8-8-03
Glen-L
Enclosed are pictures of the TNT I have built for my kids.
The boat was increased in length by 8 inches to originally accommodate a
small inboard motor (6 horse), after running it like that for one summer we
decided to hang an outboard off the end to boost the performance. As you can
see we added a long shaft Mercury 25-horse necessitating added bracing to the
transom which was not built to handle the weight and torque of an outboard. The
deck is homemade tongue and grove mahogany, finished with spar varnish. The
hull is 1/4-inch marine plywood, fibreglassed and finished with marine enamel.
A skid fin was attached to the hull to eliminate skidding on hard turns.
The interior has been fitted with a CD player, speedometer, bilge fan, bilge
pump, electronic water level sensor/switch and fire extinguisher built into the
floorboards. To access the battery, fan, pump, water sensor/board and fuel tank
the back cover was split into two pieces and hinged. All deck fittings are
homemade stainless steel with gaskets to keep the bilge dry.
We have tried three props on the boat, 13.5 in., 14.5 in. and a 18 in. chopper
prop, for overall performance we run with 14.5 pitch prop most of the time. The
boat is extremely fast to plane and when trimmed to the max we have reached 37
mph (speedometer reading) with the 14.5-in. prop on the stock 1974
Mercury.
Overall the TNT has been a great experience for myself a first time boat
builder and has been more than impressive in its handling on the water.
Regards
Richard Jasieniuk
Saskatoon, Sask.
Canada
