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New motor

A

AirAg

Well-known member
To start off, let me tell ya what I have. The current boat is a 12' Palm Beach style hull, riveted, 3/4 deck. 3/8" poly on the bottom, 150 hp 4 cylinder GPU. It swings a 68" Super Snapper from Whirlwind. A pic can be seen in my gallery.

Now, I am thinking of putting more power on this boat. If I do this, I would probably deck the boat over. My only limitation is the size of my cage. I only have room for a 72" prop.

Now, what do yall think? I have an extra 4 cylinder GPU, so I thought of putting 520's on it, or 6 cylinder A/C, or Automotive?? Last thing to consider is that if I ever want another hull, I would probably go with a 13 or 14', and maybe use the same motor.

Need some advice, thanks. Brent
 
Does anyone have any advice for me? What do other 12' Palm Beach hulls use for a motor? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Brent
 
Check out Cowboy's gallery, he has a PB hull with a IO-360 thats the pride of the fleet. Look for the boat with a Skunk on its tail.

Bigger boat needs bigger power. Simple as that. If your going to 14-16 feet I'd say go talk to Waterthunder or Felber. They will have exactly what ya need.

The PE90 GPU with 520 Jugs might be awesome for the rig ya got now though. Several folks build them here and have had excellent results.

Scotty
 
It might be a reasonably cheap upgrade to put aircraft jugs on that other engine you've got. It would boost your performance if it's done right.

Not as much as a six cylinder would, but it would probably cost less, and you may be able to go right back on the engine stand you have now.

A 540 would probably do fine on that boat you've got. It just takes time and money.

We have two 12 footers here with 4 cylinders, and a 13" with a 220gpu.
They all seem to perform about the same on the dry.

It's a good looking boat AirAg. I think it's a keeper.

DCP_0325.JPG
 
Wow, that boat is AMAZING!

:shock:

I would be very proud to own one that nice.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. I think now I am leaning towards rebuilding that GPU. Thanks again, Brent
 
I wanted to bring this thread back to the top and see if anyone knows who is making the rudders in the picture in this thread. All I can find is clipped corners and strait rudders.

This is the shape I want for my boat, any ideas?

Scotty
 
Thanks Larry

I followed that link and found their rudders on Pg. 28 but they are the strait cut corners instead of the radiused corners.

Thanks again

Scotty
 
The double seam rudders are definatly straight cut edges, but
I was thinking that the deluxe single seam rudders had a radius cut on the edges.

Larry
 
Oops, guess I missed that. thought the two pictures were the same thing. Yeh it does look like they have radiused corners. The picture makes them look kinda crude and roughly fabricated but that could just be the image. Zoom on the image and look at it.

Maybe somebody else will chime in on this.

Scotty
 
Cowboy, I run a set of those rounded rudders that look just like yours. Got mine about three years ago from Mark's Airboats in Franklin, LA.
 
Cool man.

I like those rudders. They have a retro old school look to them.

That picture above is AirAg's boat.
We've got three boats out in the yard.
Two have regular dual rudders set-ups, and one with a big rivetted single.

Thanks for the heads up Loco.
Perhaps Whitbear can call Mark's and check on a set of those for his boat build he's planning.

Later
 
I used to go by Mark's a lot when I was out there working seismic. We still swap email maybe once a year to say hi and were still alive. I'll drop him one tonight and see if hes still doing the rounded corners. I didn't remember him doing those. All our seismic boats had the strait cut corners on them.

Be good to hear from him anyway.

Scotty
 
Whitebear, not sure where the rudders came from. I bought another boat (the other red one in my gallery), and then bought my palm beach hull. Those rudders where off that other boat. I know this, they are aluminum with foam, 2' x 4'. They look factory made due to the seams that are welded. But more than likely, they came from Classic airboats. Out in Central Texas, there are not alot of places around to find accessories for airboats. And it always helps to find parts when they have a catalog. If you have any more questions, let me know.
 
Thanks guys, looks like Mark and Panther have them.

AirAg, Those PB hulls have to be the hands down prettiest airboat hulls ever built. Even old ones demand a high price. You should be proud ya found one man. :)

Scotty
 
Thanks Whitebear. If you knew how much I paid for that hull, yall would faint! The main reason I got the hull was because it didnt look like anything I had seen before. It was different, and up here in Texas, everyone has deep hulls, and big 13 to 18 ft boats. I wanted a small boat to learn on.

Skeeter, I am just wondering how it will compare to a lycoming 180 or 200, or should I be looking into getting a lycoming. I like the idea of rebuilding that engine, just dont know about the performance/power increase.

Tell me what yall think.
 
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