Another Project to Play With Part 2

[Bart]

so playing with the cage, I know that just but welding the SS tube joints, would be strong enough, I decided to go a step further, and turned out a couple shouldered inserts on the lathe to connect the 2 main hoops together, and give me a little more piece of mind. Plus makes the fit up just a little simpler.
looking at how the back hoop is turning out. not bad for turning it out on a roller.
kind of excited to see how this all turns out.
It is nice to have lathe to fab up little parts like the shouldered inserts, & other little things that come up....

[Bart]

haven't done a lot with the cage yet, it has been a rainy month of August. and have been occupied with dealing with the electronic part on this build....
one of the other things is getting a trailer. where the hull is just a little wider the old trailer would need some work.
the other day I happened to go by a fish cannery, and they were cutting up an aluminum boat frame. made out of 3x5 tube 3/8" thick. luckly I was able to visit with the boss and get it before it was all cut up in 3' pieces..
decided to rip in half ending up with C-channel 2.5x3 to use for the frame. just need to center the tongue, with a little more bracing it should be good to go
not bad to fab up a trailer with all that is needing to purchase is a hitch and lights. just need to find a wider axle some day.. so the the frame can set a little lower.

now I got a most of the electronics figured out, I am hoping for a dryer September so I can get a lot of these things finished up..

[Bart]

Today has been a good day. even though it was a rainy drizzle all day long.. I was able to get the trailer almost there. a couple more things and then it will be done. still need to flip it over and weld the bottom joints.. I am liking how light is is compared the steel trailer.
the best part of it now. is I have a table to lay the cage hoops on and get the ends cut at the right length.... sometime ago I loaned out my saw horses, and being to cheap. to go buy some more, I will just have to use the trailer....
the sad part is we are loosing daylight fast. the last picture with the hoops on the trailer was at 9:30 tonight. someday I will need to get a yard light.....
hoping that this week I can get the cage and the seating installed. at least that is what I am hoping for...

[Bart]

Now that I had a table to get matching lengths on the legs of the hoops. It is starting to take shape.
did a little different on the mounting hardware for the hoops. It is nice to have that lathe. I took a couple of 3/8 coupling nuts and turned down about 3/4 of it to slide into the tube. Leaving 3/4" sticking out of the tube. I am liking how it fitted up.
I still am liking the tubing cutter and soft disc on the grinder for cutting and shaping the ends of the tube.
and the roller got pulled out again, to help with the . to help with the tubing profile on the cage. Sometime I might have to take time and put a coat of paint on it.
got a little more done, mostly show. but it still takes time.
the other day when I ran it with the prop. I had to put a few things in the way to remind me of where the prop is. and to keep my distance.
I have decided to go with a pancake style so it will give me room to adjust and tinker with the motor.
at the moment the cage might seem a little large with some space for the prop to grow. at the moment the prop is 60" in diameter, someday, I am hopping that a 67" Whirlwind prop might show up. or something along those lines...

things were going real good, then the sun went down and humidity fogged up the welding helmet. so I had to call it a night.
it makes it fun when we are losing minutes a each day of daylight. one really doesn't notice it when it is raining, but man by 9:30 the stars were out. I keep forgetting how nice the summer months with the long daylight can be.. but it is fun to see the northern lights also. they have came out a few times already this month, and have put on quite a show...

[Bart]

got a little more completed. life gets busy all the time. but slowly progress is being made.
tacked the rudder attachments on tonight. I was remembering the last time, how much fun it was to get them centered and trued up.
this time. I tacked a rod to each of the tabs so both the top and bottom would be the same distance apart. 20" center to center. then used some spare tubes to keep the distance from the top rail to the bottom rail the same. so far it is looking real good. and things are starting to take shape.
on a side note I came across a bunch of thin wall SS tubing 3 to 4 foot long. and .83 dia. that was being discarded. the only trouble is trying to get it to bend nice with out the proper dies. but at least there is enough that I can practice and see what I like..

[Bart]

I have been looking at the brass rudder bushings that I put in the rudders, and I never really have liked them. the bushing is supposed be the weakest link, that can be replaced before other parts...
I never really did look for bushings that would fit. just trying to everything in house as much as I can...
so I have some blocks of UHMW and instead of purchasing some round stock. I made do with what I had. with the lathe, it took not to long to turn out 4 ea.
at 5/8" outer dia. with a landing, plus a 1/2" shoulder to sit in the bracket. with a 27/64 hole for the 3/8" rod..
I am really liking the attachments that I have with the lathe, it makes to nice, and once I get a process down. It flows rather smooth.
so the process was
1 get it centered in the 4 jaw chuck to knock off the corners and get a good bit of it round.
2 put it in the 3 jaw chuck and turn a 1/2" by 3/16" lip on the end, that could fit in a 1/2" collet.
3 change to the quick release collet chuck, use a 1/2"collet. to hole the snub. and turn it down to 5/8' outer dia.
3A forgot to mention. about setting the stop so I could have a 3/8" landing or spacer. To fill the gap on each end of the rudder. it is a handy little tool to have. when doing multiple items that need the same space. after it is set up the first time. IF NOTHING changes.. you are good to go for multiple pieces.
4 drill the 27/64 or oversized 3/8" hole for the shaft.

