I picked up my molds and plugs from S.C. on Monday. I dont have pictures yet. I have been very busy finishing my newest speaker box design and its nearly done. I also have been working on the boat molds,they have been sitting around and needed some tlc. The cat hull is a really nice design with 3 steps on each sponson. I think that cat hull will be fairly quick and handle well. I have been block sanding the plugs to make new molds and have been removing minor blemishes and any hooks or rockers to make a top quality hull. I know more than the average guy about boats to begin with having owned and repaired many over the last 15 years. The V hull is a complete boat with engine that I will have to make a copy of. The prop looks too big to me its a prather 275 in bronze. The complete boat is only missing a gas tank,checked my local hobby store and they dont have any like I want. I want a weedeater style tank with a simple screw on gas cap. I can modify the fuel pick up if needed. I will take pictures this weekend and post a few. After that I need to move the boat portion of this thread to a boat forum. Thanks again for the great links.

 

A 275 is fine, a stock motor will still turn it. If you were to bar cut the prop it will really let it unload. A 275 works in almost every mono application it is a very common prop, even my full mod motor likes the 275, especially a cupped 275. Only hard tanks I would recommended is a either a WHH one if the stringers are long enough, or a standard dubro tank.

If the there is enough room on the stringers in front of the motor, I would get THIS TANK from WHH. It's a huge tank and is designed to mount on the stringers. That's what I'm running in my magnum 57.

The Dubro Tank comes in 20oz ,24oz, or 32oz, but you have to build a something to mount the tank. Most carve a block of foam, and mount the tank in the foam between the stringers. Be careful though, 99% of the time those tanks are sold with the black stopper/cap, the gas with ethanol breaks it down so you have to buy a Brown Gas Conversion Stopper.

Also grab your self a Fuel Pump, don't try and use a funnel and pour the gas into the tank you only asking for trouble. Mounting the pump to your gas can also makes things much easier for you.

Also ever since they started running ethanol in our gas, we've been changing our carb diaphragms after every 2 runs. Some places can get ethanol free gas, if you can get it these diaphragms aren't that cheap. You can also run camp fuel, aka, white gas, naphtha. Which has a better octane level for these motors and doesn't have ethanol. Camp fuel is too expensive for me($6-$10 a gallon), I have just been ordering diaphragms in 10 packs at $25. And this is the metering diaphragm on the primer bulb side of the carb, the pump diaphragm on the bottom holds up to ethanol just fine.

EDIT: Also forgot about IV bags, IV bags really are the best. They can be more of a hassle to fill, since you have to burp all the air out of the bag. But you will never have problems with the fuel foaming and picking up some air bubbles killing the motor. I run an IV bag in my race mono, all racers do especially since they spend a lot of time upside down. Water won't get into the IV bag. You can run a one way check valve on the vent of the tank to keep water out. I have one and seems to work, but I still think a tiny bit of water gets in.

And also run a nice inline fuel filter, the Large Dubro Filters I've found are the best. Also a tank clunker is a nice idea if you plan on running a hard tank.

Get ready to spend a lot of money, these things are no different from real boats, just another hole in the water to sink your money into. Although these are 10 times as reliable, and 10 times cheaper.

REEDIT: Make sure your using a nice radio system, with a fail safe. You do not want to loose your boat just because of a cheap radio, and no failsafe. If you have the money to spend, the absolute best radio is the futaba 2.4 FASST system. It's what everyone uses, and is the only 2.4 radio that actually works with boats. You can get a nice deal on a FASST system on ebay, my buddy got his for $110. At the hobby shop they want $200 + tax.

 

Thanks for the info,I like the IV bag the best. It has no fuel tank so why not get one thats a good design. I got some blue,red and gold metal flake today along with some marine grade clear gel coat. A customer of mine wants a speaker box finished in bass boat glitter flake. These boats might look pretty hot in red metal flake. Of course a airbrushes design with a red metal flake background would look even better. I finish the deck mold today and in the finishing stages for the canopy plug. The hull plug is still in the sanding stages and will next be gel coated then wet sanded. This can take days done correctly. Im very happy with my deck molds finsish quality and will go through the same process for the other 2 parts. Total of 3 molds make this cat hull. I spent a few hours cupping,finishing and finally balancing that prather 275. I have reworked a lot of brass/bronze props. It should work very well now. I have a few quarts of ams oil left from my speed boat the 100:1 synthetic race type. I would still mix it 50:1. My motor has the crappy champion plug still. Nice compression still though. Its actually a mitsubishi weed eater motor. I have a gallon or two of camp fuel. I may stick the fuel line in a mason jar just to see how it runs. Its air cooled anyways. It has the water cooled line running into the hull and goes nowhere. I think this boat must have been water cooled at some point. What do you think of the metal flake gel coat finishes?

 

In the picture it had a water cooled zenoah in it, if it was the same boat he must have swapped motors on you. That sized hull with a weedy motor is only going to do 25 to 30, and that's being generous. Those weedys have A LOT of torque, I think a 280 is the better choice for that motor. But a cupped 275 will also work nicely. Zenaohs don't have as much torque but they make up for it in RPM. That weedy will only top out at 8k to 10k. Now you can do some port work and get it up to the 12k-13K range with a pipe.

I'm actually working on a new 6717/3 prop I just got. It was fresh out of the mold and needed a lot of work. Spent 5 hours so far, got it balanced and fairly sharp. Just sanding and polishing now, then get it razor sharp.

