enrgizerbunny

I've broken ground on my wooden boat. Not on the wooden part, but I worked on my weed eater that I picked up on craig's list for $30. As I thought, it was simply rotted fuel line. A couple of replacement lines and it was back and running. The exhaust keeps trying to fall off, and it needs a new gasket there. Seems like it just needs to be cleaned up and tuned and it'll be ready to run.

Took some pictures and shot a couple videos too.







Youtube link(s):

http://youtu.be/Bk7Tv7-ag5M

http://youtu.be/Pl-BZ-ljVL4

Nosedragger

another project off to a bad start

forget the wood boat
forget the homelite

you will never finish it

Buy a Zenoah and fiberglass hull from a reputable manufacturer like AC Model Boats,Warehouse Hobbies or Aeromarine.

enrgizerbunny

I know "gas engine"and "less money" don't go together, but that's generally my plan here compared to spending $350 on a hull alone.
I'd like to find some plans (haven't looked hard enough) and build it out of pine, I've got the planer and marine epoxy laying around. However, the zippkits is more time-effective.
The homelite cost me $30 and a couple hours. A zenoah runs closer to $300. I'm not made of money, and I'm looking to spend closer to $500 total, and I still need a transmitter.

w3bby

A selection of free plans [link=http://www.modelpowerboat.com/downloads.php]here.[/link] There are some good build threads on here for a few of these plans.

The Zipp kits have a good reputation for going together easily and good performance.

Tidnab

My Feedback: (51)

Nothing wrong with a wood hull.At least when you say you built it ,you really did, not just put components of a boat into and on an already built fiberglass hull.There's a few plans that a lot of guys have built on www.modelpowerboat.com and sites where you can buy plans.As far as a Zenoah being $300, there cheaper now for a stock engine and Gizmomotors www.gizmomotors.com has Rev -Unlimited engines for as low as $110 plus mounts with free shipping.The stock,air cooled Homelite is a good engine to start with if you can't afford one of the others.There's parts available to make them water cooled and guys that modify them to the hilt. I have one that's converted to a full crank with full mods and puts out over 16,000 rpm and can take a boat over 50 mph. I've had mine in a 48" fiberglass hull and had it radared at 51.3 but with the right setup and hull I believe it could break 55 mph.It was modded by a guy on here that goes by chipbreakr,if you interested later on.
As far as using pine ,you maybe able to use it for the frames which are usually 1/8" material and the transom at 1/4".the sides should be about 1/8" thick and be able to be bent toward the bow end. Most use aircraft grade plywood,but a few have used Laun plywood, with some that was gotten from interior doors.These have to be sealed inside and out really good.Whatever you do take your time and do it right and enjoy your build.

enrgizerbunny

Using a homelite is mainly due to low-cost goal, this is a first ever for me. I've been operating mainly cars and I have an old electric boat, but I am attracted to a gas engine because I don't have to do the battery charging waiting game, and fuel is $4.00 a gallon instead of $30 in nitro.

My dad is convinced I should resell the weed eater for $60 and double my money, since it's a good straight shaft trimmer and I could get $60 for it.

scales10

i say build a boat man thats what im doing, its my first build and its been fun so far!

enrgizerbunny

Building it from pine would be cool, but out of my skill level right now. Maybe I'll do that on the next one.
The process I had in mind for a pine boat (pine's cheap, huehuehue) would go something like this:
Everything would be made from 2x4s and 2x6s that are ripped to 1/4" then planed to their final measurement.
The skin would be ripped to 1/4, cut to shape, then planed to 1/8 or possibly 3/32.
With a large pot and a little water, I would steam everything that needed to bend. May have to build a steambox or something, but I'd make it work.
Then start assembly and get that thing put together very carefully. Let it dry. Let it dry some more.
Then seal, sand, and paint everything with marine epoxy.
I don't think many people have this stuff laying around (runs you about $140 a gallon), but it's used to cover the wood frames on old boats that people rip everything out and replace. I could probably get away with planing the sides down to 1/16" and painting them with this stuff because of its strength.
I'd find some plywood for the top though.

