Escaping from the Great White North to New Orleans/Baton Rouge for a business trip next month and wondering about whether to stop by the Go-Devil factory, if I can swing it. Has anyone here done so? Worth a visit?

I've been a couple times. Nothing too special. Nice people though.

It's a factory that builds motors and boats. If that interests you it is well worth the trip. Warren Coco is a "hands on" guy and has final say on every motor and boat that leaves the lot so I recommend you call him in advance to make sure he will be available. He and the ladies in the front office are really nice people so I encourage you to visit. Ask Warren about the sheet metal break he built and if he knows anything about alligators. That conversation should take up an interesting hour or two.

Thanks for the fast feedback gentlemen!
I'll see how my schedule comes together and if I can swing it I'll give the Mr. Coco a call well in advance and see if I can drop by.
I don't want to take up too much of their time, but would enjoy seeing how they're built and would like to get some first-hand opinions from them on refurb/updating work I may have done by the Ontario dealer this spring on my 16 Hp GDLT.

Ask if you can see the stone tools they still use to build their motors. They use real horse hair for the belt, you know.

Sorry, but I didn't post this note to ask what people think of GD, just whether a factory visit is worthwhile/welcome for an owner of a GDLT. I am not really bothered about who has the latest and greatest. What I do appreciate about GDLTs (and most other LTs) is the simple design and build concept for conditions where reliability and strength are key. I will leave the arguments about who makes the best MM, and the merits of LTs vs. SDs to others in other threads.

They won't be open to public on weekends . You'll have to go on a workday. He is a wealth of knowledge .

Thanks, it will be a weekday or no day.
BTW what sort of speed do you get with the 16 GDLT on the 16x36 Skiff?

Hey man shoot me a message while your in if you need anything or wanna catch a drink/meal. I live about ten minutes from the GD shop.

Thanks Sammy C. I'll let you know if I will be able to work this into my trip.

Sorry....I meant WOW'ed as in hi tech assembly lines with robots lol

Id love to visit the factory
Will probably try if im ever down that way

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I run 16-17 by myself , ice chest , I run about 13 , 2 men , dog etc,

Coco is a super nice guy and they'll gladly give you the grand tour. Austin in the back is also a wealth of knowledge and is always eager to share anything u want to know. At least as long as it doesn't have to do with MMT or them Utah motors lol.

Get warren to show you his mounts in his office. He has got some pretty unique ones.

What is really amazing is that the belt is about the
only component in the outdrive that they don't make
right there from scratch....

The best conversation I ever had with him was when I asked his opinion on mods. Lol. I was there a while needless to say

I would like to visit, to thank Mr. Coco and associates for the pioneering they did for all of us. I last spoke to him back in '90 and he was very personable and helpful. I would, as well, like to visit PD, GT, and all the boat builders in the "promised land" someday. I still run an LT because I have shallow water, sheltered marshes, hard bottom, and relatively short runs....otherwise I would be running a surface drive.

I would call Warren and check with him first. He's a great guy and a no BS sort of businessman. He's not loved by all on this form but he is real and he is a top player. I have been there numerous times, I admit it, I sell GD. Always amazes me at how large his operation is and how many units he has in production at any one time. Its cool to see. Don

He on the phone right now though. Might try in a few minutes.

I was at the go devil shop today. Everyone is right, nothing fancy, but nice folks.

As you stated, pioneering is many times achieved by aggregate contributors...as later the surface drive mfg.'s looked over each other's shoulders so to speak. Last year a local mud motor dealer found a longtail motor at a flea market that was used here in Florida in the 1920's!! Simple push start flywheel, small one cylinder affair that was used in the estuaries by fishermen. In WWII, Germany used some longtail motors on marsh boats in their Russian and Eastern front campaigns to ferry troops. Right now in coastal India in the Bay of Bengal, small diesel longtail motors are being used there by fishermen. In the Amazon various longtails have been in use for a long time. My wife visited Malaysia many years ago and has a video of a river trip with a long large canoe-like vessel powered by a big block car engine longtail motor.
I can still term Coco a "pioneer", even if he borrowed a design and modified it a bit.

I used to collect old outboards.
Nope, the Thai's did NOT invent the longtail {though Thai SPS claims to have started marketing their longtails in 1957}
I agree with Glades Ranger about the "aggregate contributors" .

Way back when Cocco started I bought one of his motors. He even mentioned in his original brochure that his idea was "inspired" by longtails he had seen from Southeast Asia.
What he did that was a "first", was to test and produce an American made longtail when there were practically NONE on the market. The "u-joint" in the welded frame was coupled to an air cooled Brigggs lawn mower motor. He's still in business , and that is quite an accomplishment . I have always found him to be very helpful, often very brief. He's super conservative when it come to changing his motors, so his LT's are normally not the "experimental" latest and greatest. His design is more "robust" and he is still going strong in business when many others have crapped out of the MM game.

If you wanna be closer to accurate when labeling early longtails, call em' Detroit USA Liberty Drives. Oh, here's a 1917 Caille Liberty I found on the internets -----> and a happy AMERICAN owner of another Caille --->

Dguidry's great great grandfather and all his friends on the first ever Henderson Mud Run!

10-4, Karl Hungus! That is almost identical to the one I saw in the flea market in central florida.

That is awesome

Check out this one can be converted to a water pump

http://www.mercguy.com/Atco_Boatimpeller.htm