Like the topic says I am a newcomer to the longtail and I have a lot of questions. I have a 1652 Polar Kraft, with a 18 horse Johnson, I am selling the motor and am set on a longtail but there are so many missing links and this kid needs some instruction. So first off I can weld well so I was going to go with the Bog Hog U-Weld It Kit with a 25 horse Briggs. Seeing as the whole assembled kit will weigh over double the Johnson I am thinking of getting pods welded on and moving the tank and battery to under the front deck. Any suggestions or tips to update my plan of action? Any tips or suggestions welcome, Thanks!

You should build yourself a hunt deck and put a 35 on it

Forget the pods and bog hog kit... If you can weld build your own... do look into moving things to the front... other than that you are doing good, how tall is your transom? What shape is it in? Wood? and form of bracing on the transom?

Lots of guys have 23-24 hp longtails on boats that are 1644 etc. I wouldn't bother with the pods at all, I think they'll be a headache. The boat is plenty long and wide for that motor, just run your tank and battery to the front and roll with the longtail on the boat the way it is.

Just make sure your transom is sturdy.

Thanks for the response. The boat is in the shop getting a tune up so I'm not sure but I'm guessing 16 inches+. If I had to rate it on 1-10 I would give it a 7. It shows signs of age but I don't see any signs of rot. I'm not sure if it has any sort of aluminum/steel center (never drilled it) but from what I could see it appears to be inch and a quarter think and braced by two triangular solid braces that are riveted along transom/hull. It seems pretty reliable.

If you need to you can beef it up with a board bolted to the transom.

^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^

You might try the classifieds and locally to get a good used 23/25 LT. I would not opt for any pods. I recommend the 23 Briggs and 25/27 Kohler motors; both are workhorses and reliable. If you can afford it, buy new- the new mfg. BackH20 has a fine product! PolarKraft makes a fairly stout hull so you should be fine or beef it up like was posted. I've added steelflex to the hull bottom of my grizzly 1648 and that was well worth it. Keep us posted and good luck! Use the search feature on this site for more info!

deadeye, I bought the steelflex since it is a local product...five seasons only a couple of scrapes on it, still slick! The gallon was around 100$ but we did three 1648 hull bottoms with it. Of course, I don't run gravel, sand, jump beaver dams, etc. The sponsor on this site of some other material "gatorglide?" ( there is another called "frog spit" but reviews on that were mixed) apparently may be better than SF. It was fairly easy to prep, but my boat was newer than the other two hulls...even if you have to re-apply every three season it is worth it...by the way Grizzly, just so you know, the slick makes your hull really slippery- so you will have to keep the boat tied on the trailer as you back her in and when you pull her out of the water or it will slide right off the trailer. I still have carpet on my bunks but if you add those slick runners instead of the carpet it will be even easier to on/off trailer the boat. The slick will make you drift a bit in a turn- like an airboat, since this product was mfg. with that application in mind- but you learn to compensate. It really reduces friction when running in mud/grassy areas almost like a true flat bottom hull. The SF also does a good job of sealing any rivets (if your hull is riveted) too. A friend applied it on the bottom half of his LT, including the cavitation plate, and claims this helps him. If you share the slick it is a fairly cheap mod for your rig. The other cheap trick is to tweak the throttle advance to say, 4100 rpm out of the water, and realize a 1-2 mph gain right away with no damage to the motor.

deadeye, I bought the steelflex since it is a local product...five seasons only a couple of scrapes on it, still slick! The gallon was around 100$ but we did three 1648 hull bottoms with it. Of course, I don't run gravel, sand, jump beaver dams, etc. The sponsor on this site of some other material "gatorglide?" ( there is another called "frog spit" but reviews on that were mixed) apparently may be better than SF. It was fairly easy to prep, but my boat was newer than the other two hulls...even if you have to re-apply every three season it is worth it...by the way Grizzly, just so you know, the slick makes your hull really slippery- so you will have to keep the boat tied on the trailer as you back her in and when you pull her out of the water or it will slide right off the trailer. I still have carpet on my bunks but if you add those slick runners instead of the carpet it will be even easier to on/off trailer the boat. The slick will make you drift a bit in a turn- like an airboat, since this product was mfg. with that application in mind- but you learn to compensate. It really reduces friction when running in mud/grassy areas almost like a true flat bottom hull. The SF also does a good job of sealing any rivets (if your hull is riveted) too. A friend applied it on the bottom half of his LT, including the cavitation plate, and claims this helps him. If you share the slick it is a fairly cheap mod for your rig. The other cheap trick is to tweak the throttle advance to say, 4100 rpm out of the water, and realize a 1-2 mph gain right away with no damage to the motor.

Thank you.