Surface Drive Motors

Ok guys, lets hear what y'all think. Mud Buddy or Go-Devil?? They are pretty far apart on price and I can see why by the options but how is each motor? Gonna be looking for a surface drive motor this year and other than the obvious differences I am curious to hear your opinions on each motor.

Thanks!

This could go anywhere but send me a pm if you have questions more specific. This can easily turn into a pissing match about whose is better.
Honestly they all have the same motor/powerhead which is a Briggs Vanguard 35 to start with, all the other stuff is just personal preference and how many options you want or need.
Godevil is as basic as you can get. Others have neutral, power trim, reverse and other small things, Godevil has none of that but less to break also.
I had a Godevil and now have a Mudbuddy, my buddy still has a Godevil but wish he did not, both do the job. I hunt out of both each week.

Just imagine driving a car with no neutral or power steering, it can be done but why would you want to.
I have not broke anything on mine other than the trim unit freezing up sometimes because I do not have the newer Mercury trim. My buddy has bent one shaft on his Godevil and broke another one this teal season, we were idling when it happened, he lost his prop when it broke.

Also forgot to mention good luck turning the knob to manually trim the Godevil when its cold or below freezing because it ain't happening when ice gets on it.

I have the mud buddy sport v! It has had its problems but I haven't had a lick!! My buddy has go Devil and he hasn't had a problem!! He calls mine a Cadillac cause the ease of use and driving! Having trim, reverse, and trailering bracket is some plus! The go devil pushes better than mine due to longer drive but it's worse in the grass than mine!!! I think just go with ur gut!! If I had to do it again!! I would seriously look at the boss drives sport h! That thing looks like game changer! But it's new so ur gonna have problems!

You do not use the manuel trim knob as a trim tab. It is to be backed all the way off when in use. When you are under power the motor finds the surface on its own. When no under power the Prop is supposed to be allowed to drop all the way down.

I ride in this boat every weekend, he is always trimming the motor based on the load and people in the boat to get optimum performance. Yes, could he leave it alone and run 3600 rpms all the time sure, but to run an extra few mph he has to fine tune it up a little and again lower in muddy silt bottoms and higher in hard bottoms.
So yes he is always using the trim knob since the water depth and bottom density is different on different areas of the lake, it is much easier to do these things with a power trim and also a PITA keeping that Godevil prop in the water when there is some chop.

To answer the OP's question, I would say Go-Devil. Great motors, great customer service, very very few problems. They were the first guys building mud motors and have "been there done that"

Ive never owned a go devil so I can't give an accurate comparison. I ran a Mb 45 vanguard for ten Years with no problems. I definitely recommend mud buddy in general.

Neither.

I love my 5500 mudbuddy

It seems like I type my take on this every year. Then somebody counters, we disagree and it seems we are argueing when in fact it is no arguement, it is an extreme discussion. So here goes.

I started off with a beavertail longtail a longtime ago. That thing was bullet proof but slooooow! Like 8 MPH slow. I do have to give credit to that set up, it was bullet proof. Not one time did I ever get stuck out with that motor. I hunted every weekend of duck season and put 40 miles on it per weekend at the very least. I ran it so hard I used to light my marlboro cigarette on the muffler. In the dark that muffler would glow bright orange. My nistake was to get caught up in the mud motor hype and caught up in it I did.

I started chasing the "bigger, better, badder, best, fast, carry everything and all that ect." I started switching brands and I switched again and again. I finally bought what I think was as good as it can get mud motor and that was a 35 HP Go Devil. Mind you I don't have one any longer. I stepped up to an airboat and I don't even think about being able to cross shallow water. My worries now are dry sand, only. So I have no skin in this game other than giving my educated by busted knuckles opinion.

So before I praise one I would like you all to know this. I love boats and motors and everything on the planet dealing with them. You have all seen me buy sell fix up trade everything about boats. Some dumb arse a long time ago told me you will certainly regret buying a boat. That guy is an idiot. My love for boats started as a child in the flooded ditches on my street. The neighbor would let us tie a piece of plywook to his bumper and her would drive down the street while we tried to ride the plywood. I have never found a boat that brought me so much fun as that piece of plywood.

So my opinion is a mud motor that I can back into the barn, use a welding machine, grind on it and fix it myself in a day, no matter what happened to it. I think bells and whistels on a mud motor is way outside the point of a mud motor. Otherwise I would use a 2 stroke yamahammer and be done with it. So with that said, if you come to me with a gatortail, I want to run it. If you come to me with a Mud Buddy I want to run it. If you come to me with a piece of plywood behind a truck, I want to run it. If I am laying my money down on what I think is the best bet for a bullet proof engine that will get me to and from, myu money will be spent on a GoDevil Surface Drive every day of the week including Sunday.

Got about 30 hrs on my stock 35 mudbuddy and so far I like it, no issues. There are times when reverse would have been nice. A couple times I had strong wind in my face, I was by myself, and had a hard time taking off from shore because the wind wanted to blow the nose of the boat around, 2 guys in the boat not an issue. Or if in heavy wooded area, and your boat is stuck inberween trees, especially with wind, reverse would have been handy, or a luxury is a better word. Still happy with what I got, just maybe inconvenienced more.

