Tx River Rats Build

[txriverrat]

I ordered my material today and a wire welder with a spool gun ,the fun is fixing to start.
Ron

[aerokirk]

Great Ron! I remember when I made the decision to start ... exciting but also had a realization that I was about to spend a lot of money. I was going to go your route but after meeting Marty Bray I decided that his boats looked really good so I put aside my plans to build an aluminum hull. I got a spool gun a year ago and I'll just now start using it to weld the aluminum frame for my gas tank & battery. Good luck on your build!

[txriverrat]

Thanks Kirk
The spool guns arent new to me ,I bought the second one sold in the state of TX, That was a long time ago LOL I ran a steel fab shop for 40 plus years so building the hulls should be like going home , I think I will enjoy it.
These are going to be true mini boats ,5ft at the bottom 6 ft at the gunnels ,straight chine 10 ft long .
40 hp generac with a arrowprop reduction 4 blade ultra prop 59 inches .
We are building 2 at the same time.
Ron

[aewrigh]

What thickness aluminum you going with?

[txriverrat]

We are building two boats 100 bottom 090 sides.
Ron

[aewrigh]

Ought to be lighter than mine then. Can't wait to see the progress

[aewrigh]

Most of the other guys are out east. Haven't seen too many mini's our way.

[txriverrat]

Texas is where we are
The boats should be pretty light ,length will be just short of 10 ft, 5 ft wide at he bottom 6 ft at the top.
Ron

[txriverrat]

Well there has been a couple changes, after talking to ultraprop we are going to 5 blade fan .
I also found a place to go with a couple sheets and ordered 125 sheets for the bottom of the hull ,sides will still be 90.
Ron

[Doozit20]

5 blades?? Damn thats a lot or thrust potential. Where are you planning on running your boat?? Rocks, stumps, trees, or open water?? The deminsions sound pretty good. Im guessing your going to get 10' sheets and thats why itll be a lil shy of 10' after the bent up? Looking forward to the build and again welcome to the abyss lol

[txriverrat]

We do a lot of fishing and bowfishing on the Brazos river ,and it has all the things you listed above.
The engines will be 40 hp stock and we wanted a little leeway incase we wanted to goose them up a little.
Ron

[aewrigh]

Wow how much did that prop going to set you back?

[txriverrat]

Ultra props are pretty cheap , the 5 blade is 450.00
Ron

[aewrigh]

With a 6 foot wide boat at the top why would you not try to swing a larger prop? I see the ultra's are only 59"

[txriverrat]

The 5 blade is really 60 in, top of my hull is 72 in, 3/4 in conduant for the cage will take 1 inch from each side ,that leaves me 70 inches inside the cage 5 inches of clearance on each side should be about right.
Ron

[aewrigh]

Oh ok. I didn't leave myself that much room on outer cage clearance. I wanted to run the largest prop possible for max thrust following the recommendations of chuck. I think my boat measures about 70-72 inches across the top. I am running a 66 inch prop and that leaves roughly 2-3 inches of clearance around the main hoop.

[aewrigh]

I built mine under the assumption that I would have little to no play left and right. Just had to account for blades flexing forward upon thrust and slight deflection/distortion to the rear when coming off throttle. How much clearance between the leading edge of the rudders and prop are most running? Hopefully I will be fabbing the rudder setup within the next couple of evenings.

[txriverrat]

i feel better with a little more clearance in the cage and feel it gives me a little more safety if I happen to get to close to a tree.
Ron

[txriverrat]

My mig and spool gun came in today and I already have my tig. A little more wiring in my shop and the show will start getting on the road.
Ron

[Doozit20]

And let the fun and smacking your head against the wall and the wallet thinning begin hahahaha. Cant wait to see what you come up with. Ya know if I had parts from one of the reduction drives id build me one. They seem to be a simple spindle from a trailer or car that uses taper bearings readily available from the auto parts store....?

Rely interested to see how the multi blade ultra prop works with a reduction drive...