I have owned this boat for a little over a year now, its not the first CS i have owned. I love this hull, but want to put a surface drive motor on it. I just need to get through some lilly pads, weed beds, and some mud flats. I know the hull is tough enough im just concerned about power. The hull weight is 650#. I have researched some of the gator trax boats and the go devil surface drive boats they weigh right around 580. Any help would be greatly appreciated im really green when it comes to mud motors.

As long as the transom height is good, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Your weight isn't so far off from an aluminum, if the boat isn't ridiculously wide then I think you'd be ok.

It will work. There are a couple guys on here who are running MM on Carolina skiffs.

thanks for the replys guys. It is a short transom, 56" wide at the bottom. I currently have a 50hp yamaha two stroke on it and it does 35mph with me in it. What kind of speed could i roughly expect to get with a factory 35 mud buddy?

around 25-28.


Probably more like 25 with the heavier hull.

You will probably get closer to 30. My friend had a stock 35 gdsd on a j16 that ran solid 28 with only 2 200 pound guys but a load slowed it down alot. Pop-up blind 2 200 pound guys 2 shell buckets 2 dozen decoys and a 70 pound dog slowed to like 24. And u have to watch what you ride over because you don't want to crack the bottom because once that foam in the floor gets wet that boat will weigh a ton

That was one of my concerns, the weight issue. I know sometimes with three guys, two bags of decoys, a dog, and gear it takes everything my 40hp has to get it on a plane. I would just go with a Gator Trax or Excel hull, but i have seen the beating these Carolina hulls can take when i used to live in Florida. They are tough boats.

I used to have a 35gdsd on a j16 and it was fine

There is a long thread on here about how much I hate Carolina Skiff and all the trouble I had with them. If you did not already have the boat, I would be trying to talk you out of it but...

I had a 35GTR on a J-16. It required wedges to keep it from porposing. If I would not have had serious issues with the hull, I would probaly still be running the setup. There was another J-16 I saw with a 36PD on it and that guy liked his.

If you do it PM me and I'll give you a few pictures of how I rigged it with a grab bar (still have it I could maybe sell to you) and how I mounted a stock 16' Go-Devil blind that fit perfect.

I talked to a guy from mud buddy on the phone today, he recommended the 4500 with my rig. Problem I foresee is the weight. That 4500 is a heavy mofo. when i initially rigged this hull with the outboard it suffered severe porpoising. I shifted some weight to the bow and installed a hydrofoil on the motor and it fixed the issue, but it is still a concern. I did read your thread and that truly sounds like a nightmare. I have read horror storys about these hulls becoming water logged. I am starting to lean towards getting a gator trax hull.