I'll be buying my first duck boat this year and I have a few questions for some of you experienced boaters.

1. I know this will be a mess but, what brand of boat do you perfer and why?? I'm pretty sold on War Eagle but I'm obviously not partial to anything. Gonna be looking at something like a 15/48

2. Mud motor or Outboard?? I've been looking at the E-Tech 25 but am really reconsidering and thinking of going mud motor to open up my options for hunting spots. If outboard I can on go 25hp, if mud motor I can only go 36hp due to the regulations of one WMA I hunt.

Most of my hunting will be done in central and south AR. I'll also be building a small removable deck for the front because I like to bowfish. Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated. Also new to this site so don't beat me up to bad by not knowing shit lol. Thanks

You may or may not necessarily "need" a mud motor but they come in handy when you do. Plenty of times I've been glad I wasn't in an outboard rig. Go bigger than 1548 that's too small. Especially for adding a bow fishing platform. And run a boat that's made for mud motors if you go that route.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your questions can be answered here if you'll do some reading and searching the forum. Too many variables in your post to just have a single answer. There are a lot of options, and a lot of opinions, some biased, some objective, on the subject, so I recommend reading all you can so you understand the correct questions to be asking. Know there is no "best", only what's "best for you" and that will vary based on need and expectations, among other things.

I appreciate the feedback, I understand there's no "best", just like anything else on the market. I just wanted to get some opinions on what people use and why they use it.

where are you planning on hunting? What kind of water? Then you need to decide between outboard and mud motor based off the answers to the first two questions. Having hunted AR and tooled around on a lot of the water I would suggest a tunnel outboard. If you're WMA constrained than a place like Cuz outboards can get you the big 3 cyl. 25hp outboards that will run those 15-16ft boats fast. I ran a havoc 1553 with an etec 25 and it was a fine boat for up there, scooted along 30+ unloaded.

I would be looking for a 18ft G3 tunnel with a 70 yammie if I was setting up a boat for up there. As for why I no longer have an outboard rig... It's shallow for a loooooooooooong ways in Texas and walking the outboard boat in/out of spots was getting real shitty and time consuming.

I'd love a bigger boat but hunting in the marshes, everyone is telling me a 15ft boat is ideal, as far as where I'll be hunting, that can change pretty quickly with the fact of me having my own boat now, I just don't know how I'll end up treating it lmao... If it's like the rest of my hunting gear, it will be tested throughly. Bayou Meto has the constraints and I don't hunt there much but I'd like to be able to go.

Okay what's your hunting load look like? If it were me, and I wanted a go-anywhere boat that can handle a bow fishing deck and lots of abuse, I would be looking at a 18' boat with at least a 54" bottom for the stability with one of the 35 or 37hp surface drives.

From there, there's a couple schools of thought. One way is lots of research, rides, and questions and custom order a boat off of what you find. Another school of thought is buy a used rig to learn on with the knowledge that it isn't forever and use it to figure out exactly what you want and order it the second time around.. The second option is a little more spendy but you're more likely to know exactly what you want with a couple seasons under your belt. Buy a used boat and you won't be out much when it comes time to sell. I subscribe to the second school of thought, personally. Especially considering this is your first time around, getting it all right the first time is unlikely and it isn't chump change. What would be considered a decent hull to start looking for you can easily find by poking around on this forum.

Just my 2 cents.

Hunting load would be 3 guys total plus a few dozen decoys. I went back to our local dealer today and took another look around. They deal in War Eagle, G3, Excel, and the war eagle knock off Duracraft. Upon considering and doing some research I think motorwise I will want an E-tec. Im not even concerned about the motor size limit anymore since I've learned they established a no passing rule at the place with motor restriction. I can find an older smaller motor for cheap if I wanna go.

So that being said I started looking at bigger options. The 16/48 by war eagle is probably more boat than I'll need and can come with a 40. Lookin at a little smaller G3, that brand has plenty of floor space to do as you please.

I think an 18/52+ would be a little tough for a rookie to navigate flooded timber with but I see where your coming from on the suggestion

Casey,
Before going with a factory hull, give the custom hull a shot. Most of the time you save money, and most always get a better product. and last but not least, your not just a number. Let me know if i can help...

Jason

If you're planning on doing anything out of the boat, you're going to want it wider.

Most of the go-fast timber boats are in the 50-53" bottom range. Look into havoc and excel, that's what those hulls are born and bred for. A 1650 havoc dbst with a 50 etec would be gettin it. S&G Extreme north of little rock is a good dealer I've dealt with.

Yea sorry I didn't realize "mudmotortalk.com" would be a mud motor forum..... I did on the other hand read that "The Duck Blind" section (where we are) is an open forum. Thanks for your input tho.

I'll call and talk with S&G in the morning and throw my info to them and I may make a trip down there. Thank you for the help bud.

Best to get a matching rig,I've had them all and like the GatorTail package the best.I did like the savings on the so called custom/homemade/backyard or whatever they call them