Kennedy airboats

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:11 am

Hi, I am letting everyone know that I have purchased the Kennedy molds from Roy Skinner and are building them in Cross City, FL. I have built several 16 foot boats so far and have paid close attention to the weight of the boats in the build process, so far they averaging 650 lbs. That is all composite materiel's in the deck and lid. Standard boat with 4 ft. deck is $225 a foot, custom color/metal flake available, wallboards, rod boxes, coolers in wallboards, matching rope in rub rail etc. Also have seat molds, instrument panels (half round, gooseneck, long and shorty) Any questions call or text 352-578-4021 Aaron Spivey

nomad41 · Post by **nomad41** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 4:44 pm

Congratulations I run a 14' Freedom Craft and I can tell you when Roy was making them they were heavy.

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:29 pm

Thanks Nomad I have a 16 ft. Freedom Craft from that same era, soon as I can I will be building myself a replacement at almost half the weight of my current boat.

Kennyjoe · Post by **Kennyjoe** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:00 pm

I had one years ago, great hull it was heavy hit a few things and never had any major damage. Slid into some big myrtles hard enough to bend the cage into the wooden air prop..opened the cage rail up half way around..drug it to shore pulled like crazy to straighten the cage out..bent the tips on the prop back closed and hunted the rest of the weekend..I could fill the bottom with 20 extra gallons of fuel and all the camping gear and could still slow it down in deep water and be fine. And it had poly. Good luck with the business, great hulls.

HuntingBigun · Post by **HuntingBigun** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:38 pm

spivey2a wrote:Hi, I am letting everyone know that I have purchased the Kennedy molds from Roy Skinner and are building them in Cross City, FL. I have built several 16 foot boats so far and have paid close attention to the weight of the boats in the build process, so far they averaging 650 lbs. That is all composite materiel's in the deck and lid. Standard boat with 4 ft. deck is $225 a foot, custom color/metal flake available, wallboards, rod boxes, coolers in wallboards, matching rope in rub rail etc. Also have seat molds, instrument panels (half round, gooseneck, long and shorty) Any questions call or text 352-578-4021 Aaron Spivey

Welcome to SA and good luck I can tell ya Nomad boat is heavy but he is our resident if you need he got it boat

Post some pics and hit the donate button on the bottom of the page for support SA, best place for you to advertise no doubt.

Olf Art · Post by **Olf Art** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:09 pm

Everytime somebody has a negative to say about the Kennedy hulls? It's always about their weight.
Nice to see that you're building that design again because IMO they're one of the sweetest riding 'glass hulls every built.
Please don't try to make them so light that you compromise strength. That was always a big Kennedy asset ..... the old
ones are damn near bulletproof. Don't forget that a lot of airboaters like a boat in the 13'-14' range too.

Best wishes for your success, and nice to have you aboard.

HuntingBigun · Post by **HuntingBigun** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:22 pm

I agree Olf 100%, heck Nomad went everywhere people run with them light hulls, I went with thin bottom and it looked like tunnel hull on my 2nd GTO, My DB was flat as board after 3 years and light is not a word to be used with my hulls lol. But I am sure he is using new materials that we have today to shed some weight. See ya tomorrow night

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:42 pm

Thanks guys for the input, I'm still putting the same amount of woven just being sure to roll it out and bring the resin up thru the chop and not keep adding extra resin. And if anyone is interested in the 12' boat I've got a drop in to build it, have molds for the 12', 14, 16, and 18'

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:08 pm

Thanks guys for the input, I'm still putting the same amount of woven just being sure to roll it out and bring the resin up thru the chop and not keep adding extra resin. And if anyone is interested in the 12' boat I've got a drop in to build it, have molds for the 12', 14, 16, and 18'

twister69z · Post by **twister69z** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:23 pm

spivey2a wrote:Hi, I am letting everyone know that I have purchased the Kennedy molds from Roy Skinner and are building them in Cross City, FL. I have built several 16 foot boats so far and have paid close attention to the weight of the boats in the build process, so far they averaging 650 lbs. That is all composite materiel's in the deck and lid. Standard boat with 4 ft. deck is $225 a foot, custom color/metal flake available, wallboards, rod boxes, coolers in wallboards, matching rope in rub rail etc. Also have seat molds, instrument panels (half round, gooseneck, long and shorty) Any questions call or text 352-578-4021 Aaron Spivey

