Boat Builder Central

Keep in mind that that 18hp is very inefficient. I had a 18hp fast twin long ago, but only used it for a short time before upgrading. My 20hp yamaha 4-stroke got almost twice the mileage as the 18hp 2-stroke. Prop selection helped a bit since there's not much out there for the 18hp. Actually my new ...

But is 9.9hp enough to push 4500lbs against a light wind, say 10mph, once you take the windage into consideration? This is what you need to work out before you choose your power. If you haven't yet, I would go to boatdesign.net and post up your questions on the forum. Many of the guys there are expe...

You may find out quickly that slow and efficient can be fine in static canals and lakes, but can give you trouble on a river. Fighting flow and wind can mean little momentum if any at all. Make sure you have enough power reserves to forge ahead. It's better to have it and not need it...

Some semirandom ramblings this afternoon. You guys seem to be hung up on submerged transoms and efficiency for some reason. Someone commented previously that not many displacement boats have submerged transoms, but that is not true around here. Nearly every houseboat, cruiser, and trawler in the US ...

Fallguy you always put the small piece first and then build up from there. Just like you do in a corner. This protects the smaller pieces. You are right 3 layers should work fine. Tom That's old school Tom. They did a whole segment on SSTV, and I think also on BWT, on how many pros found laying lar...

First thing I'd do is fix the trailer setup. I have keel rollers down the center of mine so my FS17 slides on with no damage. Next I'd go get a cheap moisture meter. If water gets in over a period, it doesn't always sit in one place. Especially when wood and foam are involved. Glassing upside down i...

Best reason I can think of is draft. The flat bottom, or shallow V hulls will give you the ability to load up weight without a huge penalty. Cruising around its not needed, but finding safe harbor or gunkholes and beaching it's an advantage. Personally I'd build a planing hull just so I can exceed h...

jbo a 9.9HP will be enough for you. I ran the numbers through my calculators and you would be fine. I assumed a weight of 4500lbs with the shanty, people, safety gear, food, and everything else. A 9.9 will be perfect and will allow you to cruise at a 5-6 mph without stressing the engine, top speed ...

No problem. The trip was a blast. The 3 boats he has to rent have different interiors so make sure to look over the pics for the one you want. If there is high wind he doesn't want you to go into the larger lakes for obvious reasons, but the wind never pushed us much. We even got stuck in a storm an...

jbo_c, we may have spoken on one of the other sites I'm on, I frequent a few these days. I know you are up in Georgia, but if you fancy a trip that will teach you a bit then I'd rent one of these little guys like we did from Tinyhouseboatadventures.com It was I think $260 for the weekend. Or maybe f...