outriggers

Eddie, did you think about turbos instead of the blower? No exhaust issues as opposed to a enclosed boat. Doug

Young Performance

Actually, the front seat is the best place to be. The driver and passenger seats up high suck. It is extremely loud and windy. You have to wear headsets or you will be deaf in no time. The props make more noise than the engine does, and the engine is pretty damn loud.


It is an aluminum boat. The bottom is covered in 1/2" teflon so it glides over the grass and marsh. You can't have anything hanging down on the bottom. It needs to be as smooth as a baby's butt. The smoother the better. They actually spend more time on land then in the water. They are more fun on land.



I went down to Lafeyette, LA. to deliver the boat on July 4th weekend. We spent the day out in the boat with about 50 other airboats. They start at the bottom of a large pit and then get on the gas to see who can climb the hill. The hill is at least 45* at its steepest point and about 50 yards from the bottom to the top. If the boat has enough power to climb it, then they start piling people in it. There was one guy with about 10 people in the boat when he went up the hill. And yes, he made it.

By mid afternoon, everyone was drunk. By the end of the day, they were all marble-mouthed and couldn't even talk. I really don't know how someone didn't get killed with all these crazy drunks running around. They hold there junk wide open for minutes at a time. As much as I was surprised that no one got killed, I was just as surprised that not more engines got blown up. I have a few videos that I need to upload. I'll get going on that.
Eddie

budd

This is too epic a post to not keep the pics and videos coming! Nice job! i think "hurricane"

Randy Nielsen

iTrader: (4)

Kardashian hairdryer? Lol. Seriously, That is a cool project. I have a buddy that runs a airboat tour business that is going to flip out when I tell him about this. Unless he was one of the drunks you were hanging with. Can't wait to see the videos. Randy

Young Performance

We talked about turbos. I just didn't think that they were the right way to go in this particular boat. The engines can't spin a bunch of rpm and they need torque right off of idle (and plenty of it). I have no doubt that it could be made to work. If the boat was a little lighter, then maybe I would have considered it a little more.

I know we all think the offshore boats are hard on engines, but I'm here to tell you that this things are way harder on engines. The Louisiana airboats are even harder because of the type of marsh found in La. The guys in Fla. are running in shallow water with mostly sand and grass. In La., it's mostly very gooey mud that creates a suction on the bottom of the boat, and it's hard to break that suction. It is really tough to get a boat moving when it's in the mud. They pretty much have to go wide open to get the boat going when its hung up in the mud. They need the torque to get the prop spinning as hard as it can as quickly as possible. Like I said, I'm sure that with enough time, effort and money that we could make turbos work in this boat. However, we have the Whipples figured out as good as anyone, or better. I knew that we could make it work and work damn good. We have done so many that we have a great combo. With that being said, we have been talking with a buddy of this boat's owner about doing an LS engine with twin turbos for his airboat.
Eddie

Young Performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEvrs2so17U&feature=youtu.be
Video of the first time we fired the engine in the boat.
Eddie

outriggers

Nice work, what you have run into with the prop has plagued the piston aviation world forever. If they don't have a gearbox (not many do) they are limited to about 2750 crankshaft rpm. What did the guy have have for power that made it up with 10 guys in it?? Doug

ICDEDPPL

iTrader: (1)

You are my hero!! Amazing work!!

mean streak

That is cool brother!

TahoeRick

With the torque that has, would variable pitch props work? Same as mustang P51...