new to the site as a friend referred me to you guys (and I'm glad he did!). I think you'd be the best resource for some of these perplexing questions I have about mud motors and boats.

last year, a friend that I hunt with bought a boat and motor combination that doesn't seem to fit each well. it's a 1448 mod v polarkraft all weld (rated for a 40hp(?!)) and it has a 25 mud buddy long tail on it. it has a tall transom 20" and the longer mud shaft.

i think he thought he'd really sail with this larger 25, but to be truthful, it's painfully slow with two guys, blind and decoys.

is this just the wrong combo? hard to fathom it could be this slow.

thoughts?

can you give me run down on mud motor/boat dynamics? want narrower beam?

I thought about trading it out on my new boat that I just picked up ; a 1760MT roughneck, but thinking that I might have the same problem with this motor.

for myself, I think I'm going to go shorttail (I'll post thread on reco's in the boat forum).

thanks in advance for your comments.

My longtail was painfully slow at first, the carb needed to be rebuilt and some trim issues worked out. Make sure the engine is turning the right RPM's, that the bottom of the boat is in good shape, and that the prop is not worn.



What are you calling painfully slow, because 15 mph in any longtail when loaded is pretty normal.

My guess would be the prop. Its either warn down to much or the wrong pitch. have you GPS'd it so you can give us a ballpark of how slow it is going? other than that, yes check the RPM's.. thats my 2 cents.

i have a 20hp long tail on a 14 foot flat that has been beat to hell and back and again i have more hooks, dings, and other things to slow you down then most people on here not a good thing i can still get 16 mph with me (210) and my ol man (290) and a light hunting load i can get by myself almost 20 and when i had it on a good bottom boat 24 so depending on your weights and all it might just be how fast you can go

painfully slow, like he can't even get it to plane out.

prop isn't issue as it was replaced (9" dia.). maybe carb(?)

we're going to take it out tomorrow and will bring a GPS this time - give you a better sense of what's going on.

right now, he's thinking of moving to a 16' (longer is better?)

My 24hp scavenger was like that when I got it, a carb rebuild and some new fuel lines/electric fuel pump fixed it. Get rid of all the quick connects and get gas to the motor as seamlessly and tight as possible. Just a thought -