4A032 concerned

[Sandman]

I see that allot of you have tried the 032 for a mini...
The military rated them at 6hp.. but I've heard as much as 18-20 hp civilian, as low as 12hp. Hmmm?
How did it perform for you? was it worth basing a build from?
I am a bit concerned about weight of a build. Did your 032 push hard enough to get your boat on plane?
Whats a reasonable weight goal?
I'm 265 lbs dry.. god forbid I fall in and soak up any lake then try to get home on an underpowered boat.
I've read allot on this site but with my limited knowledge of air boats it's been hard to gather information... or at least hard to get the information to sink in.
Usually my head starts to spin... then I vomit.. lay down and forget everything I've read. Only to get back on the site then repeat. It's a Vicious cycle.
My 032 has an enlarged ventury atm and I'm really not planning on many other mods for the little engine. Just cylinders honed and new rings. possibly shaving the heads down slightly. I'd like to achieve 200 psi but would be more than happy with 150+.
I really don't have a build set in stone as of yet. but I do have a few ideas that might work.
One is the vhull starcraft in the yard.
I plan to possibly cut it down to 8 foot and trim the hull sides down to around 8 - 10 inches. Re-shape the bow and remove the skegs.
It's a narrow boat, less than five ft at the water line so I'm not even sure if it would be time well spent in trying it.
The V in the hull is almost completely in the bow, the stern end of the hull is nearly flat.
If I removed material in small increments and weighted the hull for displacement checks.. I may be able to get something that can sit shallow in the water.
see... head is spinning...
I'll post more in a bit...

EDIT:
Ok then... rather edit my post then to reply to it.
the other option I have that seems to make more sense atm...
I have plans for a jon boat... I could make it as wide and short as I need it to be for this motor... this sounds much simpler and would probably be my preferred route.
Would you recommend an absolute flat bottom over a slight curve from side to side? I'd imagine that a slightly curved hull would make for smoother cornering.
How much of a curve in the bow section? should I gradually lift the bow from the water or should I go steep on the incline?
I could do plywood or cedar strip with glass over...

[airhead]

Sandman,

Sounds like you're in the same boat as i am I haven't been on this site very long but have learned a lot from these guys. As for the boat what i have learned is that it needs to be flat across the botton and at least 5 feet wide at the bottom. I will probably just use a jon boat because i really just want to use it for fishing. Now if i could afford it i would go to Florida and buy one from Chuck Maybe someday This site has so much info it can get overwelming for us new guys. Maybe you could go to builds and read " building my first airboat " I asked a lot of questions that i could have found but didn't know where or how to look. I got answers anyway and they may help you also.

Later, Jim

[River Rat]

I see that allot of you have tried the 032 for a mini...
The military rated them at 6hp.. but I've heard as much as 18-20 hp civilian, as low as 12hp. Hmmm?

I personally haven't seen any dyno sheets to prove, but there are claims from seemingly reliable sources that put the majority of the stock 032's in the 16-18 hp range with governor removed. Better than stock carb and shaving the heads (slightly) should put you at the high side of 20hp.

Whats a reasonable weight goal?

As light as possible with this little fella

I'm really not planning on many other mods for the little engine. Just cylinders honed and new rings. possibly shaving the heads down slightly.

Since stock compression is LOW (they'll run off junk low octane gas), shaving heads seems to be the simplest, most convenient, cost effective hard parts mod of choice by most folks. Just don't get too excited and create too much compression for the little fella, cause his rods aren't pressure oiled. They're splash oiled.

I plan to possibly cut it down to 8 foot and trim the hull sides down to around 8 - 10 inches. Re-shape the bow and remove the skegs.
It's a narrow boat, less than five ft at the water line so I'm not even sure if it would be time well spent in trying it.
The V in the hull is almost completely in the bow, the stern end of the hull is nearly flat.
the other option I have that seems to make more sense atm...
I have plans for a jon boat... I could make it as wide and short as I need it to be for this motor... this sounds much simpler and would probably be my preferred route.
Would you recommend an absolute flat bottom over a slight curve from side to side? I could do plywood or cedar strip with glass over...

