Weed eater engine conversion

thanks for the info. the mini bike motors ur talking about do u mean like a 3-5 hp with no clutch just a u joint?
 
Another Weedeater Option

Use a weedeater engine with an air propeller to push a piroque or canoe. Make sure it is surrounded by a protective housing so you don't lose any fingers. Mine has a 16" prop with a 10" pitch and puts out 2 pounds of thrust at idle speed, 8 pounds of thrust at high speed. It doesn't sound like much until you see it in action.
 
hoytedow do you have any pics of your setup that you could post for us to see that sounds like a nice idea and probably one of a kind too. i like projects that are out of the ordinary. how fast does it go and what kinda boat you got it on
 
Weedeater Air Canoe

The prop is a lefthanded 3blade fiberglass reinforced nylon rated to 10,000 rpm.
 
so what is the speed out on open water and what size weedeater motor are you using?
 
The engine size is 25 cc, and I will let you know when I can get it out on the water with a gps unit. Weather permitting, we hope to launch it for the first time on Saturday. I expect it to push us at least at paddling. speed. Let me refer you to a video done with a larger engine called air canoe 001 which is presently posted on the web. Obviously, the bigger the engine, the greater the speed, the weight, the noise, the fuel, etc.
 
I can't wait...

to hear how this turns out. I wish you the best of luck. When it works, you will have to share with us the build of that motor.

Back in the old days, there were a couple of companies that manufactured these small airboat motors - I believe, if I recall correctly, they were called Airboy Motors and one called Dragonfly. I don't know about the Airboy but the dragonfly was a 3 hp motor and pushed the canoe between 5-10 mph upstream. There was a guy near me who was interested to unload one he found in his Dad's garage but he wanted an arm and leg for it ($500). There were videos on youtube at one time showing these motors pushing canoes upstream at a pretty good clip. Granted, the motor was bigger than yours but the whole rig weighed like 100 lbs or so which is way too much in my opinion. If I can find the info, I'll post it here.

Good luck and do post a report quickly.

Mark
 
In the weeds

Will do, Mark. This 25cc (or1.5c.i.) engine is probably about 1.5 h.p. I will be happy with any speed over 3 mph with both halves of the orange riding in it. It still would be faster in the long run than depending on paddles only. P.S. This motor assembly weighs closer to 15 pounds.
 
Ryobi looks good.

Hello, pgtcobra,
Bonjour, pgtcobra,ca me plait le demarreur Ryobi c’est derriere la couverture de la ligne du pouvoir transmission. I like that the ryobi pull starter is behind the power takeoff cover attachment. That was a problem for me with the Sears model which I am using. You can take off the cowling and attach the engine mount in its place. Securite d'abord! Safety first!
 
Some limited success. With my wife and myself on board (about 385 pounds or 175 kilograms), the air canoe did 2.5 mph upstream and 4.0 mph downstream. No video yet but will try to get one later on.
 
Cool

2.5 mph upstream is better than paddling or walking the darn thing upstream. Considering the weight on board, that's not bad. So, doing some quick math, you must weigh close to 260 lbs. leaving 125 lbs for the wife. Not that it is any of my business.

Any thoughts on how you might get it to go faster? Still waiting on how you put the thing together. Would love to learn how you attached the prop and where you bught the prop - that sort of thing.

A video would be great.

Mark
 
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