THinking about buying my first SD. Hoping to get a little info. I have a 14x36 heavy duty boat with a 23Lt. It is very slow 13MPH was hoping to pickup a few mph by switching to a SD. What do you guys think a 18hp gd sd would push this boat at mph wise. Does anybody have a similar setup and how do they like it.

Thanks for the info in Advance

I didn't know Go-devil made a surface drive that small. May not quite have the strength of that long-tail, but you should be getting better speeds than 13, heck I get around 17 with my 1648 and almost the same motor. Sounds like your setup is not quite right, check rpm's and stuff, you should be able to do better than 13 in that little boat.

Horsepower is horsepower longtail or surface drive...

My GDSD 16x48 ran 21mph solo and 17 to 18mph with 2 man loads
with a 23 GDLT... But would not plane 3 guys...

Have a 35 GDSD on it now and it will plane 4 guys...

A SD adds a few mph IF it can get on plane - but there is
no substitute for horsepower...

Also a true mudmotor hull will far out perform a ribbed or mod-vee...

A new hull might get you what you want with your motor !

The 23GDSD is not much more money I would buy that. It is a tough as nails engine. I run maurepas swamp and could not hurt the dayum thing. I will buy another one day.

Thanks for the info, but I have been fighting the speed battle for 9 years now.
The first motor I had on the boat was a short shaft 18 hp and it ran the best , then a 25 kohler, and now 23 Briggs. I have messed with everything trying to get more speed. I realize the shape of the boat is my main problem, but the boat is just so soild. So do yall think the 18sd will be able to get the boat up on plane.

Thanks again

just to add bout the performance i have a 23 gdsd on an x-press and i run a little bit faster than what it ran on a godevil boat and my boat has little ribs on the bottom i like it better because when your wide open in the thick stuff you dont slide so dang much. but i will say my .100 is not as strong as your .125 my friend and when the bottom gets stiff thats where i start losing.

in the bottom gettin stiff i ment the mud

My first SD motor was 18 hp Mudbuddy Hyperdrive, we had it on 14'x48 Lowe rivited jon. It would plane two people @ 22mph and one person @ 23.7 mph @ 3650 rpm it was geared with a 32 tooth upper and a 50 Tooth lower and was turning a 11x10 tiger prop. I would think that motor on your boat would get at least 23 to 25mph with one person and should plane two people easily. Ask Dealer what gearing is in drive and if you can change to smaller upper gear. That should get your Rpm up at prop and higher speed & Torque.

It would be completely retarded to buy another motor for that boat. I would definitely look into replacing the hull instead of the motor, you've been through 3, and you can't love the boat THAT much, can you? If you like the smaller rigs, upgrade to around a 1642 mud hull, you'll be way ahead of the game instead of wasting the money on a new motor for a hull that's just gonna drag it down, again. I wouldn't even feel safe in a 1436, I dunno what some of you guys are thinking with them narrow boats, I wouldn't have anything under a 1648, and as soon as I hit the lottery, this baby's gone for something bigger.