Has anyone had any success using a two cycle snowmobile engine on an airboat. I've been reading old posts where a few people have used the Rotax 503's and 582's with some success but at 50 and 65 HP probably have to be pushed pretty hard to reach their full HP at high RPM's. I have an arctic cat 500 with a two cylinder fuel injected Suzuki motor that's supposed to put out 96HP that I'm thinking would be my cheapest option for airboat power. I'd like to use the torque converter that the motor has on it as a clutch connected to a re drive to get the prop speed down. this would also lower the motor and get the prop high enough to work. Has anyone tried this?

I'm working on a VW 1600cc motor going to a Johnson snowmobile torque converter then to the prop.
Lota Good info here If it has been done they will know.

Sounds like a good plan...Can you post some pics of the proposed set-up ??

if you get the gearing to coincide with the power band of the motor, you could have a lot of fun, can't wait to see your ideas

I'm working on a VW 1600cc motor going to a Johnson snowmobile torque converter then to the prop.
Lota Good info here If it has been done they will know.

Following. I did look at a Subaru engine on-line to see the internals and from what I saw, it has two belts for the timing I guess. Nope, no belts for me. Rotax or VW and I did see whereas the 1776 VW engine was a very good HP engine w/heads/exhaust etc.


Has anyone had any success using a two cycle snowmobile engine on an airboat. I've been reading old posts where a few people have used the Rotax 503's and 582's with some success but at 50 and 65 HP probably have to be pushed pretty hard to reach their full HP at high RPM's. I have an arctic cat 500 with a two cylinder fuel injected Suzuki motor that's supposed to put out 96HP that I'm thinking would be my cheapest option for airboat power. I'd like to use the torque converter that the motor has on it as a clutch connected to a re drive to get the prop speed down. this would also lower the motor and get the prop high enough to work. Has anyone tried this?

This would be awesome and to follow the build. We don't have those engines in Fl and this would be interesting. Thanks,

I'm working on a VW 1600cc motor going to a Johnson snowmobile torque converter then to the prop.

Coyotes, check this link out.
http://miniairboatassoc.com/forum/showthread.php?2598-New-VW-Solex-intake

I don't have any pics, I'm just trying to think it through. I lost the thread where Eskimoboy used a similar set up. Engine mounted low, torque converter mounted vertically with a jack shaft connecting the upper part of the converter to the lower belt cog then up to the upper cog, prop hub. I think the power set up he used was good but the wooden hull took more power than the 670 motor could put out. Drpeck76 used a 4 stroke Yamaha snowmobile engine that I think would be a great choice for power but finding one would be tough. It looks like he mounted the re drive directly to the motor. I plan to use the airboat on Ice and with the motor being water cooled, overheating wont be as much of an issue as it would be in Florida where it might be 100 degrees before you fire it up.

http://miniairboatassoc.com/forum/showthread.php?2476-lake-buggy-for-ice
This is thread with Eskimoboy's boat. I too am building one. I using a 600cc Yamaha 2 cylinder 2-stroke.
I'm going to build a folding cage to make it more accessible practical for multiple uses.
I fish and hunt in flooded timber and Oxbows.
I'm going to use the snowmobile clutches and belt.
Neutral is nice. The clutches will require some tweaking. That will depend on several factore.
Hull, weight, engine power and prop. It will work asis but would work better with fine tuning.
Most important thing is to build it safe!
Dont want to find out late its too weak.
Its better to over build to begin with then trim it down after your confident.
Only takes a few wrenches and a few minutes to remove excess bracing.
ZZ

Im late to this thread but thought id post anyway - I'm repowering my aluminum 12x5 with a Yamaha RX1 1000 cc engine replacing the old Rotax 582.

How have your Yamaha builds turned out and what did you use for gearbox or redrives?

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if you want the cheap way out the clutch might be the way to go. i have never seen one perform as well as a belt reduction or adapt a rotax box to it. my opinion is and every one has one if you use the clutch the lag from disengaged to engaged would cause a problem. with out power on an airboat you loose steering control and may not matter on ice but shallow water you can spin around quicker than you can blink an eye. you need full control. just my opinion. i think j bird.com has the belt reduction. bobby

j bird belt drives are 10 hp per belt dr. peck in the builds is using one of the rx1 yamaha engine on here the do make an adapter so you can use a c gearbox