Home made mud motor?

AustinLay

AustinLay

New member
Just wondering if anyone has made their own mud motor? I have seen straight shaft weed-eaters transformed into long tail mud motors, very cool idea but i don't think this would push my 15' jon boat. They don't look very complicated, so once again just curious to see if anyone has done it, and if they think it was worth the time and money, or .... should i just bite the bullet and fork out the money for the brand name?
 
I looked into this for my pirogue and what I found after a lot of searching on forums is a ton of trial and error. A few guys pulled it off. All of them were using small 1 man duck skiffs. Many of them faced problems with the motors working great out of the water, but they would quickly bog down once they were in the water/mud/plants. The solution to this seemed to always be a gearbox rebuild with custom machining, etc. Here is a long thread that documents one mans dream (Nightmare?) with it.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=97437

Buried in there is a video of a successful build. Note, it's a KARA.. Like I said SMALL boats. Note the blazing speed. Also, whats the response like in mud? Thick paddies? I bet not great.

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j244/Turn4fun/?action=view&current=Mudwackermovie.flv

After reading a ton on it, my feeling was probably that it is only feasible with a complete build from the ground up. ie Don't try and modify a weedeater.
 
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Thanks for the response! but i think you may have missunderstood me a little, my intention was NOT to do a weed-eater type, but rather build something much like a go-devl, or mud-buddy type with a 15hp or so engine. i just think the designs of these types of long tail mud motors seem fairly simple. i think it would be do-able for far less than the $2,500+ price tag many of these motors seem to come with. just looking to see if anyone else has done this, and if so, what did it take to complete? was there any hang ups or unforeseen issues that i may be missing? what types of materials were used? etc. thanks again!!
 
Austin, there is a lot of info about home built mud motors over in the boat and blinds forum on the Refuge and on duck hunting chat. There are not a lot of mud motors here with the small or home made wooden boats. The few true mud motors in use here are store bought with the exception of Brandon's made this last year. His posts have pics and should still be on here about 3 months back.

One good source of "how to" I have found was on Cafe Outdoors, which is a MO forum. A guy on there, laying in wait, pretty much started the weedwacker stuff. However, he also welds up small mud motors out of pieces off of Ebay. He has made some pretty simple 5hp motors and has posted lots of photos over the years. This guy is also known as Turn4fun on the Refuge.

http://refugeforums.com/refuge/showthread.php?t=677223&highlight=motor and here is one of his motors on his foamer.

The issue with Cafe Outdoors is that they only keep the last 12 months worth of posts active. All of his older posts with the great pics are all gone now. He is planning on putting together a set of plans for his Ebay parts motors.
 
Austin, One of the companies, I think BeaverTail sells kits w/o motors. That would be good for me because I have access to different motors to try. I would build a short tail if I were to do it though. Good luck.
 
When it comes to this subject on the interent, don't believe everything you read. Many have made their own mud motors from 1hp on up to the big ones and there are still people on the web (not here) that will say you can't turn a weedeater into a mud motor due to torque, or lack of torque. They are not that hard if you have access to a welder and a couple of other fabrication tools. I've built 2, one where I had the help of Tom Scholberg and his machine shop and the other where everything was off the shelf stuff. The off the shelf stuff motor worked better than the fabricated motor. Then again, it was a 2.2 hp motor and not a 33cc, or about 1 hp motor.

The absolute best link for this is on the boat design forum but this is mainly for the smaller weed eater mud motors. Here is the link

http://www.boatdesign.net/...conversion-1681.html

Turn4fun is the same guy as Rippedoff and other usernames. He is, in my opinion, the grand dad of the mini mud motors. Do they work - absolutely. Do they go through mud - a little bit. Weeds - yep. They push my 15' Hoefgen, loaded, over 6 mph. That is hull speed and it would take a much bigger motor to get this boat planing which would be a dangerous proposition.

Google homemade mud motors, or something similar and you will be amazed at what you can find. The absolute hardest part about these builds is finding the right prop. Other than that, some basic welding skills and you are good to go. Here's a pic of the 2nd prototyes maiden voyage. This was the first time the motor had been started. Was missing a skeg, paint and an effective tiller at this time, all of which have been fixed.

[inline mm1.jpg]

Mark W

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Thank you very much for all the info guys!! if you find anything else to add please do. i just found a 18hp engine for $50 so i think im going to give it try as soon as the season is over, until then i will be collecting parts and info and trying to come up with a plan that i think will work. i have never used a mud motor before, so i have to ask what are the performance differences between the long and short shaft motors. keep in mind, in the areas i plan to use it, the obstacle is hydrilla and lilly pads.
 
Thanks for the reply James! Looks great, clean welds, simple design, would love to hear how it works for you. What type of boat are you running it on?
 
View attachment jse_CIMG0886.jpgView attachment jse_CIMG0884.jpgView attachment jse_CIMG1059.jpg[inline jse_CIMG0859.jpg][inline jse_CIMG0859.jpg]The boat is of my own design. 11.5 ft long, 46 inches wide, weighs 90 lbs. Light enough to carry in a little way. It can ride in the back of the truck or inside my 19 ft rough neck. Sometimes I put it on my broadbill trailer and tow it with my car. Great for marsh and back water.


James Roberts

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James, I didn't happen to see you under Hwy 66 on the Verdigris today did I? As I was crossing I caught a small boat with a mud motor out of the corner of my eye and turned around to get a better look, but it was gone.
 
Small world!! I was testing the 6.5 mm out at rogers point. I live about a mile from where you saw me. Do you live in Claremore? I'll post some pic's later to night.

James Roberts
 
Wow, small world indeed.

James - is that a lovejoy connector between the motor ouput shaft and the driveshaft? If not, how did you connect the two?

Do I still owe you any documents James. I said I would send something and then the whole job thing kind of got in the way of a bunch of stuff.

Mark W
 
Mark

Sure looks like a Lovejoy to me. The sander I restored recently used one for the drive connection. They are used all over the place in woodworking machines. There is a place near me that has a ton of them from surplus so if there is something you are looking for let me know and I'll see if they have it.

While I've got your attention, shoot me your address via PM. Thanks.

Eric
 
I don't mean to hijack this whole thread but it seems like a good place to pop in. Has anyone built a short tail mud motor?
 
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Has anyone built a short tail mud motor?
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Tom -

I may have a whole bunch of time to look into doing this and I ahve put together some thoughts on how to do so. Once again, I'm not looking at big motors but 2-5 hp instead. Here is a pic of a possibility. This is from those wacky guys who are putting weed eater motors on their bicylces and getting 30 - 40 mph and over 120 mpg. They use this gear reducer which in this picture is a 5:1 set up. There are other ways to do this using other trannys for the motorized bicycle set up that are 3:1 and some taht are the CVT type (don't know if this would work on a mud motor)

View attachment tranny2.jpg

Mark W

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jaw coupling. Cheap and seem to hold up in the limited testing I have done so far. I can tell if the drive shaft has migrated toward the motor shaft. Jaw couplings are about 10% the cost of a u joint. The marsh boat I built has a 14 inch transom which eliminated the need for the mm to have the degree off set, and the need of a u joint. This is great because I don't loose any horse power from angle change and less drive shaft whipping.

I have plans to build a short shaft this spring with a reverse. Should be able to build one for about 900 dollars. Not bad since the prop alone will cost 250.

The picture is the testing of a 6.5 horse yesterday. It's based on surface drive prop. How about that roster tail!


James Roberts

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