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Anyone here ever have a Go Devil Boat with traditional Go Devil engine? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | ||
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One of my hunting cabin partners had one. It would go through most anything, but was a real pig to turn and tended to take a lot of muscle to run. He did have the biggest boat they made though. I ended up buying a mud buddy when I decided to get a mud boat. The pros of a go devil in my mind are it will work in thicker cover and shallower water (read pure mud) than a belt drive. The cons are it will require a lot of room to maneuver, and if you need to maneuver a lot, you will likely be tired whenever you get there. They are also louder than hell. I always had to bring double plugs and earmuffs in the thing. It will also be harder to get stuck, but once you do get it stuck, you will likely need a winch to get it out. I think the belt drive motors are better for big water waterfowling, are more manueverable, and easier to trailer due to not having 6-8 feet of motor hanging off the stern; but if you get a smaller boat, the go devil will get you anywhere a boat can get you. Lots of the local muskrat trappers use small go devil motors on smaller jonboats and get in to weeds further than I am willing to go with my belt drive boat. Note that both my boat and my partner's were 18' (his) or 19' (mine) so I am talking bigger boats that I have personal experience with. Hope that helps. | |||
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Yep........Well Go devil motor on a john boat...still have it. | |||
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Thanks Doctor! I appreciate the detailed response. It was just what I was looking for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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Hi JTEX, Do you like yours? I am looking for a boat to run up and down the Red River for hunting and fishing but want to be able to take it across Lake Texoma too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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Doc, to the best of my knowledge the Go Devils are engineered for shallow water swampy type areas. I don't believe they would work well at all in the open water of Texoma. Have you considered a 16' deep and wide aluminum with a short transom? A semi-V would work about as well as any for what you are talking about, in my estimation. I ran one with a short shaft 35 and a tiller in the bay country down here on the TX coast for many years and it did quite well. I also used it to trotline the bayous near home, and as long as I paid attention to what I was doing, I could typically slide the boat over partially submerged logs and so forth so long as I left the motor where it would kick up if necessary. | |||
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 They say you can take them anywhere! I am sure they are not IDEAl for open water...but that above pic is a Godevil Boat and Godevil engine. I would just like to safely be able to cross the main channel whre wind currents can be treacherous. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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How did the outboard jet get left out of consideration? I've used one for years and its considered by my peers to be the ultimate water atv. I posted a moose hunting report in the alaska forum that features its use. | |||
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If shallow running is your main concern, I'd recommend a Sea Ark Tunnel hull with a medium size engine for length (due to light wt hull and flat bottom these things will fly and top speed (more HP) is rarely needed), probably in 20 feet or even 24, if you like to carry a lot of friends or beer (I'm available  ). You can easily run them in less than a foot of water unless grossly overloaded. If crossing the lake is a bigger concern, I might look to one of the Sea Ark River Cat models, again in 20 or 24. Nothing wrong with a Go-devil, I ran them in S Louisiana marshes before there were "Go-devils", but they will wear you out, and they are loud, plus don't have the versatility of a 4 stroke. Get an electric start if you get one. Sea Ark is the Cadillac of the non-custom boats and they ain't cheap, but they maintain value fairly well for a boat and are tough as hell. Their hulls are .125 while most of their competitors are .010 or even lighter. The cheapest Sea Ark dealer that I am aware of is in North? Carolina, but there's a helluva lot of differences in prices between dealers, shop around. Here's a link for comparisons, not sure how current it is, but within the last year..... A K McCallum Co. xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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In the shallow water marsh here in LA gator tail surface drive is the current king, in deeper water marsh, tunnel hulls 18 to 20' with two cycle Merc 25 or 40 hp are considered the best. Got to buy the 25 hp used, no longer made in two cycle, they are very much sought after , im am going to look at 2 tomorrow. BUTCH C'est Tout Bon (It is all good) | |||
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When I lived in Thailand oh so many years ago they just used a regular car engine in those long canal boats. Long driveshaft out the back that could be controlled by an even longer piece of pipe rigged up into the boat. Raise lower left right. Those things could fly when you need to. I like the jet engines but they use a lot more fuel. I guess everything has a trade off. Happiness is a warm gun | |||