After the season if you guys want to go for a ride in my boat let me know. Already told another member I would take him out, so others can tag along, maybe we can meet at a metromess lake, other members could bring there boats as well if they want..maybe I could also bring my Momarsh/7 hp.

^ This

I have a Pro-Drive.....Other than that I would only consider a Gator Tail.

Now if you were talking Long Tails, I would definitely go with Go Devil.

This is not a good idea at all, the last person I took for a test ride that was thinking about buying a boat, bought the same rig as me!
You better be in the market.

Once you step back and realize the whole game of mud motors is a marketers game. Thems that have the most minions wins. It can be looked upon in either direction. Go to forum XXXX and mention one XXXXXX brand and the minions will eat you alive. Therefore one would tend to believe that brand XXXX has got to be the best. It is how it is packaged, how it is presented and how the follow up of the preented package. No different than black cloud, hypersonic. The names alone suggest BETTER than the rest. When you step back and boil it all down you can see in shotgun terms it is speed and weight of the pellet. In mud motors it is going from point A to point B and getting back to point A. After decades of mud motor usage never ever did I need reverse. If you need reverse then you're doing it wrong. All of these discussions are "One company, one upping the other". Whether by paid advertising or by minion opinion, it all goes back to taking money out of your pocket and putting it in their pocket. If you look at it onl on those terms you will begin to see clearly. Look at all the mud motor videos. All of the companies search far and wide for what they in the industry calls "Video mud". They go all over the country to find that perfect mud that has a viscosity that is barely above colored water. That is the mud they use for their advertising, all of them.

I checked into hiring a film crew to advertise my duck calls. Holy crud!! The going rate is $600 to $800 plus expenses per day not including editing. So they take a bunch of boats, people, film crews, hotels, fuel, food allo expesnses to make a video. Whay would they spend $20,000 $30,000 ect for a video. To take money out of your pocket and put it in their pocket.

During the research to promote my duck calls I contacted a marketing company. The first hting the guy asked is how much moeny do you want to make. The minimum bill I would have exited that place with would have been $20,000. That was for the Corolla, not the Cadillac account. That was for 6 months worth of their service. I decided I don't want to be that way with my duck call making. One guy, one call. There are a whole lot of great custom call makers out there. You will have to accidentally run across them because they will not get involved in the marketing fracas.

A lot of truth here and I agree, most of it is marketing hype. However, while you don't "need" reverse, some of us don't mind paying a premium for some of those extras. It's the same thing as paying a premium for an autoloader vs using a pump. Pumps work fine and are usually more reliable, but I prefer an auto. Point is I think we can all find things in life that we have that we don't "need", but we pay extra for for convenience, etc. Pro-Drive and Gator-Tail are two very reputable manufacturers, as is Go Devil, and I would contend all three have better customer support than MudBuddy. I can personally vouch for the customer support and reliability of ProDrive. They are top notch.

Also, yes advertising is very expensive, but it's called an opportunity cost for a reason. You place dollars at risk in hopes that those dollars produce revenue far in excess of those expended. For most companies, it's smart business. For those that don't want to grow much, however, I understand that.

Would I be guessing correctly when I guess you are in marketing? And finally it is good to have a conversation about mud motors and the other guy isn't hollaring my dog will bite your dog, dad will kick your dad's arse and Ford is better than Chevy.

No, I'm not in marketing. I am CPA and I do a lot of business consulting. I would never tell my client to stop advertising as a way to save money unless I had evidence it was fruitless spending. Margins are the keys to business, and In the case of my clients (which some are very large), cutting advertising would cost them a significant loss of revenue. Bad advice.

Just pointing out that all mud motor companies are in competition with one another and will spend whatever it takes to win your business, right or wrong. They are all in business to make money. If they aren't, they should stop what they are doing.

Wayne I need reverse! Have you ever seen me negotiating my way through timber on a windy day?

Am I to take that as an invite. A little bird told me you were smackin em.

Mine is a homemade 10hp longtail with a vanguard engine... what brand do I get put in? Sucker works great too... and my custom coffee can bilge pump does its job also

For new rigs id look for something that's easier to work on if im in the middle of no were

The point I was trying to make is just what you wrote. I would be guessing but fairly close to a correct figure at $40,000 saved, had I just kept my first mud boat. Over the years I have bought sold traded fixed ect. My long tail with a 20hp honda is still out there somewhere, still deliver a pay load time and time again. That sucker was straight up bullet proof. I'd have a whole lot more money had I not chased the "I gotta have that" better motor. What can I say? Marketing works quite well on those who are not ready to listen.

This is exactly why I stepped up to a hover craft with a kevlar skirt.

How does that Hover craft work around timber? We have talked about the Hover craft recently, mostly joking, but do think it would work on the coast.

There is no way a hover craft could even come close to carrying the payload I need delivered to and from the blind.

I beg to differ

If that is your hovercraft then I am going with you from now on.

Well c'mon brother! SOB does great in the timber. Just have to hire a logging crew to come pick up the logs when you're done hunting each day.

