Just got back from a trip to West Monroe to deliver one of two new Phowler Boats to Phil Robertson and his crew. Copperhead set the whole thing up about a month ago when they went up to test run some of their motors with Phil and Tim Mize, they loved the motor simple design and wanted boat made to match, so Copperhead call us to put together a couple of rigs to meet Phil's needs.

They wanted a boat to haul men and gear around their 800 acre blind complex for hunting and filming on Phil's property. We decide one of the boats would be an 1848 with a 23 Copperhead Motor.

Phil wanted the boat simple, no fancy extras, just a wide open boat. We added a points bow for timber running, a rear transom step to make it easy to get in and out taking the boat out of the blind hides, added hydro turf and deck rails to keep equipment from sliding around and a drivers stand up bar. Pretty simple set-up.

We headed down last Thursday, met Gil, Josh and the crew from Copperhead in West Monroe, rigged the motor Friday morning and headed over the Phil and Ms. Kay's to test run and deliver the boats (they also got a 1640 Light Jon with a 14hp Copperhead).

It was a great visit with Phil, Si, Ms. Kay, Tim Mize and Burley Dane at Phil's house. The boat landing is right in front of the house.



I have not run our 1848 Extreme with the 23 Copperhead, Phil was not concerned about speed or planing the boat for what he wants to use the boat for, but we wanted to see what it would do. Here are the results:

With the stock 23 prop:

One man 23 mph
Two Men 20 mph
Three Men 17 mph
Four Men 14 mph with motor struggling.

I was actually pleased, this is not a light hull, it is around 600 lbs as rigged.

We switched out the 23 Prop for the 12hp Copperhead Prop and tested again.
Results:

One Man 21 mph.
Two men 20 mph
Three men 20 mph
Four men 17 mph
Five men 14 mph.

This was all in deep water in the river outside Phil's house in wind and current.



I was impressed and so were all Phil's guys who did the testing with us.

They have been running the boat for the past week everyday for hunting and filming and they said "the old man is in love with this rig, it is exactly what he was looking for".



A big thank you to Phil, Si, Tim Mize and Burley Dane for their hospitality and for making us all feel like part of the family, it is an experience I will always remember. We hope to get back down to West Monroe after the hunting season ends to shoot some video of running the boats on Phil's 800 acres, we did not run there on our trip as they are filming every morning and we did not want to disturber the birds.




PW

Se he's sponsored by Gatortail and copperhead? I saw a copperhead truck running around town end of last week so I guess that was y'all?


Sent from my beeper

Pretty cool story. Can I get the same price on a rig that Phil did?

Cool story bro but what's the specs on the boat

I can't speak for Phil but I believe there deal with GT is at its end. They called Copperhead and rest just happened from there. Yes, we where in Monroe Thursday and Friday last week.

Boat was pretty simple. Phowler 1848 Extreme, no extended deck, pointed bow, front deck rails, drivers box with stand-up bar, rear transom step, 16" transom drop for Copperhead motor, swamp camo hydro turf, deluxe Phowler camo paint and a bilge pump. Galv trailer and a 23 Copperhead.

PW

I called a buddy of mine that's in with them copperhead hands and asked him what they were doing up here. Guess I know now!


Sent from my beeper

Sweet. But if I were Phil Robertson I think I would have got the same setup but put a 25 GTR instead.

Lol

I can't speak for the man but he has had all the other already, this time he wanted to go simple and light for what they want to us it for I guess. They had two test motors from Copperhead up there most of the season and he really likes the simple design and the ease of operation compared to the bigger motors he had. So they decided to go that route and have us build them a couple of matching boat set-ups.

PW

You keep saying ease of operation was what he liked better about these motors. I know a gator tail is so hard to operate, I mean you have to turn the key and squeeze the the throttle. And if you think you can handle multitasking then you can push the button to trim it up or down. Pretty complicated

Who cares what he drives and why. Congrats PW; that's quite an accomplishment.

I like the DC story but if you truly believed what you were saying then why not be loyal to one brand. They have all the money in the world so why not stick with what you actually like and not be an endorsement whore. Browning to benelli to mossberg shotguns that I know of and now the same shit with MM's. Your credibility has gone down with the people who can actually think for themselves.

Wow dc gets two boats and I can't even get a reply to 3 emails and two phones calls over a year ago? Whatever bro dc are prob on the last year or two on the boob tube anyway. Y'all must be busy over there at your company to not even return emails or phone calls to someone who is interested in buying a boat. Tbh I'm glad you didn't I ended up with twice the boat anyway with my new prodigy!

