Ok guys! In a few days my new Mud Buddy 37EFI will be to my front door! I'm looking at a new Excel boat at a nearby dealer. I'm torn on which model to buy. They have a 1754MV, 1854MV and a 1860MV. Up here in Northern Mn we run a lot of wildrice with shallow muddy flatts, break a lot of ice and run miles of the ol Mississippi river. I hunt with 3 guys and 15 doz mallard decoys at times. During the early goose season we like to run around 100 goose floaters but use a couple boats to haul everything. My question is, how do these different boats run with a 35 or 37EFI motor?? Any experiences?? I currently own an Alweld 1648 flatt with a Mud Buddy 23 mini and have owned many different longtails and a Prodrive 27.

The 1860 will carry loads the best of those 3 (read maintain better speed, plane out better). 3 guys and 15dox decoys isn't a light load, and takes up lots of room.

Russ nailed it and FWIW I would price out a couple different manufacturers. Wc customs, Uncle J, etc.

go with a custom boat for sure. 1860 should be what you need

I hunt the same stuff and same load (three guys, dog, except with less decoys). I have a stock 35 GTR on a Gator Trax 1754 hunt deck (which is actually 18'8" and closer to a 56-58" bottom since they measure their boats flat bottom and not the curved chine portion--GTrax also don't include the 20" hunt deck in their length measurement). It does perfectly fine.

From everything I've heard I would NOT get an Excel!

How would an Alweld 1752 Mud Hull handle my 37?? Is it heavy enough to handle the weight of my motor so I could run it alone? I have a dealer for Alweld about 2 hours away and I really like the one I have now except for the 9 keels it has on the bottom and the bench seat in the rear. I'm not set on an Excel by no means but way up here we don't have any dealers that carry or deal with mud hull boats like Gatortail, Prodrive ect...

A 1752 will be fine, but again, an 18ft with 60" of width will carry that load far better.

Phowler is close to you. It's worth a drive just one state away.

I'm in the cities and ended up with a Gatortail boat and motor. Might be worth a call to see where the nearest dealer is that they could ship to. Same goes for pro drive or any other mfg.


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Many Tracker dealers offer Gator Trax. I don't know if they only carry stock models or let you customize like I did (I got mine in LaCrosse--unfortunately the dealer closed up shop).

I've had a stock 35GTR on a Gator Trax, Excel 1754MV, and a Custom hull. Of all of them, I'd stay far away from the Excel because of the performance. It went gatortrax, excel, gatortrax, custom.

For me, a custom boat was cheaper and performs night and day different. I wish I'd have done it from the beginning instead of changing boats to find something that worked. I wish I could go back in time and get myself to avoid buying a new Excel. I also wish I could go back and have someone teach me about mudmotors before I bought one. Lots of expensive mistakes...

We should organize a couple get-togethers for the Minnesota boys this summer for sure. Does the goose island run still happen?


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Another vote for a custom/semi-custom builder. Phowler would be my first recommendation because they are close to you AND I am partial to them.

What are the performance issues with the Excel boats?? Give me some custom boat mfgs names..

WC customs

Uncle J Boats

Brother Breaux

Deadfowl Customs if he's still building


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I didn't really understand how bad excel's were until I got a custom boat. They are heavy and something about the boat makes them sluggish. Think of it like a car... a car can be similar in looks and style, but the performance can be very different with the same horsepower engine.

I think the Excel's are very well built and they will break some serious ice like Denny mentioned. IMO they just are not very good with a mudmotor in comparison to other boats.

The current Bother Breaux (B&B Fab) boat I have now is heavier that my last Excel by a couple hundred pounds, but the BB is dramatically different in performance. Goes skinnier, moves faster, doesn't hop when turning, accelerates faster, etc... with the exact same motor and loads.

I'd recommend a Brother Breaux boat, but there are other fine builders out there like Cody mentioned.

Hes claiming his kids boat.

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https://www.alweld.com/mud-series I'm not sure on prices , but these look like a pretty good boat if the price is right.

I went with an 1860 Excel in old school camo..