Even with a surface drive I never ran on plane through stumps. I always idle with 2 strokes, longtails and surface drives. There is nowhere I have to be in that big of a hurry. Hitting stumps with a prop is a risky endeavor no matter what machine is twisting the prop.

You will hit 3X as many stumps when idling through timber in a mudboat. Period. If you are not on plane then the rear of the boat(and hence the prop) is at least 6" lower in the water. You don't have to run WOT, just pop up on plane, trim the motor as high as you can without it affecting your ability to steer, and watch for any stumps above the waterline. You will feel 90% of the stumps that you can't see. Lift the motor when they get towards the back of the boat. If you've never been with a decent operator who drives like this through stumps then you really have no room to judge, because you have no idea what you're talking about...

[quote=duckkillah]You will hit 3X as many stumps when idling through timber in a mudboat. Period. If you are not on plane then the rear of the boat(and hence the prop) is at least 6" lower in the water. You don't have to run WOT, just pop up on plane, trim the motor as high as you can without it affecting your ability to steer, and watch for any stumps above the waterline. You will feel 90% of the stumps that you can't see. Lift the motor when they get towards the back of the boat. If you've never been with a decent operator who drives like this through stumps then you really have no room to judge, because you have no idea what you're talking about

Donny, you’re out of your element

Lol ok

Gatortrax 1862 w/hunt deck, 140hp Suzuki w/jackplate...
You may beat me through the stump field but I'll whip your butt getting there!

Well sold the boat...only problem is I’m still stuck between the two! You guys crack me up.
Is it worth it to get the surface drive, due to me fishing out of it as well? I know it shines in the back water and in the slop, but how is it in open water? I have to many questions to ask about them

They ride like a slow outboard in open water.

They suck to fish from. In all my years of owning boats if I tried to buy a dual purpose boat is sucked at both applications. I ended up buying a fishing boat and a duck boat. My .02! One boat isn't going to do a good job at either.

Maybe. Depends on how much of the ride is open water vs stumps. My boat tops out 25 mph, and at dark 30 I really don’t care to go faster, even over open water. Now scouting during the day, especially if I’m buzzing the whole lake and really don’t need to get way back in the shallow and or scouting multiple lakes in one day, that is when I would like to have an out board.

But no way I would have an outboard for hunting, I would mess it up in no time.

Agreed! My 18’ excel with an outboard is no bueno. Looks cool but it’s a rough wet ride.

use what you can and make best of it.

Come on man, we'd rather argue!

This would be a good song for an outboard going through the stumps.

Too me it's more unsafe to go slow through stumps for two reasons. One, you're going to hit more stumps because you're lower in the water. Two, if you do get high centered on a stump and you're just idling, there is a much greater risk of coming to a stop, getting stuck high centered, and a subsequent falling out of your boat or taking on water.

Surface drives run just like an outboard of equivalent speed capabilities in open water unless it's wavy. Understand that no matter how much money you blow on mods your 37-44hp motor is going to run around 30mph. A little more or less depending on the load you're carrying. If that's too slow, don't get a mud motor.They also have trouble getting propulsion in waves, so don't expect to be running over the tops of 3 foot swells if you're carrying a heavy load.

As far as scouting...where I hunt...the difference is night and day. I could never go back to running an outboard to scout or arrive at my hunt spots at night. You can get in and out of places that it would take hours to walk an outboard.

If you're gonna drop the money on a new one, I would absolutely recommend going custom. Usually it costs less than a prebuild and you get exactly what you want. Call up Pete @ WC Customs and he'll talk you through what your needs are and ya'll can pick the perfect layout and motor.

I don't understand why people think fishing out of a boat makes any difference on the type of motor you have. You arrive at your spot and drop your trolling motor in the water whether you have a surface drive or an outboard....