Hey guys, a buddy of mine and I are designing a gear reduced long tail like the Mud buddy super long tail. So far it looks similar to the SWOMP motor. looking for a little more top end, what prop would you recommend? MB's site says a 9x5 but does that become a 9x6 or 9x4 if I'm looking to go a bit faster? I'm in utah and run at 5000ft so I don't know if that changes it either. Looks like the bakwater blade prop is my best bet for price and positive reviews on here, opinions? It'll be on a lighter 1548 tracker mod v.

9x6 is faster, but a 23 will already handle that prop without gear reduction.

what prop you will need depends on what your gear reduction ratio is. You have not provided enough info for anyone to answer your question.

all I can tell you is your looking for 7 pitch or higher, depending on your ratio.

Unless you want to move up to a 10" prop

Gear ratio's are still up in the air. What is a gear that a 23hp can turn with a priority on open water speed and secondarily shallow water diggin? Maybe it would be the same prop/gear combo as a 23hp SD running a sub surface prop?

I suppose a 9" prop will allow me to run in shallower water than a 10, so I'm trying to find the best compromise of open water and shallow water performance. The Great Salt Lake doesn't have deep mud but it certainly gets skinny with lots of hard bottom

I'd go 9x6.

With what gear ratio?

Would I be faster if I went to a 10" prop and a reduced gear?

Why is it more expensive? Just a different pully and a different size Bkwater Blade prop (all the same price)

The one element thats really different to this motor is that we'll have a dual gear system, capable of running a 1-1 ratio plus another that will be on-the-fly selectable. So, if I ran a 9x6 on the 1-1 to get me up on plane and then switched to a 1-0.8 (spinning the prop faster) do you think I'll get many mph more? Or would a 9x7 be better set-up for that?

From what you just said you are trying to increase prop speed instead of reduce it. This will not help you at all, and will actually just bog your motor down. If you are trying to spin more than a 9x6, you need to reduce prop speed with a bigger gear on the bottom.
As stated above I don't think all the effort will pay off, and will definately be less reliable.

we'll see I guess. If it doesn't work it'll be easy enough to convert it back to a single gear system but I think the option of a second gear could give me more speed if we do it right