im looking for a surface drive but don't have any experience with them. our lease is all marsh and been hunting it for 6 years now. when we got it, it came with lil 12 32 johns with 9hp longtails. these boats do good for what they are but very unstable and members turn them over all the time. the problem im running into is a lot of our slues are narrow and the 12 32 boats run them when they have water but low tide equals no hunt and we cant run airboats on the lease. im looking for a sd on a smaller boat and read that copperhead motors are good but dont really see how they do in the thick stuff. reverse is that that big of a deal but would be nice. i like the copperhead on a small 1542 cause of the light weight but could it get 2 people and a dead animal back to camp if conditions get bad?

So, are you wanting to push a hunt load over straight mud / an inch or two of water over soft mud?

At Idle or on step?

Are there any hp restrictions on the lease?

no no hp restrictions i really want a gtr35 on a gatortail boat but if i go wide it will limit me to some of the waterways on our lease. as far as conditions sometimes i get to the blind water goes out and im in spit with mud which is soft soupy mud. but the lil lt's cant push us out.

Is money a issue?

You could get a 18x40 gt boat, or custom hull around that size and 23 or 35 gtr.

You really need a boat with a slick bottom for it to perform in shallow water and mud right.