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Air Boat Survey

Wow looks like I am out of the main stream on every point.

WHatever you build it'll be nice man, just build it to maximize the fun delivered.

Scotty
 
Thunder, and this just my opinion, how often do you intend to take one more person with you on a ride? I can ride alone, or take my wife, or another couple. I see four as a minimum. If it's just you, your wife and daughter, fine. Plenty of room. But you might want to let your daughter visit her grandparents some weekend and take another couple.

More than two? Four.
 
I was being serious that is exactly what I am building right now. I may have to give up a little of my multi-mile dry running but that I can live with. If the motor is not strong enough then I will make it bigger and badder, I have looked at the 454 small blocks and the 427 small blocks and the 434 small blocks, they are kinda pricey but then this is my ultimate personal boat so it will be a good one no matter what. I couldn't decide on 14 or 16 so I went with a 15 x 8 slider bottom alumitech. My last boat ran all terrain like I wanted and this one will also. I only needed comfortable seating for four adults but if in an emergency I could carry 6 in the seats and 3 on the deck and a couple more on the floor well that will be ok. I had 7 or 8 and a large dog on my last one and took off right where others were stuck and ran dry through the woods making 90 degree turns from dead stops thru black mud and dry sand and dropped them back off on the boat they came off of with no problem. It was a little more than I like for water running with my cutdown sides but ole "spinnin money" got it done for me. I should have about the same pounds per sq inch on this one as the last one I added more weight but added more width and length and added more horsepower/torque and more prop to compensate. If it doesn't work well it will be back to the drawing board and this one will be for sale. i demand a lot from my boats and they will produce or they are gone. Most folks would never even notice the things that I won't tolerate in a boat.

I am not pickin on you Thunder at all just clearing up in case someone thinks I am building a turd barge, that will not happen. LOL this aint my first rodeo by any means.
 
I know that's what your building I'm sure it will run great them Alumitecs are great hulls I never heard a bad word about one ever. As always everybody likes something different. I just want to keep it main stream in case I have to sell it. Me personally if I make it to big I don't enjoy them as much. And I’m sure there are ton’s of people who don’t like a boat like mine so I’m trying to find out what is the most desired boat.
 
Thunder,
Up here in Michigan I have the good fortune to airboat in an area where there are many rivers and large creeks meeting in the same area.
These range from long straight runs to tight winding and twisting slollums with lots of fallen timber and other obstacles.
I have found that my 7' x 13' boat is the most agile in these waters when compared to my friends' 14' to 16' "busses"lol.
I am really wanting to try a 8' x 13' boat, it just seems it would be a great proportional size. Also I'm a little handicapped with a stock GPU engine. I wonder if one of your LS-1 engines on that 8' x 13' hull would be a rocket sled on rails or what??

Natural aluminum hull
stainless rigging or black powder coat for ease of repair and color match
side by side driver/passenger in rear with center console
single fat man ahead of that
Jim J
 
I See that most are side by side rear driver with a triple front but I was not going to say that because thats how I wanted to re rig mine but I'm going to now

rear side by side with 2 gas pedles and 2 rudder sticks so that I can ride on eather side and a double or triple front and the rudder stick will be on the left side from eather seat and then I could teach any one to run a boat and still have control oh yea It was going to be green
All square tubing powder coated can see wasting the money on stanless because I re rig mine almost every year but thats me.
 
thunder

my boat is a 14 x 71/2 and I have two seats in back and a three person bench seat in front just like you talked about and I love the set up when I come down and meet with you to put the new engine and drive system in will take it for a spin and see how you like that set up and Im with moodfood my boat is a professionaly done Cammo job it's easy to take care of and I get lot's of complements on the paint job as a matter of fact Diamondback has sold two airboats recently because of the paint job on my boat they wanted them painted just like mine.
 
It is starting to look like a 15X8 with rear driver, 2 single seat and a triple front seat. I do want to put the rudder stick in the middle so when the driver rides alone the boat will not torque roll. I'm going to run a 600HP LS6 and a newly designed 2.68 box with a new proto type Sensenich prop that I can't wait to get my hands on. The rest I better keep quite until it's finished! I really enjoy how quite my boat is so my main goal is to make this one even quieter imagine a 15ft or maybe larger quite boat!
 
CC, you can rerig often enough, or just change some things easy enough that I wouldn't even worry about the cost of powdercoat .....
the new industrial paints with the catalyst hardeners you add to them are plenty tough for what you do and you could spray it yourself.
 
Sounds like my kind of boat Thunder. I've been running a double rear passenger, single front driver, and (when needed) a removable double seat in front of the driver on a 15 X 7.5 Alumitec. I wish I had two single seats at driver position and had went with the 8' width.
 
my rigging in my boat now is set up for 5 people I have a removalbe double front in front of the driver

also with the time it takes to paint all the wire and and all four sides and buy the paint It's alot easyer to take it to powder coat and let someone else have fun it take a good few hours to paint

you can get it powder coated around here for 5 to700 dollars
and if I like it then it would last a long time I re riged one that had square tubing that was 15 years old I thought that was great

but I like to change thing see new ideas and just like to try things. always want to be differnt
 
14x7.5 or 8 with a single rear driver, double front, or a 12' deckover, same seating.

I like my white hull, not too many people have white. I think it should resist the sun better, and hey, it matches my truck. My buddy has a light blue hull that looks sweet....

I don't see too many Corvette Yellow or Hugger Orange hulls out there. One of those colors would stand out.
 
Color: Camo OR Hugger orange (what a contrast eh"?) RIGGING EPOXY FLAT BLACK, CHEAP EASY . 5 coats in an afternoon with $70.00 material. 2 singles seats rear with potentially dual controls. 3 or 4 seat bucket up front, perhaps removable to accomodate an additional quad. 8' wide and 15 long is the plan. Not that I really know nothing!
 
White is the safest color for a car or truck ..... there are insurance company stats to support that. It's because you see a white vehicle under all light conditions before you see other colors.

With fiberglass boats, most production boats were white over the years because they reflect more UV rays from the sun, which made their gelcoat hold up longer. Some of the new colors available now sure are pretty though, and a lot more UV resistant than they used to be.
 
COLD-EH'":5hfpi1h4 said:
Hugger orange
Click to expand...

There you go Thunder, two votes for Hugger Orange.

OK, so they are from the two weirdest guys on the site but still
 
Anything other than ordinary colors will bring attention. That is good or bad depending on your day on the boat! :D
 
Would you need a 10 inch x 12 inch orange flag if the whole 16 foot boat was "International Orange"?

:)

matt.
 
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