hasek1616

after trying to upgrade my traxxas blast for at least a year with the goal of not making it suck i gave up on just about every option, until i found out about jet boats, their sheer versatility just amazed me and i knew that i wanted one, so here i my build thread, from the point of view of someone who has owned rc cars for almost two years now and has gotten pretty at home with working on them, but only owned one rc boat (traxxas blast) before attempting to do a jet drive conversion. It should be interesting. For a jet i'm using the graupner mini jet, for a hull i'm using a gutted traxxas blast, and i haven't really made up my mind for electronics yet, so if you have any suggestions please tell me, it must be brushless and it mush be sold for a price thats comparable to hobbyking though, i don't want to put tons of money into a boat that doesn't deserve all top of the line equipment

hasek1616

i just finished cutting up the back hull in order to make it straight up and down so that the jet drive will sit level, here's a couple pics of the progress, the transom will be mounted to the layer of plastic that is right behind the outermost layer of plastic. if you have any tips, pointers, or suggestions please tell me, i need all the help i can get!

4mods

I think you should cut out your hole for the drive itself, then you will have a better ideas as to where the hole should really be. I could be wrong but to me it looks like the jet hole should be up allot more.

hasek1616

are you talking about the little hole on the very bottom? if so then thats been there, it was where the driveline came out, ill be cutting the actual hole for the jet drive today hopefully

hasek1616

i got the area where the jet drive will be sitting cut out, and to figure out where the jet drive will be mounted i put some liquid tape on the end of the main piece and set it where it would go and then pressed it against the transom so that it would leave a circle where i would have to cut. Hopefully i'll be able to get some fiberglass today so that i can get the transom permanently in place and be able to cut out the hole where the jet drive will go. Would I need to cut a hole the entire length of the jet drive or just where the water will be coming in?

4mods

I would just do where the water comes in but if you notice that raises the jet up you might consider cutting out the the full thing so the jet would be flush with the out side edge of your hull. JMO of course. Looking good on the jet hole, looking at the other hole it almost looks like a perfect size for one of those auto bailers!

hasek1616

thanks for the advice, i'll cut it out to fit the opening at first and see how it is, and i'm hoping this think won't need an auto bailer when im done lol

hasek1616

oh, so i'm going to pick up the epoxy resin and the fiber glass cloth tomorrow, but im completely new at this, so have a few questions for anyone who may know a bit more about this than i do, first, what weight cloth do i need, and if there are different types of epoxy resin what type of that would i need, and lastly is there any preparations i would have to do to my hull in order to ready it for the fiberglass? thanks in advance for the help!

hasek1616

I started putting on the epoxy to hold the back plate on, but because the fiberglass sheet doesn't hold itself together the inside is a bit rough, but i'm just gonna take a file to that to smooth it out, next i'll put silicone on the top of the transom to seal it up completely, then i'm ready to cut the hole for the jet drive!

hasek1616

i got the hole put in for the jet drive and the intake, and hopefully tomorrow i'll be able to file it down so it fits exactly right. the hole in the transom and the intake came out a bit crooked, but it's nothing a little filing can't take care of. i hope to have the jet mounted by tomorrow

hasek1616

since its raining where i live and the power is temporarily disconnected in my work shop for some repairs i've been thinking about what to do with the reverse bucket, and i've got a few questions:

damfurst

1. I've never used a reverse bucket on any of my jet boats.
2. Worth it? Well yes if you want reverse. No if you don't want to spend the money and add the extra weight.
3. Yes that servo should work fine.

hasek1616

thanks for the tip, exactly the answers i was hoping for! i'll just save the reverse bucket should i ever decide i want to use it

sundogz

Here's a slick way to make the transition from a 'V' hull to the jet delta. Use a sharp knife and straight edge and score the bottom so it can be bent down flat. I had a jetboat project (a BBY Oval Master) that I had to true up the transom that wasn't 90 degrees. It turned out OK.

hasek1616

thanks for the tip, but unfortunately my transom is already finished being leveled

4mods

1. I used it when I would get stuck.
2. I would say its tons of fun being able to save yourself from getting wet, so yeah but I use a full sized servo in mine.
3. I think I just answered that one, but I run those blue waterproof traxxas ones.

hasek1616

thanks for the adivice, and the more i think about it the more i do use reverse with my boats, but i'm still not sure yet, plus i figure rigging up a servo mount would be a bit of a hassle with the likited space thatt i have

4mods

These boats can turn on spot so I wouldn't worry to much either man. Get the first part done and its easy to add that reverse bucket after.

sundogz

I think you misunderstood. I was talking about the transition (going from the 'V' in the hull to the flat of the jet drive). Just an easy clean way to do it. And a pic of another boat where I had to do the same on a transom. Good luck!

hasek1616

oh ok i see what you mean, if i ever have to do this again with a transom that isn't straight (hopefully not lol) i'll definitely do it that way, it looks much cleaner than mine is now

hasek1616

i ran into a little problem, in that my hole for the jet was too high up and it made the intake sit quite far inside the boat, so in order to fix that problem i had to mount the nozzle, and then cut a square out around it and sand down the edges so that the hole was at the right height, then epoxy it back in. i'll post some pics of the solution as soon as i get a chance

hasek1616

Ok, as promised here are the pics of the solution that i came up with, it's not epoxied in yet, but i should be able to get to that tomorrow, then the real fun begins, after they ship me a new prop, and i make a trip to the hobby store

sundogz

Sorry, I guess I wasn't explaining it well. Never mind about the transom, I was talking about an easy way to do the delta (where the 'V' of the hull changes to flat at the jet drive. It will take care of the gaps. See how on my black boat I split the V and angled the cut so it would fold into a delta. Of course, you could just fill it in with epoxy too.

hasek1616

oh ok, im pretty certain i got it this time, i thought you were talking about the bend between the ride pad and the transom. cutting it like you mentioned should give it a little better hydrodynamics if you want to call it that, but how did you seal up the cuts and reinforce them?

sundogz

Some fiberglass cloth inside. But you could epoxy a piece of window screen there just as well. It will serve the same purpose.