Im not sure if longtail is the correct place to post this but i just wanted to talk about my experience with these two manufacturers. I began duck hunting with a buddy in highschool. Like most of us we started out the hard way tossing a few pirogues in the back of a pick up and paddling as far into the marsh across shallow water and mudflats to find a decent spot to hunt. The first time i ever heard about mud boats or mud motors i was told about go-devil. Since then it seems like go-devil my be one of the most well known compaines for their production of mud boats and motors. Ive wanted a mud boat for a few years now and last year was fortunate enough to purchase a flat boat from basspro and a mud motor from a man that had built it himself using the plans from go-devil. As with most first time homemade products i ran into a few issues. The biggest problem i ran across was a faulty bearing/bushing on the motor frame closest to the prop. When the part failed the prop was loose enough to break off my cavitation plate and lower skeg as well as destroy the drive shaft. I first began by rewelding the plate and skeg back in place. Even though the drive shaft was worn down a lot from the trip back to the launch i figured i might be able to replace the bushing and just put it a little further up on the shaft. So, i called a few businesses around me to try to look for a replacement part. After no luck in my search i was told by a friend that go-devil in baton rouge sells replacement parts. I gave them a call and was told that they do keep the bushings in stock and i could come pick one up. I drove an hour and a half to the go-devil shop and upon arriving was asked for the serial number on the motor. I told them that i wasnt sure where it would be located but i had the boat with me so maybe we could match a part up. When i told them that the motor was built buy a man who got their plans off the internet they refused me service. They said that if the motor didnt come from me that they would not sell me any parts. This made me very aggravated since i had just made the trip all the way over there but i figured if they wouldnt sell me the part maybe they could at least help me out a bit. They refused to offer me any help and offered no recommendations as to where to find the part. After leaving go-devil i was 100% certain that any chance of me purchasing a boat from them in the next few years was thrown out the window. My buddies also now refuse to purchase their products because of the lack of customer service. I honestly expected a little more from such a well known business. Anyway, my search ended when a buddy of mine recommended me to call gil at copperhead manufacturing/hopkins. Gil told me that he didnt know if he could be of service but to bring the boat by and he'd take a look. I brought the boat by and expressed to him my eagerness to fix the boat before the season came to a close. He told me to leave a few parts behind and hed give me a call in a few days. By the time i pulled in my driveway that afternoon i got a call from gil informing me that he had already made a new bushing set up and to drop my driveshaft off in the morning. By the next afternoon gil and i had reassembled the shaft and bushing and he made a much stronger set up than was previously on the motor. While working on my boat together i got to see and learn all about his new copperhead motors which at first seemed very deceiving. Gil told me that he was getting 21 mph in a 16 ft flat with 2 men. After seeing it in person i was amazed. I dont know what the other guys are doing wrong but he for sure is doing something right. I received great service from gil, wasnt charged much at all for his time, and in the process figured out where i will most likely be purchasing my first surface drive. I know theres a lot of negative talk on her abt his motors but all i can say is dont knock it till you test drive one of his boats. Its very good to know that there are still companies out there that are not only passionate about the products they build but also passionate abt this hobby/sport we all care so much about and will give an arm and a leg to help out a fellow sportsman. Thank you Gil for getting me back on the water in under 48 hours

Are you Joey from "Friends"???

i never could understand why gd was that way. not even a prop w/o a serial number. years ago i called for a price on a prop for a btlt i had. once told it wasnt for a gd they all but hung up on me.

i can see not selling a bearing/bushing unit out right so some one could build a home made motor, but a prop or custom fix for someone that doesnt involve giving up your proven design.

maybe they dont have the time to fix someones junk but a prop off the shelf seems like profit no matter what it goes on.

Wow.



And, you won't find much negative talk about Copperhead on here, everybody that has seen/driven one was impressed.

Glad to hear you are back on the water.. Those motors are very impressive!

yea i'm a GD owner and if you got that # then they will hook you straight up. It also helps if your motor is stolen. if parts are ordered for that unit they can help get your stuff back. They also keep on record all parts bought for a particular unit. i can call and they will tell me the number of drive shafts, seals, u-joints, or anything else i purchased for my lt and when it was ordered. But you are right no #s no service period. Just warrens way of doing business. I have felt at times he was trying to sell me stuff i didnt need but then again he has talked me out of other things.

That sounds like a company that I wont be shopping at. Personnally Ive heard they dont hold a candle to a gatortail or a pro drive when the pressures on.

X2 on the stolen motor thing. Chances are if someone steals the motor there may as well be a hull and trailer with it. Wouldn't it be sweet if you got your whole rig back because Coco was a hardass about the serial number?

you know i hate it everytime i call gatortail and they wont sell me parts for my mudbuddy.....seriously can you blame the guy for not wanting to help out the competition. to me that would be kind of a slap if i was in his shoes.

i only had to use their customer service once when i had my longtail granted it was one of theirs but coco stayed on the phone with me and walked through every step needed to get the job done and even called me back the next day to see if i had gotten it worked out so the service for me was above and beyond.

Yeah, he's a stand up guy. I'm sure all the manufacturers are though.

MLeblanc1....

When you stated " Ive wanted a mud boat for a few years now and last year was fortunate enough to purchase a flat boat from basspro and a mud motor from a man that had built it himself using the plans from go-devil. "


First off --- welcome to MMT....

