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Different Airboat Styles

Des Moines Boater

Des Moines Boater

Well-known member
I'd sure like to see an area where people could post pictures and definitions of the various airboat styles. I'm coming down to pick up a Lazer style boat next month. It looks like the Bandit.

The problem is I don't know who makes the Bandit or the Lazer. I see Phillips, Gore, Baby Gore, Predatror, Cotton Mouth, Combee and a lot of others. It would be nice to know what the difference is on the boats. Perhaps someone could make a page that shows and describes the differences.

Airboat Trader has a lot of boats, however, most do not have photos and one never really knows what they look like. I wanted a boat with deep sides and a high transom the was 7 foot wide or more and it has been a hard hunt. I think others would like to see them too.
 
Des, a lot of the differences in the glass hulls are so subtle that you'd almost have to have the hulls side by side to notice. A possible exception is probably the Predator because they tend to be wider and stiffer than the rest with their 2" thick stringers.

Comparison tests would be almost impossible from a performance standpoint too, in my opinion, because of different engine, prop, rigging combinations.
It would be interesting to be able to build a set of rigging that could be adjusted to fit and then move it into several different hulls and compare the numbers.

olf
 
These glass hulls work great for car motors! Each builder claimed they were copied by the other. The truth is they all are nearly identical and they all work great. Callusa, Bandit, Lazar and Big O.
 
The old Freedom Craft and Kennedy hulls sure ride good, but they're heavier than most of the others.

olf
 
Check out the Predator design. The bottom on his boat has a crown which really helps when runnin the hill.

I have an old Gore. HEEAAVVY. 11'6 x 7'. You could call it a lowrider. Rode good in the water but would not run dry. An old boat with a lot of fiberglass. But the bottom of this boat flexed alot. I do not ride this boat anymore, I transferred the engine to a 13' BIG-O. This design is the one everybody has a mold of. Not sure who the original designer was but I like this hull. It runs nice and dry and this ones pretty lite. A good boat.
My other one is a Cottonmouth. This hull is 12'6 x 7'6 and I wish I could tell you about how this one runs, but it hasn't seen the water yet. The project that has taken way to long to complete and costed way more than I had originally planned on spending. But still the boat is good and stiff and heck of alot lighter than the old Gore. I expect it to be a good ride.

Even though everybody has a copy of the Laser, Big-O I would think that its all in who builds the boat. Methods of lay-up, either hand laid or with chop sprayers, amount of layers, the stringers etc.. One is bound to be better than the other.

Anyway just an OPINION. For what its worth...
 
dblj, my old Gilleo is fairly light for a 14' boat, but if you've ever seen one runnin dry it will scare the crap out of you ..... they flex like crazy.
They don't have much glass in the bottom, no walk boards to stiffen up the sides, and the stringers are only 1" thick.

My next hull will be a lot stiffer, even if it is heavier.

olf
 
Olf,
My Big-O is pretty stiff on the bottom, not a lot of flex. The sides are
pretty thin though. It is in it's second life, I bought it from a guy I know in Lakeport.
 
Hey, what's better? fiberglass or aluminum, lmao, just kiddin people. I just see this thread headed that way...lmao


I don't know if it a true Paul Dixon laser but the last boat I had was a laser hull with a 350 dd on it and man was that a light hull. whew.
 
Thanks all for the information. It looks like it's harder than I thought to get specific information on all those hulls. The one I'm getting looks exactly like the Dixon Seminole. Maybe the same hull was once a Bandit, then a Lazer and now a Seminole.

I'd love to get one of those Air Rangers, but I'd have to add at least another $25,000 before I could start looking. That's for a used one. No matter what I get it's still going to be the fastest and best looking boat on the Des Moines River, since I'm the only one out there.
 
That hull is an excellent choice especially if it's your first airboat. Just be sure to rig it out for the specific power train your using!
 
It is actually my 5th boat. This one is a 13 foot Lazer, slick bottom with a 220 GPU and a 72x36 prop. The boat I have now is a 12 foot Gilileo with an O-320 on it. I love the motor but the hull is junk. The idiot put polymer on with screws. The transom was rebuilt and boy is it bad. The previous owner said it was done by Gilileo, but I don't think so. My 3rd boat was a 10 Foot Gilileo and it was quality through and through. In fact I wish I had that hull back with the O-320 motor.

I'll run the GPU for awhile and see if I need to put a different engine on it. I'd love to have a Water Thunder engine but I'm just too poor.
 
Bandit hulls are made by Freedom Craft ! North Florida !Like the man said lazer is Paul Dxons or he sells them ! :D
 
They are all copies of the same mold. This one was laid -up by Big-O.

d7d0re2.jpg
 
I've got a Lazer.

I have a question while we're on this subject. What is a "step hull"? Judging from pictures, the bow slopes up, I guess, but what does this do to the handling?
 
I heard the Lazer was originally designed by an engineer who worked for NASA.

They are nice hulls that handle well. Depending on how you set them up, they may have a slight porpoise in deep water, but all the ones I have seen would run the hill pretty good.

They are a popular hull to cut down the sides on.

BoHawg, a step hull has a step made into the bottom. The bow slopes down and then where it touches the water, it juts straight up a few inches and then goes straight back, forming the step. This creates a low pressure area under the hull and keeps them from sailing up off the water at high speed. It also makes them not steer very well from what I hear. For obvious reasons, not the best at hill running.
 
well, it's a dramatic change in the bottom. It allow air to accumalate between the hull and the surface of the water.

look at the metal or fiberglass race boats. As you go from the bow, you will see that its make a 90 degress turn for 3 to 4 inches then it returns back to the bottom running surface.

The high speed off shore racing boats(power boats) sometimes have 2 to 5 steps.

Maybe some body can post a PIC that clearly details the step.

The step also changes he way the boat handles.
 
A STEP HULL BOAT IS THE FUNNEST BOAT I HAVE EVER DRIVEN, definitely not a starter boat, but they ride like being on ice.
 
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