Thank you for the input- war eagle and edge make Hulls that are made for a surface drive, have a v hull- and still can take an outboard. It sounds like that might be my best all around hull option. V for the chop and surface drive for the vegetation. I’ve seen freedom outboards and that might be something I should look into. The MSTCs are in the budget , but I would like this to be my “do all” lifetime boat purchase. I’ll look into them some more for sure.
Aluminum boat world is 1/2 doz the other... We have taken surface drive hulls and dropped 115 mercurys on the back and made them work with JP's and fine tuning. One of my good good buddies is running an excel flat bottom 52-55 with a 115 merc off the back. His hull was designed for "Surface drive" only. Anything is possible. I wouldnt go freedom outboard route. I went down that ugly rabit hole not too long ago. If I had a gun to my head tomorrow and they told me to pick my next forever set up. Im going with that new prodrive with their outboard/surface drive combo. Hearing real good things about it. I contacted Prodrive and really wanted them to put one on my havoc. I think it would make a real nice statement for prodrive, to have one of their motors on a havoc. They said they arent in a position to do so at this time, I told them to chew on it and we are supposed to revisit the conversation next spring/summer. I do love my hull, its going to take a LOT for me to get rid of it. Such a quick hull, had mine custom built for the "do all" boat in mind. Had the hull made a touch thicker, had them put the high deck and trolling motor tray in with the hopes of fishing and hunting out of a single hull. The original plan was to have the 5000 efi and a 90hp tiller that I would switch back and forth with between fishing and hunting seasons. Had it set up to take multiple fish finders and quick release trolling motor plates. That MSTC runs fine with an outboard and those reverse ribs on the hull are pretty genius to keep weight down to meet coast guard regulation so they dont have to put all the foam in the boat like a true flat bottom boat. Part of the reason my rig is as fast as it is, theres very little foam (almost none) from the factory .
Fishing got a bit serious for me for a few years, and even though I could place top 10 in most local bass tourneys out of my havoc, I got a bass boat and life was even better lol. I still catfish out of my duck boat, and theres nothing more fun sometimes than getting up a big river system and sitting all night with multiple lines out with live bluegill sitting on the bottom. When that school of flathead come through, its one of the biggest adrenaline rushes anyone can have.
So believe me, i know where your mind is at. I spent like 4-5 months talking with so many companies to pick a hull back in 2019 before I landed on this hull. Is it the best, probably not, but for the price the versatility and the ability to fine tune it the way I wanted it made the havoc mstc a perfect hull for me. Good luck with your search sir. You wont go wrong with whatever you decide.
Pics of the fleet. 2 ob and 1 surface drive. If I didn’t need my surface drive for 3 holes, I wouldn’t own one. I’d go ob all day every day. Technically 2 of these hulls are surface drive hulls.