I would use flat bottom jon over the V or wood options... If you have the means to modify an aluminum jon, you might consider splitting it down the middle and making it wider... The wider the better for this little fella. The less water you take on, the better. Your weight, the 032 weight, light as possible rigging (presumably seating for just you), I'd aim for absolute no less than 5 ft across the bottom, but 6-1/2 to 7 ft would obviously be even better.

I think I'm finally going start my 032 project, so maybe we can steel some of each others secrets. Been studying them for about 2 years now. I've gathered up a couple of new engines in the crates, and two parts motors, prop, and all metal to start my build. If we were talking airplanes, my approach for using the 032 will be an "ultra-light" airboat ... Same concepts as the ultra-light aircraft builders use. Design to account for the lower power.... And build a true "mini".

... Papee experimented with a stock 032 (no mods at all, as I recall) on his big barge while his 084 was being built. He posted some promising information on the little fella. Promising in that if you had one on the right hull set-up, I believe it would be a decent performing package to get you through shallow water from point A to point B. But at the end of the day, you have to remember, it is what is... It's not going to be a barn burner.

DT

[River Rat]

... Oh yea... Where you from, Sandman?

[Papee]

River Rat has given you excellent answers above for this engine. IMHO mods for the 032 would not be worth the gain you get vs the reliability of the engine. The only thing I would do with that engine would be find a more reliable carb for it. These motors, the 084 and 032 are made to run at a constant rpm. On both motors the stock carbs lack in the throttle response area. Mostly, there is a dead spot where in the transition from the idle adjustment to full on pedal.

I had the 032 on my tank, the hull is 16x5 and weighs in at about 500 lbs bare. I had on a Competition Aircraft 3 blade Ultra Prop cut down to 48" with a set of 12 degree shims in. In the best conditions it would plane the boat out but would not keep it there.

With the right hull, this means floating the weight of the boat and driver only, as shallow as possible would make this a decent single man rig. This would also mean distributing the weight of the battery and gas tank in the right places. In my opinion, a starter/charging system on this would rob that extra power needed and would not work on this setup. SO this would be a pull start only setup with no charging system. This engine as with the 084 both start very easily with the pull rope once the prop is on. When cold I pull once to get gas to the cyls, then once more to start.

As with all these small HP setups, weight distributing is key. If the boat sits too deep in the water when floating, there is just not enough thrust to get them on plane. This is just too much drag on the hull to overcome.

[Sandman]

Thanks for the replies.
I live in Raymond Maine
I did mod the carb venture out to a 9/16 hole and I plan to test run it on a running gen set I have in the shed.
One man boat is the goal and I'd like to go as small as possible with the hull. I'll probably do just that with a small Jon... widen it out to 5 then do a belt drive to the prop shaft with the motor low in the hull. That looks to be the lightest way to mount a motor on a boat while keeping the center of gravity low.
I'd do a seat right off the hull because the plan is to use this as a duck boat and low is good.
The rest will be trial and error... so now I'm in the market for a small jon... craigslist here I come.

[River Rat]

Hope you find a hull to your liking, Sandman. Glad to see someone else gonna give it a go with the 032. I enjoy seeing all of the builds, but can't wait to see a build with this little fella. These little engines are very intriguing to me.

[chuckitt]

Hey Sandman, Keep in mine that a hull that is too short also sets deeper in the water. Papee's 500 lb hull works good with the direct drive 084 because it is 15 ft long. If he kept it 5 ft wide and made it 10 ft long, it would not get on plane very good with the direct drive. He would have to put a reduction on it. I have one of these new 032's and i plan on putting it on the MiniPro 105 hull. It is 10 ft long and 5 ft 6 inches wide. The stock hull weighs 150 lbs but Marty is going to layup one ligther and we will shape the bottom for going fast. We also plan on running a reduction.
I think you should not go under 10 ft long and go at least 5 ft 6 inches wide.
Thanks, Chuck

[Duane Scarborough]

Chuck,

Have you done anything with the 4A032 you had back in April?