[Bart]

what a week, some things are finally starting to take shape.
made my rudder rods, out of 3/8 ss tubing. welded a 1/2 ss nut on the top, and turned down the upper part of a 3/8 bolt to fit inside the tube, drilled a hole through the tubing and the bolt, then spot welded it. Thinking of just double nutting the bottom..
almost done with the cage, traded out the old brass bushings, for the UHMW ones, note to self, brass is not aluminum friendly... you will see in the picture when it removed one of them... on a side note. the UHMW bushings pivot a lot smoother also...
started using a unibit to ream out or debur the inside of the pipe. works real great. wish I had been doing that a long time ago.
the rudders are turning real smooth. now the linkage...
on a side note, I should have ran a plumb bob from the top of the cage to the center of the motor, the rudders are centered to the motor, but if you look close enough... just a little off....just another custom build...I didn't realize how far it was off, until I welded the 2 bars from the top of the cage to the top rudder rail..

I was looking at a Bobby's build, where he mentioned with the ultra prop. 16 degree blocks were keeping his motor at 3400. with getting the cage almost secure, I am getting ready to see what the 15 degree block will keep the RPMs at.. with the electronic ignition I can set the max RPM, I had it at 3600, but last week I changed it to 4000, just need to see what this prop will top out at..
don't know if the warp drive 3 bladed prop will be any better where it had been trimmed to around 56.5 inches.
either way, some new blocks and an angle gauge might be on order...
really starting to look at a new razor X or maybe a powerfin prop.... don't know if a 2 bladed or a 3 bladed would be best. still looking..

yep, that is fresh snow on the mountain. it dropped down to about 4,000 feet yesterday...
sorry about the pictures, they are upright in my files, but when they are uploaded here, some are going side-ways...

[Bart]

well I was all set to get this all finished up this fall, then I pulled a muscle in my calf. and that really set me back, on doing anything in the evening, just trying to get through the work day, was about all it wrote....
but I was able to find a place to put the boat inside, for the next month or so. Hopefully I will be up to spending a couple hours here and there and get some things finished up.
so it was kind of fun to drag the gas welding bottles and a bunch of materials over to my friends shop and pick up where I left off.
spent a couple hours and almost have half the small wire attached to the cage. Last summer, came across a bunch of 36" SS 1/8" tig rod, that was being thrown away, another score, and weaving it over and under, it is not looking to bad... with a spot weld on the joints...
It seems like it should be done, but there are just enough little parts on this that I need to finish up. and it all takes time...
if nothing else, I am grateful to have an indoor heated place to work on this project.....

[Bart]

It was a good day, finished up the small wire on the cage, it is sure nice having a place inside out of the wind... nothing to fancy,
I was looking around at some 4" square fencing, but really didn't want to spend the money, only to use a small part.
and the 1/8 tig rod worked great, I weaved it, and put a tack on most of the joints. it really stiffened it right up.
I also ended up raising the console mount up a good bit.
I still am looking at how I want to attach the throttle cable
a small check list of things that are still needing addressed
throttle cable.
battery box
fuel tank.
rudder linkage
front deck
side extensions.
oil filter and cooling fin, placement.
and the list goes on. still need to put the side rails, winch bracket, lights. and slides on the trailer.. it was kind of fun when I took it over to the warehouse. really didn't have anything good to ratchet it to the trailer. lets just say I had to stop and adjust things every so often.
but at least I am going forward with this. might have it ready for spring yet....

[Bart]

so last summer I got the makings for a aluminum fuel tank, but the main problem, that I was up against was how to install or attach the internal fuel pump, and fill spout. that are on the plastic tank. I even picked up an aluminum capped fill tube off the web. but the bigger headache was not having a way to see the tank level at a glance.. So this last week I finally took some time to see if I could turn out some custom threaded weld-on bungs.
the more entertaining one was the bung for the fuel pump. It was a square end on a #4 metric threaded pitch.. I first tried it out on a piece of UHMW and it worked... so I went for it, with a chunk of aluminum. A few lessons learned. you can't hog off as much aluminum as you can UHMW. in a single pass.
turning metric threads on my south bend lathe is a little more complicated than SAE threads... the main difference. once you engage the thread dial. You cannot disengage it.
so you are relying on the forward and reverse switches. and there is not a lot of room for error.. if you mistakenly turn it the wrong direction....
the fuel spout bug was a lot simpler. I had an old 2" camlok fitting that was close to the size needed. and was able to turn it out in just a few minutes. its threads were a metric #5 pitch and I had a cutting tool that was the correct profile. a BIG plus..
now I just need to weld in a baffle. determine the lengths of the pick up lines and screens. not that I need it, but the fuel pick up setup has 2 pick up screens. so I can have one on each side of the tank. it is a small tank, don't know if i need to pick up points or not. on a snowmachine tank it is needed for when one goes up and down steep terrain, or vertical slopes..
I might do away a double pick up on the airboat.. just don't think It will be going vertical...
to say the least, though now I can go forward with building an functional, & custom fuel tank