Smoke, get a show, then u get a boat

Phil just wants something for nothing. They usually want two or three boats for free along with 5% net sales of revenue, etc....etc... All in exchange for an 8 second spot on their show, just to see Phil running a competitors boat on the show instead. Gator Tail just probably got tired of giving away free boats & profit for no real return. Hats off to you Mud Doctor.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I don't pretend to know the whys and wherefores of the situation. We were just asked to build two rigs to their specs and they seemed very pleased with the results. We are not paying anything to have them run the boats and motors nor are we asking for anything special from them. I only know what they said they wanted this time and that is what we built for them. I guess they could have anything they want. The main jest of the review was the way the 1848 ran with just a 23 Copperhead on back, it did very well, I was delightfully surprised at how well it did, this is not a combo we normally promote, but we will from now on for folks looking for a similar set-up and end use like Phil wanted. To be frank, they wanted to buy one of the boats outright as soon as they saw it but I told them my purpose was not to "sell them boats", it was to have them run them and give us their feedback and ideas as to how these rigs performed in relation to what they needed. If they like them they can buy them, if they want to offer some promo stuff because they like them that is okay with us, if they want to give them back for something different at the end of the year that is okay to. We really don't know where this will go with Phil. We were flattered that they, via Copperhead, requested that we build the boats to their specs to go with the motors. I would not read anything into it more then that fellas.

Would you let me run one for a season and give it back at the end of the year with some feedback lol? Where do I sign up?

Actually we do do that from time to time when we are developing a new product, like our Big Water Series a number of years ago and our sneak boats the first few years. We normally do this with professional guides who use the rigs everyday and who have a pretty good idea what will work or won't work. There is no substitute for on with water testing and feedback from guys who use them everyday.

PW

muddoctor can you tell us what you mean when you say they liked the simple operation of these motors? I mean what is so much easier about operating these compared to other mudmotors?

Sounds to me like somebody gave them 2 rigs to run on the shows to try and generate some sales. I just can't imagine how somebody with that much money would want a rig without reverse.

From what I understand they did not need reverse, or neutral or auto trim or a clutch etc. They wanted light weight simple operation. They don't need to go fast, they just wanted something to get to and from the blinds and that would not draft much water. Long boat + Light simple motor= shallow draft and that is what they were looking for. Everyone has different and unique needs, we don't try to tell folks what they need in their particular situation, we listen to their wants and needs and then try to put together set-ups that will do what they want them to do for their situation. What you want and need might be very different from what the next guy needs - that is the difference with Phowler, we listen to our customers and understand what their needs and expectation are before we ever start recommending stuff. We want to get it right for the customer the first time, have them run what meets their needs, not what we want them to run or think they should run without understanding their situation, expectations and needs.

And no, it is not about more sales for Phowler, we are about the size we want to be for what we do best - duck boats and boats and blinds. We have no deal to run the boats on the show and frankly I don't think that will ever happen. Might get into a video and that would be cool but that is not what we were looking for. We are just glad we could build the boats and have someone who uses them everyday of the season running them and letting us know if we got it right for their needs.


PW

Haters lol.... I guarantee if someone wanted to let any of you have/borrow a brand new boat, motor, gun, 4wheeler, decoy, camo clothing, duck call, etc etc....not a one of you would say nah (insert company name) let me pay full price for it. Or if you were a company owner, would you not fire your CEO for not making a business move like that? Not to mention the DD crew could probably buy a rig from every company and not put a dent in their bank account.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

any stats on the 1640 Light Jon with a 14hp Copperhead

It has been said around here that Gtail doesnt pay anyone to run their product.

Why are there so many haters? Any company that is in the business to sell products is going to be more than happy to get the opportunity to have a "celebrity" like the Phil use their gear. It is called marketing. Maybe Phil did not like the Gator Tail or the other stuff that he has run? Obviously they are in the business (key word business) to sell Duck Commander merchandise and promote their brand name. Maybe Benelli dropped them because of their views? Maybe one of their life's goals was to promote their own gun line or maybe they wanted to work with the folks at Mossberg because they like them and their values. Seriously, do you think Benelli was going to promote their belief in god by putting it on the side of a Vinci?
Always amazes me at how quickly everyone wants to tear down successful people when truth be told many of the naysayers would love the opportunity to do the same thing.

