“Made It Myself” Airboat

“Made It Myself” Airboat FARM HOME Miscellaneous Joey McLennan and his dad found an old flat bottom boat in the bottom of a river after a flood and decided to turn it into an airboat “It’s about 10 ft long 3 1/2 ft wide and it works real slick The lower unit used for steering is from an old outboard We removed the engine and made a steering apparatus on top that I run from a pole that extends up to the driver’s seat The power to run it comes from a 6 1/2 hp Honda that drives a 20 in fan The fan blades have adjustable pitch so that sort of lets us choose how fast we want to go ” McLennan says if a person can’t find a prop to fit the motor that the shaft of a Chevy water pump and the 6 1/2 hp engine are the same It’s possible to heat sweat the hub off of a Chevy water pump and place it directly on the 6 1/2 hp engine without using a keyway and it will shrink onto the shaft of the engine Then any fan will mount to the water pump hub ” McLennan says the boat glides along the surface of the water at 10 to 15 mph and is real stable “There’s only room for the driver and one other person so it’s not a party barge ” he adds The boat is also equipped with a trolling motor so he and his nieces and nephews have used it for fishing “We can go a couple miles in either direction from our place so it’s a nice way to get on the water regardless of how shallow the river is running ” McLennan says the boat took he and his dad probably a dozen hours to build without a lot of money invested either “It sure has provided a lot of fun ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Joey McLennan 10191 St Hwy 111N Edna Texas 77957 ph 361 782-1368

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.