On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 12:28:59 GMT, "Keith"
wrote:


http://www.scavengerbackwater.com/scavenger.html
I've even seen folks use little gas powered weed eaters, replacing the
fishing line cutter with a little prop. Noisy, but inexpensive and basically
disposable after a couple of seasons.


I have one of those. It's loud but it works well. Much better than a
battery powered trolling motor. Batteries die quickly but I have went
5 miles on a pint of gas in my canoe. What it really needs is gearing
though. I have worked out a few designs but have not came up with
anything that would be easy to build and would work well. If I could
make that little 2 cycle engine go double the rpm I would have twice
the power and the engine would run better. Little 2 cycles don't like
low rpms.

I got tired of the weedeater engine and converted the canoe into a 4
stroke inboard. Used a 2hp Briggs and Stratton motor. Little canoe
was quite fast in that incarnation. Then I got an old fiberglass
semi-v jon boat with a 15 hp outboard. The canoe sat until the
sawhorses I kept it on collapsed and tiny black ants felt like my
transom was a good home. I may rebuild it again someday. I have
rebuilt that canoe like 10 times in the 15 years I have owned it.

But first I need to build me a new boat. The semi-v is over 40 years
old and the fiberglass acts more and more like it is going to just
give one day. What I need is a method of boat building that doesn't
cost much of anything. I have thought about using cheap materials,
but all the cheap ones will make the boat less safe than the one I
have now. I need to build a 15ft boat that is capable of carrying 6
people for less than $200. Is it possible? Caveat being that is has
to be a safe boat that will last more than one season.