How to do homemade airboat. It should be noted that the power units of hang-gliders in terms of power, reliability and coefficient useful action are great for creating airboats, since the parameters of the motor with a propeller are no worse than those of traditional power units with a propeller. Moreover, a boat with an air propulsion is not afraid of shallow water, thickets of reeds, sedges and algae.
In addition, the glider engine releases exhaust gases not into the water, like an outboard or stationary power unit of any boat (from the point of view of environmentalists, this method of dampening the exhaust does not stand up to criticism!), But into the air. So, airboat. The heart of his propeller installation is outboard motor"Whirlwind" - a compact two-cylinder liquid-cooled engine with a power of about 25 hp. Unfortunately, its crankshaft speed is high to work in tandem with a propeller, so the motor is equipped with a three-strand V-belt gearbox with gear ratio 1.6. V-belts - "Zhiguli", from the "engine - pump - generator" system.
The driving and driven pulleys are machined from duralumin (D16T or AK4-1T) and, after fitting, are subjected to hard anodizing. The drive pulley is attached to the flywheel with rivets. To install a driven pulley on the engine, it is necessary to install a spacer plate made of 5 mm thick steel sheet on its front part, and mount the cantilever axle of the driven pulley on it. The pulley itself rotates on an axis, on two ball bearings 204 and one - 205. Duralumin spacers are located between the bearings.
The pulley is fixed on the axle with a retaining ring and a screw with a washer. The spacer plate is bolted to the engine crankcase and to the brackets, and the latter are installed on adapter bushings, which are screwed onto the engine head mounting studs instead of nuts. To tension the belts, a mechanism is used, consisting of a sleeve welded to the spacer plate and a bolt with a nut. As already mentioned, the engine is cooled by liquid, while using sea water supplied to the cooling jacket homemade pump made on the basis of the impeller from the Kama electric pump.
For supporting optimal temperature engine (80-85°C) a standard car thermostat is used. The engine is started with the help of a cord, for which a pulley is installed between the screw and the spinner, around which the cord is wrapped before starting. Airboat propeller - wooden, monoblock, that is, made from a single piece pine bar. True, it is not easy to pick up such a bar without knots and an oblique layer, and in this case it makes sense to glue the workpiece epoxy resin from carefully planed plates with a thickness of about 10 mm.
When selecting plates, it is necessary to ensure that the layers of wood are located symmetrically relative to the gluing planes - this will save the propeller from possible warping in the future. The manufacture of a propeller begins with the preparation of templates - plywood or, better, duralumin, which are made according to a carefully executed plaza drawing on a scale of 1: 1. You will need the following templates: planar, side view (up to the axis of symmetry), as well as the upper and lower screw profiles. To begin with, the workpiece is jointed from all sides in accordance with overall dimensions screw, after which axial lines are applied to it and, using a template, the contours of the side view.
Further, excess wood is removed - first with a sharpened hatchet, and then with a planer and rasp. Further, the workpiece is already marked with the help of a planned template, which is fixed with a small nail in the center of the future screw, outlined with a pencil, after which the template is rotated 180 degrees and the planned projection of the second blade is marked. Excess wood is removed with a bow or band saw with fine teeth. The most important part of the work is giving the blades an aerodynamic profile. As can be seen from the drawing of the screw, one side is flat and the other is convex.
In accordance with the position of the control sections on the workpiece, the places for installing the templates are marked, and “beacons” are punched with a semicircular chisel and a semicircular rasp - in accordance with the configuration of the upper and lower templates. The main tool for processing propeller blades is a small ax made of good steel, literally sharpened to a razor sharpness. When removing wood, it is recommended to first make small nates - this will avoid splitting the workpiece. This is followed by pre-treatment of the workpiece with a planer and rasp. Then follows the final finishing in the slipway. The latter is a carefully planed board with a thickness of at least 60 mm, on which transverse cuts are made to a depth of 20 mm to install the lower profile templates of the propeller blade in them.
