Help ? about 18 hp Argo 8x8

[liveclean]

Heres a story for you guys! It demonstrates obessive stupidity!

Well I went for my first 8x8 test drive. Wow an adventure it was. The area I wanted to test it in open water on had frozen over a bunch over night, but there was open water on the river. The worst part is the guy didnt have the plugs with him and I mainly wanted to test it out on open water to get a feel for it. So we attempted to make some plugs out of wood with a pocket knife!! Not so smart, for a 12 degree day and a hard to access river point.

The machine was awesome, we ended up dumping it off the edge of 6 inches ice into the river and fired up the mud motor. We didnt go far as there was alot of ice and one of our plugs was leaking to much water, good thing as I got to see the bilge pumping full time! We did start sweating when we couldnt get out. You guys are right, they are slow even with an 6 horse outboard. Our real adventure happened when we couldnt get out! We had to winch up a bridge embankment to get it out, and it was just short of a vertical climb with a foot of snow. We made her out, I wish I had pictures as we really pushed the limit. Once we were out of the water, that sucker just cruized up the vertical embankment with out the winch, and we ended up with about 10 or 15 gallons of water pooled up in the back! Close call, but quite exciting, as least I hadnt bought the rig yet if it had sank!

The machine was amazing and it certainly showed me the capabilities! It all looked very clean on the inside, however there was one issue with shifting it into gear. Some times you would have to almost grind it into gear, almost like the idle was to high. Could that be a belt tension issue? The idle seemed pretty reasonable to me, not enough to throw off shifting into gear. Your input would be great. Or could it also be a tranny issue?

liveclean

[Rock Doctor]

I have standard tracks for my 6x6 and Supertracks for my 8x8 Conquest, I can tell you that Tracks do steal power. Supertracks moreso than Standard, but that's why we have high and low gears. I have the 21 hp motor in my Conquest, and find that with the loads that I typically haul, it is just enough. However, I usually have the Argo loaded pretty good and a tandem axle trailer behind as well.
In a marsh setting, I really don't think you will run into any significant problems, in fact you might find that you don't need the tracks at all. I spend alot of time in Muskeg Country, and if I know I will be in a particularily bad setting, I will run tracks but otherwise I will leave the tracks at home. If your definition of "marsh" includes swimming the argo very much then I think you will find that the tracks are more trouble than they are worth (tracks don't swim well, in my experience)
I did a comparison on swimming my Conquest through a Beaver Pond, with and without tracks, and videoed the whole thing. Vids can be found in this forum someplace if you want to see.


liveclean,
lol, your story sounds like something I would get myself into
About the idle issue......personally I like a slightly high idle, and both of my machines will grind gears when shifting if the operator is not familiar with my procedures. Before shifting my Argos I give the throttle a little "bump" (quick on and off) this causes them to idle down low enough so that there is NO gear grinding. It has become a habit with me and I don't even realize that I'm doing it any more. A higher idle has advantages at times, and I find that it's easier to just leave it high and deal with it, than keep changing it.
Just a thought.

[Mike]

Liveclean, that was quite the adventure. I have only been in the water once when it was iced over and I couldn't get back out. Luckily I could jump to dry ground fairly easily to winch out just like you guys.

Are you going to buy the Argo now?

[liveclean]

I am really thinking hard on this buyand I loved the machine. In some ways the argo would prove great to me, in others not so great. I was really hoping to get more water speed out of it. I did look at the transom and noticed I could easily build a stronger reinforced steel transom to run a bigger out board on it.

By marsh, I mean floating bogs. When you walk on it with regular waders you fall through up to your waist or more. A friend of mine witnessed an argo with tracks just cruizing right through the stuff at full bore. To get to my hunting spot I have been doing what we call Marsh skiing which is walking with giant skis, kind of like cross country skiing across the bogs to our spot. If I could just motor in with an argo it would be great, producing some kick ass duck hunting with out killing myself like I do now! The only problem is it is a ways in on a water dyke first, that has been why I have been obsessed with the outboard motor idea.

There are several other facets in which I plan to use it also.

[micmac]

Liveclean,

I'm not sure how much speed you'd get even with a larger outboard. I'm no expert on hydrodynamics but in aerodynamics as speed increases, parasitic drag (friction from stuff sticking out I.E. tires axles etc) increases exponentially therefore the faster you go the power required will need to increase exponentially as well. The short of it you might spend a lot of time, $, and effort for little return. just my 2 Cents

Mike

[liveclean]

Mic Mac,

I hear you loud and clear. My only hopes lie in that my mud motor pushed up words on the back producing alot of cavitation. My sense was if I had been powering it down below that I would have gotten some more speed. Either way I have alot of applications that I would use it outside of the out board, so I am still considering the buy. I have a long shaft 18 horse that just needs a bit of work to be up and running. I would defently need to do some reinforcing to run in. I am also really trying to weight out the upgrades of a newer unit also. It is an 03 response, and guys have been filling me in on some of its lackings!

[jml79]

About the hydrodynamics of an argo, they are like pushing a brick with speed brakes on. The hull is a displacement only hull and will not plane under any circumstance and with a short length of only 10 feet and big wheels sticking out either side you are stuck to about 4.5 MPH or less. Any faster and the front end will likely submarine or make a big enough bow wave to swamp the front. The only advantage that a larger than about 5-6 HP motor will have is fighting a good headwind and I would think an 18 HP motor would just be to heavy on the back for the little advantage it would give. Just my $0.02.

[Roger S]

The nose down issue is a user problem. Argo site used to have a pic of an 8 wheeler cruising open water, with an outboard and two men in the back. It was slightly nose up.