School me on duck boats and engines

[zrp]

Been a long time bird hunter and shooter. Thinking about trying my luck at duck hunting(it's been years). I have an old jon boat but it's relatively small. I would be looking for a 16' jon boat to use for hunting. I would be hunting in central Florida and crossing large bodies of water to get to where I need to be. Obviously very shallow with pads and grass and logs as well. I've seen several different engine configurations on the water while fishing. Need to know what the advantages/disadvantages are of the longtails and surface drives and any other source of propulsion. Also, thoughts on the longtail kits. Thanks

[T Dub]

If I hunted the type of water you describe I would have a flat bottom with a surface drive for sure. I wouldn’t know where to start but I do have a friend that just bought an “uncle J’s” custom boat from Louisiana and it is very nice and can take him just about anywhere in the marshes.

[Bearetta]

I would recommend a visit to the Duckhunters Refuge forum. They will where you out answering your question.

[acesover]

We just had a new store open here, Florida Mud Motors. I checked the website out and was surprised at the prices for complete set ups. More than I expected, but nice set ups.

[RFeyoMN]

It really depends on how much $$ you want to fork out. My first bit of advice, if you.are not strictly hunting open water...I would in no way consider an outboard. Longtail or shorty only...and for what you describe, is where i'd start.

Your motor could vary, and work well. If you ain't in a hurry...a thin skinned 16ft hull and an LT in the 15hp range could be sufficient. If you average long boat rides, rough crossings, or don't like slow boats...you can run a well built hull like an Uncle J or Prodigy and a big block shorttail upwards of 40mph. The possibilities are endless.

You can check out Backwoods Landing's website if you're bored. They generally have a large selection of boats on their site...you could get some ideas anyways.

[jc1992]

In our duck boat we have a stick steer with a 50hp regular yamaha outboard. We built our own blind out of conduit pipe and bought some Camo covering that looks like leaves that you can see through and it works great. But we hunt on a river and where we park is super shallow but don’t have to go through any grass or nothing like that.