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mini power

F

flying fish

Well-known member
Always thought a package like this one would make a good mini power plant. 3 cylinder geo. 62 HP & fuel injected
I tinkered with this one for a while and got bored.
Ron Jerron is the guru. http://www.raven-rotor.com/
geo-raven.jpg
 
Arrowprop used to offer complete airboats with that exact engine package, but the problems were with the crankshafts in those little
Suzuki engines. They just wouldn't hold up because the firing pulses were too far apart.

Other than that it's a great looking little package, and pretty light too.
 
I called a machine shop once to see about having a forged steel crankshaft made for one of them and they told me it could be done,
but that it would be very expensive. They're an attractive little package though.

I see that Raven has added a support bearing at the output end of the crankshaft .... that's where they used to break, and may help solve the problem.
 
Chuck, click on the link in the first picture for Raven-Rotor. Their site gives a lot of information about them including weights.
 
Chuck
I got bored with the pictured package quite quickly. I found a serious bargain on a 20K flying machine and sold the pictured package several years ago.
I bought the pictured package from a guy in Louisiana that had his aircraft destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.


Ron Jerron engineered the Re-drives for the engine packages. He also has some add on turbo packages that make the 3 cylinder a torque monster.
This link should answer plenty of questions. http://www.raven-rotor.com/

Hey Olf-
That lower crank support sure may have helped the crank problems. :wink:
 
You can pick up those little Geo's for a song. If the redrive and crank support weren't too expensive a man might be able to put
one of those together for a decent price.

I like the idea that it's fuel injected ..... a man with a lap top might be able to re-tune it for a little more torque.
 
The Oklahoma boys I run with tell me that back in the day they ran an all aluminum buick direct drive. They did not have polymer on their hulls. Said running dry was not an option, but sure a good powerplant.

I do not know anything about this buick package. I seem to remember them saying it was a 220cid.

The 532 rotax.
For me, the 300 hour TBO and the 5 to 6 GPH fuel burn was a bit expensive.

Wonder how Thunder's 4.3 package would have worked direct drive??

The hull chuck has pictured should open a lot of doors for engine possibilities.
Sure has my attention.
 
The main two things I'm trying to do with our mini is to make it very affordable and have great performance! I expect it to run dry with two people on sticky ground and I don't mean dry grass I mean grass and banks that you find on the ST.Johns. The motor weighs under 250 pounds and produces over 130HP@3,2000 I wanted to get away from a reduction unit so I can keep costs down this motor will be fuel injected also!
 
Dave, with all due respect, a 250 lb. engine isn't gonna be a Mini motor ..... but with 130 hp. DD it will be a Killer engine for a small hull.

Can't wait to see what you're up to. You build some spooky $hit, and with your warranty behind it I have no doubt it'll be fun to own too.

olf
 
I really don't understand what a mini is. I don't see how a 12ft or 13ft can be a mini as for the motor why have a mini that doesn't perform. Were trying to bridge the gap and to be honest my true intentions are to build a completely all new affordable airboat that performs as a 125HP or 150HP. The hull will be smaller then some mini's but it will perform way better then most mini's. To be honest we can always offer it with a 20hp to 30hp but do people really want that, maybe they do I just don't believe it yet? I'm not thinking about the mini market alone I just feel most all airboat manufactures are only concerned about building 30K and up airboats and have completely forgot about the average airboater or sportsman!
 
The Mini's are limited to 1000cc. max., and 750cc for engines with more than two cylinders. If your engine doesn't fit into either of those
two categories then you won't be able to show it in a Mini Class at a show.

That doesn't mean that it's not an exciting project ...... I'll probably want one, and we're all looking forward to it.

olf
 
That's cool I guess by those terms it will not be a mini but to be honest I'm not worried about the show I want to build an affordable small boat that gets awesome fuel economy and can truly run dry with two adults. It will be fuel injected also! I will have the motor completed in two or three weeks and their about to start on the hull for it! If we do want to enter the show I guess we need to find a small lawn mower motor or a street bike motor for it!
 
Waterthunder":1u7n9edq said:
I really don't understand what a mini is. I don't see how a 12ft or 13ft can be a mini as for the motor why have a mini that doesn't perform. Were trying to bridge the gap and to be honest my true intentions are to build a completely all new affordable airboat that performs as a 125HP or 150HP. The hull will be smaller then some mini's but it will perform way better then most mini's. To be honest we can always offer it with a 20hp to 30hp but do people really want that, maybe they do I just don't believe it yet? I'm not thinking about the mini market alone I just feel most all airboat manufactures are only concerned about building 30K and up airboats and have completely forgot about the average airboater or sportsman!
Click to expand...


I'm not thinking about the mini market alone I just feel most all airboat manufactures are only concerned about building 30K and up airboats and have completely forgot about the average airboater or sportsman![/quote]


I'm the guy your talking about. I got in to the mini because I could not afford a big airboat. I love the mini that I have build it a lot of fun. My goal is to build a mini that will run dry with my big ass on it (280lbs) plus a friend. I just got a 12' boat with a 0290 on it that I want to run dry. I'm sure it not the same as the boat that you are building but I'm sure we can all learn from what you build. Thanks for the help
 
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