I purchased a used 1546 Express boat with a 23 hp Go Devil longtail. Prior to the purchase I had never been around a longtail. I took it out for my maiden voyage and am surprised that I am not on Americas funniest videos. I have alot of boat experience but I feel like I am in for a long learning curve before I am comfortable running this thing.
I was instructed to make it a habit to always wear the kill switch as these longtails can turn on you in a hurry. The boat didn't have a solid floor or a handle to hold onto so I am in the process of getting those added.
The videos that I have watched all seem to show the operator using his left arm and the handle appears to almost force you to do that. I feel like the throttle ball is almost too stiff to move and to do that with my left hand is not natural. How stiff should the throttle cable be? I am sure you don't want it to move to easily but it is so stiff that it is hard to make a smooth transition in speeds (either too fast or too slow).
Any other tips or suggestions for a longtail greenwing?

I have no advice to offer, but I am looking forward to keeping up with this thread, as I am a newbie as well. Your one step ahead of me, I don't own the motor YET!!!!..

you should be able to loosen a nut or something on the throttle control and make it easier to move, if the cable is not in a bind some where.
As for the handle, I am the same way, I made mine so that the handle is on the starboard side of the engine, allowing for right handed operation. I hated working it with my left hand.

I have been driving a longtail since 1990, started with an 18 HP GD, progressed to a 25 GD (two of them), then since 2004 a 27 MB on a 1648 Grizzly. The use of a kill switch is a must. Make sure you balance your load evenly and have a PFD on or at hand's reach. Also have quickly accessible a fire extinguisher. Have all the necessary tools on board, and carry a spare prop, grease gun, keep the battery topped off and/or carry a jump box, the lever throttle should be fixed and you can set it and forget it. I would put in an aluminum floor-won't rot and is actually lighter than wood. You can cover this with several different materials. Make sure your bilge pump works and get a manual one for backup. Make sure your running lights are working and carry at least two Q-beam type lights and flares and a horn or whistle. Get a grab bar installed although I don't use one. Practice, practice, practice. A fully swiveled mount motor can let you free (or change) a tangled prop without going in the water. Hope some of that rambling helped!

good points, da go get'er! I meant a normal swivel that allows a 180 degree move to put the tail in the boat. I agree that a prop can seize up pretty bad. I recommend to the rookie that he put anti-seize on the shaft and prop threads, keep them clean, and remove and clean at least once each season. At least you'll have the spare prop in hand to replace when back on land with the proper tools. I will also state to remove the foam pre-cleaner on the carburator air cleaner, this is not needed and you will get more air (at least in theory). I also recommend on older motors, synthetic oil and grease. Oh yeah, for reverse carry a stout pushpole, and for auxiliary motor a couple of serviceable paddles.

shift your weight left or right if the motor is pushing or pulling against you. when the weight in the boat is balanced, the motor drives itself. (you don't have to fight it) the more weight in the boat, the more important side to side weight distribution is.

front to back weight distribution is also important. use a gps to find your boats sweet spot with a load. too much in the back creates too much drag, too much in the front causes the bow to 'barge'.

slow down in the turns, until you get the hang of it.

do NOT wrap your thumb around the handle, or your shoulder will regret it when you hit your first log/stump. no death grip. let the handle bouce down to the floor if you have too. make sure the kill switch tether is short enough to kill if this happens.

you would rather have your throttle too tight rather than too loose. it should stay where you set it unless YOU move it. a throttle that walks slowly down is a PITA.

run a fresh prop at all times if you can, when your RPMs go up, your prop is wearing and you are loosing performance.

keep it greased and seals working.

those are the basics, the rest is 'stick time'

Something that I learned from these fine people is that the deaper that you run the prop in water, the more your rpms and speed will drop. Also if you get stuck, don't let the tail get too deep cuz it will try to dig to China ...and it's a bitch to get back out. I had to verify that during my learning curve....ok so it dug a lot faster than I expected. And plenty of stick time.

leave your tilller on the left side. get a grab bar installed it will help you because you can balance yourself and you can pull and push against it. as for your cable, check for binds or overly tight clamps that might be pinching it. If it is still sticking take it off and try to find if there is corrosion or something restricting it. The most important thing to running any kind of mud motor is tiller time. let me repeat that again TILLER TIME!!!!!!

The only time that I had the boat out I noticed that a few times the prop would just jump out of the water. I am not sure what would cause that? Maybe I was getting into shallower water and had the prop too deep.

bend the end of the cavitation plate up

And X2 on the never seize on the threads. knucklesaver for sure.