#WeirdBoats - Yes, You Can Power a Ford Ranger with Twin Mercury Outboards

Airborne Entertainment YouTube

If you've been boating for any length of time, you've probably seen your fair share of odd designs. It's part of boating culture. Boaters have this strange innate tendency to modify, adapt, and re-design everything that floats. Nothing stays sacred for long, or at all. There is little contemplation about whether or not an existing design needs an upgrade. It just does. That's why it shouldn't be particularly surprising that a couple good 'ole boys decided to meld a mid-1990s Ford Ranger with a pair of Mercury 115 outboards. No, I'm not talking about putting the outboards on the tailgate and turning the little truck into a serviceable 'boat' (although that does happen later).

I'm talking about taking the engine out of the Ranger and replacing it with twin Mercury outboards as its power source. It's not a boat at all, really. It's a truck. Powered by outboards. Because why not? The best part is that the Franken-boat built by YouTubers Airborne Entertainment isn't their first crack at the concept -- they've already done it once with a single Johnson 75 outboard (which you can watch in Part 1). But, boys being boys, they bought an old boat that came with a couple Mercury 115's, so they figured the Ranger needed more danger.

To make the conversion, the fellas purchased two old 'donor boats' (which are for sale, if you're interested), removed the single Johnson 75, and then went about turning the Ranger's engine bay into a capable twin outboard setup. The engineering itself is remarkable, even if it serves as nothing more than entertainment (which it certainly is). The Ranger no longer uses a gas pedal -- the throttle body from the Merc is installed on the center console, so sitting at the 'helm' of the Ranger isn't all that different than sitting at the helm of the old Four Winns boat that the engines came from. There's just the small issue of having to run a throttle and a transmission -- the throttle for the outboards and the shifter for the Ranger. It's a delicate process, as you'll see. There's also the small water of keeping water tanks in the truck bed to feed the motors, but let's not fixate on the details...

The Merc Ranger is no slouch. It hits a top speed of 47 mph (75 km/h) before things go... south, shall we say. But you'll be pleased to know that with a couple small modifications the Ranger can almost work as a boat. Almost. Further R&D is needed.

We reached out to the guys at Airborne Entertainment for an interview, but we assume they're too busy in the shop making modifications to this epic 'boat.' Give them a follow.

You can see the whole thing in the video below:

#culture