I'm thinking of buying a War Eagle 648 and can't decide what to power it with. The boat will be used in open water and tight shallow rivers and lakes. How will the Mud Motor "Pro Drive" handle open choppy water? Where we hunt the open water we can hug the shore out of the chop, but at one point we have to cross the open water about a mile into the islands. I know mud motors are slower than out boards but I like the fact you don't have to worry about hitting debries in the shallows. What do you all think? It's between a Pro Drive 32 and a Mercury 4 stroke.

I have a PD 32 and I would never go back to a regular outboard. But I need that type motor. I run in the weeds, mud and shallows that will kill a water cooled outboard in short order. If the water was clean enough I would still be running my old 20 Johnson. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you run in the muck and mud then nothing will take the place of a good mud motor. But if you don't really need one get the Mercury.

If you are covering that distance over open water with the possibility of some waves and chop, I would go with the outboard. The mud motors do not plane a boat up like an outboard does. Therefore, when going over open water the outbaord will keep the nose clean and out of the water but the mud motor will have a tendency to push into the water with the possibility of water coming over the top of the nose of the boat.

Get the outboard if you do more open water hunting.....