# advice on boat/mud motor



## GreenHead19 (Aug 29, 2004)

im looking to upgrade to a jon boat and mud motor after this season,would like any info from other mud motor owners about likes/dislikes with go-devil or beavertail motors, i've gone to there websites both sound ok but would like to hear it from real michigan duck hunters! also does one line of boat work better than another? any and all replys will be helpfull. thanks


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## WoodchuckSniper (Feb 23, 2002)

I purchased a 14 foot Polarkraft jon boat and a 9 hp. Go Devil early in the 2002 season. Here are some comments that may help in your shopping.

This is a great rig for hunting small water (Crow Island, Fish Point, etc.). I would not attempt to try and hunt larger bodies of water in it. I have been amazed at just what kind of junk this motor will go through.

My 9 hp. motor is not fast by any means. It pushes my boat along but I just cannot be in any kind of hurry to arrive at my hunting location.

My advice would be to look for a flat bottom boat that has a modified V front end on it. This will cut through chop much better than a flat front end like my boat has, and it may help with getting a bit more speed.

My motor has a safety switch that will not allow me to start the motor unless it is in a level position (prop lifted out of the water). I would imagine that most of the mud motors being sold now are simarly equipped. This is an important consideration when looking to buy a boat and here is why..... The transom on my boat was not high enough to allow me to level the motor easily. What would happen is that the tiller arm would hit the seat before the prop cleared the water. This made starting the motor an exercise in frustration at times. I ended up constructing a sleeve that I bolted to the transom which in turn raised the motor a few extra inches. These extra inches now allow me to start the motor with no trouble.

Another thing to consider is that due to the length of the tiller arm on a mud motor and the fact that they will turn 90 degrees, you will have to get creative when deciding where to mount your white stern light. I had a friend make me a mount which bolts to the rear of my motor and my stern light attaches there. This insures that the tiller arm cannot snap the light off.

I love my Go Devil motor but wish now that I had gone a bit bigger in regards to hp.. I also wish I had gone with a 16 ft. boat instead of the 14 footer. I was a bit suprised how fast my boat filled up with decoy bags, guns, and hunters. My buddy runs a 16 foot modified V flat bottom with a 25 hp. Mud Buddy motor and I think he has the ideal setup for the style of hunting we do. His boat is suprisingly fast and has plenty of power to push through the nastiest weeds & muck.

Good luck and I hope some of this helped.


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## Bill B. (Feb 18, 2004)

My buddy and I put together a duck boat this year and we love it.
My buddy bought the boat. Tracker Grizzly 1654. I bought the motor. 17 hp Go-devil. The boat is incredibly stable, wide, and deep. We love the motor. Amazed at where we can go with it. It's not fast, but it gets us there.


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## michiduck (Dec 15, 2000)

a couple of draw backs on the mud motors.... 

not real speedy
no reverse 

the problem that woodchuck talked about with the handle hitting the seat is easily fixed with go-devils by just stating that you want the duck boat handle when you order your motor (this handle accomodates boats with rear seats, as the go devil boats do not have rear seas in them)

I ordered the swivel bracket for my 16 hp go devil and it has worked out real nice especially for pulling over dikes at shiawassee, and of course trailering and towing.... i would definitely get one that swivels (standard for some brands...option for others)

for shallow water or running thru weeds stumps or rocks they cant be beat!


heres my 1448 polar kraft with 16 hp godevil


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## Remnar (Jun 23, 2004)

If you plan on using the boat on big water i would say get the biggest boat you can afford. A boat is like a garage. No matter what size you get, it will be too small eventually. Foxgun and i bought a new rig this year and so far it has worked well. We got a 20 foot Tracker Grizzly with an 8 foot beam. The size definately is nice out on the bay. We both also have smaller managed area boats that fit in the truck for when we hunt in the duck bingo. We went with an outboard on ours because we want to use it for some fishing during the off season. We have done ok so far and we still have two thirds of our original prop.:lol: We might look into a mud motor for it next year.







http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/550/9224rig.jpg


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## GreenHead19 (Aug 29, 2004)

thanks one an all for the great info,also the pics are great it's nice to see what others are using.i have a few more questions i'm leaning toward the polard-kraft 1448,the question i have is in reguards to the width is it stable or should i concider the1468 with more width i understand that wider means more stabilty,i'm looking for a hunter friendly rig not to big not to small,just trying to cover all bases.if the 1448 has a good feel and handles well i think thats my new boat.does anyone use the mud-buddy? freeway sports in fenton tells me thats the motor to have. thanks again !!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

1448 monark, 20hp honda go-devil (mine came standard with spin mount and tach) some don't. i usually hunt couple weeks on bay and then pull top off and throw winch mount on for hunting shiawassee. If i was building strictly bay boat, I would NOT go less than 16' and no less than 24hp mud motor...I've drove quite a fewmud motors out there over the last few years and chose this one. My dad has a couple mudbuddies and swears by them, i personally swear by my go-devil. couple years back, mudbuddy had a superior bearing system...but i think go-devil has addressed that issue.

sometimes I wish I had a tiller motor, but there is more times I wish I had a mud motor....walking 200yrds in knee deep mud is all it takes.


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## michiduck (Dec 15, 2000)

my 1448 is extremly stable.... have had many a person tell me they were amazed how stable it was!

but like the kid said if this is gonna be a bay boat BIGGER is much much better


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## WoodchuckSniper (Feb 23, 2002)

Didn't realize you wanted pictures.

This is my boat shortly after purchase. Sorry it isn't a water shot.











Here is a shot of the sleeve I built to raise the motor a few inches. Picture quality is poor because I cropped a bigger picture and blew it up.










And finally......make sure your boat is equipped with adequate sleeping quarters.


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## thedude (Jul 20, 2004)

i hunt 3 guys from my 1448 on occasion (mostly last year). We can all stand and shoot safely. 

best advice i can give on the boat/motor combo - figure out what kind of boat you need for the water you hunt - (big water, rivers, marsh, etc) then get the mud motor that will push it.

check out gator trax - they have boats made specifically for mud motors (as does go-devil, legend craft and beaver tail). Most of these boats have slick bottoms, rounded chines, and flat-front w/ a slight taper. My buddy just got the 1742 gator trax hyper tunnel and 29 hyperdrive. It is a sweet rig and will get you in and out of some major junk. 

I would also go with at least a 15' boat. You will have better luck getting on plane w/ less HP. If you ask any of the mud-motor makers about that size boat you can get an ear-full about how hard it is to get them on plane. A 16' boat w/ the same motor will plane out easier/faster than on a 14'. just food for thought.


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