Looking to buy a mudbeater for my 17 foot skiff. So many to choose from I am clueless. Ive heard horror stories from hyperdrives, G-trax and others but which one would best suit me? I draft 4 inches sitting still. I run an outboard 70 hrse yamaha now and loaded with two pirouges , three sacks of deeks , 2 dogs, two hunters and full gear I get 21-23 mph. I know I may lose a little speed but I dont care. Just wanting to get planed out quick and easy. A lot of times I hunt alone due to my work hours so I have to add in the factor I am not always loaded so heavily. Please advise.......

First off Brace your transom better than what it is now.

Second what are you running in. Marsh, timber, sand, etc...

any one of the other three would work GTR, PD, or GDSD. Just depends on where you at and what your comfortable with. if you have the ability to test drive all three, then do it.


wait for Giga to chime in..... he knows all

Stuy stirring the pot

hello new to sight i have a 17 dlx 65" i have gtr with a stage 1 EVT kit. with out the stag 1 i had to strip the boat for weight do not listen to any one iv'e been playing with this for over a month and and to buy the stag 1 kit night and day running at 4150rpm app 25mph by my self take a little longer with 2 guys had a 70 hp johnson this is not the same as a mud motor good luck when i get some pixs i will post .got a new prop thru EVT for the hole shot mike and rob have been a great help along with a friend from back home in ct i'm runnind a full blind 1000 deiner with fast grass and toppers mallardcork rig 24 plus 12 geese in the nose 1 dog and a tool box full of tools just in case some dealers will tell you different trust me get the stag one(1) you will be happy diceman ooouuuttt

I have seen them used on skiffs. I was leaning towards a GDSD... I am not able to run all three styles on my boat and I dont see how that is possible in the first place. Unless I was just freaking loaded with cash and nothing else better to do...... But the GTR is getting flack around some places. Most of my hunts will be in the marsh. Occasional timber holes, hitting mud flats from one deep spot to get to the next. Just the usual........ Im not busting any oyster reefs or any thing frequent. On occasion I have but its only for a split second. Thing is, I am a Carolina Skiff believer. I have been in some bad stuff with that hull....... I was comfortable with my boat !!! With the exception of my white knuckles and It made another aluminum hull guy with me ,a believer......... Took a rouge wave over the bow and gassed it a bailed it right on out. I love it! No bilge to worry witih going out on me !!!!! Thanks for the input and as soon as I get my motor I will post the setup!!!!!

hay spec what's the flack about the GTR let me know or pm me and i know what you mean about big water i had my skiff in some nasty s/it form block island back to rhode island charlestown breechway i'm real cozy running this boat what ever you do make sure u get aleast the stg 1 kit it really wake's that motor up good luck

You have the hull right? Take off the outboard and bring it to L-ville and have them slap a demo motor on it you can catch prodrive and Gatortail in the same day.You just have to see about setting it up,thats alot of money to spend going on what people type on the www.

Better yet call them and they will be able to tell you what to expect from that set up.They will not bull shit you.

Well the complaint was just from some fellas partial to another brand... What is this extra power perfomance thing your talking about? Does it have a life? Prone to going out? I know some folks are old fashioned and shy away from extra additions on equipment. Example being my cousin. Pulling race cars and horse trailers. Uses the bull dog chip thing. Says its a piece of crap cuz he claims it cost him 2 trannys. But it was a Dodge! Lol..... I do like the GTR set up though. A long time ago I had a plain original go-devil 5 hrse BSrtn. It was a work horse. Slow but it got me around in that little 14 ft jonboat. But that was then and boy has the market changed.......I live in South Ms so that l-ville idea is out! Looks like I am just going to have to bite the bullet and go for one! I said before, "Im not worried about a hole shot!" Just want to see a spot and go through it! When I get that skiff on plane it is truely on surface ...... I believe if a mud beater gets me on surface its what I need for my scenario! I dont like a v bottom or a rounded bow. I hit waves in that I am a wet a@@! I do get wet in the skiff with spray but thats different Im not potentially getting chunked out due to the front end catching and darting to one side of the wave. This does not happen often but I will eliminate all these events with my skiff/GTR setup I hope!

You wont be running water out the back if you swamp with a mud motor. These things just dont handle that kinda weight.

Speckulator,

Understand your faith in the Carolina hull - but weight is the issue....
Not sure which hull you have or it's weight... Anyway...

I could never buy a non-coast guard certified hull without floatation....
Which is why I run the GD hull - it has about the most floatation in the mm world...

If I do the math - I loose about 1 mph per 100 lbs of extra weight in my
GDSD hull with 35 GDSD - empty my hull is 550 lb - add gear, 6 gal gas, and
battery and me - roughly 1000 lbs (excluding motor) total = 28 to 30 mph....

At a certain weight - the rake plows too much to plane effectively....

Also performace in the mud at anything over 1500 lbs is quite diminished
with 35 hp....

FYI

hay spec diceman here if your running the same boat as mine not so good news today we had a heavy rain in the am got the the boat wet along with the fast grass gear etc by my self the boat with all the gear was fine with 2 men in boat it was a pig could not break 12mph a friend of mine ducksbane has a fowler with a stag 1 kit 3 men on wensday ripping at 28.5 full gear dog etc if your looking to run the 17 carl by your self you will get around 25mph its good even with weight good luck