After getting stuck in shallow water, on a hard bottom, one morning, I added a winch to my boat too.

I made my winch mount so that it could be dropped into any spud hole on the boat. I could winch from any direction, not just the bow. The only time I ever used the winch was after Harvey, in Houston and Port Arthur.
You never know when/where you might need one..

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Thanks for the pix Misfire, I didn't know what a spud hole was, I like how you can pack the winch away, install it when you need it. I might have a change of heart on the winch now, lol. How much does that winch weigh?

Spud holes are great. They allow you shallow water anchor with a spud pole. In addition, I drilled holes in mine and threaded the aluminum tubing that makes up the spud holes on the transom. I used the threaded holes to mount a removable transducer.

I believe the winch weight is about 25lbs. Once you add steel base, cables, etc.., my guess would be 35-40lbs total. Before I sold the boat, I kept it in a storage locker up in the bow. Like you said, pop it on/off when needed. For power cables, I bought some heavy duty/gauge jumper cables that would reach the battery from anywhere in the boat. They stowed rolled up in the bag they came in. It all worked great.

I'm with you Guy on carrying winches, just don't need them on regional lakes. But, I will throw my handy dandy power puller in the boat if I'm know I will be traversing up rivers. A couple tow straps and buckles thrown in it could help out on a sandbar. One thing me and a buddy have started doing is taking our own boats even when hunting together. Scouting after a hunt, towing one another back in if something happens, or getting one unstuck.....lots of advantages with tandem rigs.

Hiding 2 boats seems to be no problem.....and your worried about a taller motor...

PM me your address if you get the Mudbuddy, so I can send you your transgender flag.

Seriously, Gatortail is a hop skip and a jump away if you have issues.

Go to https://mudmotortalk.com and see what folks think about Mudbuddy.

Have you noticed that place is dead? No one posts there any more, last post is 2020. I looked there a couple weeks ago for the first time in 10 years, but yeah that forum has always been a Gatortail crowed, the talk back then was the younger crowd preferred Gatortail which was primarily that forum. That was 10 years ago, back when I researched mud boats. I really have not started researching my next rig yet, I’ll take my time with it, no rush. I’m having fun hunting my momarsh.

Im not worried about it. If I had to make a decision today it would be a Gatortail. The higher profile is just one thing I do not like about it. But I’m not worried about it.

Same here, I keep mine in the boat. I can see the need for a winch tho and I may go that route eventually. My hull a true light weight mud hull and the few times I've gotten in trouble I was able to get out without it. All it's gonna take is once LOL.

Speaking of GT....my power trim went out again about a week ago. Sense I went local on my rig took it to Pete yesterday, presto back in action. Well...back in action with trim. I hunted 2 times with no trim but was careful.

Will need to replace the power trim unit after season but I sure like my service when I need it.

Great service from Pete, but not good for reliability when out on the water. I know someone else with Gatortail, trim went out after 1 year or so, wiring. My mudbuddy trim started going out after like a year or so, it was wiring connection issue, I fixed it myself. For me, it went out slowly, I worried about it going out with my prop out of the water. When I park my boat hunting, I tend to raise my prop out of the water to pull it into shallow water to hide it (some times I pull on the prop willing it backwards to hide), not a good idea if prop gets stuck up out of the water. What do you do in that situation? I need to figure that out...I just need to get back to the ramp.

Wow, wonder what happened to that forum. Just like the Austin Bass Fishing forum that used to have a ton of activity.

I still think more of Gator Tail than Mudbuddy.

A lot of forums are slowly drying up. I don't know if everyone is going to faceplant or just watching online content but many of the forums I have been active in for years are seeing a lot less activity.

I haven't had any problems yet, but do ya mind sending me Pete's contact info?

It seems like the trim unit is always a ticking time bomb. I don't know a ton of folks, but I know a couple that have had them go out on their GTRs in the last year. That and the wiring on the back of the trim switch.

There is a release on the pump that will allow you to get it to go down (screwdriver is needed). Getting it back up after that, well that's a challenge...it used to work the same way but you need three hands to get it accomplished. That's assuming they are still using the Mercury trim pumps they once were.

Mine was not wiring although the throttle ground screw came loose a couple years ago and was making my throttle skip. Lock tight on the screw solved that.
The cylinder that holds the fluid was leaking and most was gone, so I could raise my motor by pushing down on the handle, plus giving it throttle made it come up some on its own. If Petes in town I can get pretty quick service being a customer of his.

His number is 903-941-6229

Thx Judd good to know there is a fix there, I’ll for sure be calling gatortail make sure I know how to fix that on the water.