Why are there so many haters? Any company that is in the business to sell products is going to be more than happy to get the opportunity to have a "celebrity" like the Phil use their gear. It is called marketing. Maybe Phil did not like the Gator Tail or the other stuff that he has run? Obviously they are in the business (key word business) to sell Duck Commander merchandise and promote their brand name. Maybe Benelli dropped them because of their views? Maybe one of their life's goals was to promote their own gun line or maybe they wanted to work with the folks at Mossberg because they like them and their values. Seriously, do you think Benelli was going to promote their belief in god by putting it on the side of a Vinci?
Always amazes me at how quickly everyone wants to tear down successful people when truth be told many of the naysayers would love the opportunity to do the same thing.

^^ Its called having a opinion, u will get many of them here on MMT, get used to it.

[quote="LB200"]Why are there so many haters? Any company that is in the business to sell products is going to be more than happy to get the opportunity to have a "celebrity" like the Phil use their gear. It is called marketing. Maybe Phil did not like the Gator Tail or the other stuff that he has run? Obviously they are in the business (key word business) to sell Duck Commander merchandise and promote their brand name. Maybe Benelli dropped them because of their views? Maybe one of their life's goals was to promote their own gun line or maybe they wanted to work with the folks at Mossberg because they like them and their values. Seriously, do you think Benelli was going to promote their belief in god by putting it on the side of a Vinci?
Always amazes me at how quickly everyone wants to tear down successful people when truth be told many of the naysayers would love the opportunity to do the same thing.[/quote
The only part that I am trying to point out is that phowler and copperhead didn't just get a call from these guys saying hey your shit is awesome can we buy a couple boats from you? I think it is smart on DC part to take anything for free and then get paid by these companies just to run their equipment. My problem is that muddoctor refuses to admit that and wants to keep trying to say that DC wanted to buy these from them and that phowler didn't have to pay money for them to run them. It is pretty simple to see he is full of shit. Anyone with any common sense should be able to see right through this and realize that there were other boat companies that had this option before phowler did and decided that it was not worth it to them to pay that kind of cash. It might turn out to be a good business decision for phowler but don't come on here and lie about shit.

[quote="LB200"]Why are there so many haters? Any company that is in the business to sell products is going to be more than happy to get the opportunity to have a "celebrity" like the Phil use their gear. It is called marketing. Maybe Phil did not like the Gator Tail or the other stuff that he has run? Obviously they are in the business (key word business) to sell Duck Commander merchandise and promote their brand name. Maybe Benelli dropped them because of their views? Maybe one of their life's goals was to promote their own gun line or maybe they wanted to work with the folks at Mossberg because they like them and their values. Seriously, do you think Benelli was going to promote their belief in god by putting it on the side of a Vinci?
Always amazes me at how quickly everyone wants to tear down successful people when truth be told many of the naysayers would love the opportunity to do the same thing.[/quote
The only part that I am trying to point out is that phowler and copperhead didn't just get a call from these guys saying hey your shit is awesome can we buy a couple boats from you? I think it is smart on DC part to take anything for free and then get paid by these companies just to run their equipment. My problem is that muddoctor refuses to admit that and wants to keep trying to say that DC wanted to buy these from them and that phowler didn't have to pay money for them to run them. It is pretty simple to see he is full of shit. Anyone with any common sense should be able to see right through this and realize that there were other boat companies that had this option before phowler did and decided that it was not worth it to them to pay that kind of cash. It might turn out to be a good business decision for phowler but don't come on here and lie about shit.

Tp

Dp

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. The man has been bouncing around between different products from the very beginning back when he was in bed with go-devil and browning. McKaig chevy gave him a brand spanking new truck with their logo splattered on the side and all decked out with stickers everywhere, but he still rides around in that old yota truck most of the time that he's had for years. Who cares what the man uses? It's the same exact thing in every business in america, why would it be different with this? Product placement is the name of the game. In fact, I hope more people start running copperheads because of this, that would make my life easier...more boats to skull drag on the way to the hole in the morning.

To muddoctor, congrats on the new deal man, don't worry about these clowns and I hope it works out well for you!

The point is is that he changes equipment every season and says it's the best there is. It would be different if they were just starting out. They have all the money they need so why not endorse what you actually like and show integrity and loyalty. I guess I'm old school and wouldn't be a greedy pimp. Look, I love DC and what they are about but they look like hypocrites. Good for CH and Phowler- it's not a shot at them.