jg2009

Ok here I go again with another ?  Is there a certain weight limit that I should stay under. Don't want to make this thing to heavy and have it perform badly.

Mr Cajun Gator

On the props... Your prop will have a rounded face and a flat backside, the round side always the front side.
The weight on boat to boat it is different, width and length has a lot to do with the weight of the hull. My boats are 21 x 44 @ around 23lbs.

jg2009

 Got my epoxy coating in yesterday from a store on ebay ( Polymerproducts ) .  Tried it out on a scrap board laying around. Let me tell you when its all set up stuff looks like glass. I bought the black coating price was not bad I thought 38 bucks for a half gallon. Can't wait to get it done so I can spray this stuff on.

jg2009

 Put the sides on today "WOW what a pain" also put the front deck on. I started working on my cage, Having some trouble keeping my bends all the same. It is all scrap just lying around, thought I'd try with scrap first instead of messing  up the aluminum I bought for the cage.

jg2009

 Try to have some more pics up tommorow

jg2009

Ok here's the pics of what I got done this weekend. Hopefully a cpl more weekends on this and I'll be putting her in the water.

jg2009

My hull is done.Sprayedthe bottomwith my black epoxy coating looks great, can't take any pics this weekcamera crapped out on me. Hopefully I will get a new one this week. Still working on my cage. Waiting on the guy who is going to tig weld it all up for me. Now I have to figure out all the electronics for it. Won't be much longer and she will be complete"Well maybe a litter bit longer than I had thought"

jg2009

Well one more hold up for me. Called the welding guy he said that he won't be able to get to my project for 2-3 weeks now. Can't blame him he's got a job to do out of town making big bucks. So if I get my cage put together if I would use rivetsas temporary thing would that hold or would it just fall apart. Let me know what you think on that if it won't work I will just wait on him to get back in town. Thanks guys

rchamburger

Rivets should work fine, I use them all the time and as long as you get it right they usually hold up pretty well.

RS 38-40

My Feedback: (3)

You might want to look at the distance between the muffler stacks and the deck . Might be close enough to blister the finish .

jg2009

I plan on making pipes that exit the back so I won't have to worry about blistering. But I do thank you for bringing that up that will help others from making that mistake.

jg2009

Well this is what I have done for now. Cage is not complete "waiting on welding guy" but for now it has rivets to hold it in place. Still have to cut and bend the aluminum for the sides of the cage. Engine is not bolted down yet will do that later on. But anyway here are some pics.

jg2009

All I have left is to hook up the electronics and make the linkage to the rudders. Still waiting on the welding guy, But figured I could put her toghether and at least try her out. I hope I'm not jumping the gun and everything flys apart when I run her. Hopefully by the weekend I will have some vids of her in the water. and if she works I'll take her back apart and do the final paint.

jg2009

Also forgot to say this. I took the boat to work with me and put her on the scale, She weighs 24lbs. Not to bad I thought.

crispyspa

24 Lbs is a good weight. I'm waiting for the video...I wanna' see this run.

I think that the diameter of the exhaust pipe is going to hurt performance. Is it the same size as the stock pipe? It really should be a larger diameter for the length that it is so as not to create too much back pressure and build heat in the engine.

jg2009

I did not think about the pipes being to small. Yes the pipes are a bit smaller than the stocks on the muffler. Will have to change that I'm glad that you said that. I have a bigger pipe I'll try to get that done asap. Please any and all comments would be great right now any other problem areas that you see let me know. Thanks a bunch

jg2009

Ok I had someone looking at my boat and they gave me an idea. Take apart the cage drill out the rivets and stuff. Now when I put it back toghether put silicone around the holes and replace the rivets. Reason  #1 it wact as a glue, #2 it would help with dampering some of the vibration. Anyone else think that would be worth it, Or would it be a big waste of time.

Mr Cajun Gator

silicone around the holes, is a good idea, myself if I was not going to weld the cage, I would use 4-40 socket head bolts and nylocks to replace the rivets. Apply silicone and bolt together, but not tight, set silicone cure, then tighten bolts. At least this way, you would have a chance of keeping the parts well secured.
The boat looks good, should be ready to race before too long.

jasperrc

Nice job on the build! I can't wait to see vids.

jg2009

Well it's not the best vid but is all I got for now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkZt4GEqY8U . We had a little rain so I decided to give her a shot in the yard, She did ok but got stuck everytime she hit the mud. Other than that she works great, Still have to do some fine tuning, And have to put on the final paint then she will be all done.

crispyspa

That was just a teaser......where's the longer vid? LOL

jg2009

Sorry about teasing you guys but I will have a longer vid when we get a bit more rain. Got tired of pushing her out of the mud and kinda gave up with the camera. Do all airboats hit the brakes when they get in the mud. Or is it something that I did wrong with the build.

crispyspa

Mud and wet sand are an airboats arch enemy. It will make them stick like glue.

jg2009

Well took her apart today todo some sanding and final paint and then I'll wax and buff the bottom and she should be ready to go. Once again sorry about the short video guys next time I'll make it up to ya.

jg2009

Well got the boat all done. This is how she looks with the final paint I think she looks pretty good. Did not get to run her this weekend figured I would give the paint some time to cure. Next weekend I will run her and get some better vids for you guys to see. Now all I have to do is think of what I want to build next.