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Cottonmouth Hull

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Looking at buying a used boat. It's a 13.5' Cottonmouth that has had a couple repairs done in hte bottom, and he says it had new runners put in 2 years ago. It LOOKS fairly solid to me, but I'm new to all this, and not really sure what I'm looking at. I will have a knowledgable friend look at it with me.

Can anyone tell me about these hulls. I searched the forum and found a couple "they are good"s and one "they are cheap in a lot of ways"

What can I expect?

The boat has a 350 direct, and a 68-36 wood prop that is in good condition (no gouges, good coat of wax) and the guy says it won't run dry. Should it? Or is that not enough prop. It will turn 3000, so.....

Thanks for any help
 
A buddy of mone has a 13.5x8 cottonmouth with polymar and a direct drive 400 chevy on it. It can run on dry as long as he keeps moving, when it comes to a stop it takes a bit on effort to get moving again but rides real nice in the water. He is currently building up a 406 motor with a gearbox for it so he can go wherever he pleases. Swinging that prop about 3000 rpms is about right for a standard low compression 350. a buddy of mine likes swinging a 70x40 on his 350. He can only turn about 2700 but the boat planes and cruises at a lot lower rpm and is much quieter.

Larry
 
Thanks for the fast reply Larry. This guy says the boat rides very smooth. That's important to me. I want a boat that rides right without a bunch of gadgets
 
JUST REMBER it takes alot of grinding to fix a fiber glass hull and you will probably get tired of fixing it. (If you run alot of dry ground) and for driect drive you should use a composit prop you will get a lot better preformance they seem to run dry better.

JUST MY OPINION
 
Eventually, I want to get a Q series, but for now, I'll be limited to a wood prop
 
Red - The only Cottonmouth I know of has an angle 0-540. It has a 3 blade narrow sensenich that turns around 2800. It first had a 2 blade wooden and did ok with that, but you had to keep moving or hop out in the grass and tag along till some momentum got it moving.

Now it will scoot all over the place with 3 or 4 men (about 800 pounds) in the dry marsh over here, but you are hammering on the throttle. With just 1 or 2 people, it will really handle. Will run the dry grass (wiregrass) over here in Texas really well. Has good manueverability as well, almost like a Palm Beach Hull with its rounded sides and chime.

If the polymer covers just the bottom center, I would buy a sheet of 1/4 inch and cut it to fit the sides going about 8 inches up the side. Use a heat gun or hot day with sun light and you can shape it (heat gun much easier). Screw it tight with lock nuts to gain some strength and the hull is fairly strong like that.

The one I know ate a metal T-post just on the edge of the bottom polymer. Patches kept cracking due to the flexing. After the last patch they installed polymer and have not had a problem.

Understand there are few fiberglass hulls over here, (very few), but it is one of the two best handling fiberglass hulls I know.
 
I have a 13.5 cottonmouth. I'm pretty well pleased. It has a O-470 angle valve turning a 72" combee prop. I can hang with all the guy's running the 540's and 520's as long as I anticipate when I'll need the extra go-juice. As for the hull...it handles great, run's smooth and I've never had a problem with any major repairs because of faulty construction on the boat. Remember, it's not the boat's fault when you run over or into things that you shouldn't. I'm not sure where you will be running but here around Kissimmee there's a reason the majority(not everyone)run fiberglass and a lot of those are cottonmouths. Mr. Jones sells a well designed and well built hull.
 
blackpowderscout - That describes the hull I know. Great hull until the incident, still a good hull with the patch job. They never figured out who put the T-post out. The man with the cows only uses wooden posts on the barbed wire fences, metal will not last. Thing it may have been a utility company that did some line work in that private marsh.
 
I got offered a pretty sweet deal for a 13.5 cottum mouth hull...it had a 0540 on it but I dont have the money right now to drop another one on......i was thinking about possibly buying it and dropping a 220 GPU on it with a power shift prop..... I dont plan on running to much on dry ground......does that mottor sound reasonable
 
I know a couple of guys running that setup. With that motor you should be able to run some limited dry ground with the right weight and plenty of foot in the throttle. If you don't plan on running dry a lot, that motor would be pretty well suited for you. Better on gas, plenty of power and fairly reasonable price wise. You won't really be that far off power-wise from a true 470. If you plan on keeping her wet, that's plenty of motor.

