I'd just like to post an open thanks for the tips pictures and advice you share that have answered many of my questions during my first build.
Being from New Zealand I hunt and fish a shallow lagoon (waituna) and have always thought there had to be a better way to boat, other than wreaking outboards so I embarked on a successful long tail MM build.
These mud motor configurations are unheard of over here some old timers i have talked to remember them pre outboard days, i only know of 2 short tails and 1 long tail in the country.

So Thanks people.

Post some pics, I'd like to see your build and the area you hunt.

X2 - on the pics - bet that is pretty country over there
and some different looking birds than ours too...

Not a problem, just as soon as i figure out how to put them up. I ended up building a 16hp and running it on a 12ft Starcraft, not really flat bottom but mud is not really the issue just very little water at times
I'll find some of the Waituna Lagoon too. Its not lord of the rings pretty but probably only a wee bit different to your coastal areas.

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Good looking build! What kind of birds do you get over there?

We shoot a 3 month season from May (our bags daily limits are in brackets) Mallards (15), Shovlers (2), Nz Paradise shell ducks (12) a black swan. But Canadian geese are unlimited 24hours a day 365 days a year. There is a different limits in different areas and a mid summer mallard shooting weekend in Canterbury in February over stubble paddocks.
There are 3 or 4 other protected native ducks like a Brown and grey teal, Scarp and mountain blue ducks, they are all very small ducks and fly fast.
The only real difference with the mallards are the colours are much darker because they interbreed with a native grey duck which was very similar to the introduced north American mallard, the grey all but got breed out the old timers say the were as dumb as toast too.

Welcome aboard! That rig will work fine. Have you had to adjust the cavitation plate to make it run level? My MB LT has a "trim tab" piece on the trailing edge that you bend up/down to get it right. I am assuming the shallow water lagoon has a hard bottom so the LT is the right choice. Thanks for the pics!

Welcome to the site.

Great looking build!

Couple questions:

Do y'all still have to put up with obnoxious protesters on opening day? I saw a YouTube video a while back of them trying to disrupt duck hunts in New Zealand.

What's the spare tire in the boat for?

i'd love to hit Canada Geese all year....

good looking build - welcome to MMT

Here it is...

Anyone ever seen the duck commander video when he goes to New Zealand to hunt?
Straight hammerin' some birds
Lead shot is legal down there too hehe

Wait, is lead not legal everywhere???

That sounds like just enough hunting to disperse the amount of hunters. I am just wondering how the motor actually works. Being in the southern hemisphere do you have to run the motor in reverse to go forward. Or do you just hold onto the prop and stick the handle in the water. Anybody else with any input.

Thanks for the welcome. First the tyre, incase I get a flat, more for weight distribution.
I've never seen that protester video our heard of any protests latel, Southland just about shuts for opening.
Weave got to shoot stel in 12g but anything smaller less is fine. The motor goes really well.

In Ohio we have 3 zones for the state. We can hunt from oct 13th through Jan 10th. That would involve going to each of the zones to hunt. We are allowed 6 ducks per day. 4 mallards. They let us shoot 3 canadiens per day this year. There are so many duck hunters in Ohio. It is crazy because we have horrible numbers of ducks. Arkansas shoots more ducks on the opener than we do all season. I just really have to work for them. Days of scouting and asking permission of farmers, days of going back to the farmers and giving them walleye fillets so they won't let other guys hunt. We used to have a big layout rig but it was to much work and other guys started crowding so we sold it. Our fly way is changing a lot. Back in the 80's and 90's we never got sea ducks. Now that the zebra muscles invaded our lake we get a lot of them.