ZippKits JAE 45 Build Thread

[Mario Johnston]

Start to finish Build of my JAE 45 outrigger,
June 23rd - Sept 10th.
Posting images in hopes that someone out there may be able to use these images as inspiration and instruction for building one of these fantastic hulls. Thanks for looking!

 

[Mario Johnston]

Day one, kit arrives. Laying out parts and taking inventory to understand what I have and where things go. Decided to power the boat with a CMB V5 45 and CMB pipe.
Opted not to change much on the kit as this is my first 40 boat build and I've given myself a deadline of 3 months to get the boat finished and ready to race.


Day 2, laminated both tub wall pieces together, established engine location with center 16" from transom, 7° angle, being sure to leave enough room for the belt to slip under the flywheel once boat is fired up. Also taking the time to use my shaft alignment tool to establish through hole locations for the bulkhead and radio box floor.

Mock up of tub walls in place, bulkheads, boom tube reinforcement, etc.
Decided to use StumpFab engine mounts. The grommets are wider than the tub walls, so I'm adding additional reinforcement on either side of the rails to account for this.


Also beginning to epoxy sponson side skins in place, using the aluminum pins as an alignment tool.

 

[Mario Johnston]

Spending a full day working on the tub here. I've established the bulkhead and floor through holes. Resting the tub on the floor to see how square the fit will be

Drilling: getting through bulkhead and floor, using an alignment tool to be sure the stuffing tube is as straight as possible

 

[Mario Johnston]

Time to epoxy the tub walls onto the floor, being careful to keep things square by using the floor corners as a reference.
Taking the time to use excess epoxy to keep progress on the sponsons going. 3rd skin on the sponsons is the top


Day 4: making a cherry reinforcement plate for the stuffing tube. This will not only add strength but look good once hull is sealed and finished

 

[Mario Johnston]

With the tub floor in place, I can begin filling the nose section with flotation. Decided to use pink foam since I had A LOT left over from previous builds.
For the cleanest results I could manage, I laid the tub onto the foam and traced the inside of the tub walls onto the foam with a pencil. Next I ran the foam through a bandsaw to cut the piece to the exact size needed. Slip into place and epoxy. Once cured, use the boom tube holes as a reference to drill for brass tubes, drilling through the foam slowly from each side until the holes meet in the center.
Epoxy brass tube into place. Once cured, I use a belt sander and block to sand until smooth and clean

Sponson gluing. Using my straight aluminum rail to ensure straight skis.

Forward floor section setting


Sponson taking shape.

 

[Mario Johnston]

4 days into the build and the boat is beginning to take shape. Sponsons have a few skins and I've decided where I'll be placing the turn fin dowels. These will be made of .5" cherry and lined up parallel to the water line on the right sponson

Beginning work on a steering servo mount. Cherry wood, simple design


Figuring out placement of the battery within the radio box

A 10° header gives me sufficient clearance over the radio box bulkhead

 

[Mario Johnston]

These are one of my favorite details. Additional reinforcement for each bulkhead made from cherry. Looks good, adds strength. Win/win!




Sponson skins finished. These turned out so good, I feel bad covering up the finish with paint.

 

[Mario Johnston]

Checking the fit of the top tub skin, being sure there's enough room to cover my corner reinforcements

 

[Mario Johnston]

One week into building the kit, decided to use a SpeedMaster rudder that I had laying around. Keeping the mount far to the right and ensuring as straight of a route as possible for the steering rod.
Using piano wire with a 4-40 width but significantly stronger material, knowing the rudder will take a lot of stress in the turns.


Turning back to the servo mount, keeping the design clean, simple and strong.


I've mentioned this in one of my previous threads, but another Special shout out to Stu Barr for this trick:
Telescoping pipe over header, no blown couplers mid race

 

[Mario Johnston]

Shout out to Andy Brown for this cowl, I love the shape of an Eagle cowl, not much modification required to fit the J hull.


