Hi all, I am new around this forum but not to rc. I have an old ABC hobby Super Hawaii I have just bought off facebook. I used to have one of these way back when they were new. Lost mine along the way somewhere and so jumped at the chance when I saw this one pop up for sale.

These things used twin 550 motors that ran thru a gearbox to a steerable drive via a ball and cup flex joint. I remember with my old one back in the 90's the cup wore out pretty quickly and eventually the gearbox blew out. While the motor pinions and the drive output gear are all metal, the spur between them all is plastic. If they didn't last back in the day, I strongly suspect there is not going to be any point expecting it to now that its 25 years old. Back then I am pretty sure I used a 750 motor from Graupner maybe? I know I had a Graupner speed controller and strut/rudder setup that I had in there. It was pretty quick and great fun. I'd like to do the same here but of course everything has changed since then so I am somewhat at a loss as to what motor to look for.

So, I am here looking for as bit of advice. What would you do? This thing is all original, even still had the mechanical speed controller in there. Both the servos and both motors were seized. Looks like it was literally put away wet 20 years ago and then I got it. I have pulled all the electrics and managed to strip down the gearbox and outdrive off the back of the thing. I appreciate that it may have "some" collector value as it is all original, but I don't really care. I would much rather build something fun and fast to use than sit around hoping the Tamiya guys all decide ABC hobby boats are going to be the next big thing.

I am 1/2 tempted to do what I had back then, but I don't know what size brushless motor would be roughly equivalent to those old 750 size Graupner motors? But is a strut and rudder combo the way to go? should I use a better quality steerable drive? or a pair of them? Or a twin strut and rudder setup? What would you do? Its bang on 3 feet long transom to tip and weighs nearly nothing without batteries in it. Its a V hull with 2 steps, and they always handled pretty crummy back in the day. I remember it used to spin out pretty regularly with the drive, but stopped doing that when I switched to the strut/rudder setup.

I am totally up to speed on LiPo power so will be using that (I have a sizable RC car collection). Just have not done boats in decades and need a bit of help. What do you guys think?