Funny story....I have two threads floating around on the forum that one failed and one was uncompleted. I was going to build a short tail mud motor but ended up getting a way bigger boat than I thought I was going to get so I abanded the project. I've had an 18hp lawn mower engine just sitting in my garage for a year and a half. The other thread was a failed foam kayak thread. I used the wrong type of fiberglass and it melted the foam...
With all that said I saw Darrells' thread about mini airboat the other and got interested because I have the 18hp engine laying around. The more I got to thinking about and researching it, I got more and more interested. The cool thing is I found some people were building it out of wood and fiberglassing it. Well I build houses so I have an unlimited supply scrap wood. I still have a lot of fiberglass material left over from failed kayak build. They also said they would build the cage out of emt conduit and I have some left from my duck boat overhaul thread where I built a blind.
So I have 90% of the materials just chilling in my garage and decided to give it a shot.
I bought lake buggy plans for $12 just to get an idea of side measurements. I decided to go with treated 2x8's for the sides and back. In the plans it uses some other materials. But I figured it would just be easy to go with treated 2x8's for sturdyness. I'm going to do 2-2x4 treated stringers to help with reinforcement. Then I will use 1/4 plywood for the bottom. Once it's all together I'm going to use left over fiberglass cloth on the corners of the sides where they meet the plywood. Then I will use fiberglass resin to cover the rest of the bottom and sides. To save on weight, the inside I will caulk, primer with killz(a couple coats), then probably use a couple cans of flex seal for good measure. In my head, it all should work just as well.
Then I'll weld the cage, and motor mounts, and I am waiting on what the prop guys suggest to buy the prop. Should be a fun project!
With all that said I saw Darrells' thread about mini airboat the other and got interested because I have the 18hp engine laying around. The more I got to thinking about and researching it, I got more and more interested. The cool thing is I found some people were building it out of wood and fiberglassing it. Well I build houses so I have an unlimited supply scrap wood. I still have a lot of fiberglass material left over from failed kayak build. They also said they would build the cage out of emt conduit and I have some left from my duck boat overhaul thread where I built a blind.
So I have 90% of the materials just chilling in my garage and decided to give it a shot.
I bought lake buggy plans for $12 just to get an idea of side measurements. I decided to go with treated 2x8's for the sides and back. In the plans it uses some other materials. But I figured it would just be easy to go with treated 2x8's for sturdyness. I'm going to do 2-2x4 treated stringers to help with reinforcement. Then I will use 1/4 plywood for the bottom. Once it's all together I'm going to use left over fiberglass cloth on the corners of the sides where they meet the plywood. Then I will use fiberglass resin to cover the rest of the bottom and sides. To save on weight, the inside I will caulk, primer with killz(a couple coats), then probably use a couple cans of flex seal for good measure. In my head, it all should work just as well.
Then I'll weld the cage, and motor mounts, and I am waiting on what the prop guys suggest to buy the prop. Should be a fun project!
Only I used 1x12x12' for the sides. And 1/2" for the bottom. 2x6 for the transom and bow. No stringers.
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