dontrinko

How do air boats do on snow compared to water? Mine do fine in water but only the brushless one will move on grass. We may be getting some snow tonight! Don

aspeed

I think it is faster than either water or grass. I tried mine on snow, and the idle was a bit high, and was afraid to let it go, as it would have got away until it ran out of fuel. (Actually never tried it since. Big Swamp Buggy)

1QwkSport2.5r

My biggest boat has an Enya R120 4-cycle on it and at idle with a 13x8 prop it would easily go 5-7mph. It is absolutely scary how fast a boat will go on snow. Electric boats would be much easier to control than an IC boat would be.

dontrinko

Thanks, I have a swamp dawg (18" with brushless 380 size) and a mini alagator tours ( 18" with 380 size brush type motot).
Should be fun! Thanks, Don

aspeed

At least now you can look forward to snow. I know I don't. I sold my snowmobile a few years back, and I just hate the snow.

crispyspa

Yeah. they are faster on snow. The one gasser I have will do around 40 on snow/ice but will barley break 30 on water. Harder to control too because they just keep going and going and going, just remember, throttle up to steer and a blowover can bust things if the snow isn't really deep....but it's FUN!

Don't forget to video.

dontrinko

Sorry , i do not have video but it did snow and I have the battery charging. Shoulld get out in about an hour. Don

dontrinko

2" of soft snow, about 30 degrees. Alligator tours air boat.
Ran good but tended to bog down in snow if you turned to fast. lots of fun motor ran very cool, I got cold! Don

Rick in Ohio

Hi Guys I am new here.

I would love to see a short video of a air boat on snow.

I am thinking about building one this winter for me and my 6 year old grandson to play with out on are pond out back of are condo next summer. The motor I plan to use is a weed eater motor with a 16x10 3 blade propeller. Now I just have to find the time to start the boat build in between my honey do list and rental work.

I live in the Columbus, OH we just got 2" of that white stuff this morning.

1QwkSport2.5r

Rick in Ohio - I'd start your own thread so you can ask questions and get advice more specific to your build. Just as a baseline, plan your bull build around the prop you plan to use while taking engine size into account. Plan on a size of approximately 42-48" long and 22-24" wide. Flat bottom hulls are easier to construct and behave more like a traditional airboat. Will your engine be setup as a pusher or puller (tractor)? What size engine?

Rick in Ohio

1QwkSport2.5r

1QwkSport2.5r

An 18cc engine is going to be pretty heavily loaded with a 16x10 3-blade prop. You may find performance is not very good because the thrust from a 10" pitch will be much lower than a 6-8" pitch prop. Getting it moving can be iffy on wetter snow. 18cc engines are not particilarily very strong and I suspect it will struggle to push enough air to move your boat very well. I understand you're not looking for real speed per sé, but the engine still needs to spin fast enough to make enough thrust. For perspective, a 23cc 2-stroke glow engine typically uses a 16x6-16x8 2-blade prop on the small side with a 17x6-8 being on the larger side. That engine will make about 15-20% more power than an 18cc gasoline engine. The props we use for boats tends to be smaller in diameter and pitch than an engine being used in an airplane. Most yard engines are typically converted for use in airplanes and that is a different ball of wax than something used on water.

I could be wrong, but your recommended prop choice seems too large to me.

1QwkSport2.5r

To add; at a typical gas engines peak rpm of say 8,500rpm, a 16x8 2-blade requires 2.3hp to turn at that rpm and provides about 14lb of thrust. A 16x10 3-blade spun at the same 8,500rpm requires about 4hp and makes about 20lb thrust. I suspect your engine may turn the 3-blade at maybe 6,500rpm? Best thing I can suggest to do would be get the engine on a test bench and get some props to try on it before building the boat. This will give you a baseline of what the engine can do which then allows you to determine how heavy you can build the boat so it will actually perform satisfactorily. Just my thoughts.

dontrinko

As above; It does not seem logical but a lower pitch prop produces more static thrust. That is what you need to get the boat moving. Don

1QwkSport2.5r

And if you don't want a lot of speed, the lower the pitch, the lower the speed. In a perfect medium, a 6" pitch prop for example will provide 6" of forward movement per revolution. This doesn't take into account the friction of the medium. It is perfectly logical. Low pitch props are like tractors that can pull tree stumps. Example is 4.56:1 differential gears in a pickup truck. High pitch props are like a Ferrari super car with 2.73:1 gears.

JohnAsaPrice

I whipped together a tri-hull out of pink foam last winter. I found that it really helps to have a longer center hull for better control.
I used a 70mm edf motor with 4-cell battery.

It is really fast on snow!
https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/...8b&oe=54D6081B

Rick in Ohio

Thanks guys I built a motor stand and I going to fire this thing up and see what this blade like before building this boat .... I may want to go smaller.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Had my Big Swamp Buggy out on powdered snow many times and it was fun !
Had it out on icy snow and it was not so much fun! I got it running and just touched the throttle and it was off sailing !
I was never in space but I could describe it like throwing a hockey puck outside a spaceship. The thing was off and nothing could stop it . Throttling up in an attempt to stop it spinning and to steer didn't accomplish much except to propel it much faster on it's journey. It went all the way down the runway and across a soccer field sized pasture until it finally met an incline and that slowed it down and finally stopped it. Got a lot of exercise that day trudging through 2 feet of ice crusted snow retrieving it.
After that I thought of adding a "water rudder" similar to my float planes but ever did it.

dasquirrelisme

My Feedback: (81)

Here is my fun for the snow. Designed and built it a couple years ago but still needs some tweeking. Maybe I will get back to it sometime.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

I build an rc sled a long time ago. It was a catamaran with 2 big rudders to steer. it looked nice and was fast with a 25 size engine.
But it was almost impossible to steer, it didn't like to turn and it had to be even, every little hill would get it off track.
And then, it wasn't too much fun, by the time you had everything ready to go, your hands were frozen, so I didn't do any more research.

Today, I'd set it on skis and have a brushless setup. And wear gloves...

Rv7garage

My Feedback: (10)

That Snow-Kat is really cool! Throw a turbine in it...

dontrinko

I noticed both in the water and on the snow that the wind makes it hard to steer. Would a small chine on the bottom of the boat help keep it straight? Most flat bottom boats are hard to control . A rib going down in the water/snow might help but if it were hard ice you would need what the snowmobilers call a carbide skid. Don

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

I'd think it help a lot, but it needs to be real sturdy, you'll be hitting small stones, ice and other things at a high speed.
And if you had to repair it all the time, it would take the fun out of it.
Maybe some spring - loaded contraption would be good here

crispyspa

Here is some videos of my airboats on the snow. It's a playlist, so sit back and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...VZw6wiW3Oezilq



Yeah, that prop is going to be too big for that engine. I use a 16x8 3 blade on my 36cc airboat.

arcdude

Nice video's there crispyspa, the SI looks like it handles well with one rudder, and the stunt driving, must have taken a lot of practice Lol.

Sorry Don don't mean to intrude. I made a spring loaded rudder that protruded down below the transom years ago and it worked quite well without an air rudder. I wouldn't run it on the street being made out of aluminum. If you'd like a pic let me know and I'll pop one up for you. Cheers