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couple questions about lycoming 360 and bottom coat.

jpatter123

jpatter123

Well-known member
Hi all, I am new to this forum and somewhat new to airboating. I bought a 10 foot sled about 5 months ago with a 360 lycoming. Now that I have a "little" experience I have decided to get a little bigger hull. I have an Ultra light diamondback 12' hull on order and plan to use the 360 on the new hull and before it gets here I have some questions about the motor.First off I was told by the guy who sold me the boat/motor that he had the motor recently rebuit with 160 hp pistons.

Now the ?'s

1. The motor seems horrid on fuel. I am running 100LL. Guys running much bigger boats with much bigger motors/props are getting better fuel economy then I am. I rarely run the boat over 2600 RPM mostly cruising at 2300/30-32 mph. Motor looks flawless. Burns very little oil, doesn't smoke doesn't leak and I see no fuel pissing out of the carb to indicate over pumping from the electric fuel pump. Is this normal? I talked to a guy who owned the boat a while ago and he said he could run all weekend on 20 gallons and I can barely get through a day on 20 gallons.

2. My little 10' gets stuck easy on dry ground. I have considered a new prop and even discussed with someone about buying their 4 blade warp drive today (I am turning a wood prop and don't know the pitch/length off the top of my head). Will I get better push with the warp drive? What effect will it have on fuel economy as well?

3. Rudder size. I am running 3 foot rudders right now and was told thats all I need for a little motor. I plan on ordering some new aerofoil rudders for the new boat and want to make sure I make the right choice. I'd like to know that I can upgrade the motor in the future and still use the same rudders. Will 3' be sufficient will 4' be too much?

3. I can't afford to put polymer on the boat right now so I plan to use either steelflex 2000 or frog spit. Which is better? It seems to me frogspit is much cheaper then steelflex is there a big difference in quality, smoothness or durability?

Thanks in advance.
 
That motor should just sip gas. Check your rich/lean (mixture) control on the carb and make sure its not missing or something. Sure sounds like that gas is going somewhere.

A 10' boat with a O-360 on it should pull stumps ! It should run dry ground like it had oil on it. Depending on the kind of hull you have of course and HOW it is set up.

There was a time folks ran 3' rudders but you would be hard pressed to even find 3' rudders now. I say you definitely need more rudder, and not just slab sided rudders get airfoils and not the strait up and down ones either, get something that has some more surface area to them.

Folks was running Steel Flex before anyone ever heard of sheets of plastic on them. It will do fine.

So as I see it you got 2 things to work on, fuel system and rudders. Make sure the carb doesn't have the wrong spark-arrester on it as well. Too small will make it suck gas. How many PSI is your electric pump delivering?

Wellcome to the forum, were glad ya found us.

Scotty :)
 
Sounds like Whitebear covered all the bases.

If you run that thing hard it can use 10 gals per hour! Make sure the boat is set up right and it should be economical for average running!

Grant
 
It's a great thing...

As far as your engine goes an 0-360 should be at 180hp. The same piston in an 0-320 makes 160hp. On a ten footer that should be a hill burner. You have bottom issues or an engine angle problem. Is the hull heavy? I had an old Gore style that was way heavy and wouldn't do squat. I put the same engine and prop combo on a Big-o and can drive my boat around the front yard. The new hull you have ordered should do well.

If decide on a new prop, identify exactly the engine you have. If the ID plate is missing, there are ways to kinda determine what you might have.
The Sensenich two blade carbon fiber would do good. But even the right wood prop should do nicely.

IMO the steelflex holds up better than the slicker frogspit. But some people like frogspit better. I used the superslick from Fasco Epoxies and it has done well but I wish I had used Steelflex instead.
 
I think I might have been mistakenly been referring to my engine as an 0-360 when its an 0-320 I was told it orignally was an 150 hp motor and then upped to 160 hp. My apologize. It indeed still has the plate on the side but I have been talking "shop" with so many lately that the numbers are becoming jumbled in my skull.
I do know the sled I have now has a stainless bottom which might be part of the problem.
Thanks for all the insight everyone.
 
jpatter123":3tp0fkzb said:
I think I might have been mistakenly been referring to my engine as an 0-360 when its an 0-320 I was told it orignally was an 150 hp motor and then upped to 160 hp. My apologize. It indeed still has the plate on the side but I have been talking "shop" with so many lately that the numbers are becoming jumbled in my skull.
I do know the sled I have now has a stainless bottom which might be part of the problem.
Thanks for all the insight everyone.
Click to expand...
Yeah thay all look the same...Unless you know what to look for...I can't count the times that a wide deck 0320 has been past off as a 0360
 
stainless bottoms are very sticky must be be aglades boat it was good for running coral so. of 41 thats about it gas milage come s with driving style im not sure how slick bottoms will stick to stainless never hearded of any body doing it.not to mention is heavy.
 
That thing should cruise at 1500-1800rpm, sounds like you have too small of prop or not enough pitch.
 
calbrigsr":2xncwa5i said:
That thing should cruise at 1500-1800rpm, sounds like you have too small of prop or not enough pitch.
Click to expand...

yeah I heard that last night too. I thought I was doing pretty good at 2300 but I guess not. Learning everyday 8)
 
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:27 am Post subject:

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stainless bottoms are very sticky must be be aglades boat it was good for running coral so. of 41 thats about it gas milage come s with driving style im not sure how slick bottoms will stick to stainless never hearded of any body doing it.not to mention is heavy.



Stainless is a little heavier, but it is the slickest material you can put on the bottom.
I have never heard it referred to as being sticky. My cousin has a stainless bottom on his boat and will run dollar weed, floating tusics( not sure of the spelling), were we always get stuck.
Click to expand...
 
I was debating on selling it as a hull/trailer/metal work/fuel tank combo(minus motor, seats and fuel pump). Only thing was I wanna make sure I like this motor on the new hull before I made any decisions. If your interested in looking at it I'll be glad to send you some pics and any info you need.
 
Not to threadjack but what is frog spit/steelflex or whatever it's called supposed to look like after it cures? Heres what I mean, when I got my boat the previous owner said it had a new coat of "slick bottom" on it and I have gotten under there and looked at it and it has a rough texture, kinda resembles what a rhino lined truck bed looks like, It's hard as a rock and feels like it has a low friction coefficient but i would have thought it would've laid down smoother than that. Should I rough it up and reapply some more, trying to get it smooth?
 
Its probably from the hairs on the roller sticking to it. Ive seen that happen before
 
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