hyper701

hi, i have a os .40 plane engine sitting in my shed and i was just wondering how hard it would be to stick it in to a boat, can i get a water cooled head for it? and what size boat would it go in? thanks

Vertical3-D

My Feedback: (20)

i dunno if the watercooled boat heads will fit it, but my suggestion before you get into a huge project, build an airboat if you want a boat for that motor, if you used a submerged rudder itd still handle decent, and be fairly fast, Id say for what you'll have in it to make that motor useful in a marine application you could just set up a boat with a real marine engine....just my 2 cents.... but guys do run car engines(air cooled but with a bigger head) in outriggers and open designs, but for an inboard youll need the water cooling.

martno1fan

hi mate im doing exactly the same im using a 61 size engine in a wild thing boat that i havent built yet.im still waiting for some help on this!!.as regards water cooling make a cooling coil from copper or brass tube its easy fill the tube with sand tape up the ends and coil it around the head making it a tight fit one ends the inlet others outlet a presto water cooled!!.if i were you id go for a wild thing too open design cool air will hit the engine to help cooling.as ive been told though boat engines have more rpm than plane engines so you wont get as much speed with a plane engine but if like me moneys tight its worth a go.im thinking of a wild thing arround 36 inches for mine id say you would be best off with one 26 inches.you can download the plans for free just do a search in the forum for them then upsize or downsize as required i used my printer tool to do that just choose 40% and you should get arround 26 inches in length if my memory serves me right!!.in fact if you want the plans and cant find them ill email them just pm me with your addy.the wild thing is an easy build and a fast boat good thing is you can make any size you want!!.only thing youll need apart from ply for the build is a shaft a prop and couplings small water intake and outake i presume you allready have a tank and radio equipment?.using your engie is not as expensive as buying a new marine engine so id say go for it so what if its not as fast as a marine engine youll still get some fun out of it im sure!!.i know i will mine till i can afford a marine engine !!.good luck

Hydro Junkie

I would look at a Wild Thing as well, but somewhere between 30 and 36 inches. That will give you more room for all the stuff that needs to go in the boat(fuel tank, radio box, FLOTATION). Just my.02

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

You can do what? The Wild Thing plans are copyrighted. They should not be freely available via the web. I happen to know the designer and I can't imagine that he or the publisher would be happy to find people giving these things away.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

The best way to use an aero engine on a boat is what Vertical suggested, an airboat. There are disagreements about whether to use air or water rudders, but overall this will be a much better use of this plane engine. Personally, I'm in the air rudder camp. Part of the fun of an airboat is to be able to use it in weedy, shallow water. A water rudder will limit this. There are some designs out there, or you can do what I did many, many years ago, look at some pictures and then design your own.

martno1fan

well i got mine off this site didnt cost me a penny do a search for gas mono plan .didnt cost me owt

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I did some searches and the only references I found to wild thing plans were to order them. Can you provide a link?

martno1fan

after lookinbg at them again they arent actually called the wild thing but it looks the same boat to me!! look on the gas forum under gas mono!! if its adifferent boat then its a very good lookalike.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Cool, thanks for the update. If two people happen to draw similar plans, or if someone happens to use a few ideas from someone else, but draws their own plans, from what I've heard there is no copyright issue. Scanning someone else's work and posting it on the net, or making copies at the local copy store and passing them out to one's friends would be entirely different. We all know it happens, but it shouldn't.

martno1fan

yea maybe ive misled people but hey its a good plan and looks just like the wild thing so im sure it will be a great boat!!.ive just cut mine out and im starting to glue it up with one hr epoxy.i couldnt get 1/8 ply so im using 3/16 for the hull so im thinking of using 1/16 ply for the deck or possibly coro as i got loads of the stuff.im thinking if i add some small gunnels all the way round 1/4 inch higher than the sides to leave a lip i can sit the coro inside resting on the orriginal sides.so im building a gas mono for nitro not a wildthing im confused lol!!.