I made another trip out for a ride today just to get out of the house, getting the pre-surgery jitters. As soon as I started the motor I saw a "plop" at the back of the boat, I didn't pay much attention to it then I heard what I thought was an exhaust leak. I then figured it out, I had blown one of my baffles out. I ran it for a bit, then stopped to pull the other one out at the end of the video.

There is a big difference in the noise level of the motor with them out but it answered my question about the size of the hole restricting the motor. It does run better with them out. I kinda got use to not hearing the exhaust for the seat so I'm just going to weld some washers in there the baffles where choosing a happy medium between performance and sound. Looks like I'll be painting my mufflers black now, depends on how bad they discolor from the welding. They are already discolored from the heat any way. ;rasta;

I just watched the video for the first time, sorry about the camera angle. I knew I was going to go up the rapids at the end and had to position the camera so I would be able to hold on and film while I went through the rapids. The video doesn't do that set of rapids justice, there is a 2-3 ft drop in water level as you go over them. I need one of those fancy cameras LOL.
http://woodlawnwt.com/hosted/splash.jpg

[youtube:336ywtdk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zzgSvzx470[/youtube:336ywtdk]

Short Version
[youtube:336ywtdk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNisBlqRCMQ[/youtube:336ywtdk]

Papee,

That's a nice video, with genuine airboat sounds. ;thumb;

I don't think that you need a fancy camera. That looked pretty good. ;garfield; I'd much rather watch a video made from a fix mounted camera than a hand held, or eyeglass style camera. Maybe it's just me... I enjoy seeing what's going on, but the camera motion is sorta' irritating.

When I first read the title of this thread (blowing your baffles out), I thought that you'd came down with a gastric problem. ;bawl; I'm glad that I was wrong about that. :&&:

I understand about the pre-surgery jitters. I wish you much luck with it, and will be thinking about you.

Duane

You can hear the baffle come out at the beginning of the video. Duane, I use a regular camera in all my videos, it's just a camera with a video setting and I'm always holding it in my hand. I most always hold it straight ahead and turn the boat if I want to show something in the video. An example would be a white crane in one of my videos, I saw it taking off so I just turned the boat to show it rather than turn the camera. And that was not a bird that flew by just before I got to the rapids, it was a BIG bug. I got hit by a few of them, they was hard. LOL

Edit: The reason I put his in general tech is because after I am able to get around after my surgery I will be experimenting with washer sizes in my mufflers to get it quieted down a bit while still trying to keep some of the performance.

Hey Papee,

Now I understand why you guys need airboats up there. And correct me if i'm wrong but if you aren't careful you will loose the bottom of an airboat. :o

Best of luck on your surgery. ;thumb;

Jim

Yes Jim it is very possible to "lose a bottom" , you have to make some choices pretty fast on what to do in each situation and I'm not so good with choices I have plenty of time to make. :&&: I get "stripes" every year, For the most part I use the handle end of my heavy digging bar to get them out. Most of my dents come when going down stream where it is harder to get the boat to react fast enough. I scratch a few rocks most every time I go out, misjudging what the boat will do. If a rock is just barely under the water and it has enough surface area, the boat will push enough water over it so you won't hit it. Kinda the same rule of thumb "when in doubt power out" with the rocks.

I'm still a lot better off than the prop or jet guys. When I go over some low spots or a rocky areas when the water is at it's low point of the year I see rocks that I could turn in for aluminum and just smile. :D I'm still testing though, my bottom is 1/8" maybe a bit more and so far so good, no leaks. I've tough about poly but I'm concerned that when I do hit the rocks hard it would wear the bolt holes from the impact and cause them to leak.

Over the 36 years of running an airboat on the river the score is:
these would be what I call wrecks, where I came to a compete stop.
Rocks 2
Trees 1 This cause the most damage :&&: cage,prop, and motor mounts.
Papee 0

You can hear the baffle come out at the beginning of the video. Duane, I use a regular camera in all my videos, it's just a camera with a video setting and I'm always holding it in my hand. I most always hold it straight ahead and turn the boat if I want to show something in the video. An example would be a white crane in one of my videos, I saw it taking off so I just turned the boat to show it rather than turn the camera. And that was not a bird that flew by just before I got to the rapids, it was a BIG bug. I got hit by a few of them, they was hard. LOL

Edit: The reason I put his in general tech is because after I am able to get around after my surgery I will be experimenting with washer sizes in my mufflers to get it quieted down a bit while still trying to keep some of the performance.

Papee,

You seem to hold that camera pretty steady. I assumed that it was in some kind of mount.

