lake buggy for ice

[Dano]

hi anyone, has anyone ever built a successful good performing airboat for ice us the lake buggy plans? any input would be great thanks, Dan

[fresh water hunter]

there is about 8 ice boats that were built over in the pinconning area i am in the building stage right now all built on the mini set up i think light weight is are freind when skating on thin ice

[Papee]

Are people running wooden boats on the ice up there? It's been years since I've run a wooden hull boat but I do remember they didn't like to flex. They also gain weight after being in the weather. I would think the ice running would flex these boats a bunch.

[fresh water hunter]

yes i looked at one of the boats it was made with luan and 2x10 deck over fiberglass over and closed cell foam filled i am sure it was heavy but guys has been running them for 8 yrs gets them out to the fishing hole and back to home with out falling through the ice they crossed 100 yard open water with them back to ice way safer then a sled or quad

[Papee]

I don't do much winter riding but did have to make a run out to camp at one point. I have a heavy aluminum boat and the sound of that ice hitting the boat does get your attention. Going from ice to water and back makes me a bit nervous. There can be quite a bit of height difference here between the water and ice levels and the river moves at a pretty god clip in the winter.

[fresh water hunter]

you do need to use a little caution when going from water to ice and back a going slower from one to the other is safest poly on bottom is always a good idea i have been told a peice of closed cell foam between hull and poly helps to

[Dano]

thanks for the reply guys, hey fresh water hunter Pinconning is just down the road from me. are you guys building a single seater or two? what are you they using for power? are you pretty much sticking with the lake buggy plans? do they need more power? sorry about all the questions but I don't want to spend time and money into a project that wont do what I expect. just not sure about the wood hull and smaller h.p. Dano

[eskimoboy]

Hey Dano check out my ice boat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuMXSfTT9jc

[Dano]

eskimoboy, cool video,like to get to that point someday. can you tell me a little about your components. Dano

[fresh water hunter]

they did 1 and 2 seaters but heavy i am building a aluminum hull closed bow and stern for going in and out of the water 60 hp snowmobile engine 2.75 belt redrive my boat estaated weight should be around 500lbs the one seater they built was 634lbs eskimoboy how do you like your ivo prop

[eskimoboy]

Hi guys i've got pics of some snowmobile engine airboats around here somewhere,ill see if I can find them. My brother in law and I built 4 airboats with snowmobile engines over the years.
Elan 250 Rotax with home built prop mounted on a swivel with tiller handle direct drive, we didn't put it into a boat only mounted to a kamitik (sled) first project got hooked then.

The next project was a Mach 1 670 Rotax with a Rotax B box swinging a 3 blade 66in GSC prop mounted on a homebuilt spruce planked boat. Ran really well while it did .......busted the engine after bout 40hrs. That boat was 17ft X5ft with teflon sheeting nailed on bottom and sides

Then we built 2 more with the Rotax 582 and the 440 fan cooled all on wooden boats used primairly on ice in the spring for duck hunting and ice fishing.

The wood boat works well for what you use it for and the same for the snowmobile engines if you dont run them to hard they will work.
My new boat which I built last year with most of my parts coming from Chuck at Airboat Pros is a 11.5ftX6.5ft 230lb fiberglass hull with Frogspit painted on the bottom.Sitting in the hull is a 4 cylinder air cooled 4A084 military surplus engine currently using a 1.9-1 v-belt reduction swinging a 68in 3 blade Ivo prop, my boat complete weights less than 600lbs. I average 10MPG at crusing speed around 2400-2800 rpm max. rpm being 3600 my top speed in deep water was 35MPH. I would not go back to snowmobile engine or a wooden boat. And this hull is amazing I dont ever have to worry about flipping or turning over if you look at some of my other videos you will see how this hull performes on ice and water. Eskimoboy North Eastern Canada.

[eskimoboy]

Hi guys i've got pics of some snowmobile engine airboats around here somewhere,ill see if I can find them. My brother in law and I built 4 airboats with snowmobile engines over the years.
Elan 250 Rotax with home built prop mounted on a swivel with tiller handle direct drive, we didn't put it into a boat only mounted to a kamitik (sled) first project got hooked then.

The next project was a Mach 1 670 Rotax with a Rotax B box swinging a 3 blade 66in GSC prop mounted on a homebuilt spruce planked boat. Ran really well while it did .......busted the engine after bout 40hrs. That boat was 17ft X5ft with teflon sheeting nailed on bottom and sides

Then we built 2 more with the Rotax 582 and the 440 fan cooled all on wooden boats used primairly on ice in the spring for duck hunting and ice fishing.

The wood boat works well for what you use it for and the same for the snowmobile engines if you dont run them to hard they will work.
My new boat which I built last year with most of my parts coming from Chuck at Airboat Pros is a 11.5ftX6.5ft 230lb fiberglass hull with Frogspit painted on the bottom.Sitting in the hull is a 4 cylinder air cooled 4A084 military surplus engine currently using a 1.9-1 v-belt reduction swinging a 68in 3 blade Ivo prop, my boat complete weights less than 600lbs. I average 10MPG at crusing speed around 2400-2800 rpm max. rpm being 3600 my top speed in deep water was 35MPH. I would not go back to snowmobile engine or a wooden boat. And this hull is amazing I dont ever have to worry about flipping or turning over if you look at some of my other videos you will see how this hull performes on ice and water. Eskimoboy North Eastern Canada.

[eskimoboy]

Here are some of the pics from my second 670 build I used the clutch and pulley from the snowmobile also

[fresh water hunter]

thats cool how did the clutch system work i thaught it would spin the prop to fast

[eskimoboy]

Actually with everything stock my rpm was a bit low, you would have to change the weights to to reach the proper rpm.Here's a closer look at the reduction.

[eskimoboy]

The advantage with this reduction system is you can start the engine in neutral and the prop won't engage until a set rpm is reached.

[fresh water hunter]

did both clutchs work as stock or was the secondary locked up not allowing the belt to drop changeing the redrive ratio thanks for the info jim

[eskimoboy]

both worked as stock

[eskimoboy]

My Brother-in law has a rotax b box with extra parts for another b box and a GSC 3 blade 60in adjustable prop and a Ivo 60in prop for sale if anyones interested.

[Flathead]

You know, I racked my brain trying to figure out a way to use the snowmobile primary/secondary clutches as a reduction unit, but could not come up with a K.I.S.S. way to measure prop RPM's. How are you doing it, if I can ask..

Bruce