I have a buddy running my old 35 SWOMP on a 16ft Express Mod V.

We were out messing around with it yesterday evening. He was running it in some weedy shallow water with lots of dead grass and old cat tail clumps and kept getting stuck. I ran that motor for 4 years on a flat bottom and never had the issues he was having. I can admit even I thought we were walking back yesterday. I know the boat is super heavy.....but that motor was struggling. Motor would pull itself down into the mud and just dig a big hole.....But the all the dead veg would just pile up in front of the motor and cause it to come out of the water. I would use a push pole and push the pile into the hole, we would them move about a foot before it all happened again. I can't help but feel bad for the guy because I sold it to him and he isn't real pleased with it. He had the boat modified for the correct transom height at the local fab shop, so I do not think geometry is the issue. And, I never experienced that type of issue on my boat. Anyone on here have any advise? He is pretty crabby with me at this point. My only conclusion is that he should have bought my boat as well. Is that just too much boat for the 35? Water was about 4" deep but the mud was soft. To the point my surface drive goes right through it. Gotta be something we are missing..........

It's more than likely the boat.. Has he tried playing with the cavitation plate to keep it from blowing out? My neighbor that I hunted with for years had a 16 foot xpress mod v and a 27 long tail on it and it would get stuck everywhere. Is it a flat bottom or does it have the rakes along the bottom? That makes a huge difference especially with a long tail..

The weeds and crap are what pulls the motor up. He can't get going fast enough for the plate to affect anything when in shallow water. The motor pulls itself into the mud. But all the cap gets stuck in front of the motor. The boat was my guess. It's by no means a flat bottom. It has the keel runners.

I should add that in open water conditions it performs quite well so the cavitation plate should be set right. And from what I know the bump stop should be correct as well. I know I had to adjust that from time to time depending on load. But it is completely worthless in shallow water. Thus defeating the whole long tail purpose. I can see his frustration. But the boat may not work with it. That was his risk.

Remember it's a mud motor not an air boat. They all have limitations. That or its just operator error

Even a cheap-o crimped flat bottom Jon boat would fair much better than what he's running it on. The hull will make all the difference in the world in those situations. I went from a very slight V bottom Weldbilt to a GoDevil smooth bottom and its night and day thru vegetation or mud. The V bottom digs and hangs up on freaking everything...

I haven't gotten to run my boat yet but I have a weldbilt mod v and a longtail. I'll chime In after I get it in the water this week

It's simple. get a mud motor. shoot ducks in the face.

GatorGlide.com

^^^Gator glide will really help!^^^

At four inches the v is probably on ground. So it's acting like the leading edge of a plow and cutting into the bottom rather than riding on top. A mod v will get you stuck everytime, think of the difference of weight psi on just the v compared to a flat that distributes the weight.
My old war eagle couldn't go half the places a weldbilt would go, both had gtrs, both were stock.

How much Gator Glide does it take to do a 16ft boat? I see a few different options for the product. Any recommendations?

1/2 gallon kit will work fine.

H Finn

Is the hull of the boat flat on the bottom or is it a modified V? Some people think a modified V is a boat with a V nose. For instance I have a war eagle that is a flat bottom but has a V nose.

I am almost certain it is not totally flat. It has the keel runners that are outboard and not inverted. It is by no means rounded like a true V-hull boat. Curvature is slight, but it's not "flat".

I guess what was throwing me was the fact my surface drive was getting around last night. I know the speed I was coming into the weeds was helping quite a bit. We used that to open up some channels hoping it would be easier for him to get his rig into better cover. The mud is VERY soft, almost slop. And my boat isn't totally flat either. (1750 havoc MST) In all the years I ran that longtail I never had veg pile up in front of the motor like that. It's not the live cat tails....it's the dead clumps and debris that piles up in front of it. But water is low around here this year. So everything seems a bit more difficult. I suggested the GTR Glide. See what he decides.

Thanks all.

Tell your friend not to dump it so deep. Keep the blade at the surface and let it eat. My LT would hang up in extremely thick stuff like that if I came to a stop. Best thing is you have the leverage to put the motor in another apot. Sometimes I would open it up and dump it, but you better hold on and have kill switch attached

HAHA! I used to hold it wide open and dump it in the water. You are correct, I works but hang on!!!

It looked like it was everything he had to keep it up. Prop wanted to pull itself down pretty hard. Something is up with the combo itself. Hate to tell him but the 2 units just don't compliment each other. Gotta be a hull issue. That boat is a tank as well. Has upper and lower decks with storage. I ran over to his place at lunch....I cannot lift the front of the boat by myself....That's heavy in the mud world!! Keep in mind....we buy no means were carrying a "hunt load". We were just out screwing around prepping new spots. Boat was fairly MT at that time. As soon as the water got shallow, even with 6" of water the rig lost all speed and power. He needs to go hull shopping.

Put it back on your boat long enough to show him the difference and prove it isn't the motor.

My swomp longtail will dig straight down when the boat is sitting on something, once it starts to move the cav. plate does its job, then I let it blow out of the water to clear weeds and by then I am rolling. With the mod v he cannot build momentum as he is plowing the bottom, hence the shaft is staying down and gathering stuff infront of it. Only thing you can try is to put both of you all the way at the back of the boat to get the front out of the junk and hope you have the HP to push you way through it.

Like it has been said, put it back on your boat and take it to the same spot.

Good luck!

The swap will take place tomorrow night. That's the only thing I can do to put this at ease.

Thanks again.

I have a 35 swomp 72" on a 1648 lowe(older boat...tank) mod v and the motor and frame are great but i get stuck a lot too. I'm located in se wisconsin and was scouting the fox river yesterday. Got stuck in 2 to 3" of water and pure muck. the prop would dig down and i would have to put all my weight on the tiller handle to get the prop out of the muck. this was with two guys a blind a dozen decoys so a light load. after letting the motor scream and moving the prop around a few times i was able to make some headway. It seems like a mod v hull issue. Curious how the gator glide would improve driveability. maybe i should start looking for a true flat hull. USXC why did you go with a surface drive? I would hate to sell the swomp but am interested in getting one as well.

Yes the 72" is for a tall transom. I guess you could use the shorter one on a tall but I was worried I wouldn't have the right angle. I've though about pods not sure if I want to sink anymore money into this boat. I would also like a surface drive for fishing and being able to pick up decoys easier when your by yourself. I really don't know how tough it would be to find a decent used flat hull in se Wisconsin. Anybody that's used gator glide before think it would help this hull get through the mud a little better?