PDA

View Full Version : Trying To do it again



txgsp
11-07-2008, 07:26 PM
So the story goes like this. I had a "mini" 20 years ago. 16foot jon boat with a 484CC chaparal snowmobile engine on it. Sold it later when I got out of hunting. Want to build another one only better.

Hull.
Can fabricate my own but have questions?
1. Plywood/fiberglass or aluminum?
2. can you use a design like a flats boat. Just a 4 to 6 inch thick hull filled with flotation foam?


Motor
1. old problem with a snowmobile is getting in the powerband. Could not without throwing prop. What engines have a lower power band. I can only use an engine of 500cc are smaller.
2. can not have a visible gear reduction. Do they make one that is not noticeable?


Prop
1. wood are composite?
2. longer 2 blade are shorter 3 blade?


I hunt in refuges and they have guidelines I must follow. I will be running 2 people with dog and deks? Around 600lbs.

I really appreciate any help you can give.

Cheers,
Brad

Matapatos
11-08-2008, 01:11 PM
Yeah, you can fabricate your own hull, thats what i did and its a 5'X12' aluminum hull. I run a 583 rotax on mine out of a snowmobile, it pushes around 85 hp. My bro runs a 443 rotax on his and gets around 32 hp, due to the age of the motor and our altitude here in UT. Newer and lower altitude it would get around 40 hp, I imagine. It still gets up and goes too! He can have 2 guys and all their duck hunting gear and in deep or shallow water gets going 28-30 mph. It doesn't really matter whether he has a load or is empty, it performs very close to the same. As for the prop, I would run a 2 blade composite prop for the size of motor you want to run. Brand? someone else might have to help you there. I have a power band in my motor, it starts and about 5k rpms and goes up to 7k rpms. It doesn't have a problem getting to it though. How come the gear reduction needs to be invisible? Steve Beatty in AZ sells gear boxes for the Rotax motor that are small and very reliable. I run one of his and haven't had a problem with it. His company is Airscrew Performance. I hope you can get this thing off the ground, I had a blast building mine and now running it! I love the whole process of going through the boat and the motor and figuring it all out. Good luck! I hope I was able to help you out a little!
If you want to see his boat, go into the show us your rig topic and look at Utah Scooter's boat. Its a sweet little boat.