Specknreds
Well-known member
I finally broke down and built a set of pods for my boat. They work super. I only wish that I would have taken pictures during the build.
First A special thanks to Sparkbr for help with the layout and dimensional design. Also thanks to rick50 for the welding. If you need any aluminum work done in S. Louisiana, he's the man.
This is one project that I might have been better off paying someone to do, but it came out better than I expected.
On too the building process: I cut everything out at my house. This was very difficult due too he compound angles attaching to compound angles. This took about 4 hours only because I had never done this before and had nothing to go off of except a few pictures. I couldn't tach anything together so this created some issues. I took the 14 pieces to rick50 the next day and we welded everything. I'm proud to say that all pieces fit like a glove. I bolted them on the next day and went for a test trial.
I'm very impressed with the performance. I only had about 3" of freeboard at the transom before and I now have 6"+. I was able to move the gas tank to the back of the boat freeing up floor space (the goal of this project). It provided so much bouyancy that I'm going to move my battery to the back also. They really help taking off too. The boat jumps on plane with minimal throttle. It also seems more stable. The pods also channel a lot of water to the motor. The only negative is I lost about 2 MPH (woopie). I think the channeling is creating drag on the motor. I'm going to raise the motor another 1/2" and I just might get those few MPH back.
Does anyone know what color green Alweld uses?
First A special thanks to Sparkbr for help with the layout and dimensional design. Also thanks to rick50 for the welding. If you need any aluminum work done in S. Louisiana, he's the man.
This is one project that I might have been better off paying someone to do, but it came out better than I expected.
On too the building process: I cut everything out at my house. This was very difficult due too he compound angles attaching to compound angles. This took about 4 hours only because I had never done this before and had nothing to go off of except a few pictures. I couldn't tach anything together so this created some issues. I took the 14 pieces to rick50 the next day and we welded everything. I'm proud to say that all pieces fit like a glove. I bolted them on the next day and went for a test trial.
I'm very impressed with the performance. I only had about 3" of freeboard at the transom before and I now have 6"+. I was able to move the gas tank to the back of the boat freeing up floor space (the goal of this project). It provided so much bouyancy that I'm going to move my battery to the back also. They really help taking off too. The boat jumps on plane with minimal throttle. It also seems more stable. The pods also channel a lot of water to the motor. The only negative is I lost about 2 MPH (woopie). I think the channeling is creating drag on the motor. I'm going to raise the motor another 1/2" and I just might get those few MPH back.
Does anyone know what color green Alweld uses?