New/Old Airboat Hull

[kwanjangnihm]

Looks great Rick! Smuggler does excellent work for sure!

[rick]

Thanks Kwan. He definitely has a pretty cool operation going on there...and good help too.

[Smuggler]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Rick that project is looking great! Even though you have the boat, motor and trailer now, I still see several beer laps left before they wave the checkered flag I'm super proud that we were chosen to be a part of this project and can't wait to see it completed!

[rick]

I did some major laps Friday evening when I got that old hull on the new trailer

Thanks again Smuggler...that's a fine trailer.

Rick

[yobee]

Hey tick man, don’t let anybody get you on the rigging, we could make something happen the grandkids know how to get ahold of me haha not on the forum a whole bunch these days!

[Prototype]

Hey tick man, don’t let anybody get you on the rigging, we could make something happen the grandkids know how to get ahold of me haha not on the forum a whole bunch these days!

That would be pretty dam low if the admin of this site got suckered into some of it's members subcontractor deals on rigging? I do see trailer rollers though so this build is going dry load and launch 24/7!

[rick]

Yobee, I appreciate the offer, but I'm already setup to get some rigging in the next week or two. Gonna take it to a cousin's shop and work on it there.

Pretty confident I'm not gonna get suckered.

Rick

[yobee]

Yobee, I appreciate the offer, but I'm already setup to get some rigging in the next week or two. Gonna take it to a cousin's shop and work on it there.

Pretty confident I'm not gonna get suckered.

Rick

Good deal!

[yobee]

Yobee, I appreciate the offer, but I'm already setup to get some rigging in the next week or two. Gonna take it to a cousin's shop and work on it there.

Pretty confident I'm not gonna get suckered.

Rick

I need to swing by the house and re-up on some shirts and hats haha. Been a while!

[kwanjangnihm]

Rick what you got in mind for the rigging setup seat wise?

[rick]

Going with (2) singles/front driver and keep it light as possible. Not race boat light; just don't want to add any unnecessary weight.

Ain't sure about the cage yet. Probably a full one. Pancakes make me a little nervous under trees. I've never witnessed anything to backup that nervousness though.

Anytime Yobee, just give me a heads up and I'll make sure I have what you want printed up.

Rick

[Slidin Gator]

Pancakes make me a little nervous under trees. I've never witnessed anything to backup that nervousness though.

If you need a solid reason, some insurance companies won't cover boats with Pancake cages. I have insurance through Geico and that was one of their criteria, they wanted pictures to see the cage before agreeing to cover.

You may consider a removable jump seat for the nose, we put one on the Ghost and find it handy, both for carrying an extra rider when needed as well as gigging fish and gator hunting.

[rick]

Thanks for the cage info Slidin Gator. No pancakes for me for sure now.

Yeah, I like that removable seat idea.

Rick

[kwanjangnihm]

I also went with a full cage for safety and to get it insured.

Rick I sent you a PM.

[Scotty1]

I am curious to what hats yobee is referring to, are there Southern Airboat hats available for purchase.

[Slidin Gator]

Pancakes make me a little nervous under trees. I've never witnessed anything to backup that nervousness though

As long as you are doing beer laps, here is another tweak that has worked out for me. I got tired of tree limbs breaking off my stern light and found a solution. Attwood makes a flat, LED stern light that is made to mount on wake towers on ski boats etc. I mount them upside down, inside the cage, forward of the prop. Mount the light base and then fill it up with silicone before mounting the light. The silicone is to hold it in place vs. going through the prop. No issues yet with this setup and no more missing stern light as the sun goes down.

https://www.amazon.com/Attwood-5580A7-T ... ag=mh0b-20

[rick]

upside down, inside the cage, forward of the prop

...I can tell you've had a late night ride or two in the woods lol.

We used to do the same thing with the old cheap clear trailer side marker lights which were no way as good as those. I'll keep your link cause I'm gonna need two...one for the cage and one just above the beverage cooler on a different switch

Rick

[rick]

I am curious to what hats yobee is referring to, are there Southern Airboat hats available for purchase.

Scotty, we used to print some that we took to the airboat shows, but have never put them in the store. I'll look and see if there are any left and let you know.

