good or bad combo????

BIG E on here has that rig. He may comment on it, or shoot him a PM.

Duck Natzi,

I have owned three Gator Trax boats, two of them huntdecks. I love those boats. But a season ago I switched from running Mudbuddy motors to Prodrive. I had to have me some of that full power reverse...I'm so happy with the PD that I would never do without FPR again.

I ran the PD on the back of a 1650 Hunt Deck Gator Trax for a season. This past spring, I sold the GT and put the Prodrive on a Phowler hull.

Here are the pains of running a PD on a hunt deck Gator Trax:
1) Have to use 12" tiller extension, increasing your motion to turn and taking away some of the tight-turning outboard-like characteristics of the Prodrive.
2) If you have Hydraulic trim on your PD (the only way to fly) you have to separate the hyd pump unit, lengthen the hyd hoses and electrical cables (major PITA) and mount that on the inner "transom" of the hunt deck boat.
3) If you had manual crank trim you would have to lean out over the hunt deck to crank the wheel...nearly impossible while driving.
4) To get to the FPR release lever you have to park your butt on the hunt deck to reach back for the lever. PITA.

As much as I love those hunt deck boats they are not a good match for a PD with hydraulic trim and / or FPR.

If I was married to the idea of having a hunt deck boat I would probably be looking at a Gatortail motor. But I love the Prodrive w/FPR and the Phowler hull (Phowler 1852 runs a bit faster than my 1650 hunt deck GT with same PD motor powering it) and am not changing anytime soon. This is my fifth mud boat since 2004 and I think I hit on a good combo.

Hope this helps.

the new hydralic reverse would be a must I would think

Oh, I forgot the one other thing I did not like about the hunt deck and PD combo. And this was a biggie for me. I do a lot of stand-up driving. When you have a HD GatorTrax you use a low transom motor. For standing driving, you have to stoop down to grab the tiller handle. Not an issue with Mudbuddy motors and the floating tiller handle, but a major pain with the Prodrive, even with tiller extension.

I have since converted my Prodrive to a tall transom model, hung it on the tall transom Phowler boat, and enjoy driving while standing again.

a good friend of mine just got one of these set ups, will let you know how it runs