Speaking of boats following me home...

I snagged myself a wee little river/pond/lake boat today.  It's less than 8' long and 50" wide.  Fits in my van and I can still close the doors.  Got a 3.5hp Merc to go with it as well.

And of course, what am I going to do with it?  Hot rod it.  The benches need to come out because they have rotten plywood under them, but otherwise it's in pretty decent shape.

So... crowdsourcing for:

1. names for the boat
2. interior layout since I don't have to keep it just like it is
3. what color should I paint it?
4. someone to send me a free 15hp OMC so I can see how fast it goes.

I have a weakness for satin tan inside and grassy green outside.   Names?  Piss Pot, Chamber Pot?  Lil' Bit, If you're reading this, turn me over .....

15hp and when you go to turn, it'll rotate and just keep going forward in the original direction. Boats have drifted since forever.

9.9hp is the answer.

Paint the haul pink and name it "wet my Willie" or "man in a little boat" 

Or call it "Tommy the Tub Boat".  (or "Theodore the Tub Boat" if you are in Canada).  Because it looks like a bath tub.

True, classic Whaler colors of light blue inside and white out. 

Add Whaler logos to each side and sell for an obscene asking price

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

15hp and when you go to turn, it'll rotate and just keep going forward in the original direction. Boats have drifted since forever.

9.9hp is the answer.

 

Paint the haul pink and name it "wet my Willie" 

I was also thinking of finding a wrecked jet ski and do a cut and paste.  The jet would be nice on the shallow river.

I've got a '50s era 15 or 18HP hanging out on my back porch...

But, with that I say one thing.  Jetboat.

Edit: this but bigger

I feel I should encourage this. 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/jet-boat-something-different-cheap-and-fun/90477/page1/

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

I was just about to find your build thread and link it here. 

Fine.... I'll say it........ Boaty McBoatface..... 

"Ducks for cover"

For real though, from mid bench to the front, build a casting deck with a trapdoor for storage. Wrap the deck in marine carpet so it doesn't get slippy when wet.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Tiller steering wouldn't work though, I for one loathe marine hydraulic steering. You can always well the head of pitchfork to the lower unit in front of the prop, powder coat the pitchfork, and bump mount the outboard so that it springs up when contacting something. It won't yield 30mph in 4" of water, but it'll keep things from being damaged. That river is rocky as well, rocks to the haul in skinny water are a bigger threat then banging the lower unit. The sudden stop from a rock yeeting one forward is no fun, neither is the swim afterwards. 

It's a tri hull so...

triple threat 

triple trouble 

As for the motor situation....old merc hurricane with expansion chambers. 

Name: "Blue Bayou" or "Hot Rod Lincoln" with a big Mercury engine...... 

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

I feel I should encourage this. 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/jet-boat-something-different-cheap-and-fun/90477/page1/

Well berkeley.

Now I'm looking at jet skis.

I did some research on the HIN.  It's a Catch Marine brand from 1988.  95" long, 50" wide.  Weight I'll have to guess, but me and the seller put a 10 lb anchor AND the 3.5hp merc in the bottom of the boat and just lifted it by the gunwales to shove it in the van.  I don't think the whole kit and caboodle weighs more than about 100-125 lbs.  When I got home, I took the Merc out and picked the boat up to carry it.  The thing that impressed me most was that I had the seller stand on the starboard side of the transom while I stood on the port bow and it didn't budge.  No flex.

I have a feeling a 6 hp would be wicked on this thing.  A 50-horse jet might make me pee my pants a little.  I think I'll have to play around with speeds and powers to get a feel for where this hull starts becoming a non-stable entity.

I've not been able to find any information on Catch Marine.  Company went belly up about a year ago.  I'd like to know anything you guys might happen to know/google about them.... weight capacities, construction, factory specs.  Not finding a thing out there.

1SlowVW said:

It's a tri hull so...

triple threat 

triple trouble 

As for the motor situation....old merc hurricane with expansion chambers. 

I'm in for shenanigans.

And now we have a potential name as well (though that one is probably overplayed these days)

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

1SlowVW said:

It's a tri hull so...

triple threat 

triple trouble 

As for the motor situation....old merc hurricane with expansion chambers. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/EmnsXTMLzCE?rel=0

 

Great googly mooglies, they put it in a car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrhsUXnodfw

You'll know when you have the right power when it crosses the lake like this:

or go for the long tail style drive using a snowmobile or other engine with an obscene power to weight ratio:

daeman said:

For real though, from mid bench to the front, build a casting deck with a trapdoor for storage. Wrap the deck in marine carpet so it doesn't get slippy when wet.

That is my basic plan, minus the carpet.  I would likely do a textured paint or some light-colored bedliner.  I want to get it on the water first and play around standing on the seats to test its stability.  If this were a 14' jon boat, I would do it without hesitation.

The wide/flat hull gives me confidence in stability, but I have no experience with an ultralight 8-foot hull.

The point of this is to keep it light.  It will need to be loaded/unloaded from a van or truck bed by one person.  It will be stored leaning up against my garage as well, which means that one person needs to be able to drag it around the side between some trees and lean it.

... which begs the question.... what is the lightest way to put about 20 hp to the water?  This could mean an OMC 15 from the 80s/90s with some modded reed valves, some carb work, and shaving the head for compression, or it could mean a 30 hp engine through a jet impeller.  I thought about electric because the motor could be pretty light, but the batteries required to last more than 10 minutes would kill the deal.

Twenty HP in something that short and when you hit a 2' wave at 30mph, you're flipping end over end. The angle that the front to lift from the wave or wake contact will create enough lift at that speed that you're flipping. 

First, I will never be hitting a 2' wave on the river.  Worst chop I've seen on the river was about 4".  Secondly, I would never be going fast in choppy water.  The hammering of that little light/flat hull would stop me long before flipping would.

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Tiller steering wouldn't work though, I for one loathe marine hydraulic steering. You can always well the head of pitchfork to the lower unit in front of the prop, powder coat the pitchfork, and bump mount the outboard so that it springs up when contacting something. It won't yield 30mph in 4" of water, but it'll keep things from being damaged. That river is rocky as well, rocks to the haul in skinny water are a bigger threat then banging the lower unit. The sudden stop from a rock yeeting one forward is no fun, neither is the swim afterwards. 

I would go with cable steering.  Out of style now, but cheap, easy, and pretty foolproof.

mad_machine (Forum Supporter) said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Tiller steering wouldn't work though, I for one loathe marine hydraulic steering. You can always well the head of pitchfork to the lower unit in front of the prop, powder coat the pitchfork, and bump mount the outboard so that it springs up when contacting something. It won't yield 30mph in 4" of water, but it'll keep things from being damaged. That river is rocky as well, rocks to the haul in skinny water are a bigger threat then banging the lower unit. The sudden stop from a rock yeeting one forward is no fun, neither is the swim afterwards. 

I would go with cable steering.  Out of style now, but cheap, easy, and pretty foolproof.

Be a decent amount of fabrication for that.   I'm not sure why tiller steering wouldn't work, though.  Too close to the transom of the boat so it wouldn't plane well?  If so, my choice would be to just get some PVC tube, cut some 3" slits in one end, then hose-clamp it to the tiller.  Tiller is now as long as you need it to be.  Worked nicely for my 12 foot boat.
You can also order one off Amazon for $20-30ish

I like the idea of the Thai longtail racing boat setup.   
 

with that it's just finding the cheapest dirt bike motor (125 or 250) and fabbing up a driveshaft.   Since spectacle over sensible is what you're aiming for, right?

And for paint: full metal flake, bass boat garishness.   Candy Apple red hull, astroturf green interior.