Definition of a Mini Airboat

Copied for Olf's post on Southern Airboat.
Chuck, Bishop Wright (Pres. FAA) will help us too ...... we just need some rules. We can always modify them the next year or so if needed.
I've read every post on the Mini's, and here's what I see:

Class #1: Single cylinder, any displacement

Class #2: Two cylinder, up to 1000cc. (you and Paul Dixon)

Class #3: Engines of more than 2 cylinders, 750cc. max.

In '09 we might even have a 750cc. Mini Raceboat class ..... who knows, but at least it's a start.

Papee ... Whaddaya think ? Please say so if you disagree.

olf



My opinion. For those of us that have been in the these boats for a while, the "mini airboat" is not just something that was dreamed up overnight. Some of us have been putting small engines on hulls of any size just to move the boat around without having a prop in the water or the "fan boats". From these boats we all wanted to make them go faster so we experimented with larger engines, stationary cages and rudders from the pedestal or tiller motor.. Most of these fan boats were/are 14-16 ft to make room for 2 people to frog,fish, or hunt. We feel that we are moving up from the fan boat class not moving from, for an example, a high horsepower boat just looking to go with a smaller hull. This is the main reason for the way the people who are really involved in the mini airboat are thinking. With this thinking we wanted to put an upper limit on the horsepower and not a lower limit and keep the hull size open.

After such debate on SA I would have to agree with your definition, Although I beleive it should be built by the person not bought. Case in point the mini116 looks good but only the manufacturer impresses me. the other day I was on the st. Johns in the big boat when some young guy came by with a mini it was a fiberglass hull from a bigger boat that the boys father had cut down and had a b&s 31 hp although it looked like a big boat from afar when he got closer you could tell someone put alot of work into it and I was thouroghly impressed.. not to stir any debate, just my opinion

Sorry I must have been editing the post as you were posting your reply. I edited to add a poll.

The poll is good for me. you know alot of people are saying if you have a 11 by 7 hull with a small motor aint a mini. The way I see it dont matter how big the hull is as long as it is in reason and it has a 35 horse briggs or evan a 40 koler or smaller on it its a MINI to me. All the people that wants a small 9 or 10 with a small AC on it Its not a MINI. ITS CALLED A SMALL AIRBOAT. But thats just me thinking again.

Dave you started a good website we just need to get everybody in here now and fill this thing up with good information.

Thanks Bubba, I agree with the definition for now. As a manufacturer, I want to sell what people want to buy up to
a point. That point is when the part or hull gets to where it is unsafe are a waste of money, then i don't want to sell
that part. I have seen a lot of homemade boats that were pure junk and unsafe. I also have seen some that were top of the
line homemades. Everyone building a homemade has to buy some of their parts. We hope to help them fill their dreams by
having these parts. For the people who don't have the ability or tools to build their own, we want to have a well
manufactured mini airboat ready for them.
I see these forums as a tool for the home builder to not only get informational help but to also locate the parts he needs
to complete his mini dream. Thanks, Chuck :)

Dave,
I had posted a coupe of questions about mini airboats while I was on SA and then I saw the website that you started. It's good to have a seperate site for mini air boats and you've done a wonderful job with the site. I think OLF'S format with the engines is alright but still think a larger boat would be okay. Even an 18' though it woud not look much like a mini. BB

bboswell, welcome to the site if we can help you with anything let us know. Where are you located.

[quote="bboswell"]

Class #1: Single cylinder, any displacement

Class #2: Two cylinder, up to 1000cc. (you and Paul Dixon)

Class #3: Engines of more than 2 cylinders, 750cc. max.

In '09 we might even have a 750cc. Mini Raceboat class ..... who knows, but at least it's a start.

I think this is for the mini airboat class for the airboat shows

Hey Boswell, Thank you for joining this site. I think the main obstacle to making a big boat work with mini power would
be the weight of the completed boat. It must set shallow in the water. Marty Bray, the man that builds our Mini hulls
has an 18 X 7 Rivermaster Mold. I think if he layed the hull up with one extra layer of mat and roven than he uses on the
mini hulls and cut the sides down a little, it wouldn't set very deep in the water and the 35 HP Briggs or 38 Kohler would
work fine. What do you think? Thanks, Chuck

David, I'm in Bartow Fl/Polk Co. Onthe mini airboat format, are you going to set a size limit on the hull? I was thinking you might have two classes. Up to 12' being one class, over 12' and up to 18' or more be another class. Going to have to come up with some good ideas to make a big hull perform good with just a 750cc engine. I'm going to build a mini, but I am baseing it being a mini by the engine-750cc. BB

Chuck- I haven't worked with small engines on an airboat yet but it sure seems like it's going to be alot of fun. I run a 16' with a 500 cad, do alot of flats fishing, snook, redfish,ect. Never thought about using a small engine till I read about mini. I know that the HP to weight means alot on performace but so does lbs per sq ft. The 18x7 Rivermaster has more sq ft so if you can keep the weight down then it should off-set the extra drag. I'm just guessing at this point. I sure do like the way that mini pro 116 looks, sittin still or running on the water. BB

Hey bboswell, Your not too far away to pay us a visit at Airboat Pro's. Would be good to meet you. You could look
at what we are doing with the mini's and get some idea's on how you want to do yours. Maby we might steal some
of your idea's. :mrgreen: Thanks Chuck

Chuckitt, When I get some time, maybe in a couple of weeks or so I'll give you a call and drive up there. I've got some ideas put together already on what and how I'm going to do the MINI build.

Thanks bb, Be good to meet you. We hope to have the A65 boat built before the Broward show. it will be the A65 cont.
on a MiniPro 116 hull. It should be bad to the bone, but it is to big to call it a Mini. We are also working on a 4A084
engine powered Mini. Thanks, Chuck

Why is class 3 limted to 750cc and class 2 can have 1000cc. Just because there are more clyinders in class 3

Lester it has to do with the torque capabilities of the classes. An engine with more cylinders is capable of more torque than one with less cylinders. We didn't want to exclude say a 4 cyl 750 but if we allow to many cc's it would be getting close to a small airboat. That's my take on it, maybe Chuck has a better explanation.

sounds good to me as long as we dont forget the unlimited class where anyone can do anything they want...