I was fumbling over google looking for something and stumbled upon this thread. Im not sure why 99% who posted prefer gatortail? I’ve got a 2023 35 HDR with 450hrs (yes in one year, i run the hell out of it in saltwater and its worked flawlessly till recently) and I wouldn’t quite say I loved it (only because of the recent problems) but i like it more now that I’ve gotten pretty good at fixing it myself and not have to rely on anymore untrustworthy mechanics. It seems like 450hrs was the magical number when things just started falling apart. Ive had to replace the outdrive already, ($1,500 since the front bearing housing had been magically scored/worn) and shortly later somehow screwed up an exhaust valve seal ($10 part but your mechanic will charge you $750.00) an outing right after the new drive was installed. The electrical tape around my spark wire was coming off so the wire was getting wet and began arching. My motor began backfiring and missing and i guess the engine didnt like that so the problem led to the exhaust valve seal (I guess backfiring could cause a seal to blow but who knows) My tilt trim also went out but it was just a corroded wire under the console. So while removing the cylinder head last week I broke 2 headbolts and I’m now dead in the water praying a machinist can get them out as I type. Mechanics can get expensive real quick (these guys start licking there chops when they see it attached to a hull but dam its just a gdmn lawnmower engine) on these engines when dealing with outdrive issues, heads, or almost anything for that matter. It really is not difficult working on these engines. If I can ever get this motor back up and running I will continue to like it for now, but I will definitely be hating it if it fks up again too soon. So why gatortail???

Oh and too the op, you could buy a short block from briggs, slap everything back on it, and be about as good as new. It really isn’t that bad working on these engines. Just need to have some basic knowledge on engines and a good set of tools. OHV engine manual from briggs is very helpful as well.

Good god man your averaging 1 hour/fifteen minutes a day EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. Are you getting any hunting or fishing time in, or just boating around? If you take out half the days, which is very logical then your putting 2.5 hours a day on that engine. Between hunting and scouting I can never see where I'm putting those hours on my motor. Maybe your lunch areas are miles and miles away from where you hunt. Saltwater?? I'd get me an outboard.

Do some research....you will see why GT has over taken MB

The mud motor mechanics I have talked to do not lean strongly to Gatortail over Mudbuddy, they do all seem to give a slight edge to gatortail that they are easier to work on. In regard to customers, they say gatortail customer service is better and I have heard some bad experiences from some mud buddy customers in regard to that. I personally, the 10 years I had my mud buddy, I got great customer service from them. Getting parts was good, and their TS guys I thought were good, they would give me great advice I thought, and would spend lots of time on the phone with me troubleshooting issues...

That being said, I do plan the go gatortail on my next motor, I’m still trying to figure out the hull I want, probably gatortrax again..

I'd be willing to bet that most MM owners put less than 450hrs hours on their motors for the entirety of ownership. I had as many issues with my Prodrive,(mostly electronic $$) in less than 200hrs in 3 years

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Yeah I had 390 hours on mine over 10 years when I sold it last month, and that was hunting some seasons 30 days a season, and I normally hunt as many days as I scout. And my rig was also a crappy rig in the off season..

The guys at mud muddy have excellent customer service. They will take care of you with parts and such. I travel an avg of 15miles 5 times a week. An outboard jet prob would holdup longer but I really like the low gas use and the torque you get out of it for a smaller engine with a light alum 1648.. I will say these types of motors can be a pain if you are not good with mechanical work. I’d say this briggs and stratts engine (pistons) could go 2000+hrs. Gonna find out hopefully! Gatortail uses the same engine. Briggs and stratton. The outdrives are prob similar I guess. Gatortail is closer to Tx so is probably why you see more of them.

Forgot about this thread. My last boat was a GT extreme hull 1854 with 1/4" poly glued to the bottom. Better than any gator glide ever, plus it toughened up the bottom substantially. I hunted a bunch of flooded areas and hit a lot of stuff and never had issues with hooks. When I did get it stuck, it was easy to manuever back around. Saw the tag for MMT, thanks for the memories! That place was a hoot years ago, but I met some really good friends from all across the coast. Wish I was going to the mudrun the 24th in Port Neches, but kids put a damper on the party nowadays. I will say the mud run is good place to see a lot of different boats in action if you get the opportunity to check it out! And the party is pretty good, too. Nothing like flying across moon pond sideways! Don't be afraid to ask the airboaters for help if you get stuck, most of them don't mind helping.


That dual rig is BA, but at that size and cost point, go airboat!

Someone here gets it. If you are going to spend that kind of money... get something that goes places most others cant.

Don't wanna thead hijack here, but what product did you use?