Don't forget about the bottom. That's got a lot to do with boat performance as well.
 
what are the differences between a 0470 continental and a cont 220 gpu?

displacement??

power??

different rods? etc. etc.

can you run regular (93 octane ) in either of them?
 
Marshmaster- I don't have a number right off the top of my head, however I know his shop is located in Davenport, FL on US 17.


T-Rex- The major difference is looks really. I'm no mechanic but I know that there are several different versions of the 470 and I believe a 220 GPU is basically pretty close to the same thing. The horsepower addition is probably only 10-25 I'd say. I'm sure some other guy's out there could give you a much better explanation. I've been told you can run 93 in a 470 but I don't.
 
A 220 gpu is an e-185 470 aircraft motor that was converted for powering generators. The intake manigold was relocated to the top of the motor for packaging and servicing. The gpu is set up for 1 mag and runs low compression (7 to 1), so it can run on pump gas. Stock gpu power is about 180 to 200hp and can be increased with the addition of higher comp. pistons, dual mag, angle valve aircraft cylinders, e-225 cam, etc. My dad's boat in my gallery is a nice example of a mildly modified gpu, It has a second mag installed with the stock cylinders drilled for a second plug, high compression pistons( 178-185 psi in cylinders), and a holley 500 2 barrel carb. This boat runs great and will go all day on 15 gal of 93 pump gas and will go anywhere you want, I havent been able to get it stuck yet.


Larry
 
Actually, the E Series is an aircraft application of the 0-470 case. They come from Continental in either E-185 or E-225 configuration.

The 0-470 Continental case has been adapted to many different aircraft and ground power configurations. It is the most popular of Continental's 6 cylinder engines.

Ground Power Units (GPU) have one spark plug per cylinder and one magneto and are all designed as low compression to run on pump gas.
The E-Series aircraft Continentals are also designed to run on pump gas and feature low compression pistons to accomodate the lower octane fuels.

Several airboat engine builders dor internal component swaps to boost horsepower in 0-470 cases. JC Stanley, Hoffman and others have plenty of loyal clients.
 
marshmaster pat":1et9w7lk said:
If the polymer covers just the bottom center, I would buy a sheet of 1/4 inch and cut it to fit the sides going about 8 inches up the side. Use a heat gun or hot day with sun light and you can shape it (heat gun much easier). Screw it tight with lock nuts to gain some strength and the hull is fairly strong like that.
Click to expand...

So the polymer will stiffen up the sides? What would I do where the edges come together at the bottom? And how much weight would I be adding?
 
And the next question is, is this boat worth $3800?

I know it's almost impossible to say w/o looking at it and riding it, but does that seem inline?

It has pretty decent metal work and comes with a nice homemade trailer, long tongue, good jack, good wiring and lights and tires
 
Where there were square corners, they just cut polymer to meet up along the seam. A bolt and nut along every about 3 inches on the sides.

They got a cardboard freezer box and cut a template out of the cardboard, made sure it matched up along the seams.

It had a hole just about even with the front motor mount. The hole was along the side of the polymer, the T post hit the polymer and slide off to the side. Just ripped a hole in the side about 9 inches long and 4 inches wide. The flex on the hull kept causing the patch to separate and start cracking again. Since they installed the polymer, it did stiffen up the side quite a bit. They are not having anymore problems with the patch cracking at this time. They are running dry alot with this rig.
 
The cottonmouth hull is a great hull dont get me wrong, but it is a heavy hull. Big Bobbys son Bobby Jones Jr. has started making his own hulls, The Predator, its designed from a cottonmouth, but has major improvements in its design. Its wider on the bottom, and lighter, The Predator is a strong hull, layed up strong, the reason it is lighter is, the deck is all glass, not a full layer of plywood, w/ glass over it. Not only is it lighter, it is stiffer than a Cottonmouth, this makes the Predator a better hill boat. The new Predator hull is an awsome hull, runs the hill excellent, and the water too! You should take a look at them, if you need anyone information for contact him Just ask!
 
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