[Bart]

it has been a good weekend... a few things are almost off the checklist...
from when I split the boat, and added 16" in the middle. I had been wanting to put some channel or tube on top of the seem, where I had just flat bar...
got that done today... that should really stiffen the hull with 5 1x2 tubing welded to the floor..
and I almost have the fuel tank finished. I ended up leaving it 14 high, 15 deep and 18 wide... so it will be between 14 and 15 gallons. the fuel gauge, due to being in a sloped fuel tank. will be just a little off, at 3/4 full on the gauge it will be at half tank.. almost like a chevy truck gas gauge...where it takes forever to go off full, and then it drops real quick...

I did end up putting in a baffle. don't know if it was really necessary, but it was there and already made, for the tank..
I ended up scoring the inside of the panel, and with a little heat. folded it up for the side...and ended up putting a couple little stickers of aluminum as backer plates in the corners. it welded up real nice... now it is full of water to see if there are any leaks...
there ended up being 3 weld on bungs.
filling/fuel gauge bung
vent bung with 1/4 pipe thread
fuel pump bung

also put a 3" pipe between the boat and the trailer to find the center point of the boat.. so the fuel tank can be put in the correct position. it was a good day...

[Bart]

cleaning up more things. so I tackled the oil cooler and filter yesterday.. and got them mounted to the frame. I ended up cutting the oil cooler lines, and simplifying the whole setup. last summer I picked up a couple of remote oil filters for a good deal. I was hesitant to use one of them. due to I liked the stock filter plumbing with the extra ports for stuff.
well I went digging in the old box and found the first fuel line spliter I made and it will work great. it has 5 ports. and I got stuff to fill them all.
oil pressure gauge, oil pressure sending unit, and oil temp. if I so choose.. except now that I think about it, I may put an oil temp also after the oil cooler, just to see the temp change....
I really didn't want to add anymore hose. so I turned out a 4" long extension. to connect the hose to the filter housing.
in the mean time. I am looking a different place to put the speeduino box.. in the consule it was just getting to busy. I may end up putting it in the corner of the fan shroud.
while the motor is running. heat will not be an issue. but the heat soak when the motor is off. Has me a little concerned. a couple of ideas are to put a double wall baffle between the speeduino and the motor. maybe install a small 12 volt cooling fan, connected to a 130 degree thermostat switch the will pull or push some cool air, when the motor is shut down...
i would like to put it in that locate. mainly for the chance to get rid of all the long wire looms. and keep things contained. don't know if I will have time to get all this done before I loose my inside shop space. my friend comes back this week end. and I will see what we can work out....
an other part that I haven't dealt with yet is blue tooth or wifi to my LED screen. so far, I have been content to use the HIMI cable...
this is just a few of the things that are getting cleaned up..

[Bart]

It has been fun just to be able to get back in the swing of things... and starting to wrap up so many of the little side jobs on this project.
the remote oil filter and cooling has been plumbed in, just need to finish the mounting bracket...

finally decided how I wanted to mount the fuel tank, and battery box. I made some round pucks, installed 3/8 ss helicoils in them. to bolt the tank to the bottom of the boat. Don't know if it will make any difference, but I held the tank off the runners by 1/8 of an inch.
I did the center of the boat thing, with a round tub under it, and placed the tank at the balance point.. The battery to balance out needed to be in front of the tank, but talking with a few, I put it in the stern behind the tank, it is about a 30 lb pull to pull the bow down to level out the boat on the pivot point. If down the road I want to move the battery back to the front. it will be a simple fix..

lastly I finally decided on how to match the ATV throttle cable to my linkage, I ended up making a separate mount the ATV foot pedal. it has its stock spring and setup. Then I ran a 1/8" SS tube between the 2 set ups. "I still need to cut off most of ATV pedal." then I used the hemi joints that came off the 084 governor. I like to reuse parts from the stock set up if I can.
I was thinking about running the throttle cable up to the rudder stick, and using a bike brake or lever. but for the throttle play, I am needing 1-1/4" of cable pull. and nothing that I have found so far, has that much travel.. so that idea is on the back burner,. one person suggested using a throttle off a Stihl weed trimmer, it would not have been to hard to adjust the cable ends to fit, but the Stihl does not have the travel range, and the plastic parts were bending with just the spring pressure from the throttle body, I like the design, but I just need to modify a few things.
still there are a few more items to finish up. still need to tackle and clean up the wiring, mount the console and install the electronic dash.. but it is starting to really come together...

