I'm not sure if this is the right place for this thread but here it goes anyway. I'm new here and figure i will start with a short introduction. I was into r/c boats back in middle school but never really had the money for anything good so i started with an airboat with a small nitro airplane motor. I had fun with it but then life took over and i didn't have time for that hobby. Now i have time, and the spare cash. I am a proffesional body tech and painter and have been around boats for most my life. So far all i have is a 25cc homelite engine that my parents claim i brought home back in middle school, last night i picked it up, dumped a little mixed gas in and it started right up on the second pull. I have chose to go with a cat hull made by mountain hobbies, i have a good idea of how to set up the radio and servos and most the hardware. My big question right off the bat is how do i run the flex shaft? I don't believe the square on the output of the engine is 1/4" so I'm not sure what to use and could use some guiding.
Thanks in advance.

First off ... Welcome to MGB

Please take my statements as just some free wisdom and general FYI from near 35 years running R/C boats

The Homelite engines were for a spell ( Late 1980's - late 90's )used widely in the R/C boat world. These past 10+ years they have all but disappeared from the market replaced by Zenoahs and others.
* Last STRONGHOLD for there use was WAREHOUSE HOBBIES and they may very well still have some support / parts for doing the marine conversions, exhausts etc ....
*** Go to this sites home page and CLICK on the WHH banner ad to go to there site ***

Generally engines SUCH AS THE HOMELITE having a BIG flywheel fan at PTO end make that engine sit MUCH TOO TALL in a shallow engine bay hull such as a cat.
Better suited to a V shaped engine area like a Mono hull where they will mount lower.

POWER ... yes POWER is where these last 15 years of engine tech within the R/C boat hobby has left the 11,000 Rpm sub 2HP Homelites ( Modified ) in the dust of the more compact Zenoah or RCMK engines making near 4HP out of the box and +/- 6Hp once modified. Stock @ 16,000 and @ 18,000+ rpm range modified.

Talk with TONY at WHH and see what he can do for you, Homelite power for a first boat is just fine !! ... Just not much info or support around for them these days


Regards,
Scott

thank you very much for the input. i have noticed the shift since the early 2000's when i got the engine and parts were readily available. i will contact tony, hopefully he has some old stock laying around. i figured that engine was a good place to start and the at hull would allow for an upgrade to a zenoah in the future when i'm ready.

thanks for recommending i use Firefox. it finally worked.

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IMO ... the smaller Malibu

That was kinda my feeling, smaller=lighter and lighter=faster, i know the homelite is short on power and any edge i can get would be good.

The more i think about this project the more i think that maybe i should find some plans on a pdf file and build my own. I'm already being cheap and using a homelite why not continue the "budget" trend with the hull? Just need a little direction in finding plans. I tried downloading the plans on here but can't open the files.

If you are just starting out and want to build your own boat I recomend going to Zippkits.com and check out the Easy Vee. They are a fun build and for $59.00 you get pre-cut parts and a instruction manual. Lots of guys on this site have built them and perform good. Check out Marcs article in product reviews.

I hadn't really looked in to them much as I originally wanted fiberglass but that looks like a very solid option now. I could always use it as a plug to make my own fiberglass mold in the future.