Rotary Engines

[brlcla]

Chuck,

Have you or anyone builder you know of researched the used of these engines for airboat use?

http://www.rotabike.com/engine.html

[chuckitt]

Yes, Hartline Airboats built one with the Masda engine. The high RPM,s made the fuel consumption not good. The engines don't develope enough torque. It only ran about 38 MPH. About 10 years ago at the Sun and Fun Air Show in Lakeland, I met a masda engine builder from Washington State that promoted their engine and the People from Wankle engines. They wanted me to try there engines. After going to their tent and going thru the tear down and build seminar, I decided they weren't feasible for airboat engines. A rebuilt Masda was $ 6800.00 and a new Wankle was $ 20,000.00.
Thanks, Chuck

[brlcla]

The single rotor motors only run in the $4k-$5k range brand new. With 85HP and 67TQ I would figure they range in the same area as the Vanguard motors which I know run about $3k just double the HP for 2/3 more $$$. I do not know what the cost of the gear reduction is on top of that price though plus the radiator for liquid cooling. I do like the fact they are made 100% in America. And I know Wankel engines are not a TQ heavy motor, just not what they are designed for.

[Wildfowl]

Hi all,

Here is a good website that runs through most of the rotary questions. http://www.freedom-motors.com/

You can get a Readers-digest snapshot of the motor by going to the "history" tab and than the "ancestry" selection at the bottom of the page.

Looks like they have taken some steps to improve the design for fuel efficiency and oil burn.

By their own admission their strong suit is low emmissions. On the other side, according to their web site, very loud and... problems with overheating if running at constant rpms especially around 1,800. They recommend a two muffler exhaust system just to be reasonably loud(quiet).

Thought they may have been the golden egg of a power plant with 80hp at 80lbs... not so much with their downside.

BTW Hats off to all for a great website. One of the best.