I am new to these motors and boats and this will be my first and i just wanted to ask to see what are the pros and cons of the longtail motors to the surface drive motors. I also wanted to know what you think the best combo for boat (riveted or all weld), to a longtail or surface drive. I'm running in open water to 6 inches of water. Also have me and a buddy and my dog and two dozen decoys. What size motor/ boat do you recommend? Thanks

Brassos ~ Help this feller out ........

1. I have found the long tails to be more of a work load
2. I have found the long tails might want to throw you overboard in sharp turns or rivers with alot of current eddies.
3. I have found that if there alot of logs/stumps that you might not see you must remove the pin in the handle (Go Devil) on the surface drive or risk breaking your leg! This is not the case with the long tail

That's my 2 cents.

you will love a surface drive with reverse in the long run

longatails arent necesarily hard to drive if you know how to fine tune it. mine tracks straight with no hands (no, this isnt safe, i know, its a homemade motor still in the works) and if i had a wider boat, would be no problem to turn.

A 16 x 48 with a 23 longtail will go where no surface drive can go...

But a wuss can't run it...

That's why most of these guys have a surface drive with reverse - LOL

the 38" hull is my only problem with my boat.. but i deal with it. hard to make sharp turns.. but im not a wuss and i dont have reverse

I ran a 16x48 for 7 years!! Had a 25 lt, and a 31 lt on it!! After went to a 35 Sd !! Y'all want comparisons their is none!! Sd all day everyday!! The only thing that a lt can help with is high center on the azz end of your boat!! Having common since and Lil smarts on the tillers solves that!! Momentum is the key in all the variables lt don't have momentum Sd create speed which takes care of that!! I can go on all day with instances but y'all get the point!! Giga I will agree with what you said but that only goes for a gdlt to a gdsd!! As for as the other brands I think not!! Like I said I have run all and your talking out your ass!! That's my .02

Heres my take on it... Its got alot to do with the boat as well.. We have our longtail on a all weld, that has real deep ribs.. now yeah, our longtail will push us through quite a bit, but as soon as the boat hits anything hard, (hard bottom, sand, etc.) it comes to a complete stop FAST. Now if it was on a slick bottom, we wouldent get stoped in half of what we do. Longtails get old quick especially with long runs, and they also are slow, and dont have the load carrying capabilities of a surface drive. The only place ive ever seen a longtail dominate a surface drive is in hard bottoms stopped. The longtails can moved 180 degrees behind your boat, and you can use that to move the back of the boat back and forth, and finagle yourself through some stuff.. they have a better angle than a surface drive and can grab were some surface drives cant. Now on the other hand, surface drives are faster, and when on the right hull, the momentum they have over the longtail due to faster speeds make up in whereever a longtail may dominate over it. all in all, alot of people with longtails usually switch to a surface drive. They are easier to drive, faster, have better load carrying capabilities, and usually can go through everything a longtail can. They are a little bit more pricey, but well worth the money. my .02. Hows that BROOKES?

Also, not having a clutch, gets really old. the options that surface drives offer makes life so much easier.. Really makes you appreciate it over the longtail. Btw, the reverse is a really usefull option as well!

I will not argue the fact that Short drive motors are easier to drive and are faster. Thats a given. But I will garuntee you a sd motor of any kind can not continuously make it where i hunt. I kept my 23lt for a reason and use it more. I also keep an 18hp gdlt for backup should i break a shaft on my 23 and need to get my boat out the woods. Point of the matter is a lt is like having it in 4wd low. AS for speed I dont know anyone that can drive 30mph through the trees.
To say which type of motor is better overall for you depends on the terain you r running.

95 percent of the people on mmt have owned long tails!! 90 percent of them have come to realization the other just can't afford one yet!! Sd all day long!!

We finally agree on something.

Kibb you have lost me lol

I run hardbottom, stumps, logs, and timber and love my lt.

Gettin there faster would be nice, as would be nuetral, and reverse, and not havin that long ass tail in the bank when you try to turn in a tight ditch with steep sides.

Oh well, you win some you loose some.

Go getr. That is the same thing I told Kyle broussard at his first show in the super dome !! Their Is no way his motor could follow my lt!! Funny thing is now they ain't nothing that can follow my Sd!!! it took me a year to take the leap!! And at first I was only buying it for the speed !! They ain't enough money in the banks to cover a head up dual between a sd and lt!!

I'm fairly new to the mm world myself. First one was a mb 20 longtail on an alumacraft. Loved everything about it, except speed and as previously stated if you aren't careful they will chunk u out the boat. Friend of mine experienced this first hand one day at the lake, thank god for kill switches. Test drove a sd on a Excel couple months ago. Needless to say I have a mud buddy 35 at the house waiting on my F4. BUT I am still kicking myself in the ars for selling my lt. It was a perfect one man/dog setup plus everytime I was at the pump someone would ask Wat the hell is that haha. One of those first loves I guess haha. Hope this helps

obviously you dont ride where i do. I OWN A SD TOO! I can promise you a SD cant make it!!! In the mud yes a sd is better. But when u run ditches that have trees and are tidal, your ass will be so high in the air your sd motor will never come close to grabbing water. and no you cant just run wide open and jump things in the swamp either. I run these boats day in and day out. While most of yall type away on this site. the days I'm not commenting is cause I'm gettin paid to drive these things and on the weekends when I'm not bass fishn, I'm cuttin dicthes with my long tail. Trust me I have a full knowledge of the capabilities a long tail and a surface drive have. The reason I dont run a 35hp lt is due to me needing a narrow boat and couldnt float it. plus the 23 has a pull rope in case the battery dies.

Back in the days BK (Before Katrina) when I hunted and fished Pearl River and the Biloxi Marsh, I would not have traded my LT for all the surface drives in the world. In that deep mud and thick grass, it ALWAYS brought me home.

I see some of the videos of the surface drive guys with 2 or 3 boats stuck on a mud flat, winching out or getting pulled out by other boats. Places where my LT would have just dug it's way out to deep water.

If thats your area, lots of mud and heavt grass, a LT is the way to go!

Now, having said that ...

Now I live at the end of the civilized world in North Carolina. (There's something really wrong with a place that don't have crawfish). Hunting and fishing in THIS area, with the cypress swamps and long distance runs, I would trade my 23LT for a surface drive in a second !

Personally, I would stay with Go-Devil. They have always been good to me since 97' and I can live without reverse, clutches and the like.
More accessories = MORE STUFF TO BREAK!!

Getting there ain't the thing, GETTING HOME is what counts

Just saying

Had both!!Go with a surface drive

If you get stuck in Biloxi marsh with a sd it's because you don't know how to run one.

I have run longtails and a couple of surface drives. But I own a longtail. It is great for what I do and for MY holes; granted its underpowered. I bought it before I knew what the hell I was doing or really needed in a set-up. I have 3 areas me and my buddies hunt that they want to take my longtail due to high centering stumps and fallen logs every few feet we have to crawl over.

That being said. 90% of the time we run their SD's. as the majority of our other spots are vegetable choked and lots of mudflats. They are faster, hold more people and more skit. There is really no differeence on our end on the azz whooping side even when we were running the bigger block LT's/