Ok guys, I have a 23 longtail on a 1544 riveted jon boat. I have a 1748 all welded and i was thinking of putting my motor on it because it a nicer, better built boat. My question is what performance changes should i expect by doing this?

im not a mud motor expert . . . yet! haha but i would say u would not get as much speed! as far as bein welded thats means you could bang it around more!!

probably a little slower. Just because al welded boats are heavy.

forgot to mention, are both boats short transom or tall transom? would be best if they are the same!

go devils r long tails all run better on short transom u can put them on tall transom but they wont drive as good r perform as good as if it was on a short transom!!!!

the length of your boat shouldnt affect speed much and a longtail really doesnt loose any performance until you go wider than 48. You will prolly see a little loss of speed because of the wieght of an all welded boat but all those stumps on darbonne wont mess up the bottom as bad.

It will be slower. I would guess 15-25% slower. If you were getting 20 mph you are probably looking at 15-17 mph. The positive side will be the boat will probably perform better in shallow water...more bottom surface area.

Sorry forgot to mention that the 1748 is a tall transom but if i do switch them out i am gonna have the transom cut down

The length of the boat will make a difference in speed, maybe not a lot. Longer boat, more it weighs, the harder the same size engine has to work.
As far as welded vs riveted, cant help there. I suspect that transome height will also affect peformance.

Go for it. You won't lose as much as some think.

you will have a $hit load more surface area to float the motor and load. that way the boat wont plow as much when loaded. that surface area will distribuute the load better and you may proform better.

Dude go for the bigger boat I run a 14/48 with a 23 hp LT and I complain constantly about there not being enough room inside the boat

Here's an answer from someone who just did the exact same thing. I was running a 25 kohler longtail on a 1470 .075 rivited flat bottom john. It was 56" at the bottom of the boat 70 across the beam. I got about 16-18 mph out of the rig. I just bought a 1648 grizzly .100 welded construction modified vee, put the go devil on her and am consistantly getting 4-5 mph more out of a heavier and longer boat? Plus it handles a ton better than the 14 flat bottom. Takes the skinny water without a problem and rips up the thick veg. and mud better than my 1470? More surface area I think. I did notice when you let off the throttle from wide open to mid to low rpms the new boat doesn't nose dive like the 1470 did either.

He!! The first time out with the dogg in the old boat, I was rippin along on our madien voyage, I let off the throttle and she did a perfect 180 off the front of the boat! I was laughin pretty hard, she was lookin at me like damn boss why did you do that to me in her typical black dogg stare!
Smoke

yes but the grizzley actually has less surface area on the bottom. The quick math of 16' x 48 in gives you 9216 sq. in on the bottom and the 14' x 56 in gives you 9408 sq in on the bottom. So the 16 footer while longer has less surface area in the water.

Not all of da bottom of da boat will be in contact wit da water and ever less when you get on plane.

Right which is why the narrower boat does better. The 14 may have done as well if it was narrower. Just a guess though as i havent run both combo's

Ihave a 1546 alweld witha 25 GDLT and witha whore out prop it still hit about 18 , just took the boat to a fitter and they are welding a hunt deck to the back of the boat so it will ride flatter on the water the added lenght should bring the front of the boat down but because of the width I add leght to it , because all I here about long tails is the longer the better and skinnyer is better so will see what happens , also has anyone of you guys ever bought a prop from ( Ron hill ) looking at a 9\7 what yall think.

I bought my last prop from Ron hill. (off ebay) and I'm tickled pink with it. for the price I couldnt be happier. I plan on buying another one from him when this one wears out. I know a lot of guys dont really dig his props, but I am very pleased with mine.


Gee