Like the title says. Most of my hunting areas are hard sand bottom. I'm looking into switching from a conventional OB to a MM and want to ensure durability. My OB works great for the 6-10 mile big water run getting to the hunting areas but I've had enough of fighting the last mile or wading and pulling the boat full of gear. Advice on boat hulls and hp sizes would also be appreciated. This is for 2, sometimes 3 hunters and needs to fit into a 10'x20' garage for storage so size is limited. Right now I am interested in 1650 gator trax hybrid with hunt deck powered by a 25/27 SD. Is that enough power to run into the 20's? Should I look into longtails because of the hard sand? Seems like that will be a pita to drive when the 3 footers kick up. What do you guys with experience with these situations think the best compromise will be?

I realky like my hybrid in rough water, but you'll need all the hp you can get to fight the rough water. Get a 35. And I'd stay with a surface drive for the long runs, and just deal with the sand when you get there.

Gonna need more horse power! Get at least a 35 to start with and mod later if you have to, rule of thumb is get the most hp you can afford you'll end up wanting it later. Gator trax builds a solid hull, you might want to get a 54 because it will draft less water at idle .

All I run in is sand with my 1846 gator tail boat and 35 gtr that's my recommendation... except get a hunt deck.. thing is with sand you'll wear your prop out no matter what and with a 35 you can run a worn prop a long time and still stay in the mid 20s.

^^What he said!!^^

Don't mind the long runs in my current boat or the crossing into bays with a little wind.

is it just a shallow hard bottom with sand?

nothing runs sand... not even a airboat

Get a jet

Whatever you end up with, go with a tall transom and at least 21" sides. I have a 1648 alweld with 18" sides and it can get a little hairy when the big swells and rollers kick up and the boat is loaded down. I wish I had another foot or two of boat too. If you're gonna run big water you gotta have a big water boat. Just my 2 cents

It is pretty hard sand here in Michigan. You can run it till you beach it you're not careful or don't know the areas. A lot of huge rocks to watch out for in other areas. I generally don't try to hunt in less than 12" of water and prefer about 24-30" to pull a mixed bag of puddlers and divers. For boat sizes I thought the drop deck models added length to the boats, basically giving a 16' the planing surface of a 17-1/2'? Have been thinking 35hp, but hoping to save $ and weight with 27. thanks for cofirming hp size for me. Is one manufacturer better than others for durability in my conditions? Tunnel hulls and jets weren't really considered. Can you guys point me in a good direction to do more research? I appreciate all info and opinions. Have run OB's here for over 30yrs and now need to adapt to recent water conditions. It's not going to get better any time soon so I need to educate myself ASAP and get something ordered this spring.

When you're checking around be sure to ask the manufacturer if adding the hunt deck adds to the hull length or not. Like I know with gator tail boats if you buy a 17' boat and get the hunt deck option it's still 17', just takes away 18" of inside boat space. All the manufacturers handle it different so be sure to ask before you make a decision.

You said you might go with a 27, I hope your not talkin about a pro drive because they are the worse motor for hard bottom I own a 36 and in most of the areas I hunt I think my bay boat would run better! If you get a mm get a big block sure a 23-27 will get the job done but I promise you after season you will be lookin for a big block


If hard bottom is in the picture don't even consider a pro drive, get a gt

That was definitely my first question to ask each manufacturer. I need to fit this thing in my 10'x20' garage to store it inside. If it add length probably looking at a 16'. Takes away a 17-18'. Breakaway trailer tounge will be a must and need to angle it a bit.

You have a tricky situation that I've dealt with for years. Jet drives are slow, require alot of h.p. and are allergic to mud and vegetation. I've run both outboards and surface drives in shallow hard bottom they both work fine if setup properly. Surface drives require less setup to work because all you really need is a wide bottom for draft which also helps save your prop. The problem with a surface drive is rough water. I did a hybrid for docott with a heavier than normal v upfront and it handles rough well. It's also 20' which is critical in rough water. You can however stay with outboard power and run very shallow but it requires the right hull and accessories. Basically a pocket tunnel, hydro jackplate, nose cone and the right prop. Regardless of your choice I would suggest a true custom builder that has built for these conditions.

no surface drive will be good on a hard bottom...

the prodrive can take lots of abuse.

Sure the pro drive can can run in hard bottom, any motor can. I run the bay most of the time and its all sand. It takes knee deep water for my pro drive to even think about getting on plain.

You put a Gd,gt, or mb beside a pd on sand, your Smoking crack if you think you can run with em

Sounds like your boat drafts a lot of water... My boat works as well as any others around here and seems to do better than most others i run in to. Def doesn't need knee deep water over any bottom. Actually got on step over about 6-8 inches in sand with a load my worn out ass prop was struggling to plane in deeper water. Don't run much sand, most of it has 3-4" of something a little softer, but either way, haven't been next to any others that did any better where I run. Just saying, sounds like the boat or the operator may be the issue if you need knee deep water to get on step.

If my boat is floating, it WILL get on plane and most of the stuff I run, it will get on plane when its dragging bottom a lil. I don't have any mud around here that anything but an airboat is going to run dry, but mine, so far, has run with every mud boat its been next to.

If my boats floating in 6-8 inchs of water on a hard bottom the skeg won't let me plain out, that's the only problem