Anyone ever run one?
I know that jet and prop tunnels are very different in terms of length and width and depth and venting etc, but wondering if anyone has any first hand running a MM (specifically Pro-Drive) on a tunnel hull.
Thinking about UHMW bottom and a tunnel hull with a MM would be the ideal rig for around here. Too much grass in the rivers during most of hunting season for a jet even though a lot of folks run them.
Also, a lot of areas in the lakes I hunt and fish have either too much veg for a jet or you need to be able to maneuver slowly and the jets I've seen struggled in those areas.

Didn't Gator Trax have one ?

I would need a test drive to see one in action to be sold
on the combo with a MM.

Seems like you would need pods to offset the lift lost
to the tunnel and that you would have a speed loss as
well as loss of reverse thrust.

My 1860 G3 tunnel with 90 had same speed as the similar
1860 G3 flat with a 60. Also bet the PD reverse would
suffer a significant loss of power just like the outboard does
with a tunnel. My G3 has almost no reverse power even when
the hydrolic jack is fully lowered.

There is a guy on here named "fillinthetunnel". He has a 1744 Gator Trax hyper tunnel with a PD and you can probably guess what the tunnel looks like now. They do not work well for MM at all.

worthless

I bought one of the Gator Traxx tunnel hulls w/a MB when they first came out. No real advantage that I saw except it might have helped with the stump impacts a little. What i didn't like was the "blow out" in the turns at top speed when the prop came out of the water column.

When PD came out with the reverse & I decided to change motors, I demo'd the PD on my tunnel hull. Got soakin' wet from all the water comin over the transom after it deflected off the lower unit/skeg of the PD. It was slower with the tunnel, and when I purchased the PD, I had the tunnel filled in at the same time. This brought my speed back up to where it was with the MB.

Tunnel hulls are fine for shallow water outboard runnin, but not for a mm, imo.

Well. There you have it.

Rock guard and UHMW.

My first Gatortrax was a Hypertunnel. Sold it to a buddy who still has it to this day. He loves it. But the tunnel is a non-factor, non-issue. It does not add at all to the performance of the boat. He is not dissatisfied with the boat but he might be surprised at what would happen if he filled it in. Big performance gain? No. Slight gain? Possibly.

Had a gatortrax 1754 with tunnel. Long story short, tried countless setups for a couple weeks with a 45 hypersport, put the outboard back on it and sold it.

Any advantage you might gain with a tunnel, is offset by the round chines drafting more water, the weight of the mud motor itself and the fact that the MM is mounted higher than normal. The hyperdrive 32" or 36" length drive would have been a little better due to it's longer drive tube.
Over hard sand, it delivered extra water to the prop which was a good thing, but sucked the water out from under the boat to do it.....which is a bad thing. I'd only have an outboard on a tunnel hull. There might be that one special place where the MM & tunnel setup works, but many where it wouldn't.

I have a couple of customers that have 27PD's on ib 20/48 tunnels and would not trade them for the world!!

it ain't got nuthin to do with drive angles and such..... it's an issue of a design for keeping a water cooled engine cool while runnin da prop at da surface and then throwin' an air cooled engine dat already runs on da surface under that bus of tunnel misery.

It's kinda like goin to da top of a very tall building and puttin' money in a machine to look at shit on da ground.

gotcha... we dont have those up here in N.E. Texas...was just a thought.

Had a outboard with a tunnel. Got a MM two years ago and still see no reason why you would want to run one with a tunnel. What would be the gain by doing this?

Thats what I say also. I just want someone to try and justify it.

you'll prolly hear all kinds of BS.... but it's all just wishful thinkin.

Da bottom line is surface drive MM's run on da surface... u can't get no higher than dat without steppin up to an airboat. Tunnels do not create no "magical water" for motors to operate in.... dey just kick up enough water to keep enough water around da pickups of an outboards cooling system allowing you to surface an outboard prop. Tunnels are great tools for outboards in a very small application..... in most cases a jacked up outboard, da right prop, and driver is all dat's necessary to get an outboard in most places it has any business goin. Tunnels have many, many drawbacks.... all of which will take away from a MM's functionality.

Thats basicly the same thing I have told many people that come to me and say " you should put that on a tunnel hull ". And when I say "They are not made for that it wont work" they argue with me about. But yet none of them have ever own a MM. But they sure know whats best.

These boats are 20x36's not 48's like I said before. Not that that matters. To make things even funnier!! These boats have tall transoms and they run short shaft motors on them?!?!?!? I don't know what the heck they like about it, but they are satisfied with it.

In their defense..... a tunnel's transom has to be compensated for da height of da tunnel..... in other words u measure from da top of da tunnel instead of da bottom of da hull. Most marsh tunnels are 4" deep.... a 16" transom tunnel hull is a total of 20" tall.

da fact still remains dat ur boys are dillusional and just don't know any better.... close dem tunnels and give 'em long shaft motors and dey will be throwin rocks at tunnel hulls.

I have tried to tell them more than once!! They even convinced another guy to buy the exact same rig they have. I tried to talk him out of it and let him "See the Light" so to speak! He bought into their "TUNNEL VISION"!!

someone say airboat?

i have a 1744 hyper tunnel and it sucked with my 27 pd. Didn,t work out for me, had it filled in.