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What Kind of hull is this?

NorthWestFloridaBoy

NorthWestFloridaBoy

Well-known member
I did it I am finally steppin' up from my mini to a fullsize. This hull I origanally bought from a guy 12 years ago without the motor or prop. I didn't have any money back then (college student) to finish it with so I sold it to a buddy, I went over there today and he sold it back to me for $50.00. It origanally had a "100 HP continental" (that's what the guy told me) on it. It is 12' by 6.5' with 16" sides. It looks like the majority of the other fiberglass hulls I've seen on here except for the bow area. look at the front of the boat. Anybody got a clue what it is? It is from the 70's. thanks.
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Looks a bit like the olpd Bullfrog hulls from up here too. I see a lot of work to get that thing back to life though. Good luck.

Scotty
 
i agree, its an apache. that was my first hull i ever owned. i had a 220 on mine. that was a tough lil hull. that rounded lip looks ugly, but it works two different ways i figure. it dont have a sharp edge like most hulls, when youre runnin tall grass, it wont cut the grass and pile it in the bottom of the boat. it kinda just rolls back. also, if you dive off a deep bank, water will roll of the sides instead of the bottom( dont ask me how i know that one- rookie mistake!). mine came as an ugly green,we painted it black. one of the ole timers started callin in the bubba gump boat. now i ve had the nickname bubba gump for 13 or so years.
 
I have the splashwell for it. There are never any airboat hulls or airboats for sale up here so it'll have to do. I am ok with fiberglass so I can put the splashwell back on without any problems. The bottom is in good shape, never had poly on it, I was thinking about some frog spit (I won't be running dry up here like ya'll do). I'll mainly run it in the Blackwater and Escambia rivers.It is fairly light and only 5 1/2' feet wide in the rear where the taper(chines?) stops at the bottom of the hull, so I am thinking of a 4CYL aircraft engine with a pancake cage to keep it light. I've seen some little motors on airboattrader for around 1500 so that might be what I shoot for. This is off the subject but.........why is it that my wife wants me to go out and spend 25,000 on a cabin cruiser but puts up a stonewall when I want to put about 2 grand in this thing and have something that is a helluv' alot funner than a cabin cruiser? But she can rationalize spending 400-500 on a purse.....Three of her purses will buy me a motor, lookout EBay.
 
it makes better since to her because she likes the idea of the cabin cruiser :lol: just start some quite house clean and ebay a few of those purses :D :D
 
This is off the subject but.........why is it that my wife wants me to go out and spend 25,000 on a cabin cruiser but puts up a stonewall when I want to put about 2 grand in this thing and have something that is a helluv' alot funner than a cabin cruiser? But she can rationalize spending 400-500 on a purse.....Three of her purses will buy me a motor, lookout EBay.
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I have my own ideas about that but I will keep those to my self. You just build that airboat!!
 
N.W.F.B. I sure know what you are talking about with that cabin cruiser -vs- an airboat. I feel your pain. Maybe she will change her mind after the first ride.
Good luck.
 
This is off the subject but.........why is it that my wife wants me to go out and spend 25,000 on a cabin cruiser but puts up a stonewall when I want to put about 2 grand in this thing and have something that is a helluv' alot funner than a cabin cruiser? But she can rationalize spending 400-500 on a purse.....Three of her purses will buy me a motor, lookout EBay.
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If I knew the answer to this I would write a book and be independently wealthy so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

Grant
 
that is definatley an apachee hull with a "nigger lip" on the front... my friend has the same hull w/ a O540 and it pushes pretty good....
 
Anybody know what happened to apache ?? The fella I originally bought it from is a friends dad and I remember him tellin me some crazy stories about the things they used to do with it. It is in better shape than it looks in the pics. It is green metal flake that was painted over with black spray paint. If I use some paint stripper to get the spray paint off will it hurt the metal flake/fiberglass?
 
i think its an aircat, yes apache had that bow roll but i think by the deck it looks like an aircat. i may be wrong but i guess it doesnt matter anyways.
 
Ricky (Apache) pretty much got out of the airboat buisness. I run the wide boat (13x8) and love it. Unfortunatley I really want another one and am kind of having a time getting one. I tried to have another mfg. build one (I will not say who) but he wanted 3500.00 and to me that is just to much for a glass boat. They are good boats and turn well. As for WWW Wayne is trying to make an al. hull that will turn like the apache I personally have not run one yet though.
 
I wonder what the fellow did with the molds? You say he got out of the biz so it's not like his operation burned down then. Those molds should be in someones yard somewhere, Would be nice to have one built with some kevlar cloth in the bottom and sides and with some modern resins. I also like the way those Predator widetracks look, but if I could get a brand new one it would have to be a Palm Beach deckover.
 
I' ve got one of the 12 foot aluminum apache copies that www made. I am putting a 160 H2AD on it . All of the others I know of are 13 or 14 footers with 0 540's on them. There were some problems with them at the beginning with the turning, but they redid their design a little and now they turn pretty good.
 
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