Here is my old single seat LakeBuggy. Powered by a Honda GX390 13hp with a 42x18 prop from rnd props. The guy driving is a friend of mine and it was the first time he had ever been in an airboat. It goes faster than what is shown here, unfortunately the video he shot of me was out of focus with the camera shaking every where, so I had to use the video I shot of him driving.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_lEoX8axI

Thanks for posting that, I know there has been a number of people asking about the Lake Buggy style boats.

NorthwestFloridaBoy,

Welcome to the forum. I live in eastern North Carolina now, but grew up in southwest Georgia. Where about are you in NW FL ?

That looks like it is a blast to play with, and it certainly has to count as a full fledged Mini-airboat. :)

I bought those plans before I started on my current project, and may still build one of them later on, just for the fun of it.

You called this your "old" boat. Do you have a new one in the works?

Thanks,

Duane

I live in the Pensacola area. The boat was awesome. I don't have it anymore because I put it in my backyard and set the hull directly on the ground instead of putting it on some blocks and it did not take long for the termites to eat the bottom out of it even though it was glassed. I used plywood a little too thick so it weighed a little more than I wanted but it still only weighed like 175 or something like that. I decked over the last 30 inches or so to keep back wash out and I am glad I did, if you watch the video carefull there is a segment when he just about swamps it in a deep section (6ft) and the water runs up on the deck over portion and the prop gets in the water. I weigh about 235 or so and that boat would fly with me on it in a foot or so of water, if you got in real shallow water, like 2-3 inches it would take off like a turbo charger had kicked in. It's a real mini alright, I can put it in the back of my pickup by my self with no problem. I had a fullsize airboat also but I sold it last summer. No airboat right now :( but I do still have an old school appache hull that is bad ass, it's like 10.5-11 ft long and about 6.5-7 foot wide and very light. If I can get ahold of a decent motor one day I'll fix it up and be on the river again. Of all the boats I have had the airboats were the funnest, bar none. I'll post a video of my other airboat, it's not a mini but I think everybody like airboat videos.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CpcButG0qU

NorthwestFloridaBoy,

Sorry to hear about the demise of the "old" Mini-boat. What a shame.

I've seen your 350 DD video before, but didn't know it was yours.

Thanks for sharing this, and don't be a stranger here. Go find a motor and get her done.

Duane

Hey Northwestfloridaboy, Good to see you posting. I like the video's. The good thing about running dry, it's hard to sink the boat. Let us here from you more often.
Thanks, Chuck

I get on the southernairboat site just about every day. I don't post much, mainly read the latest active thread titles and if I see something that interest me I'll read more in depth and I look at the pictures every day also. I was messing around the other night and stumbled back across this site and remembered I needed to put the vid of my mini on here. The lakebuggy is a terrible airboat for alot of things but on the other hand it is absolutly amazing for others. You can take it through a tree strewn swamp lik the one in the video as long as the gaps between the trees are atleast 4 foot wide and the water is 4 inches deep you can idle all around. When on plane it'll go accross water 1-2 inches deep. when on plane it will go through deep water no problem and stay on plane but it wont get on plane unless the water is 1-1.5 foot deep or less. when the video first starts he goes accross a stretch that is like 6 foot deep for a couple hundred feet then it gets to a shallow flat where he turns around.

Welcome aboard dude,

You are in my neck of the woods. We had a second home in PCB when i was a kid. It's still there. It's on Petral near 79 across from the public beach that has survived all these years. My brother lived in Ft. Walton for years and worked for Hood Chevrolet. Hood sponsered his drag cars and he set some records in Daytona. Good old memories are there. I try to visit the panhandle at least once a year. Maybe we can hook up.

Jim

I've seen both of your vids on youtube and the mini lake buggy interested me the most.
I would like to build a small wooden mini with glassed over plywood but wasn't sure of it's strength.
That vid showed that it is possible, Twelve horse making it move very nice in the water was also an inspirational point to building a mini.