What do y’all have for a boat.

I have two. a small one and bigger one. 5hp on one and 40 on the other

14 ft jon boat with either a 15 or 20 hp outboard. Smaller gets me into all the spots.

I am going to get a 14 ft Jon boat just like yours. How do you have it layed out. It looks like you’ve got a lot of critters there, how do you distribute the weight?

Dng thats alot of otter.Congrats

All depends on what water you're going to be on and how much weight you're going to put in it.

I have 3 for different situations/ critters. I use my "rat boat" the most (1442 with a 14 hp surface drive mud motor). The bigger 1648 with 30 hp surface drive mud motor gets used much less but it's needed if you're doing beaver and coon in any volume or traveling far.

Only 1 has an outboard (1648 with a 25 hp) Burn up an outboard by plugging the intake with weeds/ crap and you'll buy a mud motor (or two). Been there, done that. Outboard lower units are also very fragile as well. Doesn't take much to bust those.

For a small boat I used to use one of those coleman 5 hp air cooled motors. It actually worked pretty well for a cheaper motor. It wasn't strong enough to break the lower unit most times and it was air cooled so you didn't have to worry about the water intake. Kind of loud, though and was like trying to hang onto lawnmower.

I distribute weight something like these pics show. LOL

Main thing is try to keep the weight towards the back as much as possible so that the bow of the boat is up to break plane. You may notice three different outboards in these pics; It's because of the vintage of the pics. First is a 15hp Suzuki, second 15hp Yamaha, third a 20hp Honda. My favorite was the Yamaha. All short shaft of course.

In the last pic you'll notice a chainsaw in the bow of boat. I brought it along to cut an opening through a downed tree on a 15 mile long side channel I was taking that day.

I am boat poor and have about 5, 4 of them smaller. It is handy to just leave boats in certain places and not have to trailer them or load them. The little ones are 12-14 foot of various designs, most were cheap.

Thanks everyone.

BP is that a 1436 or a 1448

get the biggest motor your boat is tagged for

I just got this boat , this year and I am not a water trapper but I like it for fishing
this is Fisher Netter 14' a 15hp Johnson it will do 18-20 with about 700# of people and gear
it is 59" wide and a mod v bow
you will figure out where you need to put the weight to get on plane generally it is right around the middle bench to just a touch forward of the bench
wider is very nice for stability.

having run up some sloughs , I can absolutely see where a mud motor would be great , I have plugged the tube on the motor a few times with muck , be very very careful that your motor is peeing properly and fix it if at all possible before going any where.

Carls boat is a 1436 I’m pretty sure, I have a 1448. Mine is a Grizzly welded boat with a 20 hp Suzuki. Pretty big water for the boat he runs, but it works. Here is mine it has not had the critters his has.



I peeled the seats out and took the trolling motor off.

wws

Yep, biggest motor your boat is rated for, and wws is correct: Mine is a 1436. I have handled 2.5 ft whitecaps on some of the bigger lakes and it did just fine.

Check your state regs on hp. Many like Alabama have gone to strict adherence to hull rating on allowable hp so don't go over unless allowed. And the Bama crappie cops know to ignore the cowling and go for the serial number.
I'm sure they know about carbs and reeds on the two strokes as well.

Or just buy a commercial hull.

Don't check regulations. Look at your boat, it should have a hp number and a capacity tag.

I have a nucanoe frontier 12 kayak with 2.5 up 4 stoke. I want to build a 2 horse mud motor for it.

I mostly run trot lines in it. Has a 600lb capacity looking for a pond to trap rats in it

Hope to use mine some. It is a 12’ lowe-line jonboat I got with a trailer for $100

My boat is similar to Peeler’s, just a little wider with less dents. I know I just set myself up for some nasty comment about how my boat would have more dents if I actually went out and trapped harder.

BP you just ruined my day. If I got 1/4 of that catch in one day I would have to take a week off to skin them all. What a catch, must be great to be so young!!!!!!. Super congratulations amazingly great catch......jk

Hewescraft ocean pro 22' with a full bulkhead. It's not specifically for trapping, it's my daily driver when I'm in southeast. In fact, I can't remember ever actually setting from the boat, it just gets me where I'm going and then I go for a hike

1648 for bigger water, and a 14' or 12' for marsh/puddles. Outboard, mud motor or trolling motor, depending on the situation. I've had my 1648 with 25hp loaded down with enough rats, beaver and traps that a 6" rogue wave would have sunk it.