Rebuilding my BlackJack

[CodeRed225]

I know its nothing to exciting and its been done many times, but I thought I would start a build thread for my BJ 26 rebuild. There's a lot of smart guys on here so I figured some input would be helpful. This my first build so suggestions and criticism is welcome.

I bought this boat brand new a few years ago, started out with nmah batteries, 4s lipos soon after, then 6s. I can't believe the stock electronics hung as long as they did. I blew the esc first time out this year and the boat needed fiberglass repair so I decided to rebuild it. Here we go.

Charred ESC
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I stripped everything off the boat and started sanding
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I filled in the last step in the hull with bondo
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Sorry for the weird lines in the pics.

-Red

[CodeRed225]

The hatch was getting busted up and I never liked it anyway so I cut out the old canopies
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Fibeglassed over them
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And started fixing stress cracks, filled in the old turn fin holes
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[CodeRed225]

More cracks, more sanding
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[CodeRed225]

I ordered a seaking 180 and leopard 4074 to put in here. Now I know the motor is probably to big, but hear me out. I know the problems with this hull. I had a hard to keeping it on the water before. My goal is 60 mph with this setup and I think I can do it. If I can't or when I get bored with not being able to max out the motor. I will put this boat on the shelf and upgrade hulls. It's my whole weakest link theory. Upgrade little at a time.

[CodeRed225]

I'm laying down extra layer of fiberglass everywhere I can get at to reinforce things
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I chopped up glass and mixed with resin for the hard to get at spots
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[CodeRed225]

Another layer of resin on the hatch
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I'm not real happy with how that is coming out, I might try to order a replacement for it. We'll see.

[CodeRed225]

I got the motor and esc
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Did a mock-up
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[CodeRed225]

The ESC is to tall so I had to cut and hack on the radio tray to lower it.
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That's it for now. Hopefully I will be ready for primer soon. I'm not much of a paint guy so this could be interesting.

-Red

[Skullcracken]

Will the esc and motor wires reach?

[CodeRed225]

No they won't. I just extended them today.

[CodeRed225]

I started painting today. Went pretty well until the end. Here's some pics.
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I did a couple coats of primer and I was impress how it turned out.

[lenny]

That was a bad idea to do,
Just turn the esc so the esc motor wires are facing the motor.


No they won't. I just extended them today.

[Heaving Earth]

I agree with Lenny, not a good idea really. I would mount it in front of the motor. Plenty of room up there.

[lenny]

:iagree:
That would work to,
And have esc nipples going port to starboard,
Than spin motor wires to be on top and have esc caps facing the motors end.
Just may need to extend servo wires for that.
Also you should have the back nipple on the water jacket on top and than exit the hull.

[CodeRed225]

Okay, I'm gonna play around with mounting it different. What about extending the power wires? Bad idea as well? They don't give you much room to work with.

[CodeRed225]

I did 7 seven coats of white for my base.
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It was going good until the last coat then I got some popcorn effect. Hopefully I can sand it out.
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[CodeRed225]

Okay, I'm gonna play around with mounting it different. What about extending the power wires? Bad idea as well? They don't give you much room to work with.

Never mind... plenty of wire with it up there. Much better.

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[CodeRed225]

Should I mount it right to the floor or get it up off there a little?

[TheShaughnessy]

Up off the tunnel a lil bit if possible. Also when doing fiberglass remember resin isn't really what gives it strength. You don't want resin rich parts . Your hatch mod looks like a lot of resin was used vs the amount of fiberglass

[CodeRed225]

Up off the tunnel a lil bit if possible. Also when doing fiberglass remember resin isn't really what gives it strength. You don't want resin rich parts . Your hatch mod looks like a lot of resin was used vs the amount of fiberglass

Good to know. I don't know jack about fiberglass so it has been a learning experience. There is probably more resin used than needed. All I know is the hull is a whole lot stiffer than before. I only did one coat of resin after I trimmed the mat. I'm not really happy with how that is turning out, so I'm still trying to find a replacement hatch for it.

This is my first go at any fiberglass work. I have worked with resin before but never layed mat. You got to start somewhere though right? Thanks for the advice.

[CodeRed225]

So I already painted inside the hull because I thought I was done in there. Now I will need to epoxy a mount for the esc. Will the paint mess the bond? I am using straight fiberglass resin and ca glue, not z poxy or anything like that.

[lenny]

Yes you need to clean and sand the area for the mount,
Or anything else to be mounted to the hull with epoxy or resin and or glue.
And the mat gives it the strength to hold things in place with a good clean bond.

[CodeRed225]

One step forward, two steps back. s#%t!

[CodeRed225]

Does anyone know how long should I wait to wet sand after painting? I used Krylon Fusion. The can says recoat before 24 hrs or after 7 days. A week seems excessive but I don't want to rush anything and take another step back. I've got two more colors I want to put on. I don't want to put tape on to early.

[iop65]

when i have to apply tape i also wait at least one week ,otherwise there is the risk of pealing of the paint underneat when removing the tape!

it seems a long time but paint from a spray simply can isn't completly hardend in a few days ,its seems dry but that's about it

[CodeRed225]

Its been a busy weekend but I did get the boat running, I just haven't kept up on documenting it. Let me try to catch up.

I wet sanded the paint job and it came out pretty good. I've decided to leave it white this summer then in the winter I'll put the color on.

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I sanded out some spots and epoxied some mounts for the esc in front of the motor

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It came out awesome, it is off the floor, secure and isolated and easy to remove.

[CodeRed225]

I decided to polish my hardware.

Before
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After
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[CodeRed225]

I ran it today and was very happy with how it handled. I was running a x642 s&b. Temps were around 100 deg f for the motor and esc. It was solid, never came close to flipping. It is a lot heavier then stock... I think that has a lot to do with how it handled. I need to get some more props to try. We are looking into getting a small gps to check speed. Right now I am guessing I am around 50 mph. The cool thing is I could pull full throttle runs and not flip. Also I could turn pretty sharp and fast.

[CodeRed225]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I layed a layer of glass over some battery straps. This worked really good on the first run. Held the batteries real good.

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[CodeRed225]

Anyone have suggestions for more props? I ran a m445 and still temps were 100 deg f. I just ordered a m545 and a m645 from props 4 u. I still would like some more to try.