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Mufflers

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marshmaster pat

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Anyone have a brand of mufflers that works well at reducing noise and doesn't cause to much power loss.

I know an old airgator with an Lycoming that is getting rigged out. They want some Stainless Steel Mufflers on it to reduce the noise as much as possible without robbing power. Cannot not be a huge set of mufflers either because the hull doesn't have that much room.
 
Call Tom Schmidt at Schmidt Aviation. FT. Lauderdale FL. He has rigged state boats and i have installed same on boat. Nice SS offset mufflers.
 
Super Trapp exaust can be used. It has the stainless discs. You simply change the number of discs to tune the exaust. This setup can actually increase the engines performance. It takes up no room in the boat(you add it outside the transom---only adds a few inches) This also means less hardware in your boat to come loose and go through the prop. :D
 
marshmaster pat":1zdn1pb9 said:
Anyone have a brand of mufflers that works well at reducing noise and doesn't cause to much power loss.

I know an old airgator with an Lycoming that is getting rigged out. They want some Stainless Steel Mufflers on it to reduce the noise as much as possible without robbing power. Cannot not be a huge set of mufflers either because the hull doesn't have that much room.
Click to expand...

marshmaster pat, if it is an 0540 you can go to Summit Racing and get the super trap that goes on the very end of the tail pipe.You need 18 disc for each side.If you need additinal info call Paul Dixon this is the set up he uses.
 
Remember this. Mufflers are coming to Florida if y'all want em or not. If y'all are gona install mufflers on the boat, y'all might just as well put the kind the state has installed on all their boats. That's want i did. No sense doin it twice. Anyhow thats my two cents.
 
on the 540 do you use the 3in in and 3 in out or the 5in and out
 
Gator - What brand and style is the state of Florida using on their 0-540 rigged boats?

The Supertrapp from Summit, how long are they. Do you add an elbow to run the muffler parallel to the transom, or they just short enough that it will not stick out far enough?
 
Pat,
Let me tell y'all why i decided to go with the mufflers i installed on my boat.
First, i am not associated wih Tom Schmidt. A few of the boat owners in my club had them installed by Tom to on their boats. Comments were that they can pull up to each other in the marsh and talk together without having a shouting match and in some short tests done by our club they proved to be much more quiet. Good enuf for me . I went down to Toms' shop and had a short talk with him . Picked up two mufflers and tried to adapt them to my hull. I went back and had a 45 ss elbow installed on each inlet and measured the angle of my transom to have a couple of dumps attached to some 6 x 6 plates. Anyhow, he exchanged them even out the door. Good service, something y'all don't see too much of nowaday. That's why i recommend him to others. He'a boat owner himself. PLUS, i figure the states budget is worst than mine and they can't afford to have mufflers installed on their boats twice. So that's why i went with em.
They are Magnaflow 14" long,8 1/2 wide,5" thick. SS,offset inlet and outlet, oval shape ( looks like a car muffler) 2 1/2 " in and out. They do have 3 ". Straight thru are already proven not to be as effective as offsets.All the above is my opinion.and not gospal. Oh, btw i have a 220 gpu on my boat. The others in my club do have 0540s.
 
Gator - Thanks, that is what we were figuring about the state not having much spending money either. Also figured if they were going to regulate the noise levels, they would be using a good brand of muffler.

I know that most noise is coming from the propeller, but straight headers can have some excess noise.

Thanks again.

pat
 
Gator, Marshmaster Pat, Rick,

Don't I recall a post here a few months ago on some coordinating effort between law enforcement agency and boat or prop manufactor testing various muffler configurations?

Very concerned with such regulations as it would "park" a lot of boats in my opinion!

Thanks,

Jeff
 
Basketcase - They did do some testing in December & the Florida Airboat Association participated. Airboat World describes the test but not the results in this article:
http://www.airboatworld.com/newsmgmt/absolutenm/templates/template-article.asp?articleid=85&zoneid=3

And in a recent article from Citrus County: "Moore said FWC has already concluded, however, that courteous operation of airboats is more effective than any current technology. Moore said the preliminary test results indicate none of the airboats on the market, including those with sound muffling technology, can meet the 90 decibels at 50 feet standard when they are running at full power across a lake." Here's a link to that article:
http://www.chronicleonline.com/articles/2005/02/13/news/news30.txt

I like gator & marshmaster pat's thinking about installing the same mufflers the FWC has chose to install. I know some people right now who would like to install mufflers, but are afraid that the mufflers they choose won't be legal when the testing is complete.
 
Basketcase 0302 -

Some airboats need to be parked until they reduce their own noise. Those with open exhaust give the rest of us a very black eye among voters who do not know the difference.

Mufflers do not "rob" the power out of any engine I have ever seen. They increase the power of most in a noticable way.

No other motorized vehicle or vessel runs unmuffled. It is something we all can live with and something that will reduce the number of folks that complain by a significant amount.

I run Magna Flow SS as described above and have friends that run SuperTraps. A 45 degree turn dow aimed at the hull center line will reduce the transmitted sound a bunch, too.

Props turning 3,000 or more generate tremendous high pitched whine that carries for miles. Most every contemporary prop now produced bites best at 2,800 or below.
 
Rick,

Thanks again for your hard work! Good articles,(not from my viewpoint but for information to know).

Marshmaster Pat,

Is there anything that an outsider from Citrus,(non-resident of the county) could do such as write their county commissioners or department of tourism or other agency to help those that airboat there,(and those like me who will hopefully soon play there)?
Gotta agree that there are always bad apples in every bunch...Although I'm not a native Floridian,(my grandfather built fishing cabins on Lake Ocechobee and rode me on the boats in the 60's when growing up). Southerner by birth, I alot of times wish we could all pitch-in for the tickets to send those back north that threaten to regulate what I will fight for my son and grandson to enjoy some day!

Keepin up the good fight!

Jeff
 
What is this 50 ft ? I was under the impression that the sound levels were gona be tested at 90 or 100 FT!!!!!!!
 
Basketcase,

There is a SUPER AIRBOAT CLUB in Citrus County, FL. Great folks and very dedicated to public use of public lands and waters. Citrus County airboat Alliance.

http://www.citrusairboat.org

They will host the next meeting of Florida Airboat Association on April 09 and they just finished a new airboat picnic area and landing pad deep into the Lake Hernando Marsh. I am proud to be a member.

Really great and friendly folks. Hopefully, they'll soon have a "join here" link on Southernairboat.com. Swampjet (on this forum) is their Pres.
 
Dean,

I have read that if the shroud is close enough it will decrease noise and increase thrust. I have a link to the report, but it is pretty techical. I'll post it if you like.

Jim
 
I have dual Moroso spiral race mufflers on my old Chevy pickup with a crossover pipe. It sounds GREAT, and the mufflers are no bigger than a cherry bomb-type glass pack. They are all steel, and welded. Should be a light, durable and compact option for the airboat.
 
Heads Up Airboaters. Swampjet and CCAA is about to face the devil. A few of our crowd continue to run unmuffled and the move is in full swing to get an impossible noise ordinance in place for Citrus County.
 
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