I had to ask my answer is simplicity and it will take me anywhere I need to be year round.

Yes solid motors, for alot of people i think its a stepping stone to a SD

Reliability, tough as nails, simple, works in any weather and any conditions without compromise. It goes where my outboard can't and where my outboard can. Surface drives are cool for open stretches and tidal mud, but the fact of the matter is most places I really enjoy in the Mid-West, would eat a surface drive for lunch and most stretches I frequent I'd wrinkle up more boats going any faster, so the speed is more than enough for here.
Plus, I like hearing all the funny comments/questions about alligator hunting, Duck dynasty and Troy Landry every time I stop for gas and bait that keep me laughing.

for alot of folks, a small godevil is perfect. that's all we used in the marsh when i was a kid.
still see plenty out there!!!!

A few duck guides swear by them over sd when the going gets tough. I wanted reliability and simplistic.

KISS philosophy, budget, efficient, plus we have little mud, mostly shallow water, hard bottom, for thirty years a most reliable duck hunting tool and platform.
Sometimes forward means going backward!

I had a MB 27hp longtail, moved up to a 27hp GDSD and now have a 36hp Prodrive. If I can ever sell the prodrive im going back to the longtail. Much more versatile and a lot better in stumpy areas

I miss my longtail and glad I sold my surface drive. Back to an outboard as of now but if I ever go with a mud motor again it will be a longtail


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought about a gatortail but the price difference was to much to handle and not as simple, so it was a no brainer 37 swomp and it pushes my barge just fine. Where I live there is not much mud anyway, the other day I went through water about 8 inches deep got scared and slowed down to make a turn and for what ever reason I stopped and looked around to see the view and looked down and the cavatation plate was mostly out of water. The ole swomp dug deep and off we went hell yeah! I don't believe a surface drive could have done that.

I run feeder creeks & small & big (platte) shallow river's with sand & logs. 2 adults & fishing gear will do mid teens all day. I love it becouse regardless of water level I can, do & will get there where normal outboards wont & cannot get! It gives me a really unfair advantage the finding flaheads that have never seen a boat. Maybe a canoe but thats a looooooooooooog way to paddle! A SD would lost rhe sand & log battle real quick! Keep it on plane & about 3 inches of water all I need then pop the prop above surface & roll!. Never been stuck!

Still haven't found anywhere my long tail would go that my surface drive can't get to.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've said this before: a longtail will bottom out before a surface drive does, but that is a good thing! Twice I was with a friend's 35 shortail and we were on plane and went in real deep here, no mud, real shallow, sand/marl bottom, and when shut down we were real stuck. Badly shaved prop. The best winch in the world would not have helped. We had to drag that sucker to deeper water after hefting and sliding on the sand, so it would float and the prop would bite. The same route I bottomed out sooner with my longtail and knew to stop. Oh yeah, we did not get any ducks!
If the necessary conditions existed (like extensive mud flats), if I needed to carry large loads, or run any long distances, , I would have bought a shorty long ago.

Or those who own outboards, a Longtail as a second might be all they need

I love gettin these and where I go I need a smaller shallow runner 2-3 inches of water to get to them,I'm sure a SD could run it but dunno if they could just creep through the shallow bottoms here easy and quietly like I do,I see a lot of guys just on the outside closer to deeper water,but nowhere close to where I go.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

I think if we could. most of us would elect all three modes: longtail, shortail, and outboard. I put them in that order because I would want the outboard last- it was a real bitch those first years coping with weeds. mud, breakdowns, and expense with that old Evinrude 25. The only one I would not want is an airboat- sure it gets you almost anywhere but they get stuck too 'cause it gets dry here many years, and they are the most expensive to maintain and you have to hide them and jump in waders and they are dang noisy and all. There is no one motor/one hull configuration to fit all marshes and waters, simply said. You get what you really need or else it is just pretense...kind of like those expensive range rovers, hummers, and the like tooling around the city with 4x4 that give no advantage when the traffic is crawling along at 2 mph or stuck. I'm happy with my LT rig and envy no one.

I own a surface drive, love it..
I need a longtail of the smaller hp (16-23)so I can ride with ease off the beatin trail where I have to be on step in my prodrive an stay on plane where my brother goes slow an easy at idle with his smaller longtail...

it doesn't matter what you have outboard, longtail, or surface drive when you own a boat you need two things tools and money!

B ust
O ut
A nother
T housand

Right now the glades are real low. I can get in about 1/3 of a mile and then bottom out. There is a bit of mud at the bottom and then coral rock. No advantage to either longtail or surface drive. The SD will get in farther while on a plane but once shut down, in a heap of trouble. Airboats are the mode now, but they can get stuck if they are not careful. If you are a daredevil, get you plenty of props.

I started out with a long tail , and ive had three SD's. The thing about a longtail is that you have plenty of time to make the right turn before you fuck up and go to deep. I will have another longtail but it will be a small one 9hp 7.5 godevil along the lines of that with a sneak boat of some sort.

In my area surface drives are a fad, we all had em, we as in the locals that used airboats, grew up using airboats, every serious deer hunter moved to surface drives and now they seemed to drop back to longtails, why?
Simple,slow,quiet,weight is far less. We don't hunt more than 2 people using longtails.
Yes a surface drive could work if you want to be loud as hell with the rpms, beating an banging your way to keep on plane in these manshac/maurepas swamps... now I can't speak for the duck hunters, all of the ones I see set up in mouth of slus usually 3-4 people but a outboard can get you there!
But our conditions I have seen an had surface drives over heat an blow up on me... hard bottom 6-8" deep on the normal , narrow runs a 50" rounded bottom can't squeeze threw and we don't have mud flats, alot of vegetation ,stumps,logs,and old log pulls. Need to fit skinky aND draft 4-6" at idle.. that's our conditions, if anyone wants to try them out let me know but my long tail prolly can't pull you back out of 5-7 mile runs...
Now if you are in wax lake, yeah surface drive all the way..I had a surface drive for 7 years now I'm older an wiser and not trying to set speed records, or sound like a bad ass.

With all that being said, I did get called out when I had my prodrive by a longtail die hard, I took him on a run that he fought with his rig, I think he got closer to Jesus that day as that stage 2prodrive stayed in the air more than in the water, running that ditch at 25+ an I was holding back on him.. But you simply don't do that come hunting season and expect a good hunt. And yea he coulda quietly picked his way threw an made it but he said I couldnt.

Im right there with you ghostly

Is it better to hit that submerged stump at high speed v. low speed? Now that I have reached the 20 mph "plateau" with my LT, I have to stow my hat or risk losing it. The extra few minutes I will gain I will use to less randomly deploy my decoys, sip my coffee, smoke my cigar, and check out the stars...

I don't know glades, now you cutting into my coffee time! Lol
I just drink less,wake up earlier an enjoy the nonrushed slow ride before anyone else wakes up.

Everyone I know that sold their longtails and bought surface drives are back to running longtails.
That's all the confirmation I need. Glad I stuck with mine.

I would love to have another longtail on a 14-15' boat like I had. I still seem to get my 1860 into most of the same places but it's a little rougher getting there. They have advantages like has been said but for the vast majority of what I do nowadays, the SD is the ticket. It's hard to effectively cover ground at 15mph, no matter if you're fishing, scouting, hauling supplies etc. One isn't all around better than the other, they're just better at different things...

Short answer? Well, because when I bought my longtail, that was the only mudmotor available!

Wld rather have a long tail than a SD they go more places and are easier to work on if u do somehow manage to fuck them up

Because even if your motor blows up, you're back up an running in less than a week for only $150:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOCTISde-qg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8vyoiQS9FI