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little airboat

NorthWestFloridaBoy

NorthWestFloridaBoy

Well-known member
I live in Pensacola where there are no airboters. I am building a 7'8"x4' lakebuggy airboat with a 13hp honda and a (proposed) 42x20 prop. I assume this will give me 85-95 pounds of thrust. the boat ready to run with me in it will be right at 400 pounds. I will have a little more than 4 pounds of boat to each poud of thrust. is this enough to make it plane? what do the weight/thrust ratios of real Airboats look like? I am excited about gettin this thing out there and runnin it around for fun. Don't laugh this thing looks cool.
 
Welcome aboard.Lets see some pics.As far as pounds for thrust.I have no idea.But Im sure it wont be long before you get some good responses.
 
NorthWest, posting is a black science to me ..... I'm just happy to be able to send emails :lol: . Computer literate I'm NOT.
Forward your pics to Rick, the site owner. He's a very cool guy, and he'll post them for you.

I love baby airboats. Lookin' forward to your project. I have one in the works with a 24hp Zenoah ultralight engine.

feather
 
From home page click on pictures and wallpaper from there go to upload photos.This will take you to where you need to be.
 
what's the deal regarding engine angle in relation with the flat bottom? do i need to angle a degree or two up or down or anything like that? Come on guys I know there are some old pro's out there that can throw a few tips my way. I just want to have this thing set pretty close to as good as it gets with what I got, you know. I can count on one hand the number of airboats i have seen up here in my life and know body around here takes me seriously when i ask advice so that has led me to you guys.
 
Well it will depend on a lot of things which we have no idea about your boats balance. I would start out with the prop 90 degrees to the bottom and leave some ability to move the rear of the stand or motor up or down as may be required. remember a prop will try to run straight up and down. the adjustments should be small ones at a time and don't do more than one thing at a time before you try it and see if it worked. It really isn't all that hard to balance out. the amoun tof your weight must be calculated against your bottom area when figuring thrust requirements. The best thing to do is build it and run it, it is part of the fun / romance of it. I would look to an adjustable prop if you can because fine tuning it will make a world of difference.

Good luck and don't forget your mufflers and the flag which must be 10' above the bottom of your hull. I would also suggest shallow wate rfor the maiden voyage if you can.
 
I have always set up with the back end of the motor 1/4 bubble down from level with the keel or bottom of the boat. First level the bottom then level the motor, then set in 1/4 bubble down. Some will add maybe 1-2 degrees one way or the other (right or left) to counteract engine tourque when running. Its all kinda tied together. To balance it all out. To get it right takes a bit or trial and error.

As far as posting, I "believe" you have to put the image in your gallery folder here on the forum FIRST, then you can post it in your posts. I have had no luck at all using a link to my computer or my web page for posting an image. If you have your own web page, however, you CAN post a hot link in your forum posts and it works fine as a hot link.


Scotty
 
Save your receipts and bring your boat with you the main reason is sales tax they want you to pay it on the purchase of the boat or the materials used to build it! thats why theres a big sign over the door thats says Tax collector!!!!!!!! The other reason is so they can write you a ticket if you do not put the right size letters on the left side and space the letters and numbers correctly. thats called double taxation!!! check out http://myfwc.com/boating/ for rules and regs
 
http://www.southernairboat.com/photopos ... ize/medium

It's gettin' there fellas. and no that is not the motor I plan on using, it is a blown up honda 13hp I stripped to use for mock up of the stand, I have a brand new one to be used on the finished boat. I have some more bracing to do on the stand, then build the cage and glass the hull. the last 30 inches of the boat will be a deckover to keep water from gettin' in the back. What do ya think so far?
 
Nice Little project! :wink: No Pun Intended :lol: I bet it's going to be a lot of fun! 8) Check these guys out for a prop, http://www.powerfinprops.com/
Might not be the cheapest but composite choice with adjustable pitch. :wink: I would think when you are playing with low HP the issue of adjustability is even more important. :)
 
NorthWest, some of the highest quality low-horsepower wooden props on the planet are made by Tennessee Propellers ( http://www.tn-prop.com ).
Call Larry Breece up there and tell him what you're wanting to do. I have three of their ultralight props and they're almost too pretty to run.

feather
 
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