I'm looking at getting an 1856 GD with long tail twin 23's. Anyone have experience with the twins? Seller said 18-20 mph one person or loaded down. Besides preference ... does GD boat rank with GT?

there is a guy selling twin 23's right now... but it kinda seems like that is the equivalent to starting a fire with sticks when you have a lighter in your pocket.. why not a surface drive?

I have run the twin 23's hundreds of miles in the Alaskan rivers. I ran them on a 20 X 60 Go-devil boat and a 24 X 48 Alweld. My only criticism was fuel economy went down pretty drastically. They would haul an incredible load at 20 to 25 mph, but didn't go a lot faster when they were empty. I would want a boat longer than 18' to offset the weight of the twins. They were definitely better on the 24 X 48 and that may be why they only do 18 - 20 mph in the shorter boat. If the price is right and the market is there I suggest you separate the twins, buy the small number of parts to make each a single, sell them and buy a surface drive. If you replace the twins with a 35 SD it will give you a better balanced, easier steering and faster boat.. I have no experience with the GT, but the GD boat is top quality.

With the sd that've available today, twin lt doesn't pay. A sd will b faster, and haul a load better

What Stualaska said 2x. This is a longtail forum and I drive a longtail because I run in a sheltered marsh, relatively short runs, two hunters at most, and it is shallow with a hard bottom here and the LT shines over the SD but with that size hull, which is wide and heavy, those twin 23's are not a great fit. Even a 35 longtail would not be enough, so the 35 SD would be vastly more effective. With the opposite conditions that I described and heavier loads, and all around easier driving, get yourself a big block SD motor- GD, GT, PD are all sound platforms. As Stualaska has related, he drove longtails for a while but with his extraordinarily long river runs, the SD became the right choice, and truth be told. a number of guys here in Florida sold their SD's and got airboats or went back to their conventional outboards because of conditions here. There is no one mud motor/hull for all marshes but I will grant the SD type motor fits the most best.