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Perfect Motor

P

paddler

Member
Hi All,

New to the site and airboating in general. I'd like to get into a duck boat to hunt the marshes around the Great Salt Lake. Thinking maybe a 16X7 or so, smaller if it will carry two guys and gear. Given that I don't need to go fast, and really want something light in weight, what would be the perfect A/C motor, and where should I get it?

I envision a boat with 3/16" bottom, maybe 1/8" sides, but have no idea of the weight of such a hull. An A/C motor is appealing to me if I can get a really good, reliable one that makes decent power. The car motors look good, too, but by the time you buy a reduction unit you're talking a lot of money, and quite a bit more weight.
 
Lycoming 0-360. 180hp. Best hp for the weight. In your area you might
be able to find a good runout. But you'll probably have to spend some money. Lycoming 0-320 are good too. You can find 160hp engines that will run you less and do pretty well.

But with the size of the boat you are planning on you really would need a six cyl and that would get expensive. And not perform as well as a auto engine.

In your area I'd go find a Cadillac 472/500 and have it rebuilt. Then put one of the gear drives that are working well on those engines now.
I think you could get away a little cheaper in the long run and have the performance your gonna need for a barge like that.
 
If you get a 16 x 7 you will need a car motor or big 6 aircraft engine. My advise it to head to Florida and pick up a good 13 foot boat that is 7 foot wide with a 220 GPU. That is what I just bought and it is a huge boat compared to the others I've owned. Lots of room for two people and gear.
The 220 has more power than I expected and they are not as expensive as aircraft engines.
 
A 16ft boat needs a car motor or your not going to be happy. Sit down and list what you need or want your boat to do best and the budget you want to be in. No offense to anyone but a 16 ft boat with any 6cyl aircraft is not going to run well. However if you use it as a boat on water only you can live with it. Weight is also not a concern with a 16ft boat so I would go with a cheap car motor with a gearbox. You don't need a High HP motor for what you want. You can spend around $5,500 for a new motor and gearbox that will really push your boat well and nothing in your drive train will be used!
 
Hey Paddler,
Welcome to the site! I would suggest a 16x8 0r a 15x8. You could go with the 7ft wide but you lose stability.

If you build it with a small block chevy the engine is not exspensive and anyone can work on a chevy motor.
A new chevy motor cost about $3,600. A comparative 300h.p. Lycoming rebuilt will cost you between 8,000 to 10,000.
A new Boat would be in the low 20's depending on all the optional equipment. If thats out of your budget let me know and I would be happy to keep an eye out for a used model for you that would make a good boat.
Good Luck,
Faron Floyd
American Airboat Corp
http://www.americanairboats.com
409-920-0716 Cell
 
A stock direct drive car motor will not compare to a 300 horse lycoming! But i'd say get a car motor with a gear box maybe, or a bad ass aircraft!
 
I think what Faron meant was.
A new chevy motor cost about $3,600. A comparative 300h.p. Lycoming rebuilt will cost you between 8,000 to 10,000. So add $3,600 plus $2,200 for a gearbox and your at $5,800 which is still way cheaper then a 40 year old rebuilt A/C motor!
 
Well this is the way I look at it. Go to Lycoming's website or Superioer Airparts, and price a new IO-540. I belive there somewhere between 55-65 thousand dollars. For these motor to cost so much brand new they must be awesome! The only thing that isnt brand new from the factory on my motor is the crank, and case. Everything else was set off and completey re-done to new specs. Point being what I trying to say is, when a aircraft motor breaks down, your pretty much dead. When a car breaks down your just vere off the road! So if that dont tell you anything, then I dont know what will.

But as fair as motors go for you, If your going with a 16' Boat, I probably get a car-motor with a belt drive or gear box. Anything under that, I'd get a aircraft!
 