Post some pictures of your hulls inside and out , would like to see the inside also.
Twister69z

Olf Art · Post by **Olf Art** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:52 pm

spivey2a wrote:Thanks guys for the input, I'm still putting the same amount of woven just being sure to roll it out and bring the resin up thru the chop and not keep adding extra resin. And if anyone is interested in the 12' boat I've got a drop in to build it, have molds for the 12', 14, 16, and 18'

Aaron, are you gonna use composite boards for your runners instead of wood? What would you think about an option to order an
ultralight hull just for racers?

Tony480 · Post by **Tony480** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:04 pm

No need in worrying about racers...no racer would ever run a Kennedy.

GMAC 76 · Post by **GMAC 76** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:06 pm

what is the difference between a freedom craft hull and a kennedy hull?.....I was told the kennedy molds went to Nebraska and I see in the last airboat magazine that a builder up there is featuring kennedy hulls are these the same hulls that you are building?

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:09 pm

I am currently using all composite stringers, No wood is used in the boat. The Freedom Craft name and molds are being used in Nebraska or that is what was told to me. Very little difference. As far as a racing boat there is a step hull here I hadn't even looked at it, Roy had one they raced in south Florida 15 years or so ago.

PUDDLEBUSTER · Post by **PUDDLEBUSTER** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:11 pm

There is know real difference in the two. The original Kennedy and bandit molds burnt up in Roy's first fire. There was a second set built off of an original Kennedy and Roy also built a wide version that burnt in his second fire. Then there is a couple copies built after that fire,one, Roy ended up with and some he built off of hulls he had. Somewhere in there he stopped calling them freedomcrafts and went back to calling them Kennedy's. All in all the kennedy/freedomcraft design hasn't changed much. So the set we are talking about mow are a third generation of the original Kennedy.

PUDDLEBUSTER · Post by **PUDDLEBUSTER** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:11 pm

There is know real difference in the two. The original Kennedy and bandit molds burnt up in Roy's first fire. There was a second set built off of an original Kennedy and Roy also built a wide version that burnt in his second fire. Then there is a couple copies built after that fire,one, Roy ended up with and some he built off of hulls he had. Somewhere in there he stopped calling them freedomcrafts and went back to calling them Kennedy's. All in all the kennedy/freedomcraft design hasn't changed much. So the set we are talking about mow are a third generation of the original Kennedy.

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:15 pm

Thanks Puddlebuster you should know lol

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:17 pm

You may can tell us how that step hull ran. I seen it years ago but never seen it in action

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:17 pm

You may can tell us how that step hull ran. I seen it years ago but never seen it in action

Post by **kwanjangnihm** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:47 pm

Aaron i saw this online and am posting so others can see.

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:04 pm

Thanks for posting the pic maybe when I get home on the pc I can post them. I have built some with coolers in the walkboards that has been a nice add-on

PUDDLEBUSTER · Post by **PUDDLEBUSTER** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:18 pm

It ran like a scalded ape! And Roy didn't have the technology we have now.

PUDDLEBUSTER · Post by **PUDDLEBUSTER** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:19 pm

It ran like a scalded ape! And Roy didn't have the technology we have now.

PUDDLEBUSTER · Post by **PUDDLEBUSTER** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:35 pm

The one I thought was awsome was his hill raceboat, the last time I saw it the hull was in the rack by his garage. Everything he had to do with as far as racing was top notch all the way back to the late model days. I only wish he could've kept racing he was the man in late models before he fell.

spivey2a · Post by **spivey2a** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:36 pm

Kevlar layup and vacuumed down, might get scary