22 subaru longtail

[igotit]

Before this project started,i wanted a motor that could handle shallow water and heavy vegetation.first thought was build a surface drive for either my 13hp kohler or my 40 plus hp briggs.but reality set in,i couldnt afford to fund a big surface drive build....plus didnt have the boat for it.the 13 kohler was affordable....but 13 hp sd on my current boat 14x4 flat,woulda been fine as a solo rig....but ad 2 of your fishing buddies and gear,and your down to 5-8 mph full throttle.
I wanted 15-20 mph with 2 adults,so a longtail was my pick.but my 40 hp was too much for a 14 ft boat,13 wasnt enough.
Time to on local trade sites.

Over the past few mths ive slowly been building a longtail mud motor.
I started with a poorly built frame,and a 22 subaru eh65 generator engine.
The engine had only 20 hours,the gen unit failed so i picked her up in a trade.
The frame was built for a 10 hp engine and a 21" transome.i need a 15" transom height.
So i needed to mod the frame to use the 22 hp,and i also wanted to take advantage of the comercially availably 3/4x74" shafts on the market.
The shaft on this frame was in the 65" range.
It woulda worked but slower top end speeds.
So i planned,saved for parts and started building.
Shes almost complete.....so ill post up some of the build pics over the next few days.

The start

Eh65 with tapered crank,removed crank and machined to 1"x2.5".a taper is useless on a crank for my application.



And presto....instant crank

 

[igotit]

The frame i almost threw out due to poor design.
Its about 90% stainless steel.
Its sitting next to my brothers 25 kohler godevil brand longtail.




For the upper and lower bearings the previous builder used electrical conduit fittings,these will work but in the longrun it tears up the shaft and gets sloppy hurting performance.



I chose a standard flanged bearing for the upper,and a mudskipper brand lower that i had to machine to fit inside my new lower .



Lower pictured next to a factory godevil lower bushing

And i picked up a beefy over kill 1310 series universal joint.

 

[igotit]

Picked up a used 9x5 weedless wheel and cut off the lower unit for rebuild,and longer shaft.





Reused the skeg




Designed my own adjustable cavitation plate






Threw on a coat of black



A 22 suby muffler is expensive,so i went with a 18-26 briggs muffler for $80,chopped and clocked the flanges for a nice fit.

 

[Scott Danforth]

thats a lot of labor to modify a motor vs getting one with the shaft you wanted to begin with.

 

[igotit]

thats a lot of labor to modify a motor vs getting one with the shaft you wanted to begin with.

Not really,took 1 hour of my time to remove the crank,bout an hourvto machine,hour to reinstall.
Im a build over buy kinda guy.
The right crank for this engine was $600.
I have around $300 total invested in this project.

 

[Scott Danforth]

retail the crank is $600. wholesale the whole motor is only $1100 with EFI

 

[igotit]

Im good with what ive got,$300 invested.....and i like mechanical projects.

 

[igotit]

First test run today was a sucess.
My cav plate design was perfect,she planes out about 2 in below the surface of the water,near perfect balance.
Solo she will do 22 mph @2460 rpm running her with prop surface driveing.sub surface she does a comfortable 19 mph@2050 rpm.
I have throttle limited to 60% travel.
With 2 adults sub surface 18 mph,with about 3/4 gal per hour consumption.
I can always turn up my rpm to allow 3600-3800 loaded,which will gain more speed.....but im happy with where shes at right now.
Im very impressed she does so well on this beatup lil boat.my 25 yamaha pushes this boat at 31 mph.

 

[Bass Tracker TX17]

Very nicely done. Been thinking of one for a few years. Lots of stumps and weeds where I fish. Always worry about my lower unit.

 

[igotit]

Very nicely done. Been thinking of one for a few years. Lots of stumps and weeds where I fish. Always worry about my lower unit.

Thanx
It was all fairly easy....but i did have my brothers 25 kohler godevil to take measurments from.
But they are different machines,my engine is offset 4 in further back,which also pushes my shaft further back.....which adds up to a lil more speed and slightly less drive angle.

Today i ran her for 5 hours.....after i made repairs.
On tow the boat launch i suffered some damage.
When trailered every longtail user hooks a rope to the tillier handle to hold the unit level.....so that you dont drag the highway.
I backed up to the launch,fired her up before launching only to notice i had a damged throttle cable.
At the time i didnt know how it happened,so i drove back home to replace the cable.
Right infront of my house the long tail dropped to the road as i put my truck in reverse.
My thoughts....my strap securing the tiller came loose.
But even worse fear....the tiller handle broke off the engine,it was slowly breaking......hence the damaged throttle cable.
As im towing down the highway the longtail is constantly bouncing,and the tiller is secured and cant bounce.so if you keep bending metal back and forth.....snap.
So i missed out on my morning fishing trip.....but atleast she didnt let go at highway speeds.
I made proper repairs,and by 11 am i was out fishing and joy riding.
After 5 hours and 3 gal of gas gone.....i had zero fish.
My fuel consumption was alot less that originally figuredsome pics of her lit up at night and from the lake today,including thousands of coots and my fishing hole....a hotel duckblind.

 

[igotit]

Went play in the grass this morning

https://youtu.be/uVyE6_KeLho

 

[igotit]

Used her to go catch some blue crab,caught 126 select crabs in 3 hours.
I boiled 5 dozen,gave the rest to friends.
The motor is doing well,14 hours on the hour meter.....8 gals of fuel burned.16 mph loaded with 3 adults and fishing gear......not bad at all.

 

[igotit]

Added a 4ft deck and 8 ft of old school wood floor.went test the balance,19 mph @4100 rpm....15-17 in vegetation.
Im very happy.

https://youtu.be/E9BS-UPbm3I