Old boat nitro to electric conversion, sub-surface drive

[Thos]

My father built a boat back in the 80's some time, and we are looking at converting it to electric now. Below are some pictures of the boat as it sits today after i removed the old hardware. It weights in at about 4,5 kg without that lump of a motor in the pictures. I don't think this boat would look right with surface drive, so i am thinking of keeping it sub-surface, but change the drive line. Maybe do a flex cable and bend it a bit upwards under the hull?

Since this is a pretty heavy boat and it will be running sub-surface i was wondering if any of you could share some experience on how to proceed. Not looking for big speeds here, but about 30 mph would be nice. I have been trying to find some advice online for props and motor, but seems surface drives are what most talk about now. Am i correct in thinking that Octura X4 props would work sub-surface? I saw some posts mention the 12 series as sub-surface, but i have not found any of those yet.

As for motor, would a big Leopard be a good choice? One of the 56 series motors on 6 or 8 S? Maybe run 2-4 packs since this boat has plenty of room to spare. I know the recommended RPM's for surface drive, but completely blank on what to aim for on sub-surface.

Any advice is appreciated as me and the old man would like to have this boat on the water come summer time :)

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[Make-a-Wake]

I run a large 45" boat with the Leopard 4082 1000kv on 6s......hits about 33mph, but its a scaler so its just perfect. I'd go with the 1000 on 4-6s based on your speed desires.

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...o-4082&cat=148

[Thos]

Thanks Make-a-Wake. Are you running it surface or sub? I am playing with the calculator posted in another thread recently that gives advice for setups based on hull type and size, but i guess it gives recommendations for surface. From what i have found out i need to downprop when its sub-surface. Would maybe something in the 40 mm range be a starting point?

I also see i forgot to post the dimensions i had written down. Hull length is 97 cm, width is 32 cm.

[Make-a-Wake]

If you went with the 1000kv Leopard which is more than enough to move that hull well, i would start with a 35-37mm prop......... Mine is surface drive and i'm running an x445.

Here's a vid of it running when i had a Neu 1250kv in it. Small lake, i think I got close to full throttle once at 1:20 mark.

[Thos]

Very nice boat you have there!

I have been considering going with surface drive, maybe a stinger, just not sure how it will look since its more of a scale boat look. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Would make things a bit easier as well i think.