Much like the Hellcat, this is a design I have been tossing around in my head ever since I installed a Mudbuddy Hyperdrive on my original Duckhunter. While the Duckhunter design is adequate for mudmotor use, it has never been optimal. The excess rocker in the rear of the boat, weight of the mudmotor (200lbs) and relatively narrow transom resulted in planing issues. Also the length of the mudmotor handle wasted a fair amount of cockpit space.

I know what many of you are thinking, "A mudmotor on a wooden boat??" Hopefully at this point I can begin to put your mind at ease. I have been running a 21hp Hyperdrive on my original Duckhunter for almost 3 years. I have yet to shy away from any area that I wanted to reach to hunt ducks. During that time I have encountered many a rock, beaverdam, downed logs, stumps, sand bars and mudflats and the boat has handled it all admirally. Mind you this original boat was not built with a mudmotor in mind and was built entirely from exterior grade ply and has a single sheathing of 6oz glass on the hull.

With that being said, let me briefly introduce you to the design features I have incorporated into this boat with a mudmotor in mind. The bottom of the hull is sheathed in a layer of 6oz fiberglass, a layer of 5oz Kevlar, and another layer of 6oz fiberglass. The bottom of the hull, as well as 6" up the sides of the boat, is coated in graphite thickened epoxy. Once sanded this makes for a super slick hull. Lastly the keel strips are machined from UHMW plastic (nearly indestructible!) The rear deck moves the handle back to eliminate wasted cockpit space. The transom, like the other Toller models, has the 1/8" aluminum bracket that sandwhiches the transom. The transom is 2.25" of laminated 3/4" marine ply that is tied into the floor, sides and rear bulkhead of the boat.

Furthermore, my goal in designing this boat was to not only create a boat that would get you into the skinny but allow you to hunt it without sticking out like a sore thumb. There is no where that I would be afraid to take this boat under normal hunting circumstances, by this I mean, if your goal is to see how much air you can gain jumping dikes then this boat probably isn't for you. However, if you goal is to go where you need to go and blend into the environment once you get there then hopefully you'll consider the NFZ. While I have not had a chance to demo this boat, I have no concerns about how this boat will handle. It is similar in size and weight to comparable mudboats.