i have a 14x42 that i use for duck hunting i want a long tail mudmotor been looking at the 16hp kits on ebay would this be the best way to go or is there a better way to go. im new to these and dont know much or ever run one. im looking at spending around 1000. thanks for any help

Don't know what kits you are looking at but if it is from Thailand or made by sps stay the fuk clear of them. Learn from my mistakes.

X2^^ stay away from them if at all possible. Don't get me wrong. I know money is what it is but your regret it in the long run. Keep checking the mud motors fir sale section and maybe even postthat your intuitive market to buy one. E end if that means picking up a used longtail and outing some work into it. Good luck.

Stay away from the spa Thailand style motors. Put it this way. They charge about $20 for their prop which is aluminum. This prop is the weak spot for sure. They use this aluminum prop because the rest of the frame could not handle any type of torque if prop hit something (log, sand bar or thick mud) any reputable motor company realize that this is the area a mud motor is used in. There are several threads on here about these style set ups. I read some where a guy used 6 props in one weekend. Do the math. I spend $225 for a godevil prop. At that amount with those kind of multiple prop weekends. In less than a month you've bought a good prop. Just do a search on sps longtail on the search section. Hope this helps.

thanks guys ill stay away from them. yeah i think they were from thailand the kit was 499.99 for a 16hp kit it was everything but the motor. ill keep looking for a good name brand used or one that needs little work is fine with me thanks agin guys

Perfect place here to build one and ask questions

Don't know if you weld...

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZfdF8zo ... ata_player


Sent from my iPad


Somes guys on here built some...

http://mudmotortalk.com/mmt_v2/viewtopi ... =6&t=14055

http://mudmotortalk.com/mmt_v2/viewtopi ... =6&t=15907

thanks guys my brother has a small welding and machine shop i might just have to try and make a longtail. does anyone have some planes they can email me so i could show him

another ? i have a 14x42 older flat bottom would a 16hp be to small

Check out louisiana sportsman website for classifieds under, boats, browse, duck boats.

Here you go-plans $29.99:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/42248444/ma ... r-own-long

I'm not affiliated with them.

I run in some nasty stuff. Lillies and some stumps. Went threw 3 props in about 10 minutes of drive time. That was in weeds no stumps. Made a couple of shafts to accept a ss prop. The prop issue was taken care of. The main problem then was the bending of the shaft and housing. If you slam the prop down to dig in,the shaft would bend a lot. I am talking a few inches. To set up that motor right you would have to drop an extra $800. In extra bracing, new shaft, and new prop. Not worth it at all. Oh yea also if you use any kind of grass for your blind it will wrap around the lower seal(which is plastic) and cut it like butter. Don't do it bro

This is my first year running a ebay kits mud motor. Put a 13 hp motor on it, runs great. Got a 1442 jon boat can get about 15 mph out of it and run in about a foot of water. Works good for me so far.

Wait until that ft of water turns into 8, 6, 4 to 0 inches of water and you've got 6 inches of mud full of vegetation, wood and rocks. Or worse yet a oyster bed. Bye bye aluminum prop. Let me know how it turns out for ya

OK, so it sounds like the Thai LT's work well in some situations and not in others. So that has me thinking- In what situation would the Thai Long Tail work best? And when do you need to purchase something with a steel prop? When will a prop guard just solve the problem?
It seems that some people swear by the Thai Long tail and others curse them. However, it seems that it depends on the situation, way they are used and what the person wants them to do.
One thing I think I have found, is that my bigger aluminum props break less than my smaller ones.(I have a 6.5HP w/ 6in props and a 13HP w/ 8.5in props) I am pretty sure this is because the bigger props are thicker.

