Excel Mud Boat Versus Gator-Tail Mud Boat
Are you interested in purchasing a mud boat? Are you wondering what the difference is between an Excel mud boat versus a Gator-Tail mud boat? This is a common question we receive and L&M Marine and Day Break Marina are here to give you a detailed answer so you can choose the best mud boat for you. Here are the differences between an Excel mud boat and a Gator-Tail mud boat based on nearly 20 years of experience.
Excel Mud Boat Versus Gator-Tail Mud Boat: Fit and Finish
The biggest difference between an Excel mud boat and a Gator-Tail mud boat is the fit and finish. Excel mud boats have more finishes and amenities overall, including boxes, livewells, bilge access, and remote fill fuel tank, meaning you can open up a hatch and fill the fuel tank versus having to detach the tank to fill it. Gator-Tail’s design is more simple, with no livewell, boxes, or remote fuel tank, when it comes to Gator-Tail, less is more.
The Difference in Design
The Excel boats have floatation foam built into the floor and the transom too and is overall a heavier boat. The majority of all Excel models have a mod V hull design, including their mud boats, while Gator-Tail offers three different hull designs.
Gator-Tail’s mud boats are lighter, and feature more of a simple design that’s wide open and highly effective. Gator-Tail doesn’t offer a boat that’s outboard motor compatible. Since their boats only feature surface drives and not outboards, it’s considered a shallow water ‘vehicle’ and they’re not restrained to Coast Guard regulations when it comes to their build. Every boat that has an outboard is required to have floatation foam built in, which makes the boat more buoyant, but heavier.
Mud boats needs to be lightweight so the engine can do as little work as possible. Both Excel mud boats and Gator-Tail mud boats don’t need more than six inches of water to function as they’re built to be pushed by their engines and slide through their surroundings versus float.
Excel Mud Boat Versus Gator-Tail Mud Boat: 1754 vs. 1754
Both of the mud boats below have the same mod-V design, are the same length, and if you were to compare them here are some of their specs including pros and cons.
Excel F4 1754:
Weight:
Heavier, slower
Better fit for open water, better ride quality
More amenities such as livewells
Price range: $26,000-$30,000
Gator-Tail 1754 Extreme Mod-V Series:
Weight:
Lighter, faster
Built out of thicker, 5086 aluminum
More simple design, no amenities
Price range: $28,000-$32,000
While both are designed to do the same thing, weight is a huge factor when it comes to surface drives. Excel mud boats weigh more, therefore they’re more easily maneuverable and handle slightly better in open, choppy water. Gator-Tail mud boats are just as capable in hunting and backwater scenarios and are faster due to their lighter weight. All Gator-Tails are made out of thicker, more durable, 5086 aluminum that 1/8” versus the standard 1/10” in the Excels. For an additional cost, it is possible to upgrade your Excel boat to 5086 aluminum.
Intended Use + Maintenance
Both the Excel mud boats and Gator-Tail mud boats can be used to unlock unnavigable waterways with high vegetation, shallow areas where your outboard can’t get. There’s a vast amount of activities you can parktake in with an Excel or Gator-Tail mud boat like duck hunting, frogging, crawfishing, gator hunting, brim, and crappie fishing, just to name a few.
You can use a mud boat in place of any outboard if you want to, depending on what your waterway. In our particular area, perfect areas for a mud boat include small creeks and rivers, inlets, and shallow marshy areas such as Rabbit Creek, Dog River, Big Briar Creek. There are numerous creeks in the lower and upper Delta that an Excel or Gator-Tail mud boat would come in handy as they’d be too shallow, too narrow, or have too much debris or vegetation to access with an outboard or a boat with a deeper draft.
Maintenance
The maintenance schedules for both Excel mud boats and Gator-Tail mud boats are identical. Since the Excel models have more plumbing and amenities such as a remote fuel fill option, they could potentially require more maintenance in the future versus a Gator-Tail mud boat.
Comparing Surface Drives: Mud Buddy Versus Gator Tail
As far as the surface drives go, Excels are equipped with Mud Buddy surface drives while Gator-Tails have Gator-Tail surface drives. Both are belt-driven, belts are used in surface drives to allow slippage, which ensures the engine won’t break if you hit something, and air-cooled. Both Gator-tail and Mud Buddy’s surface drives, for example, the GTR40 (Gator-Tail) and the the HDR 40 (Mud Buddy), are both made from the exact same Vanguard 40 block.
You can easily differentiate the two by their different drives - the way they’re placed and secured to the boat as well as their tiller handles. They’re both transmission-based, felt driven, both run three-quarter-inch shaft and both have the same prop. Mud Buddy makes a 50 HP surface drive which is made from the same 40 horsepower Vanguard block, but with a bigger camshaft and other upgrades to turn it from a 40 HP motor into a 50 HP motor.
Summary
In summary:
Excel mud boats have more finishes from their livewells, to flush-mounted switch panels to their remote fill fuel tanks and Excel offers more factory options/customizations.
Gator-Tails feature a more simple design, that’s made out of some of the best material out there, 5086 aluminum.
Gator-Tail surface drives have a longstanding history of being very popular, they’re the #1 surface drive in the country, and both surface drives are made from the same motor, the Vanguard 40.
The Excel mud boat excels when it comes to handling while the Gator-Tail mud boat has an excellent reputation as well as build quality. When it comes to availability both are easily found and our Baldwin County location, L&M Marine, offers both brands. See our current Excel inventory and our Gator-Tail inventory, we’d be happy to answer any of your questions and set up a Sea Trial so you can experience the difference.