Intro

[Paddler]

Hi All,

I live in the SLC area and hunt ducks in the marshes around the Great Salt Lake. Have been doing so for more than 15 years, mostly out of my canoe or on the ice after freeze up. With the proliferation of mud motors, it's getting harder to find high quality hunting inside our WMAs. I have even resorted to bicycling out our dikes to get to out of the way ponds.

A couple of my friends hunt out of airboats, and there are lots of them in the area. Most are powered by car engines, some by aircraft engines, GPUs, etc. I'm interested in a mini because I typically hunt alone or with one other guy, three's a crowd. I'm thinking about a boat the will carry me, a layout blind or coffin, and mostly silhouette decoys. That will put my payload at less than 300#, I can't imagine ever having more than 600# in the boat. I'm looking for information on a mini that will push that load, while being the lightest possible and most efficient. It will also have to tolerate running on ice, so fiberglass won't really work. Cost is not a major factor, but I'd prefer to not exceed ~$15,000 all up. Top speed doesn't matter to me, I'm not in a hurry, but the hull must plane, of course. I appreciate any suggestions regarding engines, hull design, etc. I've been poking around here a bit, and read about the 084, Subaru Robin, or Generac, the GM Eco. Even an aircraft engine would be okay if not terrible expensive. Hull fabrication is something to be considered, as I don't weld now but could learn, and can buy a welder. Fire away, and thanks!

[Papee]

Check out my build thread at the link below. I would guess you would want a longer boat if you may hunt with two people. The boat in that thread would fit your needs all around and would be way under your target price.

http://miniairboatassoc.com/forum/sh...ct-The-Tank-II

Oh and welcome to the site.