Here's the business and then you can see how much of a prototype it really is. I bent the tubing from brand new tubes that cost me about $4 per 10 feet . I bought some big stainless steel hose clamps to hold the motors on. Then I found even bigger better ones and so the motors have two sizes of clamps. Now that I know it works I can make a more custom arrangement that will require more labor, and have some confidence that I'm not tossing all that labor away.
People who look closely will see clamps from bicycle seat posts and clamps from 47 Plymouth tie rod ends. There's also a three-way Pony clamp which is the fork.
The motors both kick up if I would hit something and Breakaway tension is adjusted by the two hose clamps, tying the down tubes together.
Of course this is all built from Mostly steel and I painted everything with clear paint after assembly it so it won't rust. If the motors were to kick up they would scrape the paint off.
That's not the real weak link however. The kickup tension hose clamps are not sufficient to maintain motor alignment under heavy running and I found this out when we encountered a good head wind. I thought we had a prop strike because there was an increase in vibration but when I pulled the motors up I noticed the starboard motor downtube had been kicked up an eighth of an inch at the top. That throws the motor alignment off about an inch on the bottom end.
There was my vibration! So a better arrangement is in order for this function, and was actually planned from the get-go. Remember this was a prototype test run and no more.
The X-24v is a fiberglass Tri Hull manufactured by RJ Smith inc. back in 1976, according to the hull stamp, and was originally a
Coulumbia model, according to the title.
It's been heavily modified by the removal of the front cowl and windshield, original seats and seat frames, and the installation of built-in fiberglass live wells and different controls, all of which was done before I bought the boat. I reinforced and repaired some fiberglass butchery and random damage and re-painted it 17 years ago.
Back then I installed the front trolling motor on a platform of wood (painted red) which I mounted to the boat.
Recently I bought four new seats and did the new woodwork (still in process) and when I installed the bigger
dual motors, I removed all accommodations for a gasoline engine.