a thin riveted hull and it has lasted about 5 years or so. But it's ran in a flooded greentree reservoir with very little stumps.


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I believe we have covered this many times over if all you do is deep water no stumps and vegetation hell run a plywood boat and reinforce the transom but who the hell does that with a mud motor except Denny. Flat out where I hunt you probably wouldn't make it out trust me I've damn near put a .70 guage duracraft at the bottom of lake Marion in SC.

Never said they were better just cheaper, lighter, faster and will operate with a mudmotor. Should someone choose to go that route. As many folks have up here.

I run a lot of shallow, sandy, and stump/log infested rivers that change every few weeks and flooded timber with stumps, logs and even concrete levees that were poorly designed. Here in Arkansas a welded boat is almost a must if you want to be able to hunt where the ducks are. Now with that being said I have seen heavy mud boats that have run up on cypress knees that looked bad, but if it had been a thin, riveted boat they would have been swimming to land. It's all in how you operate a boat, and the conditions you run in. If I did it over again I would go with an Uncle J custom due to the fact that they are built for the conditions that I run in and built well for my motor.

Sounds like the conditions are about the same here as they are there

Flint didn't know you were that close y'all ever come over for the sparkleberry duck run

Let me know when Hotsauce 2016 is I'm interested

Damn why we gotta wait so long for a good ride

I may do one the beginning of the summer maybe change it up a little


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