Am I looking at too big of a boat?

Anybody every run a 25hp surface drive or long tail on a 17x50 .125 flat bottom aluminum? How much better would a surface drive push the boat than a long tail?

Here is what I'm trying to do.

Looking to sell a 15 yr old 18' CC fiberglass tunnel hull with 150 hp outboard to get aluminum flat bottom for the purpose of duck hunting and fishing coastal marsh and the bay when conditions permit. I will have interchangeable motors which will be a new four stroke tiller in the 40-60 hp range on a jack plate and an air-cooled motor.

The biggest challenge for me right now is a few refuges in my area having 25hp max restrictions. I want to use a long tail or surface drive in these areas as I'll be trying to get back into some skinny marsh ponds.

I like the Gator Trax 17x50 with modified rake rigged out with catwalks for storage of guns and rods and some removable decking. The boat will be a blind and will hunt and fish 2-3 avg size dudes. I'm just concerned with marsh performance in this boat with a 25hp air-cooled. I realize I won't have a lot of top-end speed, but what about shallow water performance for getting in and out of shallow muddy areas?

Outside of hunting season I'll most likely use the outboard so its really coming down to hunting these refuges. A Gator Tail or Mud Buddy 25hp surface drive is around $7-8 grand whereas a long tail could come in around $2 grand.

Am I trying to do too much with this thing and should I downsize it?