"THINGS THAT FLOAT"

creations by David Bosworth and friends

Today is the 2nd of may, wow,! where does the time go. Depending on weather and temp and honey do list over the next week, we should be done with the prop and ready for launch sometime mid month! oh, and maybe some added floatation of some sort might be prudent, ya think?.
Driving around it what used to be our yard! The water was about 7 feet higher last night!

The last hoorah for the Air Boat!

Looks dam good though!

 

 

 

8hp 8 foot air boat page two

 

Well we put her in the water and gave it a go! She floated very well and was very stable, the steering system worked flawlessly and she had plenty ) rudder authority. She was a bit shy of making hump though with only 3000rpms showing. I new this heading down to the water but we had to see her float! We have now changed the prop to a 36/16N and picked up another 450rpm's! she really feels like she wants to come alive on the cradle now! can't wait to give her another try!

 

Above is the pine prop blank glued trimmed and ready for layout. It is really a rather simple process of striking some working lines and then removing any of the wood that does not look like a propeller!. To the right is the prop meeting my arsenal of sanders, "nothing like a good excuse to buy more tools!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Here we have the fishing net draped over the metal guard and we are pulling it into final position. The net will be held in place with 50 to 75 lb. zip ties. the idea here is to have enough ties around a given opening to absorb at the very least a 400 lb. hit!

 

 

After sanding her down I will put her on the balance table and then sand a little more off to get it close. When I feel good about it I will put a layer of epoxy and glass over the entire  blade surface, then back to the table and get it close to balanced again. We will finish it off with a couple coats of spar varnish and some stainless steel leading edge tape, and maybe a little white or red paint on the tips!, oh, and balance again.

 

Click on image for larger view

 

  

 

                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

Well. Since the last update I installed the 10hp engine and reworked the guard to accommodate the 42" thrust prop from the 12T4 hovercraft. I had an unexpected and almost comical launching from the back of my truck into the river when I hit the break and it went flying out! She landed standing straight up in the air like a rocket ship! Fortunately there was no damage and no camera handy. The end result of the test was that it would still not make planning speed! so my conclusion was to bag the project and spend my time and money on more productive endeavors. After all this same air drive will scoot my ass to 35 mph on the UH-12T4 which really says something for the efficiency of the hovercraft. It might be interesting to try a longer hull on the airboat sometime though.

               

 

 

 

 

AIRBOAT  PAGE ONE

BACK HOME

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was leading edge tape and prop hub mounting day!. The prop for the airboat is the one in front. I ended up not painting the tips on these props for maintenance reasons, plus it meens that the airboat is done! 05/09/2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this does'nt work we will use the old 36/18 prop on the 10hp briggs we just took off the 12T4 hovercraft. And then what?
sporting her new 36/16N prop