Ive got a 15/44 that I really wanna slap a 35 on. Has anyone put a 35 SD on a boat that small?

Its a heavy boat .125" with 20" sides. I ended up cutting down the transom to 15" for my 23 but would feel better with a long shaft tall transom setup on that boat so would weld it back up for a 35.

Pretty sure the boat would handle it just worry how it will handle it with a full load. Im skeptical about overloading a transom pretty much swamped my last boat that way.

Not a good idea IMO. I had a 32 on a short transom 1644, it worked but it was sketchy loaded out at times and was very prone to take a good bit of water over the transom.

I've got a 1544 Gator Trax with a hunt deck and a BD 4500, it handles the motor just fine. This setup has handled every load I have thrown in it and shined every time. I've had It LOADED before and ran some pretty good distances and was still comfortable.

On a trip to Kansas this past season we hunted three guys and about 4 dozen deeks, another dozen goose deeks, and ran fine. I've had it loaded with about 5 dozen divers deeks, four guys and were averaging 26-27 MPH with a worn prop.

IMO I think you could get away with it...





Mine is the natgear gator trax, this is loaded with about 200 divers and coots and a layout boat, still ran 28 with just me.

^^^^^^^ What he said.

No hunt deck. The guy I bought the boat from ran a old 60 outboard which I know is pretty damn heavy. It was an older 60 not a new one so hard to tell the weight he had on it, im pretty sure the older outboards are lighter from what ive read. But a new 60 outboard weighs around 245 lbs. The GDSD weighs around 265 AND I know the previous owner took a 35 pro drive (which im pretty sure is the heaviest if not 2nd to MB 35) and ran it on this same 15 ft boat and he said it handled fine, but he had never tried it with a load. He did say the boat handled a load fine with the older 60.

I know the boat will handle it im confident in that. But im a little skeptical for a few reasons - 1) the boat has zero foam in it, zero flotation so if I swamp in its going down like the titanic and ive been there its not fun haha 2) When I first bought the boat for my 23 SD short shaft I had to have the transom cut down because it was a tall transom boat, so I dont like the idea of running a short shaft 35, on a 15/42 with a cut transom

Wouldnt be a huge deal to have it welded back up im sure. The 23 I had is out of service right now anyway and I am looking at block options I really would like to do a 35 tho some how or another whether it be a whole new motor or modify the 23 frame to fit a 35 block.

The boats a damn tank tho its a well built boat, built in lafeyette, I know it will handle the motor just would worry about it during duck season under a heavy load.

I attached a pic of the boat its been a project as most are.

I saw your thread talking abt putting a 35 on a copperhead frame. I'm sure it could be done and that's a light weight frame. I don't think you're adding enough weight from the 23 block to the 35 block to matter. Would be a cool project and so far we haven't seen it done.


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Im thinking about it if I do it it just means il be out of service longer, but may be worth it. Would need to modify base plate, would need a new belt, new pulleys and new prop. and I need to measure to see if starter if gonna get in the way of tiller attachment

1544 with 35