Mud motor build

[Texas Grown]

Nice work man!

[justinmichael]

nice job

[simsknives]

Thank Yall!

[froghunter]

bring your rig to gibbons saturday and shoot some fish out of it.

[miket]

I am thoroughly impressed.

[Stolle]

Really cool! Great job.

[simsknives]

here is another video of it running in some really shallow stuff about 12'' in the beginning then when i get into the turn its around 4'' of water and some medium soft mud.

[simsknives]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htZ8FgRRleU"]Longtail mud motor Homebuilt - YouTube[/ame]

[simsknives]

took it back in some really swampy areas too and up a small creek with logs and winding parts it did really well. i now have to install the kill switch the one i had wasnt the correct one. I aslo have to fix a small hole in the bottom of the boat that the epoxy didnt hold up and i also will fabricate a removable grab bar.

[simsknives]

got the new kill switch in and working. need to also put a small grove in the shaft where the ujoint set screws go into to keep it from walking up the ujoint.

[simsknives]

do any of yall know how to weld aluminum? how hard is it and what do i need to watch out for?

[fowlwaters]

It is different then steel what are you going to weld with?

[simsknives]

a spool gun wire welder i also bought some aluminum electrodes but dont have a lot of confidence on the thin boat hull.

[Texas Grown]

If your hull is of a standard thickness, then it's skin is most likely .065" or less for 14' and less. .065" is about = to 1/16" and is used on some boats up to 17'. If your gonna use a spool gun, you will need to move very very quick to keep from blowing through. Straight argon or a mix of helium would be best for gas coverage. Tig welding it would be the best bet yet as the heat can be controlled. I used to work for a company that did Structural Warranty Repair for the 5 state region, for a major marine company. Also serviced a lot of other major brands and mfgs. If you were up my way, I'd sure enough give you a hand in get-n it done. Got a tig machine in the garage .

I currently sit at a small aluminum work table all day welding parts for helicopters. Aluminum as thin as .020" and stainless as thin as .016" with no melt or burn through allowed.

[simsknives]

Thanks for the info gotta get done with these finals so I can work on it!