New Waterfowl toy

[BilletHead]

    Well the BilletHead's pulled the trigger on a mud motor. 10 HP.  Have had the boat for awhile. Needed the motor and a trailer. Ordered the motor and began a search for a trailer. Finally found a trailer. Had to do work on it. Front of tongue messed up. Cut off some and good to go. De assembled trailer, did some sanding and painted. Reassembled then cleaned and repacked wheel bearings. New LED lights and wiring. Motor put on. Yesterday I took a solo trip and learned a bunch. There is a learning curve running this thing. Some tweaking on adjustments. Biggest thing. With my back my balance sucks. Fell in the boat once, then twice. Second time kind of off the side with me getting wet and boat taking on some water. I did not go over just tipped the rig. A slow crash it was . This being said a grab bar is needed. This was built this morning before taking the Mrs. for her trip. I have had two over the seat brackets made for this boat to get you a little higher for fishing. Took the seat off of one of the brackets and attached the for now wooden grab bar. This makes a nice seat back for a rider. Attached a piece of plywood for a seat. Fits tight over the seat an a pull straight up easy off. Worked real well. We ran through three foot high smartweed and over mud flats where the boat bottom was hitting the bottom. Fun times running the marsh. Ducks were spotted, actually lots of ducks. Made another bracket for resting the tail in the boat. Less strain on the transom. Slips over the back seat. A grab handle lifts it off when not on road. By myself it will run 17 MPH. I am truly impressed. Not sure how much I will be using this by myself but will with the Mrs. Gives us the option of hunting other areas than the ponds and fields we do around home.
 The seat and grab bar are now painted camo too. Need to repaint boat. Pretty neat what you can do with some rattle cans and a good imagination.

BilletHead

[Chief Grey Bear]

Freaking awesome!!!

 

[Nitro 750]

Very nice toy!!!!  Looks like you did a very good job of putting it all together.  Very nice!!!!

[jdmidwest]

I wonder how that would operate in a shallow stream.  Like a jet boat?

I have that last niche in the armada.  I need something that performs in shallow water like marshes and in shallow streams like a jet boat.  Jets choke on marsh grass, but is that little flimsy protector strong enough to pull a boat thru a rocky riffle in 5 inches of water?

Nice boat by the way.

[duckydoty]

I love my mud motor!  Good Loki g rig Marty!

[JohnP]

As if the ducks didn't stand a chance from you without power now you've went uped the game on em ;).  looks good Marty.

[BilletHead]

   JD the Skeg or fin below the prop is pretty thick and not flimsy. I would think it would go right through a riffle or shoal. This being said that is why I have a jet in my armada/ fleet for that. I may use this vessel though in places I cannot get the bigger craft launched.

  Now back to painting again. It had been several years since I had painted the boat. Since everything else got a coat I decided to refresh this boat. 

  Inside and out.

 

  Then here is the over the seat, seat and grab bar. Did talk to a friend who will bend me a section of aluminum tubing to take place of the wood handle.

BilletHead

   

[jdmidwest]

I was really impressed by the get up and go of your rig.  I have seen some mud motors locally that were a joke, loud and grossly under powered.

Looking at the website, it seems like they have made some progress.  My multipurpose shallow water boat may be heading a different direction.

My favorite stream for a jet boat is regulated at 25 hp.  I really don't think we get 17 mph out of the Mercury 25 4 stroke setup we are fishing now.  And I am getting to the point of being too lazy to paddle a spread of decoys out in a kayak any more.

How noisy is the motor?  Most I have seen are not much quieter than an airboat with a fan.

[BilletHead]

    Keep in mind JD this 17 mph is just me in an empty boat. Noise wise it would compared to a riding lawnmower. Much less noisy than my 60/40 jet.  My friend and forum member curtise has a 14 ft and wider than mine with a 23 hp backwater. Now that baby will really go. The deal though is on conservation waterfowl areas over 10 hp is idle no wake speed. Now going out in the dark I will put in but going out after hunting I won't have to worry about the idle no wake law . Actually I try not to hurry at anything anymore. Hurrying will just get you into trouble faster.

  BilletHead

[wily]

cool boat billethead -- looks like a lot of fun -- you should have a lot of pride in fabricating it yourself...good job.