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Giving Up the Gas

Cadd> Since l don't have a speedometer, I don't know how fast we were going, but whatever it was it was fast enough for us to make a small wake.

Take your GPS out of your car and see how fast your boat goes.

Suggestion: do not fasten the GPS to the transom below the water level.
 
Congrats on your shakedown cruise. Hope yall load the boat with some nice fish while enjoying the quiet ride.
 
@Scoop
LOL Buddy, that knowledge is just unimportant to me.

It's fast enough and that's all that matters.
 
Djcala said:
Congrats on your shakedown cruise. Hope yall load the boat with some nice fish while enjoying the quiet ride.
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Fishing was awful. We're just coming out of a five-year drought and the fish population was already decimated last year. So much water is going in and out of this lake at the same time, that I believe it's driving the fish way down. I have never seen Eastman Lake this full, & I have been going there 40 years. I have also never seen fishing so bad there. We got two bites all day, and they were way too small to keep.

The fact is I didn't care at all because the boat ran great and that's what really mattered.

Now I'll be capable of going to no-gas lakes. Fishing is a lot nicer when you don't have to deal with speed boats and Jet Skis.
 
meanstreak said:
Persistence...
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It took some persistence to post these photos. Since the Android OS update my camera won't take small pictures anymore. And I can't post-process them directly on this phone very easily. But I persisted and thus we have here today the first good photographs of the experimental boat X-24v.

Here's me at the tiller.
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On the trailer at Eastman Lake.
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Here's the business and then you can see how much of a prototype it really is. I bent the tubing from brand new tubes that cost me about $4 per 10 feet . I bought some big stainless steel hose clamps to hold the motors on. Then I found even bigger better ones and so the motors have two sizes of clamps. Now that I know it works I can make a more custom arrangement that will require more labor, and have some confidence that I'm not tossing all that labor away.Screenshot_20170516-124217.jpg
People who look closely will see clamps from bicycle seat posts and clamps from 47 Plymouth tie rod ends. There's also a three-way Pony clamp which is the fork.

The motors both kick up if I would hit something and Breakaway tension is adjusted by the two hose clamps, tying the down tubes together.

Of course this is all built from Mostly steel and I painted everything with clear paint after assembly it so it won't rust. If the motors were to kick up they would scrape the paint off.

That's not the real weak link however. The kickup tension hose clamps are not sufficient to maintain motor alignment under heavy running and I found this out when we encountered a good head wind. I thought we had a prop strike because there was an increase in vibration but when I pulled the motors up I noticed the starboard motor downtube had been kicked up an eighth of an inch at the top. That throws the motor alignment off about an inch on the bottom end.

There was my vibration! So a better arrangement is in order for this function, and was actually planned from the get-go. Remember this was a prototype test run and no more.

The X-24v is a fiberglass Tri Hull manufactured by RJ Smith inc. back in 1976, according to the hull stamp, and was originally a Coulumbia model, according to the title.
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It's been heavily modified by the removal of the front cowl and windshield, original seats and seat frames, and the installation of built-in fiberglass live wells and different controls, all of which was done before I bought the boat. I reinforced and repaired some fiberglass butchery and random damage and re-painted it 17 years ago.

Back then I installed the front trolling motor on a platform of wood (painted red) which I mounted to the boat.

Recently I bought four new seats and did the new woodwork (still in process) and when I installed the bigger dual motors, I removed all accommodations for a gasoline engine.
 
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Woodwork planned for this boat include hull reinforcements that accommodate additional seating and a front deck.

Now, about recommendations for the deck gun....
 
CaddmannQ said:
Woodwork planned for this boat include hull reinforcements that accommodate additional seating and a front deck.

Now, about recommendations for the deck gun....
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Well the XM556 of course. In keeping green theme its electric and its light.
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Wow! I'm impressed!

Does it have a grenade launcher attachment?
 
I dont think so. But manufacturers site says it ships with mounting brackets and hardware so lot less tinkering needed.
 
Okay I'm just kidding . . . but how many of you have played the video game Redneck Rampage? . . where you ride around on an airboat through the swamp and shoot UFOs out of the sky with a mortar?

Wait a minute . . . that was Redneck Rampage Rides Again!
 
I put the first piece of fiberglass on the gunnels today. I'm going to strengthen the hull along both sides by making these wider and thicker.

Originally this hull had a raw Edge all the way around that was concealed by a pop rivet aluminum and rubber trim bumper. But I removed the trim & it revealed the ragged edge. Also the pop rivet holes that made the edge week and it was never really start to begin with. The trim was aluminum which added no strength at all, but some impact resistance.

I use a piece of paracord stretched taut as a form for the fiberglass edge.
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The cloth wraps around the Rope so there are two new layers atop the rail now, but only one around the rope.

This new edge will be slightly hollow inside when I get done, but will be three layers thick all around. I will possibly pump resin inside to fill the cavity. It wont be large.
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Well I have two layers of fiberglass all the way down one rail, except for the splices, so my 12 feet is only Net 10 feet. It'll probably be another week before I get this boat back in the water. I've laid about one-sixth of the cloth that will go on the gunnels.
 
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By the way I decided that a Nerf shooter would be the most appropriate deck gun with my granddaughters aboard.
 
Well my efforts on the boat have gone on virtually uninterrupted since April 20th, so over 30 days now. It feels like a lot longer when you've got fiberglass rash. I did so much sanding yesterday that my hands were sore and numb. I got up in the middle of the night to soak my hands and forearms in cold water so the swelling would go down.

I have about 10 coats of Glass on each rail now and they are both top coated. I did the last top coats yesterday afternoon.

I'm going to wait another day for them to cure up a bit before I scuff and paint them.

I also added fiberglass mat reinforcements three or four layers thick at each contact with the wooden rails. Each point of contact has two stainless steel screws that go clear through the hull, and now they'll be going through twice the thickness of fiberglass as before. In addition I will set those rails at each contact point with epoxy filler to make sure they have 100% bearing. This is a big deal if you want things to be solid and not creak.

In order to widen these rails I used epoxy filler to build them out before I covered them with fiberglass. The filler is really just filler & the fiberglass is all the real strength. I put epoxy filler beads on the edges and that gives you something more comfortable to grab on as you handle the boat. Anyhow the port rail still needs some more filler underneath and it will need to be shaped and sanded and painted. I'll get that last little detail attended to tonight, and I'll shape it. Tomorrow when it's cured I will sand it and scuff the rails and do the paint.
 
CaddmannQ said:
Well my efforts on the boat have gone on virtually uninterrupted since April 20th, so over 30 days now. It feels like a lot longer when you've got fiberglass rash. I did so much sanding yesterday that my hands were sore and numb.
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Back in the mid- '70s I did glass work on a Rutan Varieze I started to build. The skin irritation was awful. My sympathies are with you.

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