My new zelos 36 twin!

[fweasel]

but when I opened the hatch after the second run and second pair of batteries, I got a slight puff of smoke come out. Nothing was melted or extremely hot so I just let it cool down.

I've had mystery smoke on occasion too, usually caused by bearing oil or corrosion-x burning off. What's weird is you said it was on your second run, so it likely wasn't something burning off in the motor. I've also had stock motor wire connectors get hot enough they melted the foam glued to the hatch and crated some white smoke, or a motor misalignment causing the flex cable to bind against the stuffing tube liner. My point being, if the smoke wasn't accompanied by the unmistakable smell of burnt electronics, Your electronics are probably fine. Check for proper alignment between your flex cables and motors.

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Thank you so much for the information. Have you or anyone else had any cooling issues? Particularly not getting water through the system. For all I know it could be getting water but I can’t see any coming out of the exit fittings on the sides of the boat, however when I open the hatch after a run there seems to be residual water in the lines. Nothing feels super hot at all. Basically what I’m asking is, the water pickups in the bottom of the hull, (Zelos 36 Twin) do I leave them or add my own on the rear of the boat? Is anyone having issues with the stock pickups? I’ve only had the boat for a week and I don’t want to damage anything!!!!!

[petej]

When first running a new boat or first time in the season, I run the boat mid-throttle while looking for the water ejecting from both sides of the boat before running WOT.
Zelos 36 water, cooling system works just fine. Hot battery wires or EC5 connectors can make contact with the hatch foam and the result is obvious when you bring the boat and see the melted/deformed hatch foam, but I think this normal, OK.
Trying to avoid over-heating batteries: 1). Use stock props or ensure prop pitch/size not too large. 2). Ensure flex shafts are well greased ever few runs. 3) Run boat in calm, smooth water. When boat is out of water cooling system is not working.

[fweasel]

You can try popping the cooling hoses off the hull pick-up barbs and blow through them to verify there are no obstructions. Common culprits are kinked lines or metal flashing in the fittings. If you can blow through the lines with reasonable pressure, you're probably good. It's been recommended by the designer of the hull to file a teardrop shape into the bottom of the hull just in front of each water pick-up to help funnel in more water. It's also a good idea to chi/file out any paint that made its way into the opening of those water pick-ups. When the boat is out on the water, you won't see water coming out the sides until you're on plane and clipping along at a decent speed. You won't see a solid stream when your plowing around and idling.