I have an atlas van lines hydro (1982 model?) probably a dumas kit. With all the progress made in electrics, I thought of converting it to electric power. I have very little experience in electric power. I would like any advice or ideas on how to, or would this be a waste of time.

Im not too familiar with dumas kits...could you maybe give us some specs? (length/width/etc.) also, what does it run off now? Nitro? if so what size motor? is it a wood kit or fiberglass? pics would be nice too

With out going over to my dads house and digging it out of the attic. It`s aproxamatly 36 inches long, 12 to 14 wide, and is a plywood kit. It was rated for a .46 inboard. At one time i had a K&B sport 40 in it but that would get it up on plane and that`s about it.
I have to get some things done this weekend, but I`ll try to dig it out and get some pics. Kozy.

hmmm 36" long, plywood nitro kit (its probably a heavy build (guessing) since its meant for a nitro)....your going to need a bit of power to get it going along well......

whats your budget?

honestly i think you would be better off buying a newer (and lighter) fiberglass hull...because if a .40 could just get it on plane, your going to need to buy a pretty big motor to get it running...

But...if you still want to use this hull...well...ive never build a hydro before, so i cant tell you exactly what you would need to power it, (hopefully someone who has a better idea than me can chime in), but id say a good guess would be a Feigao 580L size motor....you can generally find cheap ESC's and other electronics as www.hobbyking.com, although the quality may lack in comparison to more expensive ESC's, i feel safer risking a 30-50$ esc on an experimental build than 200+$ on a nice CC Hydra or an Etti or whatnot...

also if your planning to run Lipo (i suggest you do), your probably going to have either a 4s or 6s setup if you do go with the 580L motors..

link to 580's (bottom of page)...you can also find a lot of other stuff youll need for this boat (plugs, wires, pretty much all the essential building components)

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/products.php?cat=116

Now this is essentially a good guess for what you would need to run this boat, going on what size hulls the motor can take and all the other electronics to power it....i would wait until someone more experienced can either come in and comfirm what ive said, or give you a more proper setup for your hydro before you buy anything

Thanks for the advise. Yes I do plan on using li-po for power.The power available for the size pack just can`t be ignored. When I made the coment about the sport 40 just getting it on plane, I meant to say that it would get up on plane, but was not running anywhere near competitive speeds. I have no idea what speeds are run in competition now. I`ve been away from this segment of the hobby too long. I don`t know if I plan on getting into racing or not. I have enough irons in the fire as it is. Kozy

( http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/s...es_90-100A_ESC ) heres a good esc that will handle up to 100amps and 7s lipo

should take what the 580 would draw on 6s i think...

as for batts, www.rclipos.com is a good place to buy...Hobbyking does have lipos as well for decent prices, but Pat as rc lipos has got some great deals too, not to mention hes a pretty good guy to deal with business wise....and im sure people will back me up on this too....

still waiting for someone to chime in though [&:]

BTW, this hull still has all the origional hardwire right? does it run flex shaft or straight shaft?

It had a flex cable. I can`t remember how it happened, but the cable got trashed. I`ll have to order a new one. I still have the stuffing box, strut, rudder, and turn fin. If memory serves correct, I think it`s supposed to be a 3/16" cable. I`m working extra hours at work this week. If I get a chance, I`ll get it out from dads attic and get some spec`s as well as weigh it. I may even get some pics on here for you. Does anyone know if there still is a boat club in Evansville IN. There use to be because I bought this boat from a club member. It`s been SEVERAL years since I`ve been over there. I don`t think I could find the lake they ran on. Kozy

youll probably need a new radio system too....judging by how old it is, if you still have one, its probably a not so good quality AM system.....Tower Hobbies has some decent FM systems....and offshoreelectrics.com actually has a 2.4 GHz system for cheap (its just a basic system, without all the high end features like those spektrums have...but it doesent cost you near 200$ to have)...actually here it is ( http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...od=dh-TACJ0245 ) i think ive seen this system come with some of the newer aquacraft rtr boats....