The central rod of the slipway is machined from steel or duralumin, its diameter must correspond to the hole in the screw hub. The rod is glued in the center of the stacking board strictly perpendicular to its surface. Next, the working surfaces of the lower templates are rubbed with a colored pencil or blue, the screw blank is put on the central rod and pressed against the templates - first with one blade, and then with the other. In this case, traces of the templates will be imprinted on the workpiece in those places where they come into contact with the bottom surface of the propeller.
"Soiled" places with a planer, plow, rasp or wooden block with the skin glued to it are peeled off, the workpiece is again placed in the slipway - and the processing of the propeller blades is repeated. When the traces of the colored pencil are imprinted across the entire width of the blade, the processing of its lower surface can be considered complete. The upper part of the screw is processed in the slipway using the upper templates (they are also called counter-templates). First, using a semicircular rasp, the blade is adjusted to the counter-templates (as professionals say, counter-templates are planted), as a result of which the template and the counter-template should touch along the parting plane, tightly covering the blade itself.
Then the processed places are rubbed with a colored pencil and the zones between the control sections are processed. In this case, painting is necessary in order to exclude re-processing of the blade at the locations of the control sections. The correctness of processing is checked with an even steel ruler applied to one percent points of adjacent sections. On a properly made blade, there should be no gap between the ruler and the surface. If in the process of work the awkward movement of the tool led to the chipping of wood, then this does not mean at all that the work is irreparably damaged. You can fix it with a putty mixed with epoxy glue and small sawdust
The finished screw is carefully balanced. This is best done by firmly inserting a metal roller into the central hole and placing the propeller on the balancing bars. If one of the blades turns out to be lighter, it is recommended to load it with lead, for which small strips of this metal are first glued onto it, and when the propeller is balanced, the strips are melted and poured into a mold, for example, into a segment steel pipe. The resulting rod (or rods) is riveted into a hole drilled in the place of the blade where the lead strips were glued.
The hole on both sides of the blade should be slightly countersunk. Finishing the propeller consists in gluing it with two layers of thin fiberglass, followed by grinding, final balancing, priming and painting with car enamel. Frame homemade airboat consists of two large parts - upper and lower. It is better to start assembling it from the bottom. To do this, in accordance with the theoretical drawing of the hull and drawings, shaping frames are cut out of plywood 12 mm thick, and stringers and keels are cut out of slats with a section of 20x20, 30x20 and 30x30 mm. The frame is assembled on a flat floor. Previously, the diametral plane and the locations of the frames are marked on it. The frames are attached to the floor with wooden bars and braces.
The adjustment of the rails of the longitudinal set is carried out "in place", the fastening of the rails to the frames is done with epoxy glue with temporary fixation of the elements with a safety wire. Curvilinear slats for the front of the frame are obtained by first steaming them in boiling water and fixing them with wire on the frame. After the rails have dried, the latter are fixed on the frames with epoxy glue. After the framing (leveling) of the frame, the spacings are filled with building foam blocks, which are fixed using the same epoxy binder.
After processing the foam surface (if necessary, it is puttied with a familiar composition of epoxy glue and sawdust), the body is pasted over with two layers of fiberglass, puttied, sanded and painted with car enamels. From the inside, the foam is cut flush with the frames and is also pasted over with fiberglass. The manufacture of the upper part of the airboat is not much different from the bottom. True, the frame is assembled not from plywood frames, but from prepared curved rails, and not on the floor, but on the already finished lower part of the hull.
The frame, on which the engine mount is mounted, has an increased cross section and reinforcements at the junction of the rails - plywood scarves. The frame itself is attached to a cross member made of a square steel pipe with a section of 40x40 mm and fixed with braces made of pipes with a diameter of 22 mm. Forming is also carried out with the help of foam plastic, followed by gluing with fiberglass. Glazing of doors - from plexiglass 4 mm thick, windshield - from back door car "Moskvich-2141". Part of the door itself has become an element of the cabin.
Airboat doors consist of wooden frame and plywood sheathing. Inside and outside they are covered with fiberglass. Door hinges - homemade, overhead. In the ceiling of the cabin (or, if you like, the cabin) there is a removable hatch cover, made from a cut-out part of the roof. In the rear part of the airboat, two keels are mounted, which organize the air flow and, moreover, perform the function of protecting the propeller.
