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Rules to define what a Mini airboat really is ...... ?

O

Olf Art

Silent Prop
R. I. P.
Bishop Wright and I were talking at the hotel Saturday night and our discussion turned to the mini-boats ......

If we as a group can come up with a clear definition of what actually can be called a 'mini' (or another, better term if somebody gives us one),
then we could establish a separate class for that kind of boat at places like the Broward, Wildwood, and Palm Beach shows and give the
builders of those little boats a place to show off their handiwork. There is a lot of development that can be done there, and I for one would like
to see what some creative minds and skillful hands could come up with.

I told Bishop that my first thoughts were that a Mini wouldn't have more than two cylinders. An A-65 Conny on a small hull is just a small
airboat, not a mini, but that's just my thinking. I think it would be fun to see what everyone thinks and then let the creative juices flow.
It might not take long before a man would have to come to a show with one very sharp little rascal to win the top prize in a Mini-boat class.

Your thoughts?
 
Two cyl. Limited stroke and bore
Limited hull size. Maybe total weight limit.
Just some thoughts.
and with gas prices skyrocketing, this may
be the wave of the future.
 
I would say any thing with 2 or less cylinders, some of them 3 cylinder snowmobile engine put out more then 100hp.
 
If it ain`t a car motor or an aircraft of any sort and under X amount of horse power it should qualify. IMO
 
:arrow: :arrow: I am no expert on mini airboats and actually never ever seen one but excited to see something new. Sometimes I think people get tired of the same old thing so bring it on let's make a new class would love to hear what you all have to say. :wink: :wink:
 
OK, thinkin out loud ...... what about 1 cyl., twin, and 3 cyl. classes, but nothing over say, 750 cc. period ?

My thinking is that an engine size limit would pretty much take care of the need for a limit on hull size.
 
Great Thread Idea ! ! ! ! !

Well I agree with under 10', maybe even 10' AND under.
(This would allow for the possibility of the same boats being entered in regular airboat and Mini with a quick change rigging.)

Any material.

To spur developement I would say no car engines and no aircraft engines but allow up to 4 cylinders for recip engines and single rotor wankel and maybe some limit on Turboshaft engines. Both Rotary Engines and Turboshaft engines have other than automotive and aircraft applications. No H.P. limit.

Must be a registered vessel.

Any fuel type.

10 gallon fuel tank Limit.

No more than 2 seats.

Food for thought.

Scotty :idea:
 
Well if the hull size is held to 10' or less, that would kick alot of us out even tho I would be running a 2 cycle 2cyl. jet ski, or snow mobile engine, and others running lawnmower engines. I would vote on motor size and not hull size, the motor is gonna dictate the size hull someone uses. JMHO. Later, Cajun
 
My new Mini Hull is 11 ft long X 6 ft 6 inches wide. With a 35 HP Briggs it ran 32
miles per hour. I call it the MiniPro 116. So far it is the best running hull i have
seen. I think i'am partial to it. If a mini has to be a 2 person boat and you build it
under 10 ft, you have just killed the performance of your boat. If a mini class is 10
ft or less, then my boats would not be at any show. In 12 weeks, we have sold 12
hulls. Last night, Ronnie Deschamps new mini with a modified Briggs 35 HP ran 40
miles per hr. I hope to have a video of it soon.
Marty is building a new mini mold that will be 10 ft long X 5 ft 6 inches wide. We
think it will make a perfect one person boat.
I think 2 cylinder is good and maby a maximum of 50 or 60 HP. Chuck
 
I like the 2 cylinder idea. I think if you put a max on H.P. there will be no motivation to push the envelope. Kinda like what WaterThunder has done with the SBC. The boat length will take care of itself. If you put a 2cylinder motor on to big or heavy of a boat it will just not perform. It would defeat the purpose of a mini. It would just be a big under powered boat.
 
chuckitt@earthlink.net":b2fybjob said:
My new Mini Hull is 11 ft long X 6 ft 6 inches wide. With a 35 HP Briggs it ran 32
miles per hour. I call it the MiniPro 116. So far it is the best running hull i have
seen. I think i'am partial to it. If a mini has to be a 2 person boat and you build it
under 10 ft, you have just killed the performance of your boat. If a mini class is 10
ft or less, then my boats would not be at any show. In 12 weeks, we have sold 12
hulls. Last night, Ronnie Deschamps new mini with a modified Briggs 35 HP ran 40
miles per hr. I hope to have a video of it soon.
Marty is building a new mini mold that will be 10 ft long X 5 ft 6 inches wide. We
think it will make a perfect one person boat.
I think 2 cylinder is good and maby a maximum of 50 or 60 HP. Chuck
Click to expand...

Ditto
 
John C":2y8100q0 said:
I like the 2 cylinder idea. I think if you put a max on H.P. there will be no motivation to push the envelope. Kinda like what WaterThunder has done with the SBC. The boat length will take care of itself. If you put a 2cylinder motor on to big or heavy of a boat it will just not perform. It would defeat the purpose of a mini. It would just be a big under powered boat.
Click to expand...

And Ditto
 
I think making the class should have the primary focus on windows for future developement more than making sure any existing boat is included.

If you don't limit hull size then there wont be any hull developement specifically for Minis. Folks used to call them peanut hulls not Minis but now we call them minis. In my mind setting a 10' limit in length is a bit on the long side but ti would allow for a safer 2 person boat. Granted you will see plenty of 10' 4 cylinder boats now days and even some automotive engines, so I guess the argument could be made with nearly any length. 10' though is about as small as I have ever seen with aqn automotive engine, but I have seen loads of 10' boats with GPUs and A/C engines.

So where to call it a small airboat and where to call it a Mini. I'm not sure it needs to be all inclusive for every small airboat. My 11' boat is really small but has an O-360 on it. In my mind that puts it outside ANY consideration for Mini in either engine or length.

Limiting a Mini to 2 cylinders eliminates some of the best performing and reliable performance engines ever built. These include both Motorcycle and Outboard Engines. To spur developement I think ya need to allow enough variation to have sub classes for say racing, rodeo & etc. Not to mention Show.

My thinking is there could be something called Mini Engines, or we could have Mini Airboats, I guess it just depends on where one wants to take it and were the primary focus for the future is to be. Want to focus on engines only or on the whole airboat.

I guess another question has to be SHOULD the primary focus of the class be on future developement or should it just be all inclusive of anything with a little engine?

Im just thinking out loud here for discussion purposes. Not having a Mini, I honestly don't have a dog in the chase, but I am interested.

Scotty :wink:
 
OK, whats the goal, maybe that should be described first.

Future developement of a class, just a generic term for little airboats or little engines or what do we want to do with it.

Maybe setting limits should be done AFTER the goals for the class are decided.

Scotty :idea:
 
hull length/size , passengers , engine size and really you have mini's and adult mini's there should be some info in the next airboat magazine
 
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