All right this ought to get everyone fired up. Got a 15 foot war eagle and am running a 23gdlt and going to get a surface drive, I know the 23 is probably the best choice. Either a go-devil or was thinking about MB mini. But the real question is how big can I go would a 35 be to much.

how wide is the boat? i have a 35 hyper on a 1650 and it does fine

The boat is a 15x42, I guess I dont know what the wieght difference is on a 23 gdlt versus the like a 35 mudbuddy?

Ok just looked it up go devil is 178 lbs. not sure on wieght of surfuce drives, cant seem to find any thing on wieght for mud buddys. go devil does have it on the website

Find someone close to that weight and have them stand on the transom. If it looks like it floats okay, then go with the 35. Or better yet, try to demo them both on your boat. We haven't had very good luck with bigger motors on smaller boats, so I'd have a hard time telling you to go to the bigger motor without being certain.

15' is NOT the boat for a Surface drive. Any thing more than you with a light load it will plow, trust me I've been this route. Had a 15/48 w/23hp GDSD, alone its OK with 2 guys and your hunting gear it suck'd top speed 23-24mph, with load 15-16mph. Even tried putting a jack plate, helped out a little.

Ok so The longtail i got know plows with the best of them under load. But if I can get it to plane it will run like 15-16. And it does plane unless I am way loaded. So its 180 lbs. How much more are the mudbuddys wieghing

The guy I bought my 35 GT from had it on a 1448 originally and he said it did good I guess its just how big your balls are lol

the 35 hyperdrive is somewhere around 250 lbs. On a 42 inch bottom this will be to heavy. mine is a 1650 with a 35 an it rides pretty low. If i were you i would be looking for more like a 23-27hp. The bigger the motor is not always the better. As far as plowing goes, my boat will get on plane with 4 people and a dog, and run a hair under 30 with one person.

The 1542 will work great with the Surface drive. I had the same boat and was running the 29hp Kawi Mudbuddy. It would push my girlfriend and me with decoys and 6 gal fule and all the other gear about 20-23mph. I did have to move the battery to the front of the boat because of the wight in the rear.






Runing 17x48 pd boat with 36pd