Controlled homemade airboat with the help of a steering wheel, on the shaft of which a steering drum is fixed, connected by a cable wiring with a traverse on the baller box of the steering wheel. Management of the "gas" - a lever located under the left hand of the driver. The cabin accommodates passenger and driver seats. Seat and back frames are glued together wooden slats and sheathed with 4 mm plywood. Pillows - from foam rubber and an imitation leather.
Fans of making various “toys” on the control panel will probably be very interested in how to make an airboat with their own hands. This boat, which is really self-assembled, will a wonderful gift child or help on a fishing trip.
What materials will be needed
In principle, anyone can assemble an airboat with their own hands. The only thing is that you will have to buy some parts (if they are not at hand at home). All you need is:
If you give a child this wonderful homemade product, it is best to use an impeller. Its advantage over the propeller is that the baby will not be able to cripple his fingers. But the thrust of the impeller is quite small - about 500 g. But if you make an airboat light, then it will be enough.
The beginning of the foam building process
If you use an impeller as an engine, then it would be best to take foam sheets 20 mm thick. On if it is not at hand, then you can build an airboat with your own hands from the ceiling.
If the airboat is not too large, you can take sheets with a thickness of 40 mm. Excellent buoyancy indicators combined with ease make penoplex an excellent material for this homemade product.
In order for the airboat to be stable on the water, balancing should be done by arranging all the parts in a special order. Since the heaviest part of the boat is the battery. It should be set as low as possible. To do this, under it, you can cut a recess in the case. But it should also be borne in mind that the ceiling is a rather fragile and thin material. So we need to reinforce it somehow. A ruler (usual school wooden ruler) is suitable for this purpose. With the help of glue or epoxy, it is fixed in places that may not withstand loads.
After the electrical equipment of the future boat has been installed, it is necessary to glue the bottom to the hull. This can be done with Titan glue and wait a while for it to dry completely. After that, you can do add-ons.
Do-it-yourself airboat add-ons
In order to make add-ons on the deck of the future boat, you can use ready-made drawings, or you can try to do something of your own. Of course, all models have some features that unite them. Therefore, do not be wise.
The mount for the impeller can be made from two connected foam parts. To do this, you need to cut out a rectangle, and cut a circle in it for the engine, and then cut the resulting rectangle in half. This design allows you to make the engine removable (for replacement or repair). In order to securely fix the impeller and not be afraid that it will pop out at any moment, you can fix it using the same ruler and a pair of self-tapping screws. To do this, it is glued between the two halves of the foam rectangle, and then the resulting structure is glued and fixed with screws.
The superstructure in the form of a wheelhouse will allow you to cover electrical equipment from splashes. Fastening is done with glue. You can use hot melt adhesive, but if the airboat will be used in winter time, then it is not the best choice. In addition, holes for ventilation will have to be made in the wheelhouse.
Boat controls
In order for the airboat to be somehow controlled, it needs to be attached to the rudder. A thin ceiling is best. A rectangle is cut out of it. To fix the steering wheel, you can use any rod of 3 mm section. Additionally, you will have to take into account that when driving on water, the airboat will “lift up” its nose and the steering wheel will be in the water.
Ship pressurization
The boat is able to move on any surface, be it snow, water or grass. It is possible that dirt and water get inside the homemade product. To prevent this, you will have to arm yourself with alcohol, epoxy and a brush. Since the do-it-yourself airboat is radio-controlled, the antenna must be hidden in a carbon fiber tube. Then you need to dilute the epoxy with alcohol and apply it to the ship with a brush. This will not only protect against water, but also make sliding easier. And an additional plus from epoxy coating - an airboat, made with your own hands, becomes stronger.
"Bloat" and accessories
To highlight your airboat, you can take care of some "decorations" and useful additions. Cans of paint are great for painting the boat, and with tape you can add something to the hull or decorate the steering wheel. But keep in mind that the weight of the model increases, which means that the speed will be lower. The main thing is not to overdo it, because the boat can simply roll over in the water. In addition, the airboat can be equipped with lights and LED bulbs.
