home made speed boat i think

[glenn property of pam]

not sure what this is realy. the person i bought it from said he made it years ago at his parents boat shop. claimed with a 35hp it runs over 60mph. never been taged or titled. it was cheap so i bought it because the wife said it looked like a fun project and if the wife likes something thats half the battle done. not sure is po is telling the truth as it seems very well made. it does have some problems to fix where bondo was used and has reacted with the resin that was used to seal the cap to the hull. need to find some sort of power plant once i decied what to do with it.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

few more pics



only just got it home so i havent cleaned it yet. paint looks bad and is pealing so i hope to get some of that removed in the next few days to see how it was built

 

[saginawbayboater]

Re: home made speed boat i think

Glenn you might go into another dimension if you hit 60mph in that baby! Like back to the future. Sweet find.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

lol yep 60 doesnt sound that much fun so im thinking a small 10-15hp would be a fun boat or i might just chuck a couple of batteries in it and mount the 24v trolling motor i have laying in the shed and make it a pond boat for my daughter. im only in it for $150 so a little glasswork and some bright pink gel with sparkles might be the way to go. the paint is coming off realy easy and the wood is sound which is surprissing as it doesnt seem to have a thick coat of resin on it which is good. kinda making this up as im going along so if its real sound i will sell the outboards i have laying around then buy a smaller motor for this one then again if it looks to weak to handle the power i will just make a toy out of it. the steering cable is odd its like a normal big outboard type but thinner than anything ive seen so ive no idea what it fits but it does work so thats a good sign

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: home made speed boat i think

Open footwell at 60 even in a straight line would be interesting, in an extremely puckered kind of way....

Could be homebuilt, lots of project plans in the 50's & 60's in Popular Mechanics & others....

Similar to or a modified DingBat:

Hit Bob_VT with a PM & check his post in the pending resto section's Before & After Gallery thread:

These are the only photos I have left from about 20 years ago. That is a Mercury Mark 55H with a racing lower and gear box. This was a rebuild.
After:

He may have some helpful info as to it's possible origins & suggestions for getting it seaworthy & a sane motor choice. But the Merc 55 on his may indicate he is (was?) a bit of a speed junky

Looks like a great project starting point!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: home made speed boat i think

In fact, a smallish SeaDoo motor & jet might be fun too But that might be a bit of a money & time commitment.....

 

[Seasonally.boating.jon]

Re: home made speed boat i think

Thats a cool rig. Putting a trolling motor on there for daughter is a great idea. Either way you go, it should be alot of fun.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

In fact, a smallish SeaDoo motor & jet might be fun too But that might be a bit of a money & time commitment.....

that was my first thought before i picked it up as there cheap down here in florida but the lake is realy weedy so im not sure there a good idea and i wouldnt like to take a boat that small on large choppy water. great thing with the lake is if you fall in you can walk home...lol
a jet ski set up would be better ballanced as the motor weight is further forwards so i havent counted it totaly out yet. im off work for the week so i going to have some time to get a better idea of how the boat was made and what needs fixing. i have already decied that its getting some foam added as the hull only seems to be one layer of glass thick judging by the small split on the outside corner either that or its a delaminated layer of thick paint. will find out more tommorrow when i get the worst of the paint and bondo of it. if i can get it water tight then i can splash it and start adding weights to see how much i have to play with before it flips nose up.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

anyone know the smallest outboard that able to be coverted to cable steering pref evinrude/johnson?

found most of the boat is wood with one layer of glass cloth over it. the resin was green color so im thinking thats poly. there was bondo that was just painted over on the underside of hull, it was not structual but used to fill a step between the layers so im going to fill that with a pb mix and a layer of cloth over it. the front hook had rusted nuts and no washers so thats been pulled out and i can not get to the inside so im going to drill a 4" hole to remove that piece of wood then build it back in from the outside. theres a split in the side where the glass wore out and water got in so i will cut the glass back to where its still attached to the wood and then glass it back in. im thinking of adding some more glass and some 1708 on the high wear points then gel coating the bottom. my daughter has claimed the boat so it doesnt have to be built overkill just needs to be water tight with a small motor. will post some pics tommorrow now i have all the old paint off it. must say i was surprissed by how much it weighs it wasnt built as a racer as most of the hull is 1/2 ply

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think




few pics of the problems with the boat. i found that it has a twin skin with a thin layer of foam in the front where the hook ripped out so ive remounted the hook into a piece of 3/4 ply that was in the nose section so that should keep it there then patched the hole i had to cut to get my hand in as there was no other way to get to the inside and it already had a hole so a bigger hole didnt hurt. i ground off all the loose glass and patched that but after testing the new hook to drag the boat on the trailer another seam popped so im going to have to glass the whole bottom.

i have decieded this is going to be for the kids so im using stuff i have laying around to make something that works. after spending many hours trying to work out how to get the steering wheel to work a trolling motor i used a old 115hp starflight transom mount that worked with the cable (pre lightened it by removing the rams) just got to weld the trolling motor tube to the bracket im making then cut the motor down to lenth. sounds nuts but looks like it will work. 24v should get the little boat to at least move around the pond will get pics once ive welded it.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

well i think i have a drive system now...still a work in progess so still needs cleaning and paint

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

using junk laying around from other projects i now have the drive sorted and we have steering and forwards/backwards working. hope to splash it next week to get a idea of the weight and how it floats then i will tear it back to bits for sanding etc. wife and daughter are doing the paint so i know im not going to like it but oh well i dont have to be seen riding in it. they are talking about a pink frog with black spots to a yellow rubber duck :facepalm: and i was worried that pink glitter would be the worst they could do.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: home made speed boat i think

So what's going on with that ol' hunka-junk glasser with the rotten everything you were working on Glen?... back burner?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: home made speed boat i think

Good news:

Wife & daughter helping to paint the new project: +2


The bad news:

Driving the newly painted pink frog (w/ or w/out black spots) or yellow ducky new project to the launch: -1, maybe -1.75 if there's a crowd.....


Still in the + column so it's a win

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out...

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think

i still have that its just waiting. on paper its a waste of money to do it but then again so is this one except if ithis one gives the kids a laugh and they get to have fun then thats worth the money.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: home made speed boat i think



bilge pump, forwards and backwards switch a volt meter on the dash then just a on/off switch on the peddal