I'm figuring out a motor mount right now, but Ithink it is going to ride on a piece of wood or aluminum in lieu of the gas tank, with a couple of rubber isolators on the rails. The gas tank mounts already have rubber dampers on them, so vibration should be kept to a minimum with this setup. I'm thinking wood because of the cost/strength factor (let's not forget the epoxy).
I appreciate all of the input, even the naysayer there.

Tidnab

My Feedback: (51)

When you build the hull you should have engine rails in it with a space of 5" between them on the inside.I usually leave 5 1/8" for a little extra wiggle room.Your radio box will also go between these rails in the rear of the boat.The engine should be mounted as low between the rails as possible with a Homelite,this means trimming plastic and metal where needed to accomplish this. You can use the original gas tank ,but put it outside the engine rail near the engine on the carb side.You may have to connect longer fuel lines. You can also use an IV bag setup for fuel.

enrgizerbunny

Purchased emergency flotation material today. ~$1.50 at big lots.

Build total current cost: $110

xplayer930

Don't be fooled by the initial price of a zipp kits...My easy vee is running over 1,000 bucks at the moment an I haven even painted it yet..If you decide to go all out an fiberglass the entire hull expect to spend some cash.

MrMikeG

What??????
Are you paying someone to build it?
If you wanted a fiberglass boat you should have bought one. I could fiberglass it and flowcoat it for less than $20, nice thing about wood is it doesn't need all that and easy to repair!

xplayer930

Only thing Im paying to have done is the paint job..Which is running my 275-350. As for everything else I went with the very best, from the radio, engine, pipe, drive system, servos.
As for fiberglassing, there is honestly no way to fiberglass for 20 bucks, between the cloth, resin an sandpaper. I would advise you to fiberglass, as it gets rid of the wood grain an gives one hell of a finish!

w3bby

As does just sealing the wood with epoxy resin and sanding smooth, no need for cloth. From a few years ago.....

martno1fan

I built my Rocket from Zippkits using epoxy and sealed with epoxy,it was super strong and withstood some serious flips at well over 65 mph only damage she suffered was the central deck piece lifted near the hatch,easy fix with a little more epoxy.
As for cost of glassing over the wood im with Mike, the cost of cloth and resin used to skin a hull isn't much at all.You will most likeley have the epoxy anyway if your building a wooden hull.Cpl mtrs of cloth wont set you back much maybe $10 if that.

xplayer930

Whatever...I used systems west to seal it. Do the math it's. 1k boat.

enrgizerbunny

OP here and what the hell is happening in this thread?!?!

I'm going to seal the wood with epoxy resin. The epoxy I'm using is marine grade, used for holding real boats together. It's just sitting in the garage, left over from the boat my Dad and Mom fixed. It runs $140 a gallon for both parts. I will probably reinforce some parts with fiberglass cloth (per the zippkits instructions).

My budget is ~$500 and I plan to stay within it. I can get a 2CH 2.4GHz transmitter/receiver for $70 locally. That leaves me $300 for all of my other hardware. I think it's entirely doable. I'm not trying to be the fastest thing out there, just want to have a gasoline powered model that I can proudly say I built myself.

Lastly, I think I'd rather stain the whole thing something pretty than to paint it. I love wood. Wood is good, and pound for pound, it's stronger than steel. I'm okay with that.

martno1fan

My advice after running a zippkits hull for a Cpl of years would be seal the bottom with epoxy but cover the deck with a thin layer of cloth as the wood they make the decks from can be quite soft.Good luck and above all enjoy it that's what its all about.
Mart

MrMikeG

Joe's (ZipKits) hardware is pretty good, and great value for the money. Aeromarine has an Inline strut and rudder kit that is really cheap that would work good too. Nothing fancy but it will get you going.
Sorry if I got offtrack before, I just didn't want you to get discouraged. I myself got into gas boats to save money and built my own and had a ball with "Homemade", and an old stick radio.
HobbyKing has some cheap chinesse built stuff, a lot is cheap junk, but the Turnigy 2.4 ghz radio is the GT3B that everyone is talking about, about $37 I think.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dproduct=23165

Mart, thanks for the back-up, you know where I'm coming from. [8D]

enrgizerbunny

I'm not discouraged, this thread is serving as a great list of things to do.

I plan to start building next week, but Ihave a large background investigation packet to fill out (38 pages!) for the police department. That's my priority right now.