? on small mud motors

[Wld Fowl]

I have a 12ft tracker john boat I am looking at putting a small mud motor on it. I would like to put a Mini 6 Robin or Kohler Long tail.
I will be using it on the salt marsh around Chincoteague Island, VA.

What is the deference between the two?
What is the purpose of the gear reduction?
Is the long tail or the surface drive better?
Do any of these motors have reverse?

Any info would be great.
Ryan

[pvogtlin]

Ryan,

I have a 12 foot john with a 6.5 beavertail on it. It works great with one guy and decoys in open to fairly heavily vegitated water. If you plan to travel through thick vegitation, I would recomend at least a 9 hp motor. My boat has gotten me anywhere I have wanted to get, it's just that you have to work the motor a little harder some times. As far as the difference between long tail and surface drive, I think the long tails perform better in weedy areas, but surface drive motors seem to give you more speed. I dont know of any longtails that have reverse, but you dont really need it in my opinion. The turn radius with a longtail and a small boat is so close to zero it is very easy to turn your boat around and drive out.

Peter

[Dwayne Padgett]

Mud Buddy builds a 6 and a 12 hp lontail. they also have a "performance' 6 and 12 hp longtail. These two models have a gear reduction. As for the Surface drives, or Short tails as we call them, Mud Buddy has a 12hp Mini that might work for you. The shrt tails will run thicker vegitation and drier mud than the longtails, with less effort on the driver. The one place the longtail has a small advantage is if your running up and over a lot of logs and downed trees. They are also faster on top end. One more advantage you will have with a short tail on that small of a boat is you can drive it sitting down and not have to lean out as much in a sharp turn. Any questions feel free to shoot me a pm. We build the 9-27 mini's right here in SC.


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