Hello everyone, new to the site, a lot of great info on here. I have a 2009 GatorTail tall motor and looking to get a GatorTail boat to match. I am looking at a 1648 Gator series with hunt deck. Usual hunt load is myself and one other person, 2 batteries, 5 dozen decoys, fuel, cooler, guns and ammo. I mostly hunt Okeechobee and Kissimee river, shallow harder bottom marsh. My main questions are..

- Does anyone live in South West FL where I could ride it one?

- Are short sides with a tall transom hunt deck an doable option? (to save weight)

- Does the 48" Gator Series slide a sh*t ton more than 54" extreme with hunt load? (I would think that 48 would want to "bite" a little more) although giving up shallower ride.

Obviously weight is on my mind to run as shallow as possible but would like to stay with a smaller profile for concealment purposes. Also want a boat that will last me 10+ years that I will be happy with.