Sportspal S15 motor? 6hp outboard or Stump Jumper 7hp Subaru

[Deserthunter1]

Hey Gents and Gals,

I'm on the fence with a 6hp 4Stroke outboard or Stump Jumper 7hp long tail. I will be using a Sportspal S15 square transom.
If I go with the outboard I will install a Jack Plate and Any suggestion on that would be great. The outboard is 57lbs and Stump Jumper is 63 lbs.
I live in Sacramento, CA and will be running the Canoe on Rocky rivers and Delta Marsh for bird hunting and fly fishing. I always have 2 people in the canoe and when hunting add a dog with decoys and gear.
I have never owned a long tail before so this is new ground. I have read a lot of post on this forum and am blowed away at the knowledge and firsthand experience you all offer. Down here if we get in a bad spot help is just a cell call away......up there it can be a life or death situation real fast!

Any advice would be great, Thanks

Frank

 

[aknative1987]

I looked real hard at the Stumpjumper for a freighter canoe, couldn't find a bad review. I ended up going with a Swamp Runner small kit due to price. I had an 8 horse Honda with a lift, but I will not consider that again for a square stern canoe. The Stumpjumper is air cooled, will chew through much more vegetation before needing to be cleaned off, and said vegetation won't clog any water in take as the Stumpjumper is, again, air cooled. The Stumpjumper will also take much more abuse than a regular outboard, both because it is just tougher and because the way it is set up will bounce off stuff and lift out of the water. Some might say an outboard will also do that, and it will, but due the different way the 2 motors are balanced when the regular outboard does it causes much more stress to the transom, the motor itself, and again takes the water in take out of the water.

I grew up with outboards, loved them. But I'm sold on mud motors for what you describe, I run similar stuff; rocky rivers, swamp. I'm still babying my gear like it's an outboard because that's my habit. But the mud motors I have amaze me every time I test them. If you're going to be in deep clear water, use the outboard, it will be faster compared to the Stumpjumper. If you're going to beat rocks and chew through vegetation, you will be much happier with the Stumpjumper. Consider other motors as well. Copperhead gets good reviews, looked hard at that as well. But again, I went with the Swamp Rummer small mud motor kit and put a 6.5 Predator on it. Do a youtube search for those motors and pick the one that does best in the environment type you'll be in, and don't forget to add the depth of your pocketbook to your thinking.

Be safe out there!

 

[Deserthunter1]

Thanks AKNative,

price for the 2 motors is under $1,500. The Cooperhead would be sweet but its $2,500 and 20 lbs more. If I was running a Jon I might lean more towards the Cooper due to the weight.
Is is easy to operate your motor sitting down? It seems a lot of the vids I watch for mud motors the guys are standing up. Also does the long handle get in the way compared to an outboard?

 

[FL2AK-Old Town]

This was actually a better question for the Waterfowl Hunting forum. Those guys have more experience with those mud motors.

I have a Grumman Sport Boat, which is very similar to your Sportspal. I run outboards, but going through really weedy water (Rabbit Slough comes to mind) is a superior pain in the...the...gluteous maximus. (At one point I was stopping to unclog the prop every few minutes. I thought I'd never get back.)

I'm told, but don't know personally, that you loose a lot of efficiency and a lot of your ability to either go faster or push a heavier load with these weed-eaters because the prop is usually only half submerged.

I don't think I'd own a mud motor, because I want to push heavier loads and run deep water as well as those waterfowling wetlands, so the outboard is better overall, but it sounds like a mud motor might be just the ticket for you. Just remember, when you gt a specialized item, it will do its specialized job very well, but it won't do other jobs worth a darn. If you go with an outboard, you'll get more utility, but at the expense of wetland capabilities compared to the other design.

 

[aknative1987]

In my canoe I drive the Swamp Runner seated. I stand most of the time in the 18x48 with a 25 Go Devil long tail. You'll be able to sit down.

Most long tails propellers are completely submerged. Swamp Runners are "surface piercing," and require tuning to get it right, but I've had no problem pushing a heavy canoe up river yet, except for one time in a hair pin turn shallow on the left and sweepers on the right. Took 2 minutes to get out and pull the boat around. Swamp Runner touts their kit as the fastest mud motor in the world, and youtube does reveal a video of a souped up kit on a Thai racing boat doing 90 some MPH. They do some crazy stuff over there.

Go Devil surface drives do run on the surface, but don't have troubles with a load. They are slower overall than outboards, but will go so many more places easily. The Go Devil long tails are even slower than their Surface Drives, but the places I can go with it verses a prop outboard make it worth it. A jet outboard would go shallower in clear water with a hard bottom, but uses much more gas and is louder. I do want a faster set up for the flat bottom, but won't be a conventional outboard for what I do.

In my canoe I don't notice the handle getting in the way. It is something to get used to, but what I do with a long tail EASILY compared to doing it with the outboard makes it all worth it.

Pluses and minuses to everything. The only thing I'll own a water cooled outboard for again will be the ocean. I would love a 4 stroke jet, but again, water cooled, still gas thirsty, and they're getting so complicated, and mud and weeds wear them out.

 

[aknative1987]

Unfortunately didn't get a moose in the boat this trip, but pushed 2 guys, too much food, and camp up river. We pulled the canoe over dams, motor pushed through sand and weeds, under logs.


Be safe out there!