I am fixing to start a mini and I need to pick some of your heads
hull will be alu .125 64 inches wide 11 ft 7 inches long with 16 inch sides
hull is for river running on the Brazos in Tx it will have no chines
Talked to Competition Props today and will order a 59 inch 4 blade
I have a brand new 20 hp Kohler that I am going to try but I am pretty sure I will wind up with a 44 hp Generac
I will build my on reduction.
Papee I know you like the flat bottoms with no chines
But hope everyone will voice the opinion
Thanks ahead of time
Ron

Hey Ron, this is a great site but the replies are few and far between it seems. I am new to this sight as well. From all of my reading, that 20 hp you have would not move a boat that big very well at all. I just picked up two of the 084's they talk so highly of but I don't know how to get the damned things running ha ha. My boat is a .125 slick bottom with 54 inch bottom, 74 inches across the top, 20 inch sides, 20 inch transom, and almost 12 foot long. I will be running a 66 inch ivo prop. Good luck with your build!

Aewrigh
Thanks for the reply
Not much activity here but a lot of good info. It sounds like papee is down sick so maybe it will pick up when he is doing better.
I built a wooden lake buggy and it was a good learning experience , then I built a 8 by 18 with a caddy on it ,sold that when I couldnt aford to run it any more
So now I want a mini , I am going to set the 20 horse up and see how it work but I am pretty sure there is a 44 generac in the future for this boat.
Then I will take the 20 hp and build a mini mini.
Ron

Yea this site does have it's seasonal visitors with the members being so spread out over the country. My feelings are if you've you've never ran a boat with chines you don't know you're missing them. LOL I'm doing a little better but still not up to snuff. We're busy in the garage gettong the offrosd racer ready for the first race on the 18th then it's time to get the boat out. I do have it out and ready to start but haven't got to it yet.

For the difference in price I wouldn't fool with anything lower than 35 hp

Papee
I already have the twenty hp Koler so I will play with it, I am sure I will go to a bigger motor.
What do you think of the hull size?
Ron
PS glad your doing better.
Ron

Depends on what you want to do with it. Most people are just building ride boats so they don't need a long boat but I use mine for bass fishing and have another fisherman along most times. When you are casting artificial lures all day long you want some space between you and the other guy. My boat is 13'9" for that reason. You nay have different needs. I would not make any boat with less than a 5 ft bottom. Wider is better but too wide can be a hindrance too.

Papee
This will be a boat to transport us to where we fish ,and most of the fishing will be off the sand and gravel bars.
A few questions for you
You list your hull as 13ft 4 in how wide is it on the bottom
How did shorting your boat affect it ,planing,speed?
I know from reading your forum that you are direct driving your 84, how any hp would you estimate your 84 is now.
You ran a BS motor 18 hp for a time, would that motor stock plan your boat ,what was the estimantes as far as speed at that time.
I am sure I will build several boats with different motor and hull specs before it is over with.
Ron

Papee
This will be a boat to transport us to where we fish ,and most of the fishing will be off the sand and gravel bars.
A few questions for you
You list your hull as 13ft 4 in how wide is it on the bottom
How did shorting your boat affect it ,planing,speed?
I know from reading your forum that you are direct driving your 84, how any hp would you estimate your 84 is now.
You ran a BS motor 18 hp for a time, would that motor stock plan your boat ,what was the estimantes as far as speed at that time.
I am sure I will build several boats with different motor and hull specs before it is over with.
Ron

I guess it is 13'4" according to my signature. The bottom of my boat is 5 ft wide but gets a little more narrow towards the front.

I didn't shorten my boat for any other reason than to loose some weight and that it had a slow rake to it. I do a lot of fishing from the front of the boat and when I stood up the to fish it would raise the back. Not out of the water but enough to notice. Becasue of the slow rake of the front end the part I cut off never toughed the water, not even when floating. It didn't make much difference in performance because as I said, that part never touched the water. What I lost in weight by cutting the front was added back by adding things like a larger fuel tank etc.

The 18 HP did plane out the boat if I found some skinny water to start out in, if I spent too much time in deeper water it would loose plane. I would guess the speed was around 18-20 mph. At that time I had nothing in my boat and used a lawn tractor battery to start it. I also was about 50 lbs lighter. I've gained a few pounds since all my surgeries and other health problems.

This is my fifth airboat with this hull going through a few different engines itself. The 18hp Briggs, a 4A032, and now the 084.


OH IMPORTANT: My 18 hp Briggs was not stock. I'm not sure what hp it was but at the end I was turning a 48" 3 blade carbon fiber prop at 10 degrees.