With my old motor (PD 36 FPR) I could run into a dead end cove on plane and set the rig down. A lot of these areas were hard bottom with clay silt on top. We'd hunt or fish or whatever and put the motor in FPR and back out of the cove at a slower speed because the motor would "plane" the boat in reverse and also keep the prop out of the sandy muck saving the prop as much as possible.
Any comments on the GTR in this situation? I've never run a GT and am just wondering. The GTR could be really useful in a lot of our applications, but I'm curious if anything can match the PD in this situation.

Not stirring, just wondering....

Stick to da PD

sallow??????????

I've had no issues with my GTR I ran it through 2-3" of water with hard packed sand this past weekend. The sand slowed it down maybe 8 MPH off my top speed but was still making 20 over the flat. Sand flying up and everything... Down in Galveston I've put it on some hard clay bottom and thick packed mud / sand without issue, it backs up just fine to get me turned around and pointed the direction I need to be.

I'll clarify my question a little..

What we do is run in plane. These coves dead end at little piss ant creeks with a little marshy area. The coves are no more than calf deep, knee deep if you sink. The mud is sand and clay. If you dig the prop it's bye-bye time for the prop. What we found was that, with FPR we could run in, hunt the morning and load the boat and FPR back out to deep water without digging the prop at all. No prop grindage at all. Wondering how the GTR would do in that situation. Seems like the prop would be angled down and have to chew through the sand etc and winf up grinding $250.00 out of my wallet more often.

Mines statement is .......

Ifin' the Pro-Drive can git you there and back ....... so can the Gator-Tail !!

I may git to see somethin' different someday ~ but not as of yet !!!!

You are either going to grind some sand or get a real good shower.That is the good thing about the FPR.It lifts the transom of the boat and you can back out of shallows too deeper water without damage to the prop.

It was a .. here .. not there .. situation !!!

Nother words ..... someone can be stuck ... here in this spot ... not there in that spot !!!

Now ifin' you don't believes me or understands me ..... I'll be danged ..... I gots to go to a birthday party !!!!!

Brooks! Are you a politician by chance?

You all need to rethink this cause, I run more sand bottom than most on here and the FPR stands alone. It's the props that take the abuse.

he's not talking about turning the boat around and headed out in forward...he's talking about backing all the way out to where he can turn around then go forward

Mitch and Willet get it. The bottom is clay silt with a lot of sand in it. Getting up on plane in that will destroy a prop. After 2 props, I learned to jsut FPR back out to where we could get up and go. I tried trimming up going forward in a lot spots and we would wind up just sucking water under the boat. The FPR did it fine. I'm sure the GTR could get out, just wondering what the prop damage would be.

Thats a good point you gots there GigaFowl !!!

The Gator-Tail prop do change direction while you in reverse and it do work very well in hard bottoms. It really digs in reverse and kind of starts walkin' while pullin' you backwards ... and yes .... you do maintain contact with the hard bottom whiles performin' this manuver !!!

I understands what yore querston is and I do agree that the FPR has a very unique applications that is second to none and ifin' that is yore style ..... thats yore style !!!!! I know fellers that can't live without the FPR ..... and you might be one of them .... but don't thank fo one minute that the GTR's reverse ain't a right-on set up ..... 'cause fo mines applications .... it's the only way to go !!!!

x2 on what Mr. Brooks said


The GTR reverse acts like a cork screw in shallow hard bottom conditions. It will pull you around all day long. I personally have never ran my engine in sandy bottom conditions, but have many hours of experience grinding away on oyster reefs. I have also been side by side with Pro-Drive's and M.Buddy's on top of said oyster reefs as we all sat there grinding an inch of diameter off of our props trying to get off. I personally have never tried to reverse my way out of a situation when i could just go forward. If you can damage the prop in forward, your going to damage it in reverse also and vice versa. I normally have my prop reworked every year before hunting season and never really worry about damaging it. If i want to get somewhere bad enough i am going to grind my way in and out regardless of the damage incurred to the prop. I would personally just pick the motor that you like the most and run with it! Either way, your gonna wear down the prop in those conditions. Did I mention oyster reefs are the devil?

That is a unique situation where FPR is nice. I'm thinking if the boat is floating and not on bottom you could just keep the prop from hitting bottom with the GTR and reverse out of there nice and easy. There is no need to get stupid on it in reverse making it dig. The boat is floating. If it is so shallow that you need the power of full power reverse to drag the boat because it is stuck on bottom then the prop on the prodrive will have to be digging in the sand as well as the GTR in that situation.

not feedin the fire just sayin that he's also talkin about with a load and most of the time when everyone has a load probably 80-90% of the weight is toward the back of the boat and doesnt matter if you have square chine or not with a load your draft is alot more then with one person in back

I wouldnt say i run he same conditions exactly but one place I hunt is straight sand and the boat can be floatin with a load and cant get on step in 6-12" of water because prop is hittin bottom plus the weight of the load And I usually just say screw it and take my time gettin to deeper water but most time when done huntin I dont know bout yall but I'm ready get the F outa there and get home

Never seen a gatortail in those parts so couldnt tell you what could be the case but I do know that a GT will get on step easier in those conditions in forward but the question is reverse and anytime I've seen the reverse in action especially revved up it pulls the back of the boat down since the prop is turnin backwards givin the "helicopter" effect where as the FPR is doin the same "helicopter" effect but in upward instead of downward

Now if you didnt trim down quite so much to get a bite like swampssnyper said then yea you could save the prop but then with the basicly straight angled drive your prop would be close to the top or halfway out the water then basicly cavitatin like in forward and not gettin enough water or bite from somthin to get you goin quickly...not sayin it wont work just talkin quickly

Again not tryin to fuel the fire and not rootin for FPR just helpin the man out with his question for everyone to understand

alot of good info here on this thread for sure so I'll say thanks to those others who have chimed in with good info and not tryin to fight bout it

Willet got a big ole brain oh yeah!

West,

I think Troy's post was directed towards gigadouche.

mees noses mees knote two smartes butts mees cann sawes thates thes gatortailes owneers hass two bees toldin utter peoples howe goodes there gatortailes iss whenes thes podrives peoples juste provees howe goodes theres podrives reallay ares. buttes mb stille goodes

Westend....relax....however if you want some too...here I am

I quoted gigadump....your quote just happened to be inbedded in HIS quote-You have to wear your big boy pants around here

And you just confirmed what i already thought,














you are nuts!!

Thats cool.