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Author Topic: Minimax and minimost  (Read 1107 times)

Andy M

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Minimax and minimost
« on: February 03, 2021, 12:08:24 am »

These 'full size' boats were built from free plans available online. Both are under 8 feet so that they can be built from standard sizes of ply. Not much bigger than models, they are relatively easy to build. Minimax (blue and yellow camo one) featured watertight compartments and was pretty much unsinkable even when the seating area was totally filled with water, as I found out when I gave my friend a shot by himself while I waited on an island, he managed to fill it to the brim plunging bow down into a wave near to shore. Try as we might, we couldnt flip it up to get the water out. We had to ask a guy that was frying his lunch if we could borrow his frying pan! 10 minutes later we had got enough water out to tip the rest out.
It carried 2 of us with no problems, amazing for such a small boat.
Minimost was a development of the minimax but didnt feature watertight compartments, so I filled its nose section with expanding foam. It was good fun as well but I was always a bit worried about it sinking. Both boats used my evinrude 9.9 outboard, built and restored from 2 very dead engines. I had to buy some extra bits but it ran without missing a beat.
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Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2021, 12:11:39 am »

Another couple of photos
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Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2021, 10:21:05 pm »

Onboard video from minimost
https://youtu.be/WRkP4uYbvmM
 Starts going quick after about a minute
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JimG

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2021, 10:20:07 am »

That Minimax looks like it should have had at least a 50HP Mercury.
Jim
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Dundee Model Boat club

Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2021, 11:34:19 am »

It was fast enough with the 9.9. Due to speed restrictions on the loch, I had to go slow until I was out from the shore a good bit. At about 1minute 10 or so, you get to see it going pretty quick. 50hp would rip the transom off anyway. I actually bought a 50 hp Mercury but it was too far gone/bodged to run and I couldnt afford the spares it needed. I broke it for spares and doubled my money.
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Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2021, 04:31:43 pm »

A couple more pictures of the minimost, the pushbike handlebars worked really well, and I used the gearchange mechanism to work the throttle, I modified it to have a greater range of movement. The second pic shows just how much camping stuff you can fit in a tiny boat.
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Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2021, 04:32:44 pm »

This pic gives a good size comparison.
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Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2021, 04:36:57 pm »

Trailer is home made too.
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Andy M

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Re: Minimax and minimost
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2021, 12:45:52 am »

I had a big fright one day while out in the Minimax (camo one) on Loch Lomond, while puttering out past the speed limited zone, I decided to stand up and go back the short distance to adjust the low speed mixture adjuster.  The whole boat dipped at the back as the front end popped up to 45 degree angle and kept coming up as I saw the top edges of the rear of the hull dip below the dark water. The outboard cover was about to be submerged as well. This happened in a second. I turned and fell forward grabbing the steering wheel to pull myself forward and the front end slapped back down on the water. Close one, very close. As it had buoyancy chambers, I dont think it would have sunk but the thought of paddling it back half a kilometer to shore with a waterfilled engine wasnt appealing. I decided I would leave the mixture knob as it was, it was running not bad for a 2 stroke on tickover anyway.
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