# Backwaters 23hp longtail or mudbuddy 23hp surface drive



## jabelism (Oct 29, 2011)

Me and a buddy are about to buy the 15ft 3in war eagle shiawasee special from freeway sports. Which motor should we get? I need some advice and opinions please. We will hunt shiawasee and pointe mouliee and would like to travel to other places also. We need to buy the chainsaw winch also. Any info on these things would be appreciated. Thanks in advance


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

longtail.


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## Waz_51 (Jan 10, 2010)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> longtail.


Yup, and don't second guess yourself!


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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

Long tail!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

there is 2 things that i get calls from for rescues during teh season.

1. broken winch and stranded on wrong side of dike.
2. broken belt on surface drive.

the ability to swing a longtail into the boat and not drag is 100% better than a surface drive.

the ability to push the whole boat over an obstacle before the motor encounters it (log for instance) is a huge difference in mobility.

surface drives can go like the devil in a mud flat....with no water even....we don't have a mud flat here. we have little bit of mud but mostly sandy bottom. Surface drives go like crazy but they suck for pulling dikes and mobility.

i will run an outboard before a surface drive...at least with outboard i will haul ass for half the cost.


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## jabelism (Oct 29, 2011)

Looks like it will be the backwaters 23hp longtail. Thanks guys! Any info on the winch? Do I need someone to retro it and put it on? What chainsaw should I buy? I do not know anything about these just the fact that i need one. lol.....Thanks for all the help.


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## lestat (Oct 27, 2007)

You are going to love the 23 backwater. I picked the same one up last year and love it. If you want to test drive it before you buy yours, pm me and we can meet up.


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

jabelism said:


> Looks like it will be the backwaters 23hp longtail. Thanks guys! Any info on the winch? Do I need someone to retro it and put it on? What chainsaw should I buy? I do not know anything about these just the fact that i need one. lol.....Thanks for all the help.


jabelism: call (517)284-8011, ask for butch. he will guide you on correct saw, and he has the hubs/couplers you need. I also suggest you let him mate the saw/winch together for you.


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

lestat said:


> You are going to love the 23 backwater. I picked the same one up last year and love it. If you want to test drive it before you buy yours, pm me and we can meet up.


Surface drive hater! LOL was nice running with you yesterday J.

If I was going to hunt Shi., Point Moullee etc. with shallow water and I had to pull over dikes. I would go with a longtail hands down. If I had to jump dikes that were two' or so above the water and had to skip over them for 15'-20', I would go with a surface drive hands down. If I wanted to get somewhere, anywhere in a hurry i'd also pick a sd. 

But the longtails and I had go devil with a 25 Kohler for 6 years will get you into just about anywhere you'll want to go. Very low cost of maintenance, lots of torque and ultra reliable. 

I would heed the advice of Shi. kid though and get one that will rotate into the boat to make it easier to pull over the dikes.

A perfect shi. flats boat to me would be a 14'-15' narrow flat bottom, rigged with a longtail and a bad *****ed Lewis winch system. You would be able to hunt where ever your heart desired.


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## lestat (Oct 27, 2007)

Hahah, thanks Smoke. It was good to finally put a face to the name. I agree with you here. If you want to go somewhere fast and jump a 2 feet of dry land like smoke was doing yesterday, go with a SD. If you want to go in some thick stuff at a slower pace in an inch of water, a LT is for you. BY slow pace I mean 10MPH.


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

smoke said:


> Surface drive hater! LOL was nice running with you yesterday J.
> 
> If I was going to hunt Shi., Point Moullee etc. with shallow water and I had to pull over dikes. I would go with a longtail hands down. If I had to jump dikes that were two' or so above the water and had to skip over them for 15'-20', I would go with a surface drive hands down. If I wanted to get somewhere, anywhere in a hurry i'd also pick a sd.
> 
> ...


I agree smoke, I don't want to seem like i'm a sd hater, i think their badass. They just don' shine here and I wish they did. Couple locals have them for runnin the river and they zing down it nicely.


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## Waz_51 (Jan 10, 2010)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> I agree smoke, I don't want to seem like i'm a sd hater, i think their badass. They just don' shine here and I wish they did. Couple locals have them for runnin the river and they zing down it nicely.


If you deer hunt the flats and don't plan on jumping dikes, the SD is for you


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

Waz_51 said:


> If you deer hunt the flats and don't plan on jumping dikes, the SD is for you


yep. the guys i know with them are all deer hunters and beer fisherman.


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## SBE II (Jan 13, 2009)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> there is 2 things that i get calls from for rescues during teh season.
> 
> 1. broken winch and stranded on wrong side of dike.
> 2. broken belt on surface drive.
> ...



If you only hunt one place...I guess you would...I hunt the other stuff you're referring to..Pushed myself plus 3 guys and a dog this weekend in the skinny real well..To each their own..


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## jabelism (Oct 29, 2011)

Thanks for all the great advice!! Thanks Sh Kid. I will call butch and see if I can set up with him so I can have everything right. Looks like I'm going to have to meet with him and stick around so I can hunt the flats! Thanks for the opportunity to take that 23hp backwaters for a spin. Maybe ill give you a holler. I'm more excited than my two sons on Christmas morning!!


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## Waz_51 (Jan 10, 2010)

Hey ShiKid, is Butch your dad?


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

Waz_51 said:


> Hey ShiKid, is Butch your dad?


Yup.


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

jabelism said:


> Thanks for all the great advice!! Thanks Sh Kid. I will call butch and see if I can set up with him so I can have everything right. Looks like I'm going to have to meet with him and stick around so I can hunt the flats! Thanks for the opportunity to take that 23hp backwaters for a spin. Maybe ill give you a holler. I'm more excited than my two sons on Christmas morning!!


also jabel, Jim will probably let you test drive one if he's got one setup...and i think he does or should have. He's pretty good dude and i've had a rig so i could give a guy a test ride before.



Waz_51 said:


> Hey ShiKid, is Butch your dad?


unfortunately, yes. :yikes:

j/k. yes that madman is sometimes called my dad.


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## sthiede (Aug 31, 2004)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> yep. the guys i know with them are all deer hunters and beer fisherman.


And Brian...


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## Waz_51 (Jan 10, 2010)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> also jabel, Jim will probably let you test drive one if he's got one setup...and i think he does or should have. He's pretty good dude and i've had a rig so i could give a guy a test ride before.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When I was younger, my dad would take my brother and me out duck hunting the flats even before we could shoot...once we could start hunting, we'd see Butch out there all the time...he'd talk to us and always let us know where the hot fields were so that we could kill some birds...he was always really cool to us and acted like a stand up guy...I don't think he'd know us by name but he might recognize us...I'd really like to share a hunt with him someday!


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