Lurked long enough.

I run a Lowe roughneck 1760 with pods. Great duck boat.
I have run a MB 35 with pipes and mikuni carb for 10 years. Supposed to be rated as a 40hp.
It slowly is seeing its time and has served its purpose, so I'm looking for a new motor.
I've been looking at the SWOMP 35. Looks like many of you like it.

For those that have run both, what differences will I see from the SWOMP?

I have the 37 swomp It is my first mudmotor and as far as I am concerned there is 2 kinds Backwater and the rest of them. I spent over a year before I made my decision on what to get. They are great as well as customer service on a Sunday night at 6:00 they answered the phone.

Where are you located , might have a member close and you could drive one. I've always had longtails. ( since the 80's ) go devils until I decided on mine . Pros - . Drive one handed with ease , he'll drive with one finger. DOM foam filled tubing as a frame. Dampens vibration , you don't feel it . Triple sealed bearing assembly top and bottom . And it's a sealed tubed. . Maybe grease once a year . Bump stop , you can lock in a depth to stop travel while digging. Versa mount .Here's the best part . The surface tracer cav plate . It has a unique design that once you shim . Forces the prop to ride at the correct relation to surface . You don't fight this motor. . It's just well thought out and designed . Customer service. 5 fricken stars , you can reach Arlon or jake and they answer the phone. . I like mine a lot. Cons- the only thing I've broken is the cav plate brace . Mine actually broke while running but stayed attached to the cav plate long enough for me to shut it down . Took entire cav plate off to get back to launch ( a long way I don't recommend it ) . I called Arlon he said that happened a few times from vibration from shaft not being true . Sent me a new drive shaft. , too bottom bearing assembly to change drive shaft free .

Somebody else might have driven both surface drive and backwater Swomps .

H Finn

Up in McKinney. Love to drive one if your in the area or close by.
Drove Go Devil 11 hp when that was the top HP back in the last 80's.
Went to MB 25 and now have a MB 35.
It has been a good motor, just showing it's age.
SWOMP seems to be the rage, so a test drive would be perfect.
I will admit, they have responded to every e-mail in a very timely manner.
I like that!

Had my Swomp for three years now. Almost no problems. Had the Cav plate come off and cracked the skeg. The Cav plate was my fault, " didn't notice the screws backing out". Huck pretty much covered the rest of the positives on these motors. Glades Ranger has a Mud Buddy and he's driven mine. Maybe he'll chime in.


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I have had both 35 Gatortail and now a 35 backwater on the same boat. My experience with the surface drive was not a good one for compare because of the age and the numerous things that went wrong after it had some age on it. Trim went out, wiring harness broke and carb issues. I miss the speed of a surface drive in big open water (roughly 3-5 mph) and the convenience of trailering (not having to swing into the boat for travel) but I will say that I can honest drive my 35 swomp with only 1 finger holding the throttle. It is night and day than my first longtail mudbuddy I had years ago. Arlon and Jake are very knowledgeable and always available to answer any questions or concerns. I was wiling to sacrifice the speed for a true dependable and NEW longtail at the cost of a very used surface drive.

Where you run, how long you run, and what you carry, should determine whether it is a surface drive or longtail. Of course cost can be the determinant. This past weekend's getting stuck for me was the decider. With the reach of the LT I was able to get to open water and dig elsewhere and got out- it would have been more difficult with a surface drive. Of course I am prejudiced because all I have drive are longtails since 1986; used my friends surface drive MB 35 a couple of times and it was broke more often than not and you could get farther into the skinny but once there were stuck good and the prop wear a bitch. GoDevil was great but it leaked bad and had to replace the sleeve bearings every other season and the seals of course I carried my grease gun loaded at all times. MB improved the longtail design with IMO, the better roller bearing which uses less grease. Today, BackH20 has IMO the best LT platform out there- my test drive of the 35 demonstrated very little vibration at the tiller, smooth and straight acceleration, and there are many more adjustments on it for transom mounting, motor balancing, cavitation plate. At current prices it is the ticket!
I don't want to denigrate GoDevil, it is still a reliable LT by all means, and all three I owned were workhorses...I just think you get more for your money with the BackH20!!