First time builder

[irish air]

Hi everyone, thanks for letting me on your site. My name is Sean and I am from Ireland. I am going to start to build a mini. All I have got at the minute is a brand new 18hp briggs unit. So any advice and help would be great. Here in Ireland we dont do airboats. I think there is one guy in Cork thats around 300 miles from me. I live about 30 minutes from Lough Neigh. Its the largest fresh water lough in the British Isles, then we have Lough Erne. So plenty of water and not an airboat to be seen.
Anyway I dont want to do any great speeds and I dont need to run dry, not that I could with 18hp. I am even wondering would it even be able to get up on plane. what do you think the best hull size for hp would be. How does 10x6 sound. The hull will be alluminium.

[Duane Scarborough]

Irish,

Welcome to the Mini Airboat forum.

You have come to the right place. I believe that our moderator, Papee, has used that same engine (or one very similar) on a Mini Airboat, and I'm sure he'll have some great advice for you.

In the meantime, look around, learn from our mistakes, and feel free to ask questions.

Duane

[Papee]

Welcome to the site! Duane is correct, I have run a 18 hp opposed Briggs. It was my first engine on my boat. At the time the boat was 16 foot long. The boat did plane out until I started adding weight to it. I was running direct drive with a 42" stick prop then changed to a 48" 3 blade ultra prop. Shallow water it would work but had trouble planing in deep water. It's a good start if you want to experiment with your first boat and get your feet wet. I twill get you on the water to find out what you want to do next. Our boats are never really done. I think it's the "process" that makes this a fun deal. If you have questions fire away.

[Bogger2]

Welcome to the site Sean,
18HP is a bit light on HP but lets see what you have in mind.
Any thing new is exiciting to see what can evolve with a little imagination so lets see what can happen.
There is a wealth of Knowledge and opinions here. lets get builden!
Bogger