Rick

[Deano]

We used to do the same thing with the old cheap clear trailer side marker lights which were no way as good as those. I'll keep your link cause I'm gonna need two...one for the cage and one just above the beverage cooler on a different switch

The beverage light you refer to is in fact a very handy and cheap upgrade. We call ours the bar lights (I have one on each side under the front seat). My efforts to accomplish that have evolved to using the cheap side marker lights you referred too, but using the amber, rather than the clear. Being in close proximity to the 'fridge' they easily provide enough light, and have a couple added advantages. Depending on what you are doing at the time, they do not create such a glare so as to wreck your 'dark vision' nearly as bad, and secondarily, if you are not underway, they do not draw near as many mosquitoes, near as quick; almost like they pretend they are bug lights. I have generally used them in the bow compartment for the same reason(s).

Everything is looking really good! Hull came out great, and I'm not sure how you could beat one of Smuggler's trailers.
I'd almost rather have an older, unique 'one off'' setup than a new one at double or triple the expense.
I reckon that could change if I won the lottery, but it doesn't seem the odds are in favor of that.

Keep the pictures coming . . . . you know how we are.

[rick]

Thanks Deano. I think I'll try that amber light.

Hopefully I'll have some rigging pics soon.

I had also forgot about all them damn honey-do's that don't get done when you're trying to get a boat built. Anybody got any advice for staying out of the dog house while you're building a boat?

Rick

[Slidin Gator]

I had also forgot about all them damn honey-do's that don't get done when you're trying to get a boat built. Anybody got any advice for staying out of the dog house while you're building a boat?

Why stay out? Air Condition the Dog House and move in until the work is done. I hung up my big hammock and moved into my shop for a solid month one time just to prove a point. Didn't budge until the Missus asked for the 3rd time if I was ever moving back in, ya gotta set ground rules and priorities. Damned if my stuff wasn't ready for opening day that year though

[rick]

I'm pretty tough around the old homestead here, but I ain't that damn tough

Rick

[Slidin Gator]

Figured I'd rope this conversation back to Rick's build thread.

Yep, didn't notice the shrouds until now Jeff. Never had one, but I hear they keep them cylinders cooler...especially the middle ones. You run a shroud on your aircraft engine?
Rick

Rick I plan to have a larger shroud built for my AV540 once I get it back together. I am going from carb to fuel injection so hopefully this will help with cylinder head temps like slidin gator has referenced in his threads.

After instrumenting all 6 cylinders on a carbureted engine without a shroud, we found that the middle cylinders run hot, real hot and the outer cylinders run much cooler, sometimes too cool. Adding a shroud really brought down the middle cylinders and helps warm up and stabilize the outer cylinders in the more optimum range. Shroud height is a trade off, you want to find what works for your setup without going too much and impacting performance. The original short shroud was not enough for our needs, add an inch and all cylinders are running between 250-350 continuous hard load, right were we want them.

My suggestion is to start with no shroud and instrument the engine with CHT's to find out what your setup needs. I recently added CHT's on cylinders 3 & 4 on my injected engine. I find #4 at 325-350 and #3 at 200, I am not running a shroud. I have not yet moved them around to see what the other cylinders are reading. I have run with a few injected Continental 520's with CHT's and they see similar results without a shroud.

Here is a 2 cylinder CHT parts list:

2x CHT Probes, $43 each
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... tbay01.php

2x CHT Probe Adaptor, $6.50 each
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... tadp01.php

1x Westach Dual CHT gauge, 2DC8, $121.50
https://www.westach.com/product-page/2dc8

1x Gauge light kit, #186, $5.80
https://www.westach.com/product-page/186-1

So about $250 total with shipping and tax. You can get cheaper CHT sensors, but they are the spark plug gasket type, which eventually wear out like all spark plug gaskets and I have found up to 50 F lower reading with my thermal gun at the spark plugs vs. the bayonet CHT' readings. The adapters screw into ports under the bottom spark plug, the sensor is a spring loaded, bayonet fit into the adapter, it puts the probe at the base of the cooling fins. The gauge comes with a short whip, I soldered the leads to some #22, dual twisted pair wire to extend to the sensor leads. If it does not read anything, reverse the wires.

[Rick McC.]

Thanks Deano. I think I'll try that amber light.

Hopefully I'll have some rigging pics soon.

I had also forgot about all them damn honey-do's that don't get done when you're trying to get a boat built. Anybody got any advice for staying out of the dog house while you're building a boat?

Rick

Tell her your back’s out, and you’re in terrible pain!

[rick]

Tell her your back’s out, and you’re in terrible pain!

Yep, if that works, I can stay out of the dog house, get my boat built, and maybe get a back rub at the same time. Might as well dream big

Rick