Hello Folks, I'm new here, and new to mud motors.. I'm looking at a new rig for myself, and my friends to use. Ya'll tell me what you think..

I will go with a Weldbilt boat, 16 or 17 ft. 48 or 52 inches wide.
Looking at a Copperhead motor. 18 hp. Want a shorttail motor. Would use a
12 hp. if it's got the torque to push.

What I will do is mostly fish, a little hunting, according to which club I'm in.
I fish mostly in the schoals, not a lot of grass and mud, BUT more rocks than
you can imagine.... I will go thru chutes between rocks, some shallow, some
running fast with strong current.
The reason for this size boat is comfort, might sit for hours in one place.

Speed will not be a factor, as those rocks will make leaks in the bottom of a boat. Maybe half throttle most of the time. There's time in the spring going after stripes the need for speed is a factor.

How do these type motors do in my situation ?? What has been used here for as long as I can remember is mounting a pitchfork on the foot of an outboard. Some make cages, but I like the fork better (IMHO)

I'm looking forward to everyone's thoughts and ideas... THANKS James

Steer away from a weldbilt, get a longitudnially braced mudhull and perferably a 35-36 SD, I promise you will always ask for more speed even if you dont use it 100% of the time.

With the smaller motors - the lighter the hull - the better....

While a wide hull is nice to sit still in and fish - a longer narrower hull
generally "works" better with a MM....

Absolutely - get a slick bottom hull - not a ribbed one - the ribs take
away a lot of the performance....


WeldBilt - I owned one in 17x42 and it "worked" well with my 27 GDSD - it
was a true slick bottom with a 60" beam at the gunnels - had crossbraces
and was only .80 gauge.... Also pushed it with a 9.9 four stroke outboard
when running trotlines and it planed of nicely with 2 guys and fishing gear...

Pros - it was very light and very fast - carried a ton of weight well when we
were in blind building mode and floated shallow with the square chines

Cons - the botttom took dents or hooks between the crossbraces which looked
like the devil but did not adversely affect performance - being square chine it had
a lot of slide at high speed when turning - bow was square and cutting between
trees required a careful aim or ended in an abrupt stop on impact


On final thought - transom height and angle can be "very important" on some
brands of MM - talk to the MM maker about the "best height and angle" and
be sure whatever brand hull you buy matches their requirements....

from what i read on here these are the next best thing to sliced bread!!!!

I'm not sure a mud motor is the best route to take. Jet drives are made to navigate around rocks, gravel, and sand.

However, as it has already been said, if you are going to run a mud motor, get a boat built for it. Preferably from one of the very reputable builders represented on this site. These builders could not be here if they did not build a quality product and consistently stand behind it.

first, i notice you are in AL, where? next i run the same conditions you mention. i have a mb mini on a 14x48 riveted hull. my bro-in-law has a 35 mb on a 16x54 welded boat. both are jon's not mud hulls. ive seen 2 gd and 1 pd on the same river. they work well in the shoals. i can run with the jets no problem. i dont know the guy that runs the pd, so i dont know if he has had any issues. but due the prop strikes ive had, and thats on a regular baises, i would question how well the gears would take them. i feel, and its only a feeling, that the belt takes some of the harshness out of the prop strikes. some may say they hit stuff with pd's all the time, with no issue. that may be true, but i know the difference between wood and a solid rock. untill you know what a non-movable rock prop strike is like, you wouldnt know. that said, i dont truely know how well a pd would hold up.

as for the boat. ive run a rivited boat for over 4 years. ive hit rocks and beached it on gravel bars. so far its in pretty good shape. i just noticed a few small hooks (dents) near the transom that may be effecting the proformance a little. over all its in good condition.

as for speed. i understand you may not be comfortable running the shoals wide open, but i learned early, you have to keep your speed up. you will hit alot more stuff if you slow down. the speed will keep you off the bottom. where i run i have some pretty long pools of slow water i have to run to get to the shoals where i do most of my fishing. i want to pass these as fast as i can to get the the good spots. speed is important. also i have limited points to launch. though the river may only be 20-30 yards wide i have to run several miles to get to the areas i want to fish. again speed is important.

wide vs narrow- you need to be comfortable while fishing. a wide boat helps alot. 42 or 48 is good. 14 foot - 16 foot is a good lenth for the area i fish. you would have to make that call. there are several big jet boats that run the river i do. these are up to 20 foot with up to 200 hp, so i guess i could go bigger.

i true mud hull would work in the river and i may get one when the time comes. the thicker bottom would help with the rock hits. it would give you more confidence also, but its not a must have. handeling is very important. do not get a mod vee boat. the dont turn as well as you need to. plus the river is not going to get rough enough to need one. if you go with a mud hull ide get a square chine, as it will turn better. you need this ability as much as anything else. untill you have run wide open up a shoal and have to make a hard turn wide open to miss a rock, boulder or log, you would know how it feels when the boat doesnt respond. you will be changing you shorts.

Most of what has been said is right on the money, if you are going to run shallow, get a hull that can take the abuse, regardless of what you "think" you will do with the hull now, once you realize you can run in a few inches of water to get to good spots you will run in inches of water and you will hit stuff.

You might want to look at some of our Phowler mini jons, our 17-1840 .100 5086 grade hulls are tough for the weight and they will run in the low 20s with the 18hp copperhead with two men. They will also run well with the 12hp, 23 top speed and mid to upper teens with three men and gear, 14-15 with four men. They are built for these little motors and are priced in line with the production boats you are considering.

Do your homework and you will end up with a nice performing rig.

PW

THANKS for all the info. I'm looking at smooth bottom boats now. I've got to stick with something wide tho.. I've got an un-wanted visitor in my bones.!!
I have a Office chair in my boat now.!!! It tilts/swivels/has arm rests/ and it has adjustable height .... It's the only way I can stay sitting for long.. The back comes up to almost my shoulders. I've got more than a few laughs with it, but I tell them ( IT'S MY BOAT,and I'M THE CAPTAIN !!!! )
Like it or swim !!!

Also HUNT4DEER I'm on the Tallapoosa River/and upper end of Lake Martin..