15" transom. 2 guys under 180lbs, 4 dozen decoys, fuel, battery, shells. Boat will have a small 25" seat (not really a deck) up front, floor, and one pod in the rear.

Hull is a v front, flat bottom. Lake has lots of vegetation but no trees or stumps.

Opinions or thoughts? Having boat built but trying to stay in $2500 range.

Huh?

A piece of pocket lint, a switchblade, 2 straps of shoe leather, and a guinea pig caught in a mousetrap.

2x ^^^^ you cant go wrong with the guinea pig as long as its spotted.

^make sure the pocket lint is out of a pair of carhartt's that shit will last forever

I prefer a butterfly knife to the switchblade.

Btw.. any suggestions for some one 2 port and polish shoe leather?

Did you not have to click on the title of the thread, which clearly reads "23 MB Mini on Weldbilt 1542? " to open the thread?

If so, can I then assume that some of you are illiterate?

I hate to be sarcastic when asking for opinions, but maybe this will help a couple of you understand that, once you actually read the title, you'd understand the body of the thread includes the normal load the boat and motor will be carrying.

Perhaps this will help a a few of you:



For the rest of you who aren't missing a chromosome or from Alabama, I would still appreciate any help this board has to offer.

Try asking a question, you opened yourself up for this response ,
A. Do you think this motor is right for these conditions.
B. This is my gear load, these are the lake conditions , will this rig work for this scenario?

What you posted , and got response to was some incomplete hard to follow dribble, that's why you get tagged , phrase it correctly and maybe some one will help you but I doubt it now, since everyone is now an "asshole"

Oh, OK.

Would a 23 MB Mini on Weldbilt 1542 with a 15" transom carry 2 guys under 180lbs, 4 dozen decoys, fuel, battery, shells. Boat will have a small 25" seat (not really a deck) up front, floor, and one pod seat in the rear?

Hull is a v front, flat bottom. Lake has lots of vegetation but no trees or stumps.

Opinions or thoughts? Having boat built but trying to stay in $2500 range for boat.

(There was a question mark in the thread title, but I guess it doesn't show up?)

Are you wanting to know how fast , how stable ,one of my hunting partners has a 23 sd go devil. It's not a mud buddy. He runs 17-18 with about same load you described, runs 21 by himself, boat is a 16x46 modified aluminum hull with a v . Don't know if that helps . But you can use that as a comparison .

Yes, just in general how it will run. Thank you, Huck.

The concensus seems to be that a dedicated, purpose-built mud motor boat is absolutely necessary, but I hunt an area where we can usually get away with running a small outboard (I already have a 25 Merc Sea Pro tiller) until the Army Corps of Engineers and Water Management District decide to let all the water out of the lake. Trying to come up with a viable alternative to an airboat. I don't need the baddest boat on the lake, I just need to get 20-23 mph out of the rig (1542 Weldbilt .080 flat bottom and 23 MB mini) with the load described above.

Had the same set up. Ran 23-25 empty depending on water depth and how i held my tongue. Every person I added dropped 3-4 mph. Loved my rig. Had a 1542 alweld flat front with enough hooks in it to run trot lines. The motor is simple and won't ever let you down. Porpoises bad when I ran empty. Put your tank in the front. If you're only running with two people that size and the gear you speak of, you'll love this rig and it will perform great for you.

Your gonna get wet with that load and those short sides IMO.


Sent from my iPad 2000 using Tapatalk HD

You mean get wet running, or get wet with backsplash coming over the transom? I'm stuck on transom height because my outboard is a short shaft. Sides of boat will be 20" with a 16" transom.



My only other real option is a Copperhead 18.

I had a 1542 alumacraft semi v a few years with a mini 23 my speeds were about the same as posted above . Do yourself a favor and build a splash guard across the back of the boat the water will roll over the back every time your riding buy yourself when you let off the gas . My hunting buddy has a 1744 weldbilt called a crawdad with a 27 mini on it and it does a hole lot better than a 1542 semi v .I wish I would of known then what I know now and I would of saved myself a lot of time and money if I would of bought a true mud hull to start of with . To answer your question yes it will work but it is not the smartest and safest way to go .

Why do you want to go with so narrow with a short boat? You would be better off going with a 17-18'x40-42" bottom. Or get a 15'-16' with a 48" bottom. You would able to carry a load alot better and safer and still would get the same speeds and wouldn't have to worry about getting any backwash. I had a weld built 16x48 flat bottom with a MB 23 sport and got 17-18mph with 3 ppl and 24-25mph by myself.

The reason for the small size of the boat is because a lot of the hunting we do is for divers out in open water where we have to conceal the boat in a very small head, sometimes only a thick clump of water hyacinth. A 16x48 with 22" sides is absolutely huge and, for the most part worthless, for hunting those areas.

The pop-up blinds some of you guys use with success just don't work very well where we shoot; they can be seen from 500 yards away and look like a house in the middle of the lake and the birds won't get anywhere near them. We lay on the bottom of the boat to shoot.

On the other hand, some of the hunting is in 6"-12" of water back in marshes for puddlers. It can't be a one-dimensional boat. Ideally I'd like it to run 30mph with a 25 2-stroke and low 20s with a surface drive.

I can go with a 1542 or a 1448, but anything larger is too big. If I can't run a surface drive at those sizes, then I'd just as soon say heck with it and have a 1442 built strictly for the outboard and call it a day.

I realize that what I'm asking isn't going To be the perfect SD mud boat. I don't need .100 or .125 as there are no stumps or rocks, and really we aren't running in mud. I just need it to be functional and get two guys out there in the low 20s.

Do you think the 18hp Copperhead is a better bet?

Well there's only 30lbs difference in the two which is not much, but every little bit helps with a small boat like that. I'd go with the 1548 IMO, in your situation. If you can go with a 48" bottom on a 14' then you can go with a 15' with a 48" bottom. You would be more satisfied with a 1548 IMO, it will carry a load better that 1542, And the 1548 will run better than the 1448 b/c of the extra ft in length. Length helps just as much, if not more that width IMO.

I had a 1542 with a mini 23 got about the same speeds as everyone else 25 with 1 person 22 with 2 and a load, I never had a problem with water over the back and it was a short transom, I moved the gas tank and battery under the front deck. Loved the little boat if I had to do over again I'd look into a 1642, I like narrower boats that extra ft will help with planing and 80 ga will do fine as long as u ain't got no stumps

ANy of you guys with a 1542 ever compare your speeds with the 23 Lite vs an 18 Copperhead? SOme of their claimed speeds seem almost too good to be true, unless the weight makes that big of a difference.

I have a 23 mini and it was on a 1448 g3 mod v , I recently bought a 1644 gatortrax. I read a lot of post before buying , but had to wait because of funds. Yes it will work fine , but you will want a true mud motor hull and a bigger motor down the road. The bigger motor is next , but the change of boats flat bottom ( mod v you will regret ) and transom angle makes a huge difference.