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Pilot seat so High

V

Victor

Member
Dears Sirs

I am starting searching about airboat and one thing that I do not understand is why the pilot seat is so high.

For maneuvers and stability reasons should the center of gravity be as low as possible?

Could you sugest any book (or site)that details an airboat design?

thanks

Victor Lemmi
 
Victor, look at some of the photos in the members gallery. Those folks in Florida travel through a lot of vegetation that is taller than a man. They have to have high seats to see where they are going. I live near Des Moines, Iowa and run rivers where there is no such vegetation. The first thing I do is cut the seats down so I can sit in the boat instead of above it.
 
The higher the seat the farther you can see, 6-8 inches or more makes a big difference when you are looking over the grass instead of into it. here are a couple of pics to show why the seating is the way it is...

100_2979a.jpg

100_2064a.jpg

tom0058.jpg

dscf0276a.jpg

4Laz0010.jpg


and like froggigger1 said, ...



Elbows_A_Hole.jpg
 
Victor - this is it. This is the source you are seeking. It's not a book... it's more like a LIVING BOOK. Maybe like a magic book.... you just ask, and you get your answer. ;)

Most airboats are built and/or operated by very ingenious folks, and they are built from our own "street smarts" and experience.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

As for the seats being so high, with the gyroscopic effect of the spinning prop, it's not as unstable as it looks.

Cool photos Randy. :)


matt.
 
Hey Airboat4fun. The guy in the second pic Chris is an animal. He has rolled that boat twice and shows it no mercy. I have had several people say my god you built him a motor "he will blow it up the first time out". He is a great guy and very entertaining too! He reminds me of myself when I was younger the only problem is he is older then I am!
 
Victor,
Please look at the last Photo that AB4fun posted.
You may notice the woman in the denim shirt.
She is obviously pushing the ejection seat button...... again!

The ejected passenger seems to be adapting well though, and has learned to maintain his beverage grip accordingly.

The other rear seat passenger just never seems to tire of watching the front passenger in flight, after numerous deployments of the ejection system!

The operator seems a little annoyed that he must turn around yet again, and pick up the ejected passenger.
Elbows_A_Hole.jpg
 
Now see there, Cowboy. All this time I thought the operator was miffed because he was having to wait on that guy while he demonstrated a hand stand.

Shows what I know. :lol:

olf
 
As was said, it's not as unstable as it seems.

I saw one Cadillac-powered boat one day on Orange Lake that had the seat stand so high, you could probably just reach up and touch the bottom of it if you were standing in the boat. Seems like 4 people were on it. I thought for sure it would tip over, but they were going wide open and it seemed to do ok.
 
Being up high lets you also see down into the water. You can spot fish in the water better than you can right at the water level
 
Did the guy spill his drink ? Looks like it might be a save; or, at least a partial save. I'll bet it was a Bud. Those import guys wouldn't stand a chance. :lol:
 
Waterthunder":ijmcqok5 said:
Hey Airboat4fun. The guy in the second pic Chris is an animal. He has rolled that boat twice and shows it no mercy. I have had several people say my god you built him a motor "he will blow it up the first time out". He is a great guy and very entertaining too! He reminds me of myself when I was younger the only problem is he is older then I am!
Click to expand...

I meant to tell you David I ran across him and his buddy running just north of Hwy 520. Just like you said he is a character, Funny as hell. That is just a regular LS-1 5.7 Liter Right.

Geoff
 
Seats up high --- Yep all the above are correct --- Unless the only time you use your Airboat is for ICE FISHING then it pays to have your seating down low with a canvas cab to stay worm in. And the statement on southern airboat being a living book. How true that is.... If someone could compost all of the knowledge in here to a book or CD for sale with the proceeds going to Southern Airboat to promote and defend Airboating.Just a thought....
 
moodfood":e0ixx1mk said:
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Click to expand...

Dang - I hate quoting myself!!! LOL

I MEANT to say -

If necessity is the mother of invention, an airboater is it's father.

:)

Hey, I think I'll put that on my bumper sticker list.

matt.
 
My boys have just seen airboats when they were 3 and 6 but they want seats up high. I always said there isn't one boat that can do everything good but when winter comes that windshield an canvas might feel pretty good.
 
Hogman I beleive that's a 450 HP or a 500HP I built that motor a while back so I'm not sure. I also used one of my core motors. We went riding a year or so later and we had some fun when he ran out of gas we were laughing our @$$ off floating in a lake. He is a great guy I'm glad I got to know him. If he ever up grades I'm puting on a goveneor on for his own good!
 
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