please help

[Dano]

taking a airboat for a test run that is for sale. I live in Michigan near Saginaw bay. I want to use the boat to icefish on sometimes sketchy ice. It has a aluminum 6 by 14 hull with poly kinda beat up horizontal ribbing. the motor is a continental 100 h.p. the owner said. don't know about prop but looks to be 5 ft. long with no reduction. I know its not much to go by but any suggestions or comments wether this would be adecent starter boat would be greatly appreciated thanks Dan (newbe) jezak

[Papee]

All depends on the price, if it runs good and the price is right it would be a great boat for a rebuild. I'm assuming it is an airboat hull and not a jon boat hull. Not sure what your mean by "ribbing". Get some photos if you can more is better.

[Dano]

All depends on the price, if it runs good and the price is right it would be a great boat for a rebuild. I'm assuming it is an airboat hull and not a jon boat hull. Not sure what your mean by "ribbing". Get some photos if you can more is better.

thanks for the reply papee, what I mean about ribbing is the inside of hull bracing on the floor, when you guys build a hull I see t-bar shaped bracing running lenghthwise. I drove it on Saginaw river here in Bay City, Mich. it was frozen and fairly smooth. had a tough time at first getting the hang of steering and throttle control. although it seems like a heavy boat the motor seemed to have power and ran smoothly with owner and my self. It is a airboat hull but it aint winning no beauty contests. I was told it was used in a commercial fishing operation running catfish lines. hes asking 3800 for it. how do I get a picture on your sight. I value this sights opinion. what do you think so far thanks Dan

[Papee]

Unfortunately areas like ours don't give us the selection of airboats they have in the south and our chances of shopping around are limited. This can also help when buying, there aren't as many buying an airboat. If everything works it's worth the money but you always want to get it as cheap as you can.

As far as posting photos, I just did some work on the site to make it easier to post photos, I changed how the uploading of photos work.
Click on reply to thread
Click on advanced
Type out your test for the reply then scroll down and click on "manage attachments" A box will come up with browse buttons.
Click on the browse button and select the photo you want to post. You can post up to 5 photos per post.
When you are done click on upload, when it is done uploading just click "submit reply.

[n4wsp]

If it has a good running o200 Continental witch has 100 hp the motor by it's self is worth that. wish i had a motor like that.

Steve

[Dano]

papee how do I determine the model of motor, hers some pic.s whata think. Dan

[Dano]

more pic.s hopefully

[Dano]

can only submit one photo at a time, sorry Dan

[Dano]

can you still get stuff for a continental

[Papee]

Yes you can still get parts for the motor. That looks like a good heavy boat. It would take some work but it has nice high sides on it, not sure what the deal is with the added rear height. It would need some better structural stuff but worth it from what I see. A lot could be fixed by putting a front deck on it. The seating I'm sure is used for structural purposed but it also could be redone. In our areas we really don't need the high seating but getting a little height does help you see to read the rivers, no tall grass around here to see over. I can't tell a lot from the photos but some stiffening on the sides looks needed, a good piece of angle at the top would do lots for that. If you alread have horizontals on the bottom you could just add to them to go up the sides in a few spots.

[Dano]

papee, thanks for the input, I just gotta make a decision. hopefully I can lean on this sight to get me through the rebuild if I decide to buy. thanks again Dan

[fresh water hunter]

dano did you end up buying that boat

[Dano]

fresh water hunter, no, I didn't buy it. couldn't find anyone to go in on it. some body from st. clair did. looking into different options. Dano

[fresh water hunter]

you can always do a build i am doing mine for next year start by finding a engine. snowmobile engine is what i have with redrive look for something in the 30 plus hp then get a redrive then look into hull size there is a guy in clare that will build an aluminum hull he builds nice river boats you want it wide and light.

[Dano]

thanks for the info everybody, Dano