Hey guys, I got into a MM rig this past summer. Just curious about what suggestions anyone would have to make this set up perform a little better. It does its job on the duck marshes and sure enough beats the heck out of hoofing it, but I'm wanting more out of it so I can feel a little better about taking it out in the more swift water when the river is up this spring while we're fishing. Just has me iffy about running it out in quick water afraid of not having enough to fight the current very well. I'll list out what I have so all the info is there.

1648 tracker Grizzly (does have pods)
27hp Mud Buddy Longtail (Kohler) 72" Shaft

9x7 tiger prop (one year of light use) - maintained 13-14mph in shallow water 2' +/-. 10mph in 5'+ water. Speeds with no gear and 2 people. 275# and 180#. Only dropped 2 mph when duck blind was attached. Not sure on RPMs exact but by sounded bogged down when 3 people rode.

9x6 Ron Hill prop (brand new) - 13-15mph average in shallow water with 12-13 in the deeper water. And virtually no speed loss with 3rd person. Same 2mph loss with duck blind attached. Motor was not nearly as noticeably bogged down sounding.

I've read where the pods are the problem but they sure help the flotation and ease of running real skinny water so I really hate to get rid of them. I also saw where the drop in prop from 9x7 to the 9x6 help gain some speed. I needed a new spare anyway so I bought it and it helped slightly but no major improvement. I've put all the weight in the front I could, moved it around trying to find a sweet spot but nothing seemed to work. At 13-15mph it seems like its so close to starting to plane out just wont quite get out of the water enough. All being said is there any suggestions to help this setup perform better? Jackplate/setback? Moving all batteries/fuel tank to the front? Thanks in advance!

What RPMs are you at WOT? Pods usually dont kill performance with longtails, they def do with surface drives. The water is usually "clean" by the time it gets to the LT prop.

Whats your transom height?

You may have little more in that set up, but the grizzlys are not the lightest boat.

It could be the boat but I think backwater frank runs his 35 on a grizzly and gets good speeds.
I had a 25 LT on an 1844 and it would run 18 mph with me and my two dogs in it on a 9x6 prop. big dogs. Lab and a golden. Didn't keep it long enough to try out a hunt load. It was squatty in the back no matter how much weight I put up front though and still got good speeds.


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Not certain on RPMs. No tach. Going down to the 9x6 made a difference in pushing a load with out really bogging down the motor like it started to at times with the 9x7. Tall transom as well. I know the grizzly isn't the lightest out there but there's guys I've run into hunting with 18-20hps on 16' boats that are for sure getting 15+. I like the boat and all but I'm kind of iffy about getting in swift water with it. Another though is to sell the long tail and go with a surface drive 31-36hp and hope the extra power will go ahead and take it on up and make it go. Or Possibly selling the entire rig and going with a little bigger and wider setup with a SD. Still not sure but not exactly thrilled with how this one runs on the top end. Slow and shallow I love it but might get me in trouble in some fast water and I'd rather not take that chance.

Thinking you got a mismatched transom and motor. If your married to the boat, cut the transom down. 72 inch shaft is for a short transom. Don't waste your time and money on a SD for that hull. You will need to chop them pods off, then your going to hook the shit out of it.

Measure your transom on a right angle. Should be close to 16 inches for that motor. Also snag a tach/hour meter for that motor, hardline makes a pretty inexpensive one. Got mine off of Amazon and has been a good replacement to the original tiny tach.

If you are keeping that hull, worth cutting down to 16-17". I have the same hull, short transom, get 19.7 mph by myself (210) and hunting load, only because the prop is worn a bit used to get 20 mph- running a 27 HP MB LT (2004). Night and day, tall/short transom and you won't be fighting to keep it in the water. Good damn motor, I am replacing with BackH20 27 (though have not totally discounted the 35 swomp).