hello everyone,
i am new to the website and this is my first post. i bought a gator tail GTR35 early this summer and put it on my 1656 alweld flat bottom jon boat. went out on the mississippi last weekend with two of my hunting buddies, gear, my aluminum hard sided blind, 2 dozen bigfoots, and 1 dozen floaters, and my boat would barely move. we had a half mile boat ride to get to our spot and it took about an hour to get there.

Talked to Shawn at Shallow Water Marine and he recommended getting an 18' boat to support the weight better. But, a friend of mine from up north said his pro drive motor on an 18' boat doesn't plane out when he puts 3 guys in his boat either.

What is my best option???
new boat?
performance kit?
float pods?
switch to pop up blind?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!

are u serous i have a stock 35gdsd on a 18x60 gdsd boat poling platform. 12 gal. gas tank. and can put 5 people+200#of fish generator and light rack bows and get up on step and still run 20mph.... u have something up with that rig.. do u have it trimed up right??? what kind of rpms u getting out of the water ??? and in the water by yourself

Definately check your RPM's and remember that short boat will not carry a load like an 18 footer will so if you keep the boat build yourself a popup blind..keep it light weight and you should be fine...but you should be able to plane 3 ppl with no problem...

shallow water- those were my exact words(are you serious) when i took it out last weekend, i was running 3590rpm.
outlaw- i was really hoping i wouldn't have to go to a pop up, but the more i run the rig i'm thinking my aluminum blind( weighs approx. 150-200lbs) might be the extra weight thats preventing me from getting up on pad.

I took the rig back to the place i purchased the motor and was told my prop needed replaced, so i bought a new one. did not run any better.
i will run the rig more this weekend and let you know what the rpms are when i am by myself.
All help is greatly appreciated as this is not the time for me to be messing around with this stuff. i have 7 days til season starts.

waaaaaaaay too much weight for a boat that wasn't made for a surface drive to begin with. and just for the record, when you go out and buy a 18' boat to " carry a load" better than a 16... make sure you buy the right kind of boat. For example, I bet an actual gatortail boat would do much better.

Get an 18' boat dats made for a surface drive and switch to a pop up blind and you'll be runnin mid twenties wit a 3 man load and gear.