Revived CEN Aquajet!

[Jmeans146]

Hey guys,

This is my first post here, but I've been looking through the forum this summer. I have an old CEN Aquajet that I decided to resurrect for fun. I know everyone will probably think it was a waste of time and money, but it was a fun first boat project that didn't cost me much, and left me wanting more! My goal was to have a fun "basher" boat that I could take to the lake this summer and have fun tuning and trying to make it better.

I first put a Traxxas brushless motor, servo, and radio that I had laying around out of a Slash in it with the boat still set up pretty stock. After I got a taste of a little more speed, I decided to get into it a little more...

I ended up gutting the stock electronic tray from the hull, painting it with rattle cans, and made all my own mounts for the servo, esc, motor, and batteries using ABS sheets and aluminum (all materials that I had to keep it cheap), as well as a secure way to hold the hatch on. I got an offset rudder/strut setup off of ebay for a great price, and modified it to fit. The offset was too much for this small hull, so I had to redesign the mount with some angle aluminum. Because of the new rudder mount, I made a separate mount for the strut, making it more of a Spartan strut design. I also ended up using stock Traxxas Spartan trim tabs, turn fins (cut down and sharpened), steering linkage, and stock prop to get me going. I also used a 3/16" prop shaft with flex shaft/tube and water jacket from Offshore Electrics.

It's turned out to be a blast to drive, and maybe even more fun to build, but I'm still messing with it to get it to handle better. Now I'd really like to get into building a nice fiberglass hull next.

Here's some pics of how it turned out:







And a quick video:
https://youtu.be/mFhrHFZxVSY

And a parts list:

Flycolor 150A esc
Tunigy 3674-2200KV motor
Traxxas TQ 2.4 Radio
Traxxas steering servo

I've been running it on 4s, and tried it on 6s but it was a bit much for the hull. I was curious if there was any issue with running it on 5s (one 2s battery and one 3s battery). I know the balance may not be perfect but I would like to test the speed.

Also, I am now to the point where I'd like to try a few different props. What is typically the difference between running more pitch versus a larger diameter? I can't go too much larger, but am wondering if I should try more pitch, or larger prop diameter. Any help is appreciated.

[Jmeans146]

And here's how I secured the hatch to the hull:

[Panchothedog]

I am impressed with your vidio. Nice job. For more speed try a prop the same diameter with more pitch and then monitor temps. I have used a 2s and 3s wired up in series on many occasions with no problem. Good luck.

[Panchothedog]

Just a comment on my above post as this is the first time I have ever written anything on here. It says Panchothedog junior member. I am 70 years old and have been in the fast electric boat hobby since 1987.