Looking into used duck boats that can also be used for fishing. How necessary is having neutral/reverse on a surface drive? It's one more thing that can fail, but I can also see where it would be nice to have. What's the OB's opinion?

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Posted by HoldThatTiger03

Work

Member since Mar 2019

542 posts

Posted on 4/20/26 at 12:47 pm to shadowlsu

Buy a Gatortail and dont worry with any of the others. Running YoYo's, Limb lines, frogging etc... you are going to wish you had gone with one with reverse.

This post was edited on 4/20/26 at 12:50 pm

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Posted by shadowlsu

Member since May 2011

327 posts

Posted on 4/20/26 at 1:05 pm to HoldThatTiger03

quote:
Running YoYo's, Limb lines, frogging etc... you are going to wish you had gone with one with reverse.

Excellent points

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Posted by Spankum

The Sip

Member since Jan 2007

62065 posts

Posted on 4/20/26 at 2:31 pm to shadowlsu

How are you going to back the boat of the blind….push pole?

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Posted by TheBoo

South to Louisiana

Member since Aug 2012

5516 posts

Posted on 4/20/26 at 2:36 pm to Spankum

quote:

How are you going to back the boat of the blind….push pole?

That's the way it was done for decades. But from someone who came up in a direct drive long tail and had a forward / neutral mudbuddy, reverse is the tits.

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Posted by SlackMaster

Baton Rouge

Member since Jan 2009

2854 posts

Posted on 4/20/26 at 5:45 pm to shadowlsu

It's a necessity in some sandy bottom situations, like at Wax Lake. You use reverse to dig a five-foot trench so the prop has enough water to get on plane.

ETA: This is true for a GatorTail or MudBuddy surface drive. Not a sure with respect to a ProDrive with their full-power reverse design.

This post was edited on 4/20/26 at 5:47 pm

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