I just bought a new Alumacraft 1648 MV Jon and want to throw just a long tail motor on it. Would a 23 hp beavertail move it well with 2 people and some gear? Or could I even go smaller? Cause I am headed up to College and wanna get the best possible deal on a longtail but still wanna be able to move quick. I'll be up in the boundary waters of Minnesota so I will have plenty of water to cover in the morning usually.

It will get you around but a true flat is better. I run a 23 GDLT on my 1648 flat and it moves in the upper teens.

be sure to check out backwaters long tails

I love how everyone makes out a Mod V to be a complete cripple with any type of mud motor. A surface drive, yeah, not ideal. But with a Longtail it's a different ball game. My 1548 MV with a 20hp Longtail runs 20 with me unloaded and 17 with two people and gear. Not to mention it went pretty much anywhere I wanted to take it at the last mud run. It turns on a dime and handles choppy water much better also.

Ideal? No. But it does a lot of stuff really well... A lot of times a V hull is better suited for certain types of terrain.

I think a 23 on a 1648 would do well. If you could swing it, go bigger on the HP. I wouldn't hesitate to run a 35 on a 1648...

It's not perfect, and I do run in very shallow 100% sand bottom. Like I said, not perfect but it works. I've ran in as little as 3-4" of water. My boat is not a very deep V at all but it does have some shallow V all the way back. Ran it in mud and zero water... And it did fine until the tiller handle broke

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. I got all the money I need saved up and now am deciding between a backwater 27 or beavertail. Any auggestions? The pricing is similar I saw so which brand is built better? And you can motor on the outsides of the boundary waters and some lakes have horse power restrictions and such. But yes most lakes are motor less lakes.

Back Water Inc, no two ways about it...

Beavertail's customer service sucks. Just trying to get parts from them takes forever, that is if you can get a hold of them. I have run both motors and it's hands down BW.

I will not buy another motor unless it is backh20.

I wish BW would look into building a simple surface drive to compete with GoDevil. I'd be in the market for sure if they ever did.

I'm gonna hold off!

Ive been running a alumacraft 1648 mv for 5 yrs 4 of them with 35 hp backwaterinc before they were called swomp and before all these guys on here were running them Ive had mulp different 35hp swomps and like ive said in other posts i can run mid to upper 20's constantly some 35s come a little tighter then others it seems and they need to loosen up about 5 to 10 hrs.


Hey Frank SHHHH your not supposed to be even hinting that you even know about new stuff

And know their wont be a surface drive anytime soon for you guys that think that