I have a fiberglass trihull that i picked up for a couple hundred bucks. Its just under 16' long and 4' wide. My buddy has one that is identical that we hunt out of now he has a 40 horse outboard on his and it scoots pretty good. But I'm looking at gettin a mud motor and the budget is kinda tight so I'm trying to see the smallest motor i could get away with using. Not worried about speed just as long as it goes. Thanks for any help.

a 6.5 longtail will make it go, but yeah your gunna be disapointed wit speed and how easily it gets stuck.

A 23 hp longtail will push it well and you can find some good deals on em if you hunt around.

I put a 16 hp on the back of an old riveted jon boat today. Got hi centered on a log briefly, geezed the motor, scooted off the log but now the boat leaks.



I wouldnt put any mud motor on a fibreglass boat. and wouldn't put one on a riveted aluminum one again either.

Besides that tri hull doesnt float shallow enough for a mud motor to ever be utilized where a out board absolutely couldnt anyway. You could probably trim up enough to get above your draft in that tri hull with an outboard. And if you cant then you might be risking a bad situation in a fibreglass boat anyway.


Those old tri hulls sure do ride smoothe tho, dont they?

hey thanks for the help. I know it doesnt make a lot of sense to put one on a fiberglass but I'm plannin on upgrading to an aluminum hopefully halfway soon. I'm just looking at buying a MM so i can get it on the aluminum right when i get it.. And if i were to get a little 6.5 or something I might try it out then put it on a little 10 or 12 footer to uses as a little one man job for some places i cant get my bigger boat.

Also what do you guys prefer as far as Longtail vs Surface Drive.

And yes that trihull is one smooth son of a gun!

Well, I have a 16 hp long tail on an express 1548. And if you gotta go across some open water it seems real slow.

Of course in a tight situation it's alot faster than you want it to be.

But yeah, a mm on a fiberglass job would get through the weeds and soft muck ok. just stay away from the stumps LOL!

If you travel rivers like I do and deal with some river current you will want enough motor to get out of trouble if you need too I would say 16 hp minimum with a long tail. 18 with a SD. on a boat 14' or bigger. A little 10 or 12' I would think a 6.5 would be ok, depending on what conditions you run your rig in.

A long tail would be the best choice for a small 10 to 12 foot boat, I would think it really difficult to steer a SD on a boat that small. Be like driving a hockey puck! LOL! But some SD guys here might have a solution for that.

I prefer a long tail because of the conditions I run in. I cant go real fast on small rivers anyway and a long tail is a little better for crawling through the tough stuff like half submerged logs and stuff. A sd is pretty much rules the roost for speed and handling in marshy muddy flad conditions where you have more open space to manuver and longer runs where speed is important.

Most of the Louisianna guys like the SD because of the conditions they run in, marshy muddy type stuff.

Think about where you roam and pick accordingly.

Alot of good advise can be found here, these fellas know the best boat/motor combo's and their advise is well worth hearing.

All of the places I would be runnin in are marshes that are anywhere from close to waist deep to mainly bout knee high or less, just standing water no current and not very few stumps. Plus I kinda know where the stumps are and will stay way away of those spots with the fiberglass! Alot of the boats that hunt where I hunt are runnin 16-25 long tails. And get around just fine. I'm thinkin a 16 will be about right cuz they might be a little bit cheaper unless I can catch a deal on a 25 or something close.