New around here, but thought I'd share something a little different from what you boys might be used to seeing.

I'm in South Texas - we fly fish in a lot of marsh, but also on clear flats. Problem is usually getting in and out of places. I recently added a 12hp Copperhead to my skiff. The boat is 13' long, about 40" wide, and is extremely lightweight, having been built with kevlar and foam core. It's rated for a 15hp, so I went with the 12hp.

I'm still trying to get the engine and boat matched a little better. When I'm at full throttle there seems to be a lot of torque and it's difficult to hold the handle straight without using a lot of muscle. Maybe there is a way to put some bend or something in the skeg to help that out?

Here are a few pics. I'm working on putting some video together.

Cool looking rig man...you might wanna try balancing out your load a little better to limit the tiller torque if that doesn't help then try putting a little bend in the skeg but remember a little goes a long way

That's a neat looking rig. Bend the skeg a little at a time until you find the sweet spot. Call the guys at Copperhead, I'm sure they can talk you through it.

PS: Have somebody paint the frame of the motor to match the hull of the boat and it will look perfect!

Good to see someone else besides me that enjoys stalking some fish on the flats!


ontheflat.jpg

Does hells bay make a 3/16 bottom? LOL but really thats a awsome little set up

It's a mud motor, not an outboard. If this is the first mud motor you've ran, then your probably just not used to it. They drive completely different than outboards. If its pulling to one direction pretty bad and the weight is distributed right, bend the skeg a tiny bit a a time until it doesent do it as bad.

What kind of speeds are you getting at WOT?

I have owned a 12 and an 18 Copperhead and can tell you the steering torque is only bad if you are running the prop too high out of the water. When it is that high you are not getting optimal speed either. Try aiming for the rooster tail to be 1-1-1/2 foot high. Any higher is not optimal unless you are running hard bottom over a couple inches and don't have a choice. No rooster tail is not optimal either because the prop won't reach max rpm fully submerged.

Howdy Bart

X2 on running the prop too high in the water. However, I was noticing in the pictures that the whole engine looks to be running a little high, such that it may not only be the trim. What I'm getting at is that I'm wondering if that is a short transom motor on a tall transom boat. In which case, you may need to have someone cut that transom down. I'd say when you get Copperhead on the phone, give them some transom height and angle measurements to make sure that you've got the motor sitting correctly on the boat for optimal performance. Every motor has it's own optimal "seat" on the back of a boat. Try to make sure you're giving it just that...

Great looking rig by the way!

And you might could also shorten your tiller once you get the torque issue worked out. That way you don't have to drive from the bow anymore!

If the transom height isn't correct you could add a small manual transom jack instead of cutting down your transom as well. (Coot, this isn't a damn aluminum can he's dealing with. )
Is your motor centered on your boat? A lot of surface drives run better offset an inch or 2 to the left. As stated above...I would call copperhead and talk it over w/ them.
Cool little boat and what a push-pole. Damn!

I agree with the other posters that it definitely looks like a short shaft engine mounted on a long shaft transom, though I cannot really tell how far down in the water it is sitting so I could be wrong. The pulley box should just be around 3 inches off the bottom plus or minus a bit. If yours is like 7+", you would have to tilt it way down just to get it in the water and it will run poorly because the transom would be cutting off water flow from the prop not to mention wasted power because the prop is pushing down instead of forward. I had this problem on one of my boats and had to cut the transom down (on an aluminum boat). The difference was one of going from ~13 mph with 1 person to 21 mph with 2 people..

It is possible to cut down a glass transom (you of course have to add some glass back over the top that you cut off). I have not cut down a glass transom, but I have built one up 5" (on a bay/offshore boat) so I could go to an extra long shaft. That was alot more trouble than cutting one down.

wow that motor looks huge on that boat!!!! nice set up, next time i head down to the valley to visit family ill have to get in touch and chase some tail.....yal get any snook around the corpus area?

Is that the skate? I own a glades skiff and a Marquesa

Nice rig, been thinking about rigging one of those also. Keep in touch. Let us know how things worked out.

I would never cut the transom on a hells bay

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Y'all just wait there is a skiff in the work for a 25 gtr ... Skull island boats check them out

do you still have this boat?