Styrofoam airboat
Styrofoam has the same buoyancy characteristics as Styrofoam. Therefore, the creation process is not much different. And on the Internet you don’t have to search separately for how to build an airboat with your own hands. Just like in the first case, you can make an airboat with your own hands (drawings of a boat will help facilitate this process). Or show your imagination and collect something of your own. And to strengthen the structure, you can use construction tape. They cover the whole bottom. Wooden rulers can not be used to strengthen the structure.
Do-it-yourself airboat for fishing
To make feeding fish not only a simple process, but also exciting, you can use a do-it-yourself radio-controlled airboat. For permanent use, it is best to make a solid boat out of plastic or plywood (although plastic or PVC panels are more suitable for this purpose, because they do not rot)
The cost of the resulting "toy" will be about six thousand rubles. Agree, compared to what fishing shops offer (boats from 30 thousand rubles), this is still divine.
For any avid fisherman, such a homemade product will help to bait fish. Usually, lure is thrown by hand over a certain distance, the boat is able to simplify this process. When making an airboat with your own hands for fishing, you need to take into account that the food will have to be lowered into the water somehow from it. In order to solve this problem, you can take the path of least resistance - make opening containers with complementary foods, and tie a strong thread or fishing line to the door. When the airboat reaches the desired point, it will only be necessary to pull the rope.
Mission "Rescuer"
Avid fans of radio-controlled aircraft may find themselves in a difficult situation - their model can fall into a pond, but it will not work out in any way. Now we are talking about models of hydroplanes, because the rest of the models of aircraft, most likely, will immediately go to the bottom.
So, the fan of radio-controlled aviation is in trouble. The plane ended up in the river. In order to pull it out, it is enough to attach the end of a strong rope to the body of the airboat. And then, with the help of a boat, pick up the plane and pull it out of the water.
Here is a drawing of a simple model with an electric motor and a propeller. Real boats of this type are used on shallow rivers, where a regular ship's propeller can be damaged. For the manufacture of the model used a popular material - foam. It is very light and handles well. It can be cut with a thermal cutter (see M-K No. 3, 1978, p. 47), as well as with a jigsaw, hacksaw or a sharp thin knife. Processing is completed with a planer or blade from a safety razor and glass skin. When gluing or painting, do not use substances containing acetone or nitro thinner, as they damage the foam.
First, draw the model at actual size. Then transfer parts 1, 4, 8, 9, 10 through carbon paper onto joinery plywood 3-5 mm thick, cut them out with a jigsaw and sand with glass sandpaper. From 50 mm thick foam, cut two bars measuring 390X90 mm. Mark cutouts for the cockpit and batteries on both halves as shown in part 9 and cut them out. To part 9, attach the steering wheel 11, cut out of aluminum (thickness 1 mm) or copper (thickness 0.5 mm) sheet, with an M3 screw with a nut. Glue both bars on both sides of part 9 with BF-2 or PVA glue and press them together. In order not to damage the edges of the bars at the same time, attach to the side walls a plank of soft wood dimensions 10X50 mm. For tightening, you can use a rubber thread, carpentry clamp, etc.
When the glue dries, make cutouts in the bow and stern and glue parts 1 and 10. Transfer to the cardboard half of the upper and side projections of the hull outline. Then cut them out and outline with a soft pencil on the model. Now, placing the hull of the boat on a solid stand, give it the desired shape, making sure that both halves are symmetrical. After that, paste over the case with thin paper (you can use newspaper). Paint the shell in the main color, pre-filling the bumps, after drying, sand, put another layer of paint. The final coating is done with synthetic enamel. We recommend taking paints in contrasting colors, for example, white with red, white with blue, etc.
Cut out the side walls of the cabin (detail 3), right and left, and the front window (detail 2) from thick paper, bend as shown, and insert a piece of thin celluloid to simulate porthole glass before gluing. Make the seat out of Styrofoam and paint both it and the outside of the cabin scarlet before gluing it into the cockpit. Paste the floor with black paper or a piece of wallpaper imitating wood. Fasten the steering wheel.