It would be kewl to drive that big hoss in that video.

Back to the topic. I have owned a go devil surface drive and at the time one friend owned a pro drive, another owned a gator tail, and another had a mud buddy. We took them all out to Caddo Lake one weekend and each motor went where the others went. In the end, I think it all comes down to what conveniences you want at what price. If you want to be able to reverse off of the boat trailer, then you start to narrow it down. If you want to have no frills in case of break downs on the water, you start to narrow it down. There are dealers around for each brand and most of them will take you out on the water and let you drive it. In fact, you might be able to get an owner of each brand from the THF to meet at a lake this spring/summer and you can drive them all in the same day. I would recommend driving them all if you can and see which one you like best given your needs and desires. Good luck.

why would you go to the coast? Mallard numbers are low

I do not hunt the coast, just saying. I would not say Mallard numbers are low south though. My buddy that hunts rice in Southeast LA just up from the coastline shot limits of mallards the first 10 days of season this year from his blind, was a little weird though.
I have not hunted with him there the last two years.

your buddy shot limits of mallards 10 days in a row from the same blind?

FYI - I rarely use reverse to get my Pro-Drive off the trailer. Too much of a pain, and mine is an auto reverse. Reverse, for me, is really used to get me out of a nasty situation. Having the full power reverse allows you to lift the rear of the boat off the surface and pull yourself backwards. Think of it like this....if you are going one direction and get stuck, you can either step out and push (I wouldn't in some areas we go...not enough bottom), or you can reverse out the way you came in.

This is where I find reverse to be particularly useful.

Yes, 4-6 guys each day too, ducks and specs are stupid in fresh flooded rice down there. He lives here but hunts and stays there for usually two weeks at a time, I do not go there anymore, its fun, but nothing to it. Like shooting fish in a barrel, similar to pond hunting here. Usually its geese, teal, pintails, and a little of everything else but this year the first two weeks they were covered with mallards.

Absolutely. My statement was merely to point out the fact that the OP needs to consider what he wants the motor to do, and he can start to narrow it down from there.

I have heard that gear driven ( pro drive ) is better in the grass and belt drives are better in the timber. The reasoning was belt drives can slip when hitting timber and gear drives can break when hitting timber because there is no slippage. I have never owned one but I am wanting one. Those of y'all that have mud motors is this true or just a myth?

Tell it all on the internet

Mohunter are you telling me your friend's blind is killing 20 mallards a day for 10 days straight. How come we don't have a big red BS button on this forum?

I've had some pretty nasty hits in the timber in my PD, no issues......but they all will break if abused. I can't speak for GT.

They did from the start of the first split of the LA opener, call me what you want but it happened.

pass that nonsense off on a newbie

if they killed a 4-6 man limit of mallards out of the same hole that far south for 10 days in a row they were shooting pen raised birds

Not, Garrett, I have no reason to lie about it, not my hunts anyway, but think what you want, its disappointing actually because they killed more than me in 10 days of the first split and they do absolutly no work at all. $8,000 lease for one pit blind on a large rice field in Gueydon, La, look it up, its a great area, I have been done there several times and always limited out, not on mallards though.
They have a large marsh next(1/3 mile) to the rice that holds tons of mallards but not as many as this year, it is a sight to see in the morning when they leave to feed.

I know some boys that lease down around Gueydon, and your right, it's good hunting, but I ain't buying 10 days in a row of limits on any duck, much less mallards

Thanks for all the info guys. Looks like they all have their advantages, just depends on what your looking for. On another note, what kind of draw do these new LED light bars have? Been looking at seelite & southern lights and really don't know much about them. Can you run navigation lights a light bar and start the motor off the same battery? Will the altenator on the motor keep the battery charged? Sorry for all the questions but I have a 16/60 open center jon boat I'm finally able to get set up and I really don't have a lot of experience with running the light bars.

I think a bunch of guys on here, myself included, will tell you that a light bar is nice but a headlight is the way to go. I have both and find myself running the headlight more than the light bar. Light bar is great for setting decoys and stuff, but having the light exactly where you want when running the boat is really nice. It really stands out when running sloughs and tight stretches of river. Go devil and PromDrive both sell headlights. I have heard good things about Seelites though.

I have seelites on front of my rig (one is a spot and one is more open), but I also have my handheld streamlight waypoint spot with me that I use for quick lighting on my side. I've had no issues. In fact, I am probably quite bright going across the water.

I think the bank fishermen thought a train was coming to get them when I was running mine.

Bought my LED lights off of amazon. Saved a ton of money and not 1 problem with the lights, just make sure they're mounted good.

You're battery can hold the LEDs, nav, starter and bilge. At least mine does and my battery is nothing special. These new LEDs pull next to nothing.

Check out Amazon or eBay. Both have cheaper but dependable lights that'll save you a lot of money.

I keep a streamlight flashlight tucked in the top of my waders for quick access to light up outside where my lightbar shines. To me a LED light bar is the way to go. On open water you can't really tell how much light it throws on open water as there is nothing to reflect lighy back to your eyes. Now when something is sticking out of the water you can see it from a long way off. It is the only way I want to run my airboat.