Giving A Canoe Lawnmower Power

There’s the quiet serenity of paddling through the backwoods in a canoe, and then there’s this. It’s a lawnmower motor powered canoe that comes complete with steering wheel, throttle, and a stereo system. To keep the craft balanced the driver rides in the front seat while the motor is hanging off the stern of the boat. The biggest trick is not swamping the thing while getting the motor running, but future plans do include adding an electric starter. There is a kill switch for safety and it appears that top speed will not cause any stability issues. It’s hard to tell for sure from the video after the break, but it sure does seem to be loud!

[Thanks Rob]

23 thoughts on “Giving A Canoe Lawnmower Power

  1. HaD should consider renaming themselves ‘Hacks, Every Day’ – or even ‘Assorted, Unfiltered Hacks From The Legions of The Unwashed, Every Day!’

    I remember a time when it was 1 (rarely 2) really good hack a day. This is neat, and I’m sure this guy put a lot of effort in it, but this does not meet standards from the hack a day of wayback.

  2. What the heck, why is everyone missing the point of this hack which is that he built it with a LAWNMOWER ENGINE? Listen to JJ and read before you comment, people. He didn’t just throw an outboard engine on a canoe like everyone keeps suggesting.

  3. It would be a lot nicer if he had used a motor out of an electric lawnmower – way too noisy ! Of course if he is in a spot with lots of those jet -skis I guess it doesn’t matter too much.

  4. @quiet: and just how long would the extension cord have to be to power the electric lawnmower motor that you suggested?

    I think that re-purposing stuff in ususual ways such as the lawnmower engine used here IS the essence of a true hack.

    What’s up with all the negativity people? I don’t see this negativity on the boring hacks. Are the hackaday commenters going all soft-core the way Radio Shack did? If so, hackaday will start to look like a best buy catalog… ;-(

  5. Mix Germ-X hand sanitizer with toner from laser printer cartridge.
    Put mixture in paint spray gun .
    Spray metal object and let dry.
    Put metal object in oven at 350 degrees.
    Watch toner melt onto metal object.
    Hackers D.I.Y powder coating!

  6. Aww, man. This is NOT a hack. All he did was fasten a lawnmower motor to a drive that was already made for that purpose. In his own words,”I actually took a shortcut with that step…We just bought an old bought leg off ebay so fortunatly we didnt have to deal with the 90 degree turn for the propellor. We simply made some brackets for the motor to sit on the old leg, and just bolted it down.” The misspelled words are his, too. These drives were made for this type of engine. I feel like I’ve been ripped-off by his post. Two thumbs down.

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