Outboard

[skyray]

Hey fellas!...just got the Aqua Craft electric outboard motor (all stock).Do I need to break in this motor before use??? If so,how???? I have read where the r/c car guys always break in their motors,but it is not mentioned in the instruction manuel with the motor!....I assume the bearings,motor, and gears need some wear in at low throttle before going full bore????I read somewhere that you can use a 1 1/2 volt drycell battery connected and just let it run until it is discharged?????anything to this???all tips or info is greatly appreciated..............................thanks!

[Fluid]

While there are numerous methods used to break in electric motors for racing, for most sport uses I'd suggest simply not running the boat for more than 1 minute at a time for the first three or four times, letting the motor cool off fully between runs. Avoiding full throttle is not recommended when you have a mechanical speed controller as this can result in excessive heat build-up in the controller when running at part throttle. But certainly vary the speed constantly, keeping the boat on plane until you bring it in. Make certain that you have lubricated all the points recommended in the manual, particularly the motor bushings.

[GregS]

The lower unit is already pre-greased and indestructable so you don't have to worry about that for now. The stock motor does not tend to get hot because it's relatively mild (27 turn), outside of the boat, and water cooled. I never did anything special with mine and it worked fine for as long as I used it. Break-in and maintenance is more of an issue with hot modified lower turn motors which is probably what the r/c car guys are using.

[skyray]

Thanks fellas for your info!.....I am not new to r/c boats,only electrics.....run nitro hydros (riggers included) for quite sometime......still like 'em but not the starting and clean up hassel!.....most all the noise factor,seems someone is always complaining whereever I go for an afternoon of FUN!!....so I figured I might get in to electrics????

[BoatDoc]

yup...electrics are the way to go. people complained about those of use running a couple of stock nitro's in my area. it's getting harder and harder to find places to run the noise makers. i still like a bit-o-nitro, but nothing comes close to running an electric boat at 50+ and making almost no noise at the same time. ok...back to building for a while, gotta get the new hydro ready :D .

[Fluid]

The nitro racers are still trying to lose as many running sites as they can. Instead of addressing the real issue - excessive noise - they complain about intollerant neighbors. Both US sanctioning bodies have dB limits well above those of even the airplane guys (who are also losing sites right and left) and even these limits are seldom if ever enforced. I've run at several major nitro/gas events with my FE boats, and while the liquid fuel guys are impressed by the speed and reliability of electrics, most say something like: "they just don't make enough noise for me." With that attitude, I have little sympathy for them when they lose a pond. They have no one but themselves to blame.

[skyray]

I totally agree with you!....a boat with a good muffler/tuned pipe is not too bad for noise, I have seen some you could hardly hear across the pond,and others would burst your ear drums!.......
The only draw back i see for electric right now is short run times and in order to get a good fast model you need the expensive brushless motors,esc's and battery packs ( not cheap).......I can actually build a nice running nitro boat say a .21 size cheaper than electric! .. So Iam sorta in between,don't know which way to go??????

[BoatDoc]

most of my nitro experience is with K&B O/B's. they are LOUD. but i noticed the addition of a tuned pipe brought the noise down drastically on my current set up. although no one really does it anymore, running a wet exhaust on a nitro helps bring the noise down too. just a little...no science to back up my claim, just "seat-o-my-pants" estimation.

[Fluid]

The only draw back i see for electric right now is short run times and in order to get a good fast model you need the expensive brushless motors,esc's and battery packs ( not cheap).......I can actually build a nice running nitro boat say a .21 size cheaper than electric! .. So Iam sorta in between,don't know which way to go??????This is changing - costs of brushless systems have been cut in half in the past five years. New battery technology is providing long run times with high power, and that cost is slowly coming down too.

But building and operating a nitro boat is not the same thing. If all you want to do is build a .21 and sit it on the shelf, it can be cheaper than building an electric. But add in operating costs and maintenance and the differences go away. A good LiPo battery has 500 cycles in it, at a cost (electricity) of about $0.05 per charge. That's just $25 for the 500 runs. A .21 boat can use 8 ounces per run, or 31.25 gallons of nitro fuel for 500 runs. At just $25/gal that's $781.25 for those 500 runs. And this ignores the maintenance required for the nitro boat - how many plugs, bearings and rods will be needed for 500 runs? Kinda puts things into perspective doesn't it? ;)

[skyray]

I agree!!and I am not to keen anymore on the starting hassels,launches,flame outs,part replacement,and the long dreaded clean up of castor(messy!)after each boating session at the pond,...i like the idea of almost maintence free running and when you are done,take a paper towel and maybe your favorite cleaner and dry it off,put it in the car and head home!(with the hatches removed for airing out)...yup,that seems the way to go in my old age!

[BoatDoc]

all this talk is making me wonder why i'm even trying to put my 3.5 tunnel back together. start up cost for both can be considerable. the great thing about electric is the fact that once you have the initial gear, each boat gets cheaper and cheaper. or the fact that you can run 1 boat in a couple of classes (my viper for example...i plan on running in 3). i'm sick of trying to buy fuel, everytime i go to get more i have to buy a different brand because the friggin' LHS refuse to maintain any kind of stock around here. at least with FE's all you have to do is charge up and go.

but back to the topic at hand...i'd suggest you just buy a bunch of plastic octura props. start with the smallest and work up. once you find the one that works, get 2 of that size in metal. sharpen and balance them and you're good.

[skyray]

Know exactly where you are coming from! my beef is I need too many different Blends of fuel for all my different engines!!!30% for 1/2A engines,5% for control line engines,10% for r/c airplane engines,20% for nitro car engines, AND anywhere from 25% -40%!! for nitro boats,OB's require 15%and up! and my riggers won't even get on "the step" with less than 40% as the .45 is is running a lot of prop and pitch................all this crap and expense makes me look at electric a lot closely!I must have 8-10 jugs of fuel sitting around,a little in this one ,a little in that one, and none of them is fresh! sound familiar??????????????????????????????

[BoatDoc]

i know the problem all too well. i end up putting some of my fuel every year into the burn pile to help get the brush going! i still like to run nitro, but not as much as i used to. i think the 1/10 scale hydro i'm slowly building will likely be my last nitro. unless i get the money for one of andy brown's boats :D