[Bart]

it has been a busy weekend, didn't get to spend much time on the project, but made a few good forward steps. on the battery tray, I tapped 4 ea. 1/4-20 threads in the tray the plastic box will sit in, and with some fender washers, it is secure. then a 1/8" piece of rubber so the bolts don't rub into the bottom of the battery. At the moment I have a deep cycle marine battery, but if a lawn and garden battery will work, it would save a good 30 lbs..

took some time to working on a heat shield for the speeduino box. the box is in the works..might get it finished tomorrow. thinking along the lines of having it almost totally encased, with a few holes or vents on the bottom, with a 12v fan. looking at snap disc to have attached to it, that closes at 125, and opens at 100 degrees. that should keep things cool enough..

and the steering linkage is starting to take shape... at least the 2 pivot points are mounted...I am liking this set up so much better, than the first build. with it I was trying to keep the CG so low, that there was hardly any room on the bottom end of the stick. This go around it should be a simpler.

[Bart]

It has been a busy couple of weeks.. trying to get a few of the small things buttoned up.
I have been looking at the drag link that I took from my first project. and it left a lot to be desired. so today I made one that I will think will be just a little better.
It was kind of fun to put a 90 degree on a piece of thick wall 1" SS tubing, but I managed, then used a friends press to flatten the end.
I used an drag link off of an old snowmachine steering column, for the bottom link. It is a lot nicer to look at, compared to the old one...
then on the steering post, I thought I would try something a little different with the bracing. bent a couple of 3/8" tube in a 90, and welded one on each side of the post. We will see how that works..
getting the steering linkage finished was a big hurdle. Tomorrow I will turn out a couple of collars, with a set screw. to keep the cross bar in place.
spent some time and secured the console. I also made a small box to go underneath it. Which will hold most of the excess wiring..

[Bart]

I have found out that a little upgrading the bushings on the stick might be in order. with using 3/4" heavy wall SS tube, there was a lot of flex in the cross piece. It really didn'tset well. kept thinking of things bending if I ever needed to grab hold of the stick and put to much side pressure on it.
so after turning out a few locking collars out of some UHMW, I made a couple of bushings 1.5" wide. and installed one tonight. on another piece of conduit about 7 inches inboard. It really took a lot of the sway out.

Also knowing how much water can raise havoc, if it freezes, I turned a shallow thread, and drilled and taped it for a grease zirk, and used a conduit clamp to hold it to the conduit.
all in all it looks not bad, now it has me thinking of swapping the 2 outside bushings, and have all three the same.
I went with a shallow thread, and the grease zirk, so the grease would have a place to sit, and thus keep the water out. it might be over kill, but it can be the little things that make big differences
I think I am having more fun making things for this project.

[Bart]

it has been a couple of days. but slowly progress is getting done. I have decided to add an Raspberry Pi4 with an 7in. LCD screen for a dashboard. there has been a few challanges over the last year with it. one of the biggest breakthroughs,,, was a hat for the Raspberry that was designed for a safe startup and shut down using the 12 volt battery. then last spring a couple of options were added in the speeduino firmware. for extra gauges. oil & fuel pressure, and oil and fuel temp. but I needed to build a small board to protect the speeduino board from any voltage spike. From the sensors. I am still needing to pick up a fuel temp sensor. but tonight I think I might have all the inputs done for the sensors to work. now I am looking at how I can adapt the 12 volt fuel guage to a gauge on the dashboard also
below is a little video of the raspberry starting up. the gauges working with a small board with a few pots on it. and it shutting down.

https://youtu.be/0uj3UajamlI

[Bart]

well the summer has came and gone, with snow getting closer.. I decided to take the motor and stand off, and put them in my shed to play with over the winter...always wanting to do something more.
I figured that I would swap out the #3 jug also, it has been running about 80 degrees hotter than the others. ... thinking that the cylinder walls are a little egg shaped and leaning it out just a little more than I would like...and still working on my harness. found a little corosion in the connectors. so changing things out and adding diealectric grease to everything.
this time I used a forklift at work that has a scale on it. Found out that the motor, redrive, stand, seat, consule. and other miss items put the weight at 320 lbs. the hull with a half a tank of gas came in at 360 lbs. the only things not weighed was the cage, battery and prop... it was nice to see what it came out to be, and not always guessing..