Hi Everyone, I'm new to this forum. I'm about to buy a Duck boat, we are sometime 4 people + Decoil and I'm wondering if My setup would work well. The Boat would run in a River with as least 4 feet of water, but there is tick weeds everywhere in the river and I'm wondering how the Motor would work in this.

The boat is a 1650 RETRIEVER JON like this one:
http://www.crestliner.com/1650_retriever_jon

and I was planing on using a 23hp VANGUARD like this one:
http://www.godevil.com/23hp_VANGUARD.html

I don't really know much about the surface drive motor and what is the difference between surface and Longtail Motor.

You plan to hunt from the boat or do you have a separate blind?
4 people will be assholes to elbows trying to hunt out of a 16 footer....

Its a trap

4 people and gear would be slow as hell too.......

we plan on hunting on separate ground blind.

I looked at the 27hp KOHLER but the price is 1000$ more, would that make things move much faster? I found that 1000$ is expensive for 5HP....

What is slow? 10MPH?

Would the prop jam with the tick weeds?

I hunted 4 out of my 16 footer. It lasted one weekend and I was done with that. As for the motor, I would highly recommend a bigger one.
When people want to go I hate to tell them no, but it will be cramped and slow going if you stick with that rig.

U need to save your money and get an 18 foot flat bottom hull if you want a surface drive..it'll carry the load better and give you room..but you will spend 10 to 15k

Sounds like he is just using to transport 4 people but hunting in separate blinds.
27 is not much improvement over the 23. How far do you have to run? Your probably looking at 12 mph

The boat would only be use for transportation. I have between 2 and 4 mill to travel. We use to do it with a 14 foot boat and a regular 9.9hp motor.... It was terribly slow and we broke the motor because the water pump got jam...

I don't think that boat would plane with that load

If you are really wanting to save some cash...I'd consider a 27 longtail. It will be cheaper than a surface drive, it will also be slow, but will have plenty of torque to get you and your group through the weeds. I can plane my 1644 with 3 people and some bowfishing gear, it's still a turd though.

That way you didn't break the bank on a boat you aren't happy with either. You could run up to the blind by yourself with a bag of decoys at 18 mph with a 27 longtail. Even if it doesn't plane with the load you listed I bet you still go over 10 mph.

You need one of these.....


fast, doesnt need cooling water, and you wont need the torque of a long tail or surface drive since you stay in deep water.

Also judging my your mastery of the english language, you are from far enough down the bayou that you would fit in perfectly at the boat ramp with one of these.

Actually I'm French

I'm now looking at a 1648 boat it's lighter then the 1650 to carry around I think but support less weight and I could probably put a 35hp on it.

that would probably float better? I'm just not sure about the weight the 1648 can carry.

Have you considered a grass keel or lilly keel or whatever they call them? there was a thread on here about them a while back. Sounds like it would really help you where you operate.

EDIT - here it is

I did originally consider weed guard and switch the old motor to a 2 blade prop that that was before the old 9.9 motor broke.

Now that our rig is broken I want a buy a better setup. Things is I'm planing on selling my 14foot boat and dead motor.

I'd like to have the ability to take the motor off that future new boat and be able to Cary it around a bit, not to far with a electric motor for trout fishing.

The 1650 weight is close to 500LB that is to heavy to Cary around the 1648 is close to 250LB it would be a better setup for me I think. I understand that this boat is not made to travel 4 people +gear + dog but I think it would work.

Questions is what type of motor I should put on it....

23,27,35 Long tail or Surface drive. I have couple of beaver dam in our hunting spot that is why I tough the Long tail would be best but it look like surface drive have no issue with Beaver dam and have more TQ to carry more weight.

I'm now looking at a 1652MT LOWE with a 35 Surface drive mudbuddy. The boat is rated for 5 people or 552 kg/1,216 lb. I'm thinking that this should do the trick for 4 people+dog and gear?