Need some help with my boat.

[grgbulldog]

About 12 years ago my uncle bought the now discontinued ABC Hobby Super Hawaii boat. He never built it and gave it to me about 2 1/2 years ago. I finally got it out on the water this weekend. I had read about it and seen videos where it was going about 15 MPH stock. When I put it in the water today, it was dissapointing. Top speed was 4 maybe 5 MPH. The prop sticks out behind the boat and was cavitating like crazy, and it seemed like it ran rather rough, but when i took the drive off it was smooth.

http://www.treehouseradio.com/marinerc/fastelectrics/superhawaii/superhawaii_firstboat.htm
Here's a link to what the boat is. It went just as fast at half throttle as full throttle with the cavitation. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Rolex]

It looks like a pretty decent setup. A lot of boats will tend to cavitate when throttled hard. Try easing into top speed and see if it helps.
Some props will do it even fully submerged, but this one looks like it's designed to be a surface runner.
Your best option is to change the pitch of the prop you're using. If there's a nylon prop, going to brass will also help.

 

[grgbulldog]

I may try that. We tried 3 different pitches, up, middle, and down. All of them cavitated. Anything above half throttle did no matter how well you eased it in. Would you get 2 or 3 bladed prop? It also needs a new esc instead of mechanical and maybe some nice new motors I feel.

 

[Rolex]

Adjusting the angle of the prop drive will change how the boat planes on the water. With the drive down, the boat will lay flatter. Better control, but less speed due to the increased drag. With the drive set high, the nose will rise. More speed in exchange for less control due to less surface area.
I'm thinking you might want to swap out the outdrive for a deeper setup. That might be the reason it was discontinued. I'm guessing that everything is stock, and batteries and electronics are in the proper location for the correct balance.

 

[grgbulldog]

I was thinking about it and it would just be cheaper and easier to get a boat with modern technology.

 

[Rolex]

You're absolutely correct. By today's standards, the good brand name boats have all the bugs worked out. Like anything else, when you pay the price, you get state of the art technology.