I've seen some "washer mufflers" on a couple of motorcycles, a long time ago. If done right, they do work pretty decently, reducing the bark, but still sounding mellow.

The trick seems to be getting a large enough ID to reduce restriction, and having the correct spacing between them to let them do their job. But I have no idea of how to figure out the right combination.

Once you get started on do it yourself muffler baffles, there are a thousand ways to do it.

I bet Chuck could give you some ideas. ;thumb; I've seen how he builds his mufflers with the expanded metal baffles... They sure look nice, but I really can't tell you how well they work. I "think" that one of the big V8 boats that I saw and heard run (on the trailer) last April had his mufflers on it, but I can't swear to it. I was in new information overload mode by that point of the day.....

Duane

I think if it the camera was hard mounted there would be too much vibration from the white caps and rapids. At about 30 MPH you can feel it on the hull. I may try putting it in some pipe insulation then mounting it. Where I had it in the last video I could not see the display to see if I was holding it straight. I had to hold it lower becasue I knew I would be going up that set up rapids and I need to hold on also so I don't fall out on the quick turns. I usually just hold onto the side of my seat rigging when doing the quick turns. The things we do to get video. ;rasta;

I've talked to Chuck about the baffles, sort of the the old expansion chambers on the motorcycles. I had one in my MC racing days. It came with different size washers, you just took a C-clip out and switched them. I was out in the garage today and found some washers that will work and drilled them out to the same size the originals were. I'll run it like that and take my cordless drill out on the river with me to make them a bit bigger if needed.

I'm not sure what the deal is but ever since I put the Harley mufflers on my carb does not sweat or ice up any more. I did notice that it was a bit harder to start with the baffles in but when they came out it was back to starting easily(when warm). I will sacrifice some performance to get it quiet again though, I got kinda use to not hearing the motor over the prop from the seat.

I have to wait on my call from the hospital tomorrow for my admission time but after they call I'm going to weld them in. That way it will be ready for me when I get out. :&&: I'll have to wait until my checkup at the docs to get the ok to drive them I'm back on the water. :D About a week after I get out, it's good therapy ya know.

Papee, thats some cool vidieo's
You gots some big kahoonies to do the rapids.
Does your boat want to sway side to side when you hit them?
I myself I would be worrying a bit of going in the drink.
The polymer woluld be a good idea for the rocks but you are probably correct on the rivits geting poped out. One of the real pro's on the site could best answer that.
It seems that most Harley guy's pull the baffels, so ear plugs wouldn't be bad and you still could have your performance. I ware some and I can here when I get done running. You can still hear any engine noises too.

Best of luck on the surgery
Thanks Bogger

Surgery went well now if I could just get something to eat. They did a little more than the other one but I still may go home sunday

Papee,

I'm very glad that the surgery went well. And I understand about getting something to eat. ;bawl; I kinda' understand them starving you BEFORE surgery, but AFTERWARD? What's that all about? They were working on your knee, NOT your guts.

I bet that plain GRITS would be good to you now.

Heck, even Lutefisk might be tasty now ... Naw, probably NOT.

I'm gonna' fix some scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese grits for dinner this evening, and will think about you while eating it. ;thumb;

I wish you a speedy recovery,

Duane

Papee,

Glad to hear of a good outcome on the surgery. ;thumb; ;thumb;

As far as hospital food goes, I for one might prefer lutefisk, or maybe even grits ;rasta; . I remember being in the hospital and wishing I had a 100 dollar bill to bribe a nurse to get me a fast food burger and a ;beer;

Dave

Sorry Papee, I'm a little behind. Happy to hear you surgery went well. I hope you are bouncing back quickly!

Bruce

I'm not too bad right now, I am way ahead of where I usually am. I just have to make sure I don't push it too much.

I went out today to weld the baffles in the mufflers. I made the holes the same size as the ones on the other end of the muffler. I'll take my drill out along just in case they need made bigger. I started it and it seemed to run fine on the trailer.

I didn't notice how close the Teleflex cable was to the exhaust, I guess I should reroute it.

Papee,

It's good to hear that you're up and getting around. ;thumb;

The washer baffle looks like it ought to do a lot toward reducing your sound. I assume that the inside of the mufflers are empty now? If so, then you do basically have expansion chambers. A restriction on both ends of an empty chamber.

Before you added the washers, I guess that you really had megaphones. :&&:

The only thing I'd suggest would be to move the mufflers a little toward the rear, to help prevent the exhaust sound from echoing off of the transom. It may be plenty far enough as it is. I haven't heard it. ;rasta;

Let us know how it sounds on the water.

Duane

Papee,
Are those big washer's. If so great idea.
Bogger

Yep, just big washers