Glue the motor stand (item 8) with the 5X5 mm rails attached to it into the upper slot of the pylon, in which one side is cut off, as shown in the drawing (section G-D). To move the model, a 4.5 V microelectric motor (part 7) is used, on the shaft of which tightly fit the propeller (part 6) Ø140 mm. If the hole in its bushing is too small, ream it to Ø1.9 mm. Mount the motor with a propeller on a stand and fix it with a rubber band threaded into a hook made of wire Ø0.8 mm (paper clip). To connect the motor to a 3336L 4.5 V battery, use a Ø1 mm wire. Make a switch from contacts from an old battery and two M3 screws with nuts.
The lever switch is more convenient to place on the pylon under the motor stand. Turning on the motor, see if it rotates in the right direction: the air stream should go behind the stern of the boat. If this is not the case, then the direction of rotation of the motor can be changed by changing the ends of the wire on the contacts. The battery must be closed with a lid (part 4), one end of which is inserted under the pylon, and the other end is fixed with a cotter pin made of wire Ø0.8 mm inserted into the hole in part 9. Drill two holes Ø1 mm in the front of the cover and insert a bracket into them, also from wire Ø0.8 mm, for easy opening of the cover when changing the battery.
Airboat is great vehicle for those who often like to go fishing and hunting, because in terms of its characteristics it is many times greater than the cross-country ability of any off-road vehicle. Moreover, it can be operated both in summer and in winter. True, the cost of airboats sometimes starts at 300 thousand rubles and more. But you can go the other way by making such a tool yourself.
Home-made airboats are practically not inferior in quality to factory counterparts. Therefore, every year in Russia there are more and more of them. And today we will look at how to make an airboat with your own hands.
Engine
The motor for our homemade can be used from the usual Soviet times. But for lovers of high speed, this will not seem enough. In this case, you should pay attention to the Japanese Honda and Yamaha engines with a capacity of 150 to 210 horsepower. Paired with a propeller, such a motor is capable of accelerating the boat up to 50 kilometers per hour on water and up to 90 on ice. and the thermostat is taken from passenger car type "Zhiguli". The driven and driving pulleys are made of duralumin steel.
Screws, blades and propeller
In addition to the engine, you should also take care of the propeller of the airboat. We will make it from one piece wooden beam. You can go the other way by gluing several 10 mm plates. It is important that finished item did not contain extra knots and burrs. As for the plates, when fitting them, it is better to make a 1: 1 drawing, which will be a kind of template, and already according to these data, make the propeller of the boat.
To make an airboat with your own hands with high quality, you should not be lazy and make everything “by eye” - each detail is made according to its own template and drawing.
The propeller blades should also be free of burrs and other deformed areas. Such shortcomings are removed with a small hatchet. Next, the wood is processed with a planer and rasp. Cross cuts are made on a special slipway. They are needed to install the propeller blades.
How to make an airboat with your own hands? For the slipway rod, we need ordinary steel. The main thing is that its diameter is equal to the opening of the hub of the mentioned part. Next, the rod is placed on the center of the stacking board. After that, a propeller blank is put on it and pressed against the template with several blades. On this blank, traces of templates should be displayed (where the blades touch the propeller).
These places should be processed with a planer and placed back in the slipway. The process of processing the blades must be repeated. Further, using the upper templates, the upper part of the screw is processed. As a result, both elements must touch up to the plane of the connector. All processed places are marked with a colored pencil or marker, after which zones are made between the control section. The correctness of the work performed is checked with a steel ruler - it is applied to the points of adjacent sections. Ideally, the gap between the ruler and the blades should be minimal.
Now the screw needs to be balanced. This is done in the following way. First, a steel roller is inserted into the central hole and a propeller is mounted on the balancing rulers. If suddenly one blade turned out to be lighter than the other, it is loaded with lead (thin strips of this metal, previously poured into the mold, are glued). The finished rod is inserted into the hole of the blade - where the lead strips were applied. It is flared on both sides. The propeller is glued on both sides with fiberglass, polished, balanced and goes through the painting procedure (priming and enamelling).
