# ultra shallow boat project



## Swamp (Jul 12, 2010)

Cool!  I don't hate airboats at all.  There are a select few operators that I could do without.  But that is it same with any "class" of boat.  The vast majority are very curtious and friendly, and I've never had one not stop to offer help if it was obvious I was having issues.  I get more frustrated in the passes than I do in the swamp.  Don't get me started on a few of the "Bassholes" out there!  Got to love the "But I'm in tournament!" attitude.  I think the biggest source of friction between airboaters and others is that Florida is shrinking. Gigging frogs till 3 am on that little lake like they have done for 20 yrs is a problem because now it has houses on it.  I've had them running my fence line all night long and yes I finally called the cops, I felt a little bad but I have the right to sleep too.  Difficult situation.  Mind you I also knew they were on private property without permission.  Airboaters also tend to get cranky when a bunch of yakers are paddling down a trail without flags or anything and then get yelled at because the idiots almost got run over.  I don't blame the airboaters for being frustrated.

Anyway cool boat and thanks for sharing.

Swamp


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## oysterbreath (Jan 13, 2009)

Sweet work! Did you do your own pipe work?
Man that thing is indeed an 80's creations!
Inspired by TC's 500D huh? That's Magnum P.I. for you Under 30 folk. lol


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

That's a very impressive project. Not a micro but a really cool project to share with the forum.

Thanks

[smiley=1-thumbsup2.gif]


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

> Did you do your own pipe work?


I had a fair amount of help naturally, but I did 100% of the design and 99% of all the fabricating, welding, rebuilt the Lycoming O-320 bought as a "run-out" and the paint job, which was ppg base coat with DU3000 clear coat. If it weren't for some very good friends letting me use their warehouse space it would have never happened though. The work was done in two shops, in two phases and if I remember took about 6 months to complete working steady at it.

Here's a few random pic's out enjoying the boat with friends, which was used quite a lot for running dogs in the Big Cypress Shark Valley and Stairsteps units. Off season was gigging frogs and bass fishing. 


































This guy's dad has one of the few camps grandfathered in the Big Cypress Corndance unit. I'd love to find some of the pics of the times we've had out there. Capt Shane would poop himself if he saw some of the bass we pulled out of the norh end of his honey hole at night out there.  









Mike helping Doug troubleshoot something before we head out of camp. These two guys were the most helpful and influential on the project. All of us had to have Mr. Goodwrench survival skills running these rigs because they always failed in the worse places and towing options are very limited out there. We ran dry ground a lot, sometimes all day and would carry extra "jugs" (lycoming cylinder units) with us, just in case we burned a ring or munched a piston. Those aircraft engines are sick reliable, but they do fail used under those conditions and partially because most of us couldn't afford to maintain them at an "air worthy" level. So you had to know how to fix them and usually in crappy places.


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## beyondhelp (Nov 6, 2008)

Thanks for posting the pix. I really want to build an aluminum hulled deckover. I really like the palm beach styled boats. One day...


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

Very cool post, I bet it brings back some good memories, eh? 

It never surprises me to see the talent forum members possess, very cool build. 

So as someone who used to run some of the "piggy" places back in the day, do you think the pig population has increased dramatically since then, or did you guys have them running all over back then too?


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

> Thanks for posting the pix. I really want to build an aluminum hulled deckover. I really like the palm beach styled boats. One day...


those palm beach style hulls are a lot better for open water than the flatter "grass" boat's that are more common south of the big-O. Those days I think Gary Thurman would have been "the" man as far as glades style grass hulls were concerned. Anyway, with the higher sides the Palm Beach hulls are harder to sink, even without a full deck. So they were more popular where guys ran bigger water more often. 

Here's a few pic's of my buddy Mark's Palm Beach hull built by Lacey Everett from Lantana in the early 80's. Lacey was "the" man back then with aircraft engines. His claim to fame was winning a lot of airboat races around the state and was quite the character too. A lot of fun to be around. Last I heard he moved up around Palatka. I actually painted Marks' hull in 1986 or 87 with automotive base coat/clear coat too and these pic's are from 1998 on the Kissimmee flood plain near Sebring. Neither Mark nor I expected that paint to hold up 11 years .  




























Tom, these days I'd say there's more hog's in the same places and more hog's in more places. 
As fer the memories, hell yeah. I'm just glad we managed to take a few pictures here and there to reflect back on. Back in the day we didn't take pictures like people do today. I know what I have or at least managed to find is a tiny fraction of what we did, which was practically something different every weekend.


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## beyondhelp (Nov 6, 2008)

Even more cool pix. Thanks! 

I like the glades styled boats. (or grass boats) as well as these: 










I'm working on a different kind of "boat" ('68 DeVille) right now so neither one is in my near future. Still fun to look at.


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