Starting the sponson nose blocks and checking the overall look of the boat


Transom mock up. These mounts are incredibly tight but I have a solution to keep all the bolts happy out back

 

[Mario Johnston]

Still less than 2 weeks of building and the hull is ready for her deck skin. Checking and sanding radio box


Deck skin is in place, very happy with the look


Turning back to right sponson, cut cherry dowels at this time for the turn fin mount

 

[Mario Johnston]

Finishing the fit of the cowl once the deck skin is in place. Adding flotation and trimming the rear to match the sponson back end, similar to keeping a build aesthetic


The throttle and needle valve servo mounts took some time to figure out, as I tried to keep the rods as straight as possible but out of the way of moving parts in the engine bay.
My solution was to make angled mounts from cherry.
Also getting the stuffing tube finerglassed in. Keep it clean, two small square layers on top, two on bottom seems to be sufficient

 

[Mario Johnston]

Deck finished, flipping the boat over to build the rear ski. I built the ski off the boat with the help of aluminum rails to be sure the sides were perfectly perpendicular to the ride surface. Very happy with the fit. Epoxy in place

Radio and Bait box lids, made from a single piece of 1mm carbon to keep the weave moving the same direction. A detail most won't notice but it gives me peace of mind!

At this point I'm very happy with the boats progress. Nose blocks are finished here, cowl has a carbon lip to keep it secure.

 

[Mario Johnston]

There's something aesthetically pleasing about parallel lines in a tub build. Keeping everything as straight as possible.
Lips are glued under the deck to support lids at this point

 

[Mario Johnston]

Working on the turn fin. Used a standard JAE fin as a reference but made my own fin blank



Sharpening the fin with a long leading edge taper

 

[Mario Johnston]

Sealing the hull, clear coating the tub and getting the running gear in place.
These shots show my solution for the tight transom space bolting.




Every day a little closer to final assembly. At this point I send the cowl and sponsons off to paint and focus on the tub and running gear


The inner stuffing tube of the boat is removable via this two bolt clamp. This would come in handy later on for repairs.


For no reason other than appearance, I vinyl wrapped the brass tube that supports the rear boom tube


Zipp strut and SpeedMaster rudder

 

[Mario Johnston]

Preparing the boat for a splash of color (or lack thereof?)
White/black/woodgrain has become my signature style I think. I'll carry that theme through this boat


Building a raised mount for the 3rd channel needle. I was very happy with how this piece turned out. Sat atop its little beveled cherry pedestal in an easy to work on, easy to access space in front of the carb.
An old AeroMarine antenna mount is the perfect size for one of Stu's needle valves I had in the parts box

 

[Mario Johnston]

Parts back from paint, time to get moving on final assembly. An aggressive cowl needs an aggressive windshield
2 months into the build at this point

 

[Mario Johnston]

The last pieces of the puzzle to be dropped into place, this stainless tank from John at SS Custom Tanks and cowl locks from StumpFab. Thanks for the help, guys!


As far as I can tell, she's ready for some testing

 

[Mario Johnston]

The boat would perform exceptionally well, the cornering and handling of this machine were far better than I could have imagined. In addition, it's a blast to drive!
The boat logged 72 and 75 mph on its first day in the water (with a fully broken in motor) and 2219, 2317 and 2319 props. Fine tuning massaged the boat up to 77mph by the 3rd day on the water.

The set up was very easy, only taking 2 tanks of fuel to establish my preferred settings for trim and steering.
The boat made the deadline set and just 4 days after its first test, It was racing in Evansville, IN for the 2023 Jack Kohlmeyer Memorial.


The boat was an absolute animal in race water with only a small mechanical issue keeping us from getting to the top step!
However its hugely competitive and I'm way happier with this build than I thought I could be.
Thanks to everyone who helped, Joe with ZippKits, Stu Barr at CMB Motor USA, Gabe at StumpFab, John for SS Custom Tanks, Mark Sholund for Props 4 U, SpeedMaster hardware Harry, Jim at ABC Propellers, Andy Brown, John with Technology Hobbies.
Thanks to all of you for scrolling this far



Darrel Skroll image