Homemade Boat..

[sdueck]

Well, I have been an airplane guy, and never really ventured out into the boat realm. Anyways, I have a Graupner Tipsy that was destroyed in shipping, and I figured I could maybe make an airboat out of the motor. It is a graupner speed 280 brushed motor. I think the speed control is 5 amp. Pretty small. So anyways, has anyone made one this small before? What kind of materials should I use that will be waterproof (not balsa wood, as I would have to seal it). I want it to be rather easy to make. I was thinking of making one out of a 2x4 and 2x2's for side pontoons (sp). Anything I should keep in mind, or any boat rule of thumbs? Thanks,

Scott

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Welcome to the boat forum. :cool:

Keep the build light. Solid wood like 2x4 are pretty heavy.

For an air boat build a foamy. Blue or pink insulation foam for the hull, and a couple of plywood pylons for your motor and rudder. Carve out a battery and receiver hole, and cover with plexi or plywood. It should run great.

[green-boat]

Solid wood like 2x4 are pretty heavy.

.
I second what Umi said. They are way toooooo heavy. Due to the higher resistance of water you want to keep everything as light as possible. You want the airboat to skate across the water not plow thru it.

[Ghost 2501]

also use a larger motor, probably a speed 500, tied in with a 10x sized prop, esc, use a plane esc, 50A probably,

[sdueck]

Thanks guys... I made one boat, out of extra EPP foam I had lying around, and it didn't work. It was too heavy for the amount of foam. I will try to build another one using that blue insulation. I have made a solar car of the blue stuff, but never a boat. I'll let you know how it goes. I just hope all my electronics aren't shot after my boat kind of went upside down...

[sdueck]

Well, the electronics survived and I built one out of the pink insulation foam. It actually works rather well. As soon as it gets going a little it lifts out of the water and glides like it should. It gets moving for how small of a motor I put on it. My only proble is that it tends to lean a lot when turning, and so it will continue turning until I put almost 100% throw in the opposite direction to counter the tilt. Is there a good way to fix this? Thanks guys...

Scott

[steveciambrone]

Take some pictures of the boat and post them.

Steve