I wouldn't run 50:1 oil though, go for at least 25:1. We all run 8oz to 10oz per gallon, but 6oz is ok. The extra oil does not bring the power down, the dynos show that. I like to pull the jug(cylinder) and replace the ring on used motors. Piston ported engines like to catch rings, and destroy your top end.

Personally I'm not a big fan of metal flake. AC models makes a few of there boats with some metal flake on the deck. Some like it, but I think most don't. But down here in miami bass boats are a rarity, they are probably more popular in areas where bass boats are the boat to own.

Can't wait to see what you do with these, I think your going to have a lot of fun with the boats, and make a couple of bucks too.

 

Sorry no pictures yet been extremely busy. The boat I bought is purple,the one in the picture is exactly the same but black and has the nicer engine. He didnt switch anything . I will probally pull the jug and port it myself. I have a lot of experience porting 2 stroke engines,it won't catch a ring if I port it. I use to port outboards and snowmobile engines for years when I lived up north. I need a failsafe,gas tank and some floatation foam and its ready for a test run. This week Im actually on the lake all week repairing a couple boats for my customers so hopefully I will get time to find a tank and try this thing out. I spent about 4 hours on that prather 275 now and it should perform well. It has a more agressive cup now sharp edges and a polished finish. This hull is also laid up very thick so its heavier than it needs to be. Thats good for making copies of it but bad for top speed. Im torn between a lighter lay up and durability. The way it is now breaking it would be almost impossible. Even the canopy is about 1/8 inch thick. Pretty sure flexing wont be a problem the way it is now. I have a few gallons of fire engine red gelcoat so I will probally make these hulls in red. If someone dosnt like red they can easily paint it. I could do them in basic white but that means buying more gelcoat. The more materials I have to buy the higher the price is going to go up. If I get time to actually tyr this boat I will take pictures of it in action. I will need them later to help sell it anyways. What do you use to hold on your canopy? Mine just sits in place. Im thinking velcro would work,quick and easy to remove and replace while starting the engine. I now have 2 of the 3 plugs done for the cat style boat. Of course I ran out of wax for my gelcoat and have to order more before spraying on the final finish gelcoat layer. The plugs must be slick and smooth and defect free to produce top quality molds. I have already spent 60+ hours repairing the slightly damaged plugs so they will be ready to make a new set of top notch molds. This cat hull will be a very nicely built boat. I take a lot of pride in the things I build.

 

atleast if your going to sell them, use trunk mat so it will match. that looks like crap. walmart sells trunk mat in black or grey for like $10

 

Dude for the price he's asking you can take it to a paint shop, and pay them to have it prepped and painted and still have a good deal on your hands. The word your looking for is carpet, and why would you wrap a quality glass box in carpet? I really hope your not talking about his other box in black gel coat. Gel coat not only looks better than paint but is many times stronger. Gel coat is basically tinted resin, which is what boats are made from, minus the glass fibers. Your welcome to your opinion, but how about giving it in a way that is less condescending and blatantly ignorant?

 

my bad man. i feel like a *** now. i was only on the 1st page of this thread. sorry it was a lond day.

 

You are going to laugh at for for what happened today! I was at the lake all day fixing a boat. I decided to take along that weed eater powered v hull. It started right up and seemed to run great. I put fresh batteries in checked for leaks etc etc. I got to do two circles and it stalled! It started drifting away too! I had to run and find some rope and go swimming after it. I tied the rope to it and put the rope in my mouth and did the backstroke back to shore.It really is like a real boat,it will frustrate you and cost you money just sitting around! I think the carb needs to be tuned. It has hi and low speed needles like most carbs. Ive tuned a few carbs but its been awhile. I think 1/8 turn makes a big difference with such small amount of fuel to adjust. I got tired of messing with it and went back to working on the big boat. I took pictures of it floating in water...big deal. Only had it moving under its own power for 30 seconds. I had to walk away from it so I didnt loose my patience with it...lol.

 

Could be needle setting but most likely its either gummed up or the pump or metering diaphragm need to be replaced. Open up the top and bottom of the carb. The metering diaphragms are effected by gas over periods of time, and immediately if it has ethanol in it. I have to change my metering diaphragms after 2 days of running with this damn E10 in florida. The pump diaphragm holds up to the gas better, but if either flap is bent you need to replace it. Most likely its the diaphragm, a bad diaphragm won't move the needle enough and cause the motor to run lean at WOT, but it will start and run at low RPM fine.

If it has a walbro carb I can give you needle settings, but it may be the stock weedy carb. If it has a walbro carb, and it has a primer and choke it is most likely a 644, good starting point for the 644 is 1 turn on the low, and 2 on the high. If it doesn't have a primer or choke it's likely to be a 257, for the 257 start a 2 on the low and 1 on the high. Good way to set the low on the carbs is get it to idle, and lean the low until it cuts out, then richen a 1/4 of a turn and the low should be close to set. Then on the high open it up so both needles equal a bit more than 3 turns, then just lean it out until you can a good plug reading. Never messed with weedy carbs, but that should get you close.

A finishing pole with a tennis ball or even a water bottle is a good recovery tool. Just cast the ball over the boat and try to catch the rudder, hatch, or even the antenna and reel her in. But it's only good if the boat is within casting range, we usualy use another boat to run the line out past and around the dead boat, then bring the recovery boat back, grab the ball and reel it in.

For the 30 seconds you had her running did she most fast enough to keep you entertained? Those weedy boats are mighty slow, but if you have some chop to play in they can be fun. Does it have a pipe or just a can exhaust? You can get a new zenoah for $200, or even less if hunt on ebay.