Sandman,

If you really want to build your own hull, look into the "Lake Buggy" plans. I bet it'd work out O.K. with a 4A032. But it'd definately be a single seater....

Duane

[Sandman]

I like the Lake Buggy Duane. That might make the perfect boat for this motor.
Looks like it would be an easy build and I might be able to make it out of aluminum also. Not that wood would be bad...
I'll order the plans and see about starting a build!
Thanks.

EDIT:
What would be the purpose of totally enclosing the hull on a lake buggy? or any other boat?

[River Rat]

... The stock hull weighs 150 lbs but Marty is going to layup one ligther

Lawdy, that will be sumthin!!

... We also plan on running a reduction.

THAT is what this little 032 needs!

[Duane Scarborough]

Sandman,

It looks like Chuck was editing his reply as I was making my last post.

A MiniPro 105 would be much lighter and stronger than anything you could build from plywood.

Give Chuck a call before you order those Lake Buggy plans....

Duane

[Sandman]

Just took a peek at the video of the minipro 105 on youtube...
That's a perfect size!
All of your ideas give allot of options. So I plan on researching more long before I make my first attempt.
I have a list of parts around the house that might make build able materials.
Such as three old snow machines that I might be able to steal bits and pieces from.
I was wondering if the gears and housing from the secondary clutch of a sled would make for a decent reduction gear? it would be heavier than a belt system but the main drive shaft coming out of the gear case and the bearings might make for a decent shaft for the prop. Plus allot of the machining is already done with those parts and I'd only have to modify them for an airboat application.maybe I'll take a look at them tomorrow.

[River Rat]

Just took a peek at the video of the minipro 105 on youtube...
That's a perfect size!
All of your ideas give allot of options. So I plan on researching more long before I make my first attempt.
I have a list of parts around the house that might make build able materials.
Such as three old snow machines that I might be able to steal bits and pieces from.
I was wondering if the gears and housing from the secondary clutch of a sled would make for a decent reduction gear? it would be heavier than a belt system but the main drive shaft coming out of the gear case and the bearings might make for a decent shaft for the prop. Plus allot of the machining is already done with those parts and I'd only have to modify them for an airboat application.maybe I'll take a look at them tomorrow.

Sorry, I can't offer any help at all on that "snow machine" ("sled") stuff. Assuming you are talking about a snowmobile, I've never even seen one. Other than in pictures, of course.

[Sandman]

RiverRat...Awe your missing out man.. tons of fun! :P

[Papee]

Just a thought, since you are in NE will a fiberglass hull work for you? The rocks here in PA would tear one apart in no time.

[Sandman]

yeah I believe a glass hull would work for my purposes...
The mud on the flats here is mostly soft sediment... it's sticky stuff if you try to walk in it.
I do like chucks boats, maybe as winter comes I'll put some cash away for next season... would just have to figure out shipping.
Hope to see what Chuck comes up with for the 032 soon.
Or I'll take the canoe, make a couple of pontoons for it and strap the motor to it!! put a wing on it and call it a ground effect plane....
I figure I might try to take the motor and prop as a direct drive and see if it can push the old snowmobile around the lake this year.. (once it freezes) as a thrust test machine. Could be fun.. or deadly... either way I'd have a good time making it
I'll post video of that one

[Papee]

I've had my boats on the snow but it's not so fun with no brakes.

[Sandman]

Papee
just use an anchor on a long rope!
I know I'm not going to afford a boat this year, the brunt of my cash flow is always in the winter.
But I'd like to get the drive system complete over the next few months, or at least a clear sign of what it'll take to start a build.