Did you know that Go-Devil had never sold "plans" to anyone ???

They build and support THEIR product --- and by being strict about those
serial numbers not only limit theft but insure that LEGITIMATE owners get
the right part the first time.... Something the other mfgs are not known for...

Also they manufacture "on-site" 99 percent of their own parts --- so they
are not now, nor will they ever be, selling those parts for use in other products....

Warren is a stickler for safety and quality and would never want to be involved
with mis-use of items he made where someone might be injured or worse....

DMD

Didn't they expect you to drill your own holes in that part GT sent you
for a "brand new motor" --- because they weren't sure which one you
needed ????



Bwwwaaahhhhh Haaaaa Haaaaa !!!!!

Toss me another one to hit !!!

I almost blew up a processor when I hit "wrong part" on SEARCH
GT PD and MB had lots of hits......

ONce again this is a pointless argument cause it will go on forever!

Giga do you ever get laid? i mean dam, between all the time you spend on here lookin up what other people have posted and suckin on coco nuts, there aint any time left in the day to do anything productive and fun. you seriously need to get a life or something

Hey CM

Don't you need a band-aide fer yer nose rash there ???

Any luck sellin that GTR yet ???



Bwwwaaahhh Haaaa Haaaa



PS - just sayin HI to the new guy, tossed him a nice friendly post up and
here comes the mindless crud from, who else the GTR brigade...

band aid for what?

it dont matter what brand i own, i still wouldnt like you. when i first joined here i was curious to see why so many ppl gave you a hard time. now that ive been here awhile it was all justifiable.

Just remember Giga it only takes one of us to out run you! And last i remeber when i was in wallisville YOu were an open water pirate, so go play!

To every story there is two sides. Yes Warren didnt sell you the parts because he busted his a$$ for years and spent greats amount of money developing the frame and the last thing he would want to do is have someone else duplicate his design (even down to the bearing type). I try not to get caught up in all the which brand is better arguments but to say go-devils customer service is bad is somthing I must respond to. Just last week I was in there and while talking to one of the receptionist i asked a question that she was not knowledgable to answer. Warren must have been ease dropping on our conversation because when she said she didnt know the answer he got up from his desk and walked around the corner to inquire upon my question. From there we talked for over an hour covering a wide range of topics. He offered me a cup of coffee (foldgers or community they brew both brands in the morning) went through his photo album of duck hunts and invited me into his office to see his collection mounts. He took his time and provided excellent customer service.
This reply is not saying that go-devil is better than all other competiitors and that they wont do the same for you. I'm just saying that go-devils customer service is evenly as good as other brands if your your not wanting to steal his design!

I had good customer service when i called them, granted i do actually have two of his motors, I wish they kept the engine serial numbers back to the 70's so id know how old this one engine is.

Maybe their idea of Customer service is to serve GD customers.. Whats wrong with that??? Its made um a hell of alot on $$$$... Its a got dam lawn mower engine on a frame w/ bearings, ujoint, drive shaft and prop... Everything but the prop is sold at FTS and the prop can be purchased off ebay...I know when I sold my GDLT, I told the guy he would have to call and let GD know he had purchased the Motor... I didnt know they would call me to verify that I indeed sold the motor.... But they did, I think thats some dam good CS..... Just my .02.... Carry on....

no bashing the cs. but you would think they would sell to any brand owner as long as it didnt give up any of there designs. prop, cable, engine parts, any common part for any motor. years ago coco got on the phone and would ansewer any questions about his motor if you owned one or wanted to purchase one. thays says alot about the owner to get on the phone. so cs is very good. a far as a safety and stolen issue, that i never thought about, good. but again its the common parts i could never figuer out.

Warren did a great job when I was there. Had a lot of work done to add some things to the boat. Floor, welding, etc. They were very helpful. Coco also gave me a personal tour of the facility and introduced me to a bunch of the employees. Stand up guy. Sorry you had a bad experience but you aren't a GD owner. Plus the GD dealer Bart Baker, will go out of his way to help you if you need it. I had a case gasket replaced in the middle of duck season last year. He had me on the water in less than an hour with a demo motor while he personally drove to LA to change the gasket under warranty. This year, a hole in my coat pocket allowed my keys to fall out. Bart was on the water and met me with a new set of keys within a couple of hours. Awesome.

I aint takin sides here but I had Warren on the phone at 630 one friday night workin out a fuel problem........idk about any others. Just sayin

i dont see any problem with what coc's doin. if a part is made for a godevil then it may not fit a homemade mudmotor the same way it fits a GD.... coco's keepin his ass outta trouble. and btw, if youre looking for bushings to git that homemade motor you got there are dealers that sell buchings. get the inside diamter of the housing and go to mcmaster.com

Never had any problem with cs at gd but i do own one. Keeping up with the #'s is a very good thing. I had my lt taken off the back of my boat. About 4 months later i get a call from gd wanting to know if i had sold my motor. I asked the woman witch motor was she talking about and she said the lt i told her it was stolen. They took down the guys address so the cops knew where to find it. So long story short i got my lt back bad guy gets find. All because of a little # that nobody ever thinks about but the people at gd. Thats all i got to say.