Anyone own a 16' G3 Aluminum boat with a 37HP Gator Tail on the back?

[Txaggie16]

As others have said, mud motors /surface drives just dont pair well with anything than a mud hull. I would be selling the motor and buying an outboard. If you take time to tune it with a jack plate, you can make that boat scream through 6" of water.

I guess it just really depends on the kind of hunting you do mostly, I hunt a lot of flooded timber, and lakes, occasionally ill hunt on the coast. I've never felt the need to have a mud motor except for one time where we weren't paying attention to the tide while hunting a backwater marsh.

I thought about doing that but just don't like the idea of having a water pump that can get clogged with vegetation and mud and sand. I am looking to hunt the navasota and brazos rivers when they flood out so it may lead to me crossing several different types of terrain.

[ultralite09]

I thought about doing that but just don't like the idea of having a water pump that can get clogged with vegetation and mud and sand. I am looking to hunt the navasota and brazos rivers when they flood out so it may lead to me crossing several different types of terrain.

If you wanna get crazy you can do what my bass tournament partner did to his aluminum rig. He ran an external pump to pump water from the livewell directly to the water pump on the outboard. Through hull low water pickup is filtered and gives us clean water to pump into the engine. Hes run that motor through some nasty mud I would never dare to go through without a surface drive. We purely use this boat only when we cant take his glass boat to get to some backwater stuff on the Red River.


All that being said, if you insist a mud motor, I'd be slathering up the hull with gator glide and also get a winch installed and a good ground anchor.

[Txaggie16]

If you wanna get crazy you can do what my bass tournament partner did to his aluminum rig. He ran an external pump to pump water from the livewell directly to the water pump on the outboard. Through hull low water pickup is filtered and gives us clean water to pump into the engine. Hes run that motor through some nasty mud I would never dare to go through without a surface drive. We purely use this boat only when we cant take his glass boat to get to some backwater stuff on the Red River.


All that being said, if you insist a mud motor, I'd be slathering up the hull with gator glide and also get a winch installed and a good ground anchor.

That is a really good idea. I've heard of low water pickups but never of pumping water from the livewell source. What could I do to prevent from hitting the lower unit on stumps and ripping it off of the motor? I haven't explicitly decided on the idea of a mud motor as I have never had one, but maintenance and the ability to go in areas I've never thought about before have been big factors in my decision making process.

[Quackerbox]

If you take time to tune it with a jack plate, you can make that boat scream through 6" of water.

So much this. Especially when you mention the coast

If I built myself the perfect shallow water, river, creek, marsh boat It would be tiller steered, tin boat, with a vented tunnel and a jackplate.

But, Id keep my center console for the rest of my needs

[Texas Grown]

So much this. Especially when you mention the coast

If I built myself the perfect shallow water, river, creek, marsh boat It would be tiller steered, tin boat, with a vented tunnel and a jackplate.

But, Id keep my center console for the rest of my needs

The reasoning behind mine . I don't have a tunnel simply because I got a great deal on the hull I have.

[outlook8]

https://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=704066

[Txaggie16]

https://discussions.texasbowhunter.c...d.php?t=704066

Thanks for the reference! That's a sweet rig. Is it still for sale? I sent a pm to him to ask.

[Txaggie16]

So much this. Especially when you mention the coast

If I built myself the perfect shallow water, river, creek, marsh boat It would be tiller steered, tin boat, with a vented tunnel and a jackplate.

But, Id keep my center console for the rest of my needs

I'm ultimately just wanting one boat I can use anywhere and I think for me that would be a slick bottom mud boat with a mud motor but I am kind of wanting to drive one first before I make up my mind.