That is a dilemma sometimes. When you've been hunting the local lakes for over 30 years, then someone takes you hunting locally, the odds are great that I have hunted where they took me long before they ever hunted it. And if I haven't, it is even greater odds I have scouted it a few times. "I been everywhere man".

Well Homey gave me another option, I can put a brand new stock 35hp on there, 2 year warrantee, and I'll save $2k. So I went for this instead. As tempting as it was to get that bad arse motor (it would have been fun to beat Mohunter in a race), I really do not need all that motor. This really works out just what I wanted from the beginning, an older gatortrax and a brand new stock 35hp.

In the end it all worked out for ya. Glad my rig is going to someone that will use it often. For the load you run a stock 35 will be plenty of power. If you feel down the road you need a bit more we can throw a carb/pipe/heads on it to get you more hp and torque. Your 35 CDI has been ordered and I'll holla when it arrives to mount/rig it for ya. congrats..you are one step closer to the backwaters

Put some training wheels on that thing for him before you cut him loose HC!

That's pretty cool. What's going to happen to the 7000?

Speaking of that: Where do they come up with all the numbers on the motors? Are they all hp ratings?...


Just saw this..



Aren't you getting a smaller motor for your new boat in the 5500?

He has driven mine and I have the same setup, he already knows what to expect, no training time needed for Guy, just needs to grab the throttle and hold on.
Enjoy the rig. I expect to see a few posts from you about lights, gps, and other accessories now.

I woulda had he took the 7000 with it

I wouldn't say smaller..same internals, just a carb less. Prolly talking a hp or 2. The 7's have decent bottom end, great midrange and run fastest on top. The 55's have the best bottom end, excellent mid range but give up a mph or 2 on top. I ain't about speed..I need a$$ on the bottom end. Sometimes my clients are hogmolly's and the 7 will get us up but the 55 will do it quicker. Once rolling out the 7 will be faster, but not by much.

If there is only a different of a few horses where do they come up with the random numbers they call them?

And that's why the 7 was not the best fit for me, I'm not a guide shuttling a boat load of hogmollys around. 60% of the time it will be just me and my 70 pound molly . The 7 would have been fun, and if Homey did not have someone else interested in his motor I would have bought it and the kid side of me would have had a blast with it. But the conservative, practical side of me was telling me to get the band new 35. The longevity and cost of the 35hp is better, and will get me anywhere the 7 will. Thanks Homey for right sizing the boat for me.

And it will take a death march to beat him to his spot.

You need the 55

Signed,

X Hogmolly

It's too late, I can't change my mind any more, 35hp it is. I can take one hogmolly, just not a boat load of hogmollys.

As I was pulling off with Homey's boat today, I thought he was gonna get all misty eye'd on me.

Probably some memorable hunts in the boat

Granted alotta blood was spilled on that boat over the years and yes many great hunts with friends and clients I guide were a part of the memories. But mostly it was the boat my girls first took a ride on the water in. The boat they caught their first fish in and the boat they went on their first duck hunts in. But, Homey needs a new sled and we'll just have to make more memories together in that one. Guy will enjoy. She's a good boat and a duck magnet.

Understandable.

Your new motor came in already?

No, early September. I'm in no rush....

Ah. I was thinking "dang, that was fast!" lol

Get a paddle and take her out.

I could throw my 7 hp Stumpjumper on there.

Those rigs will flat out get it done, especially in the hands of an experienced captain. I'm not but duckin partner is and his time on the stick shows when running the nasty.
We have been to where you picked up our hats by boat in better years and that was a long ride but worth the rewards. He runs a gatortrax as well and his mudbuddy started life as a 35 but has since morfed into something much bigger. Sounds like my Harley when he fires it up lol.
Congrats on your purchase. When you get that 35 hung on the back you'll be set to train for your pilots license lol. Enjoy the ride Guy.

Congrats Guy. I remember all the years and talk about you not getting a big boat but after you use it and feel as comfortable with your boy in that rig on hard days getting to and fro, you will be very happy about making the switch. just ride the banks on windy days and you will be fine.Ill see you on the water!

Muddyfoot I been wanting a big rig for a long, just never had a place to keep one till last summer, then it took me a year to figure out what I want, and to find what I want. I got that momarsh and stumpjumper last summer because I was just not sure what big rig I wanted, but I always wanted a layout boat like that, so what the heck I got one. Now I got 2 boats, and I'm glad I never got a 14 ft johnboat or I would have 3 boats.

You hunt that lake all you want, I don't believe in that. If I take anyone hunting public, I expect they will hunt that lake. Don't ever take me hunting public and expect me not to hunt that lake, I would rather not go. There are not many lakes I have not hunted already, and the ones I have not hunted I plan to hunt. No way I'm going to not hunt a lake just because someone else took me there, again I would rather not go. [/quote

Couldn't have said it better myself. I don't need to put myself in a situation that could possibly, down the road, involve me in some drunkin rant about how public isn't really public if you hunt my spot. I follow the birds. More than likely, I've hunted your spot in the past, so it's not like you'd be entrusting me with any secret meat hole. Somehow, though, I'd be that guy that you took out, that now shoots up your secret spot 4 days a week. Ain't worth it.

there aren't any "secret" holes left....maybe a few that only a handful of folks know about but none that have never been found already. TerraServer back in the late 90's was the beginning of the end and Giggle Erf every other kind of sat imagery that has popped up on the web since 2000 has ruined many a good hard to find areas. I almost wish it never happened. Back yen, if you didn't have the drive to "keep going" deeper into that field or thru those next 2 treelines to see what was what, either by boat or foot, guess what? You never found shat! I still have a couple areas that myself and 2 others know of that have never seen another hunter. I know this cuz it is only huntable when the water is right and it takes rain in the right area and only stays up a couple days and on those days u can bet yo a$$ I'm in there. Been this way for 20 years. Wish I could hunt it more than once or twice ( if I'm lucky) a season but that's what keeps it so good. Haven't been in there in 3 years due to drought. I ain't mad about it though, I just keep waiting for the rain to fall in the little ol' watershed I need it to. When it does my puter has 2 windows open...wx radar and USGS levels. When it hits my majic number there will be carnage there the following morning.

The "Don't tell anyone where I take you hunting" bit is for newbies and mooches that don't like to scout.

Guys that enjoy scouting and finding their own as opposed to just pulling the trigger, it should not be an issue. If a spot is that sacred to me, I do not take anyone there. If I do take you (very rare), and you hunt it, that will not piss me off, especially if you hunt it by yourself or with your kids, or even with "a" hunting buddy that you hunt with all the time. What pisses me off are blabber mouths. Guys that hunt with a "group" of hunters, where hunting is a social event, need to be careful about taking these types to good public spots. Social hunting, I try to keep that to private land.