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Mini airboat hull input needed

T

Thin water

Active member
I am considering building a mold for a mini airboat based on all of the interest regarding the ones no longer made by several name brand builders on other threads. I am leaning toward a deck over boat since it would be smaller and this would make it a lot harder to sink.

What dimensions do you all suggest for total length and side height? The mini hulls I have seen are about 10' long and I am unsure of side height.

My current mold is 16' long and just under 8' wide at the back with 18" sides. I have a movable transom insert to make 14' boats in the same mold. I have one laid up in the mold now (14') but not quite done. I am hand laying them for now but have a chop gun that I will use in future boats between layers of hand laid roving.

I would like to be able to sell one of the mini's and one larger hull per month. Would there be enough interest for this? What would a fully decked glass hull sell for?

Thanks for all of the help in advance.

JIM
 
Hull with a top cap glued on with good sized access covers. Would be stiff, lots of storage, access to poly bolts. Sounds cool! 8)
 
Cold, no sir. Not lots of storage.

A hull around 10' to 12' in length ...... stiff and strong, but very light. Mini airboat to me also means mini powerplant.
I see a real opportunity here for a hull for small engines that can get away from the 'cookie cutter' designs that all of the other hulls, both aluminum and fiberglass, are built on.

Think about that. The next time you see a hull, would you know who built it if it wasn't for the stickers on each side near the transom ?
There is room here for some new thinking.
 
I agree Mike. 12' would probably be a little too long to be light.

I'd just like to see some new approaches to hull design. Smaller engines can do a lot of work when they don't have to carry a lot of weight. http://www.gaboats.com
 
I took my mini for a ride this morning. It is 8'3'' long and 4' wide, based on the "Lake Buggy" plans available on the net. I have a 13 hp honda with a few mods and a 42x18 prop. I weigh about 240 and it will get on plane and run about 25 or so with me in it. I haven't let anyone else around 160 pounds or so ride it yet but I'll bet it will be alot faster then. I'll get some video next time I go out. I think a 10 or 11 by 6 or 7 would be real nice to have.

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NWFloridaBoy, I'm impressed. 25 mph out of a 13 hp is fast. I don't get but 30 mph out of my little 8' minimost pictured below with a 15 hp on it. I weigh 240 also. I made this boat out of 1/4" ply wood and it weighs less than 80 lbs w/o motor.

The only thing I would change with your boat design is adding anti trip chines. (Angled at the bottom side corners instead of straight down). This allows it to slide without digging in and flipping. Very good mini boat concept. How high are your sides?

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the sides are 10", I think the plans had them at 8" but I wanted mine higher than that, I also wanted the deck on the back and I am very glad I did that. The plans I built it after just had the sides going straight down. I don't get the feeling it want's to tip in full speed power slides but theres a first time for everything. It is alot faster than I dreamed it would be with me in it. when you are going full speed and you turn the rudders one way or the other it just turns sideways and slides. I'll take it back out in a week or so and get some video of it for ya'll.
 
I just picked this little air boat up and need to find out what size prop I need to run on it I has a 25 hp kohlor motor but It needs to be rigged out for the engine but looks like alot of fun.

hey thin If you want to make a mold off of it your more than welcome
 
I liked that "Lake Buggy" so much I built the hull for one last night. Pictured is the bottom after fiberglassing and epoxy coating the sides. I just fiberglassed the inside this morning and tabbed in the stringer. I made mine with a 4" wide flair at the back and a front deck. Sides are 12" It is tiny but it will be a fun little ride. It will get some looks for sure. I am looking for a motor now. I use only epoxy on wood, it is many times stronger than polyester and can't come off the wood. The fiberglass inside and out will give lots of strength. I did not buy the plans so mine is a little different in other ways also.

JIM

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Looks good Thin Water! I have a lot of pics of mine being constructed, especially the engine stand. some of them are in my members pic gallery on this website. Let me know if you need some more. I am running a 13 hp honda that i have modified a little, shaved the head and ported the intake and exhaust extensivly, I also built a new low restriction exhaust. My prop is a 42x18 from rnd props. the prop adapter was ordered from arrow props. I am going to try to get some video monday of it running. I used mas epoxy on the entire outside of mine then i ran out and used polyester on the inside floor board and about 3" up the inside walls. I have slid sideways into some pretty big trees going fast and the boat has held up really well, actually you can't even tell where i hit at.
 
Thin water ,
man that brings ck memories I spent allot of time in those on the Chesapeake bay :D




The only problem I see with a glass deck over form 10-12' will be the weight but the improved looks may make up for that
 
looks good thin water . I can't wait till I can get this one I have going they look like alot of fun, but do you think it could run a cross dry ground or cross a dirt road well I guess i could pull it they don't weigh much
 
With a wooden hull something y'all might want to consider is a single thin sheet of stainless. It would wear forever and not weigh much more than poly.
 
Olf Art, the stainless is a good idea. I have a scrap dealer locally who gets it in thin sheets sometimes. He only pays $.05 per pound and sells it to me for $.10 per lb. A sheet of it vacuum bagged on with epoxy would never come off or wear out.

The hull is done now, just waiting for the epoxy to get done blushing so I can clean, sand and paint it. I did not screw down the rear deck yet so I can mount the bilge pump. I used a through hull fitting for the discharge and have an access cover on the deck to reach it after assembly.

With a 22 hp Zenoah motor this should fly. It will come in under 100 lbs before adding me and a small battery.

Notice how small it looks in front of my 16' x 70" John boat that I made with 20" sides.


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Thin water, the Zenoah has a built in alternator too so you should be able to maintain a small motorcycle battery for running lights.
If you use LED bulbs in them it won't take much current to do the job. It's also equipped with a remote kill switch.

Something else to consider is that you might want to route a long starter rope from the recoil up to your seat.
They do that all the time on the ultralights. A couple of nylon pulleys and you'd have it, and that could also be hidden under that rear deck.
 
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