My back ground is RanD and proto type manufacturing. If we weld a transfer line it costs $10 a weld if were certify it B-313 the weld costs $30 a weld. See to have something certified you must have a massive documented paper trail all the way back to what hole they dug the iron ore out of. The reason Aircraft motors are so expensive is the certification bureaucracy and paper trail. Our chief mechanical engineer has a plane just the other day he was screaming that a lens cover for his landing gear light indicator was $380 dollars or that a tiny metal bushing was $90. See they are not a better part then anything else it's the certification and paper trail. Also the more you manufacture something the cheaper it becomes to produce. I bet GM built more motors this year the Lycoming probably has in the last decade. That is why the SBC are so cheap even though they have more parts and their tolerances are tighter they are more modern and complex motor but cheaper because they build millions a year. I know most aircraft guy's think because A/C motors are more expensive their better that is not true it's because they produce a fraction of what the car manufactures do and they must deal with the huge massive bureaucracy of the FAA, litigation and certifications.
 
Dave, that's exactly what it is ...... the bureaucracy of certification. Plus the number of units produced per year, which also lowers production costs.

Worldwide, GM probably produces (guessing) close to 20,000 engines a day. Lycoming may turn out 50, and that's also a guess but close.

Chicks dig flowers too, Adam. Your point is ? :lol:

olf
 
Waterthunder":r8hcnxma said:
A 16ft boat needs a car motor or your not going to be happy. Sit down and list what you need or want your boat to do best and the budget you want to be in. No offense to anyone but a 16 ft boat with any 6cyl aircraft is not going to run well. However if you use it as a boat on water only you can live with it. Weight is also not a concern with a 16ft boat so I would go with a cheap car motor with a gearbox. You don't need a High HP motor for what you want. You can spend around $5,500 for a new motor and gearbox that will really push your boat well and nothing in your drive train will be used!
Click to expand...
There is one AC Motor that is 6 cylinder that will run the crap out of 16ft hull. 0540 super charged. :D
 
There is always one but they are few and far between. I think of how many tour boats I have seen with Aircrafts. I don't think I have ever seen one!
 
Olf Art":3uvgoy1m said:
Chicks dig flowers too, Adam. Your point is ? :lol:
Click to expand...

My point is this.....

Chicks dig flowers.... the smell good and look pretty.....they make them happy.....when women are happy, they aren't nagging to go fix this and go do that and the world is a wonderful place.

Chicks dig A/C engines.....they smell good and look pretty......they make them happy.....when women are happy, they aren't nagging to go fix this and go do that and the world is a wonderful place. :p

Adam
 
Waterthunder":1zralv5c said:
There is always one but they are few and far between. I think of how many tour boats I have seen with Aircrafts. I don't think I have ever seen one!
Click to expand...

The guy that built my motor say he built two of them with one that has 480 super charged and the other 0540 super charged. On e is 18ft and the other is 20ft. Been on the river for a couple of years.
 
Years ago the big tour boat at Camp Holly in Melbourne was a two (maybe 3) engined O-540 boat. They ran it for a long time but finally gave in to a smaller boat with dual automotive engines, then finally a smaller boat still with a single automotive engine.

I have a lot of personal experience with work boats and I'm sold on the concept of automotive engines with redrives of some sort in this application. Just can't beat it cost or performance wise.

This may sound strange coming from a man who just bought a boat with w 4 cylinder aircraft engine, however my boat is below the line where I would need that kind of performance. Were I building a 16 foot boat there is no question I would go with the Big Block GM with a redrive on it. This combination has proven itself in work boats for a LOT of years now and its a solid performer and easy to maintain. One NOTE: The new Small Blocks now can be had with more HP than the old big block rat motors I was used to, so higher HP, lighter weight? Probably as much or more torque as well. Time change and this technology is here and it ain't goin away.

Scotty
 
Paddler,

There's an airboat on EBay right now that might do everything you want and provide a relatively inexpensive learning platform. Unless you are running a whole lot of open and deep water, there is no need for a 16' airboat for what you describe as your needs. Trust me....no auto engine likes salt water.
 
Now don't get me wrong, I like the automotive motors. All I am trying to say is for every automotive motor there is aircraft motor just as strong.
 
Its like comparing apples and oranges...take a stock 300hp auto engine and a stock 300 hp aircraft engine...one of them makes a good anchor!!

Grant
 
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