Its not just the props, the sps have virtually no bracing, use plastic bushings and are cheaply constructed. I guess if your always running in clean deep water they would be ok but why not just stick with a outboard that's a lot more efficient if that is the case. I'm not really trying to knock them, I just don't really see a purpose in purchasing a cheaply made mud motor that will not hold up in the type of conditions you would use a mud motor in. If you have one and you have great success with it more power to you just would not work in Southeast Texas or south Louisiana

Every video on YouTube of he Thai motors says it all. The guy will gently set the prop in the water(not mud) and move forward very slow. What you have to realize is that I had the Thai motor for a full season. I know what is capable of doing. Here is an example. With a full load running in weeds with the Thai motor to get to one of my spots I would have to go forward until I got stuck than push pole back and repeat many times. I timed it and it took me roughly 35 minutes. Same boat different motor it takes 2 minutes. Those motors are pos and that guy in Florida that is selling them and calling them mud motors should be ashamed. They suck ass. If you would run that motor than an American lt you will feel the same way. I would set the prop of the Thai motor in the water and apply pressure to dig in roughly 5 lbs of pressure and the shaft would bend like my limp shwantz. The current motor I have I dig it in as hard as I can sometimes probably approaching 60 lbs. Try doing that with that gook contraption. They work good in Thailand cause them zipperheads only weigh 75 lbs

I am in Ohio and they won't go threw my wetlands. As you stated they won't go threw southern wetlands. That means they probably won't go threw swamps in central US. You are running out of options. I am just buying balls. I am glad the motor works for you. We are just saying that the motor is not even comparable to an American LT. They might work for a 1 man rig with some kind of water or liquified mud. They cannot take the stress like an American LT.

Ok, ok, ok. I have a godevil longtail so this my sound weird coming from a American LT owner.


I will start by saying I have had no problems with my godevil longtail. I have two at this time and have had a homemade longtail. With that being said I didn't get this stuff overnight. We all would like to be able to afford to go out and buy a new surface drive boat and engine for $20000 but the realityof that is something to laugh at. Yes I would recommended saving the money and buying a stronger framed and braced motor. The up front cost is more but I think that the money will be well worth the enjoyment. Now I full understand not being able to go out and drop the cash on a more expensive longtail, heck I'm married and have 6 kids so I definitely know what needing a budget kit means. With that being said, if its all you can comfortably get is a less expensive Thai kit then my hats off to you because when its all said and done we are all doing the same thing. Were on the water whacking ducks

There is a place for each motor and they both have there preferred environment. So lets enjoy each others stories about the motors and hit the blinds

^^^^and I thought my life was hectic with one kid. You are a better man than me

We definitely have our moments of pure craziness but you know what, I wouldn't change it for anything. My wife and I have been married for almost 20 years and are both believers in "don't breed them if you can't feed them." Don't get me wrong we've had our times of having to stretch a dime into a weeks pay.

Hell, I haven't worked since the middle of july

Will you adopt me?

I don't know if you'd like that or not. Around here it's like marine boot camp. With 6 you've gotta keep them in line

Really enjoying this. Im in the same "boat" so to speak... looking at getting the SPS (NOT THE KKK) Thai kit for my 1436 BBUUTT.......... there is 1 big difference. Im up here in central Wisconsin and have no clam beds or massive mud swamps to worry about. 90% of what id be going through up here is clean sand bottom. There are some stump feilds around, but most of them have channels (real shallow ones) to drive through. There are some muddy marsh areas but even those are all usually a foot deep. There is also a real shallow river that I frequently fish in the spring that is LITTERED with logs, but again, the channel is mostly clean. Guys run outboards on it all thetime. You usually knock a log once or twice a trip, but its because the depth of the lower unit. It's my understanding that these long tails are only a few inches under the water correct? Im just posting to see if theres anyone one here that has used the kit in the type of conditions I've described. I dont wanna hear from the "beaver dam jumping, mud boggers", I wanna hear from the 4"-2' foot of water, lilly pad cutting, RARE OCASION swamp mud, sany bottom cruisers

I will say it one more time. Don't do it. The aluminum props will be destroyed even with Lilly pad leaves. I am in Ohio so I am running the same stuff. Those kits are POS.

That'd be me, run the river and only hit sand or mud when its really low, or if you wanna fly across a flat... but the trees and stumps are thick in some outlets... I have been almost thrown out of the boat a few times after pinging a few stumps... Stick with the welded steel frame and stainless prop... The only advantage one of these pos kits have is the price... and when you have to either A replace parts to fix it or B end up scraping the thing and moving on to another form of propulsion you're gonna be kickin yourself...