Im building an 18hp surface drive and was just going to put this up here in case somebody else wanted to build one. I bought the surface drive plans on ebay just as a guy guide, I'm not going to actually follow the measurements on it. The goal is to build this thing and sell it. I'm making just to run the river for the second half of duck season. Theres a few log jams that I need to jump, but can't with a regular motor. I'll probably build another after this one though. My dream boat would have 2 35hp mud motors with tilt and trim. If I can pick up or build a 16ft or 18ft boat cheap enough, I may build those on my own too. Really just doing this to learn, practice, and problem solve for when I do build bigger ones.
I'm aiming to stay around $800 for the whole build, I'm doing good so far I think. I'll update the totals as I go along!
Motor $320
Prop will be $150
Metal I have so far is $100
I think I'll spend another $100 on metal and bolts
Today I started building the transom mount, this seems to be one of the most complex parts of the build. It's not hard, just time consuming cutting out everything. I'm using a 1/8th steel and cutting it out with a grinder/cutting wheel. On the same but another note I drew out templates of all the pieces that I cut and will cut and probably sell them on ebay for $10 or something. I saw several other transom kits but they were like $150-$200 and some of them you still had to weld. This way someone could just cut the pieces of paper out and trace it onto the metal and cut the metal out.
So I came up with this bracket design from looking at other peoples online, comparing to the plans, and comparing it to my 18hp evinrude. If I do it again I think I'll give the hook part 2.5" instead of 2". It works though so I won't complain!
I'm aiming to stay around $800 for the whole build, I'm doing good so far I think. I'll update the totals as I go along!
Motor $320
Prop will be $150
Metal I have so far is $100
I think I'll spend another $100 on metal and bolts
Today I started building the transom mount, this seems to be one of the most complex parts of the build. It's not hard, just time consuming cutting out everything. I'm using a 1/8th steel and cutting it out with a grinder/cutting wheel. On the same but another note I drew out templates of all the pieces that I cut and will cut and probably sell them on ebay for $10 or something. I saw several other transom kits but they were like $150-$200 and some of them you still had to weld. This way someone could just cut the pieces of paper out and trace it onto the metal and cut the metal out.
So I came up with this bracket design from looking at other peoples online, comparing to the plans, and comparing it to my 18hp evinrude. If I do it again I think I'll give the hook part 2.5" instead of 2". It works though so I won't complain!
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