Anyone have any experience with a 1838 go devil? This one has a 31hp longtail. Ive never been in one that narrow and don't want something that isn't stable. I usually hunt with a total of 3 people in the boat. Do you think this would be the ideal rig? I can't afford to spend more than $4500 so my options are limited. Let me know what you guys think.

My uncle has a Kliebert 1738 which is very close to that boat in fact Kliebert helped design the
go- devil. and we had 4 adult men in it and it was very stable. his only has a 25 on i but runs about 19 with just him and a ladder stand and hunting gear.

Ideal? Far from it. You're not gonna buy an ideal rig to carry 3 folks with that budget. It will go fine with 2 guys. With that being said, one of my old boats was a 20x36 and I loved it not unstable at all.

That boat would work fine with 3 people. I hunt 3 guys and a dog out of my 1648 and it works great. Plenty of room for 3 people to safely hunt.

I fished 4 adults and a kid out of it this summer on a small lake. It was crowded but doable.

I run a 17*38 with a 23. It's stable but that kind of weight in a boat that is only 38" wide won't get on step even with a 31.

I had a 18x38 go devil for 3 years loved it. we hunted with 3 people and it did good and only had a 18 HP go devil LT. it would out run a 27 HP go devil SD. I only sold it to go with the 35 SD. kind of wish i had it back. the boat was stable I am 200lbs and could stand on one side and not even come close to tipping it. but it wouldn't do 4 people (scared me) but with 3 people it did great.
PS. 18x38 GD is only rated for 3 people.

What about performance in skinny water? Would it perform better or worse than something wider in the mud?

The 18/38 go devil boat is probably the best boat ever designed for a longtail.

my LT would get out of alot more than my SD we have alot of hard sand bottoms here and that isn't good for a SD. you can run on step in next to nothing but when you set it down you better have a buddy and a winch. you need to cover your prop with water or mud to get going and a SD prop is bigger.
when i first got mine I was running WOT where I was use to going with my LT and backed off the throttle and lucky me i had 2 friends with me we had to push the boat about 40 yards befor the prop would push the boat. now i know why SD boats have winches. and my LT run better with 3 men in it. my LT was an 18 hp and my SD is a stock 35 hp, you would think with almost twice the hp it would do better with a boat that weighs about the same