I guess first things first are introductions. My handle is CJ and I am a first time model boat builder (long time reader) and I'm starting this build thread as an invitation to more experienced builders to give their expertise and advice. Any constructive comments are more than welcome because I am more or less flying in the dark here.

The build: This boat is intended to be a fun sport boat to be run on a river near a house my parents own. As both me and my father have grown older we have sort of lost our love for the water over the years and I hope that a fun project like this might be just what we need right now. I'm hoping this boat will give all the fun of full-size boating, but without the hassle of launching the full size boat which is getting more difficult with my fathers age.

Progress So Far: I have already made my first mistake by buying a POS engine off of eBay for 30 dollars. It was a "Yard Machines" brand (never heard of it) and I bought it because it was cheap and there was very little time left to bid. Anyways there were all sorts of problems when I got it. But, things worked out for me because it just so happened that my uncles barely used Homelite broke (the flex shaft anyways) the day the engine arrived from ebay. My uncle heard about me trying to get this project off the ground and donated the engine to the cause. I am convinced that God broke my uncles weed-eater as a sign to start this project (sort of like an RC version of Noah's ark). At any rate, I tore the engine down and got it nice and squeaky clean. I cut off the housing over the muffler and put some heat resistant paint over the muffler and muffler housing. The muffler takes a whole week to dry so its sitting in the shed until Sunday (it might get another coat then too I really don't want it to rust). In the meantime I have a Easy-Vee kit from Zippkits in the mail so I will hopefully get that off the ground soon. Ill get pictures up on my next post, so you can see where I am so far.

Also, This is a budget build so any money saving advice would be awesome.

Welcome to MGB. Looking forward to seeing how your build progresses.

If you decide you want to do some mods to the Homelite, this link has some good info: testfly.0catch.com/homelite/homelitemain.html

Also here is a link to my build of an EasyVee kit. They are good boats, I'm sure you will enjoy it. The build is pretty straight forward: www.modelgasboats.com/Magazine...ppkits_EasyVee/

Yes Welcome to the site!
Ive heard the easy v is a good kit, so enjoy!
Any questions at all feel free to ask, I think most of us have some time up with the homelite's!
X472 by octura is a good starter prop for a homie in a V hull!
Does your motor have the square drive retaining the flywheel?
Saves trying to find a collet if so, saving money!
Anyway let us know how it goes as you get along and we will try to help you out!

Chad.

Welcome CJ. The Easy Vee is a fun build and a blast to run.

It is a square drive, but I'm not sure what you mean when you say that I don't need a collet. In fact I have found very little information about the actual drive for the boat (drive as in the connection between motor and prop).

Hi, welcome aboard... Have you ever taken a weedeater apart and seen the end on the clutch bell? It's sqeezed into a sqare shape that the cable slides into. On Zenoahs, most have a collet that clamps down on the cable. Hope this helps. Let me know if not and I'll post a pic for ya!!

I believe I know what you mean. I'm going to try and post some pictures this afternoon. I don't own a digital camera (just not a big photo taker) so I'll just use the web-cam on my laptop.

If you have the square drive attatched to the motor then your ok!
You need to get hold of the flex cable from the weedy!
This will go from your motor through the hull to your 1/4 drive shaft for your prop!
Simply run through some brass tube to retain the greased cable.
You will need a brass ferrul on the drive shaft to solder/glue the cut down cable into.



Hope this helps,
Chad.

Thanks for the sweet diagram, but I think I will have to find another flex shaft. The reason I got the homelite engine for free is because the flex shaft on the weed eater broke. This weekend I'll make some calls to some small engine repair places and see whats available. I put the muffler back on the motor last night (It was being painted with some good rustoleum brand engine enamel to prevent rust). The easy-vee kit is coming in on Saturday so I think I will be able to get it put together the following weekend. What I might be able to get done in the meantime is motor mounts. I have access to a full machine shop through my university, but I want to know what is the simplest motor mount design for homelite engines. (I even have access to solid works so I can model it out first).

I usually use some alloy 'C' channel that suits whichever isolation rubbers I can find at the time, just cut off 2 sections.
Drill one for the rear engine plate (4 bolts)
The front I usually drillthe plastic case and use 2 stainless self tappers to attach the mount.
I'll try to drag one of my homies out of the shed today and take some pics for you!