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If you buy a long tail, always bring an extra set of clothes. You WILL get thrown out the boat. A nick name that fits is "slow-devil". That said, I have a 16 with a 30hp. It works for where I hunt. | |||
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For what I use it for I love it. Mine is only 12 HP and I use it for running ditches in the marsh to the duck blinds. It would be better with a Go-Devil type boat so you have a hand rail to hold onto..... I have used bigger ones and they go plenty fast....miss a sharp turn in the dark and you WILL spend time dragging the boat back across the marsh to the ditch! I will stick with the "long tail" versions, I think they are a bit more versatile. I have no problems in the Trinity river or short runs in the bay but my 12 HP ain't fast. Sure beats the hell out of wading or pushing the boat though. . | |||
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If I were a Doctor, I would be looking at Pro drive motors, it's pretty hard to beat. WWW.Prodriveoutboards.com | |||
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Mike we use something similar to what you just described in South LA. 20' boat with a 350 Chevy engine. Hydraulics to raise and lower the unit and hydraulic steering. The motor remains stationary. It uses a surface piercing prop. The rig also has neutral and reverse. They will run 40+ MPH and will run on pure mud with no water, will chew up water lilies, and make a good safe comfortable boat to run back and forth to the the camp from town. We call them "Super Go Devils". Lane, Sorry for the semi thread hijack. We have been on the same duck lease for forty years. You have to have a boat to go to the camp and to the blinds. I cannot recall a single Go Devil being used on our lease. Over the years there were always better choices for OUR situation. Now, the surface drives, especially the ProDrives, are tough to beat. Go to the bottom of the page on the link and there are a couple of pictures of the Super Go Devil and Pro Drives. http://www.cowislandoutdoors.c...w_Island_Hunting.php  Check out the video.  http://s135.photobucket.com/us...1E8E35A670D.mp4.html | |||
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I have a gatortrax boat and a high performance mud buddy motor for duck hunting and shallow water fishing. I think Go Devils are fine, but are also the least technologically advanced of the surface drive type motors. Shoot me a PM if you have any particular questions. | |||
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LEDVM, What's up Doc? | |||
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Like the boats in The Man with the Golden Gun.....when Sheriff JW Pepper gets soaked in Thailand.  | |||
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I have a custom made hull (Uncle J from Louisiana) and a pro drive surface drive motor. My boat has higher sides than most mud boats and handles open water (Aransas Bay) well and runs very shallow. Surface drive boats work well in shallow water, especially with a muddy bottom. The do not work well in shallow water over hard sand or oyster shells. My boat has a removable pop up blind and worked very well this past duck season. The ProDrive outboard is very maneuverable and has a "bump" button to engage the prop for just an instant which makes loading on the trailer in a cross wind easy and picking up decoys without getting out of the boat easy. Custom built hulls are just about the same price as any other mud boat hulls. Drop me a line if you would like pictures or more information. Don't ask me what happened, when I left Viet Nam, we were winning. | |||
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I am not a "boat guy" so am just pretty dam green in regards to them. But I live on the Red River between Tx and OK and would like to get an entry level river boat capable of crossing Lake Texoma. It needs to be able to run shallow shallow and won't see heavy use. Just don't know what I should get.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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You damn sure need a boat....that swimming to work everyday must be getting old..... Seriously I've already said what I think above, but it really depends on how shallow "shallow, shallow" is.....the latest and greatest as mentioned above by Begno is the jon boats wth Gator Tail surface drive they use in La. but these guys are running in thick soup. UNLESS you're going to be really using it in marsh type conditions, the tunnel hull with a hot outboard trimmed up will run in less than 3 inches of water. I just bought a heavy duty 23 foot custom jon with a 200 (which is way more than I think it needs but that's what was on it) and I may sell my heavy duty Sea Ark 20 foot with 135. However, it is not a tunnel drive. xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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They ain't cheap, but if you want one that will run on nothing and over rocks, you might look at these boats......www.rockproofboats.com xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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