How to make an airboat with your own hands? Drawings and assembly of the lower case
The body of the airboat consists of two parts - lower and upper. It's best to start with the first one. To do this, in accordance with the drawing, we prepare frames from 12 mm plywood sheets. The keel and stringers will be made of slats with a section of 2x2, 2x3 and 3x3 centimeters. Frames are mounted to the floor on bars and braces. Adjust the rails should be in place. They are attached to Reiki for the front of the boat, undergo a preliminary procedure of steaming in boiling water, after which they are tied to the frame with wire. After drying, the wood is finally fixed with glue. Next, the finished frame is leveled and filled with foam blocks. The latter are also planted on epoxy resin.
If necessary, the foam is puttied with a mixture of glue and sawdust. The case itself is glued on both sides with a thin layer of fiberglass, after which it is polished and painted. From the inside, unnecessary foam is cut so that it is flush with the frames. Then it is also glued with fiberglass.
Upper case
The upper part of the body is assembled a little differently. Here we will not use plywood frames, but curved rails that will be mounted on the finished bottom of the boat. Where the engine is located, the frame is fixed with scarves. The frame itself is mounted to the cross member of a square steel pipe (4x4 cm) and fixed with 2.2 cm pipes. Then everything is simple - foam is applied to the surface and pasted over with fiberglass. So we will complete the procedure for forming the upper part of the hull of a homemade airboat. Doors can be made from plywood, and the windshield is best taken from any domestic car (for example, from the back door of the Moskvich).
How to make fishing crafts? Controls
A drum is installed on the steering wheel shaft, connected to a crosshead on the rudder baller box. Instead of an accelerator pedal, there will be a small lever that can be attached to any front of the boat's cabin.
Salon
Armchairs for passengers and the driver are made of wood slats and plywood. The frame is filled with foam rubber and sheathed in leather. You can go the other way - take ready-made seats from any foreign car or even a domestic car. At this stage, the question "how to make an airboat with your own hands" can be considered closed. All other little things in the cabin are arranged to your liking, the main thing here is to have imagination and enthusiasm.
So, we figured out how to make an airboat with our own hands. Good luck!
After digging on the Internet, reviewing many photographs and drawings, I imagined it in my head and embodied it on paper. Here... 
The search for materials for the construction did not cause difficulties - it was our familiar foam.
To begin with, we need a piece of ball foam (or whatever is more convenient for you). Length 450mm,
Width 162mm, Thickness 350mm. We give the shape we need with the help of a clerical knife. And then we glue it with foam. 
Don't forget to install servers. 
Next, cut out a sheet of the size we need and glue it on top. 
And then glue everything to the end. 
While the glue dries, let's start collecting the floats. Having cut out the two different plates we need, cutting the tips at a certain angle, we glue them together. 
Well, later we glue the rest of the details. It must have turned out something similar to this. 
As for the motor mount, I made it from oak. A place for mounting the engine - from thin plywood glued to plastic. 
The diameter is about 45mm (approximately). 
Next, we make a cylinder for the motor mount so that it sits on it tightly. 
And we make three slots in it (one near the seam, and the other two at a distance of about 15mm on both sides. This is for the superstructure). There is only one more in the photo. 
Here we come to the most difficult part. Maybe someone thought looking at general drawing that it's easy, but I also thought so. And it was difficult for me. First, cut out the similarity of triangles and bend them. 
Just cut out the other part and bend it too. 
Then we glue them together. After the glue dries, cut out the windows and doors. 
Then you need to immediately paste plastic film, which will serve as glasses (I took from the packaging of toys). Cut and glue the back of the superstructure. 
Let's not forget about the hill on which our future superstructure will be. 
Now you can start assembling. We glue the remaining parts. 
Now we need to make the steering wheel. We'll need aluminum plate 11X5 1mm thick. A bent spoke is inserted as an axis. 
And the most important detail: in my opinion, this is the design and color of the model. Here I tried to make it simple and beautiful. That's just it was difficult because of the large number of bends and the shape of the glider. 
Now it's time to install the electronics:
Engine
