So I will borrowing a 25hp Kohler LT mud motor to run on my 16' 1969 Sea Sprite flat bottom boat. The boat will have a blind on it and approx 70 decoys and 2-4 guys depending on the day of course. I was just wondering about how to set it up on the boat as far has the height adjustment. Should the cavitation plate be even with the bottom of the boat? Also what should I excpect out of this thing just so I know if im in the ball park or not when I run it? Any help is appreiciated. Thanks.

4 guys and 70 decoys and y'all stuff. Plowing water is bout as much you gonna get

where do you need 70 decoys for??? you hunting a 500 acre managed flat smack in the middle of the central flyway with no other hunters?

All right.. Another forum full of Jack Wad proffesionals. I wasn't asking about my number of decoys to use.. Sorry if you do it differently..

You will plow water all day long with that load.

You want the cav. plate to run 1-3" under the water.

im just curious, never understood people wanting to use a ton of decoys.. and i agree with everything else said, lt's performance changes greatly with a little weight difference. thats a LOT of weight, odnt plan on goin far or runnin real shallow, that things pretty loaded down. you gotta figure out the transom height suggested for the motor to get optimal performance, some are made for taller or shorter transoms

There were times last year I used 100 or deeks on a huge shallow flat of a lake because there was no water in the woods to hunt. With me the dog and one other person I plowed like nobody's buisness and it took 20 minutes to run 3 miles or so.

Now when I'm in the woods, its 10 decoys tops.

I run a 16x48 1976 Lowe with a 25 HP Kohler longtail. I took the middle bench out of it so the floor is completely open to the back bench. Opening day I took it out with my buddy, his son, my lab, 30 duck decoys, 6 goose decoys, 5 shotguns, 3 blindbags, my blind, and all the regular boat gear. I was having trouble with my carburetor and was able to go about 10mph tops. I was plowing bad, so don't expect to get anywhere fast!

I was also hating life with all the decoys in the boat. Even with the bench removed there was absolutely no room till we put the dekes out. If I didn't run in so thick of reeds I would tow a sled with the decoys.

Someone had their panties in a bunch.

When we hunt Green Bay we run a no less than 120 decoys. If you wanna pull in the big flocks ya gotta go big. But that's diver hunting for ya, different ball game.

I hunt central Illinois on the river 70 decoys aint nothing on the state areas I hunt 70s a starter spread on average i run 6 dozen duck and a dozen goose decoys and some of the blinds around me will have that doubled. If ihave good water depth I used as many as 10 dozen duck decoys.

Thanks for the tips. Only needing to run a 1/2 mile or so through the backwaters opening weekend to get to my spot. And yes 70 decoys on the federal area at lock and dam 13 is just a start compaired to what some guys bring out. So out of the 55 boats in the area, if you dont bring decoys, you wont be shooting ducks. I love how some people just cant understand why someone else that is 4,000 miles away may have to hunt differently. I dont hunt flooded timber, or marsh pot holes..

That is a short run to duck hunt. You are right of course, there is no one decoy spread or duck boat fits all marshes answer. We are at the end of the Atlantic flyway here in Florida (well, almost, many birds continue on to central and south american coasts) and three to four dozen decoys may work opening week but then you better size way down later on. The non-resident birds have already been shot at up and down the eastern U.S. so they are plenty wary. I do suggest you use caution with that size load of hunters and gear and have all requisite safety gear. Good scouting!

Very much agreed!! Saftey while hunting is #1!! It's a deep wide model, it will handle quite the load.

Well I had the woman and to kids in the boat this weekend and got 13mph up river and 17mph down river GPS speed. I am happy with that. Especially since I went anywhere I wanted with it and never had to stop and push. haha