Alright guys new to the forums. Just got myself my first mud motor, 25 GDLT. She's in pretty good condition as far as I can tell. Put it on a 13' boat 48" bottom. Its 52" across the top of the transom if that matters. All 3/16th aluminum and built like a tank. Has a few things that need to be done to it. Want to get an aluminum fuel tank built for the front, a few ribs need to be rewelded, want to camo paint it and gator glide the bottom. It has angle iron on the bottom for runners. Gonna cut them off and give it a true flat bottom. Cant decide what I want to do about the floor. Really don't like having all the ribs exposed having to walk over them. Definitely gonna have to install a grab bar. Been having the boat for a long time. It was my runaround growing up. I know its not ideal for the motor but its what I had. Took it out with the go devil sat and was pleased with its performance. Was getting around 22-23 mph in deep open water. Gonna bring it to be maintanenced before I really start taking it out a lot, or do yall think I should do that myself? Want to replace the old rusty muffler too. Im thinking about repainting the frame as well because it has some surface rust. Any special things to do considering that? Im sure Ill have plenty of other questions but that's all I can think of for now. Any tips or tricks are very much welcome.
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That is great speed on that hull! I would suggest alum floor, probably .090 will do. I would also put closed cell foam flotation under the floor/between the ribs- this will result in a quieter floor, not to mention will insulate against cold/heat better. I would put hydroturf over the alum- get some closeout sheets to save money. You can gain a few rpm/mph by advancing the throttle to around 4200 rpm out of the water, but then you already have good speed. Put synthetic oil and grease. Remove any foam precleaner around the air filter. Gatorglide or steelflex will help on the bottom. Have all requisite safety gear, get plenty of stick time, wear your kill switch lanyard, hae fun!

X2 what GR said! Cool boat BTW.

bad ass little boat man! Put a handle to hold on to, trust me you will need it!!

Thanks for the input fellas. Didnt think the hull would be liked so much DD, definitely gonna install a grab bar. It tried throwing me out several times on my first run with it I had thought about an aluminum floor but didnt know if it would put to much extra weight in the boat. I think a smooth walking surface is definitely better than a mph or two loss though. Its going faster than I expected anyway. As far as gator glide, you guys think I should put it on before I paint the boat or wait till after or does it really matter and just leave the bottom unpainted when I paint and then do the gator glide?

i just have a wood floor in mine, not the prettiest but it gets the job done and lighter than a sheet of aluminum. how much does it slow down when you add an extra guy or two? I'm about to add GG to mine too, pick up this extra 3mph that everyone is talking about!

Dont know yet. Only had the chance to take it out once so far. Just got it to where I wanted it before running this past saturday and rode around about 2 hrs. Gonna take it out again this weekend with a passenger and see how it does. Yea I read about that 3 mph increase, lol. Would be nice!

Just spoke with the guy at the local lawn mower shop about getting a tune up done. He asked if I knew what brand of oil the previous owner was using. I told him I don't know but was going to switch to synthetic oil. He said he recommends staying with the original brand of oil that the motor was started with because if you switch they can start burning more oil. Any truth to this? Any first hand experience or should I just go ahead and switch to synthetic?

Oh dang. Alright. I new they were basically just lawn mower engines so I figured he'd be able to work on them. Didn't drop the engine off just asked some questions. I see him having MM to work on all the time. I know they have a go devil dealer in Patterson. Should I check and see if they will service it or would it be better for me the get everything and do it myself? FYI don't have much experience working on motors.

The only thing that it need is fresh grease. Most lawn mower shops keep you on the back burner that why I said that. The guy in patterson is good he will treat you right

Took it back out today, and with myself 170 and my buddy 190 and a full tank of gas 6 gal I was still getting about 20 mph.

Also I think my prop may be shot. I measured it today after I got back and it only measured 8 in across. I did get stuck in some soft mud today and run through vegetation but I don't think the prop would wear a whole inch after two trips.

Best advice is to take that entire rig (motor, boat, and all) and go give it to some poor bastard that you wish ill upon.


On the other hand, if you just like to tinker, experiment, do it yourself, have a blast one day, and be aggravated as all get out the next, then I would keep it and enjoy the heck out of it.

Can't tell from the pic; what purpose is that ground wire serving in the third pic? It's in the area where GD uses a short ground strap to go from an electric fuel pump to the block, but no EFP on this one. With the tank in the front; you might run into an occasional stall out. If you do; you might look into putting one on it.

Alright trying to decide on a new prop. Should I go with the go devil prop or the backwaterinc prop, which is significantly cheaper.

Delta, that is great speed with a worn prop. Backwater's are good, but so are GD's. Looks like putting the battery up front for weight might be a better fit under that small front deck. That's what I did, just ran a heavier gauge battery cable up there and put a 50 amp circuit breaker. I still think an alum floor will be lighter and won't rot. I have the hydraulic fuel pump as well on my Kohler 27 and it works fine.

do maint yourself. nothing about it difficult at all. i always did my own maint and most of my friends to.