Trials

Trial #1

I was expecting that the boat would run well but be a bit slow.  After all, it was basically stock.  Well I was sadly disappointed.  The boat went about 5 feet and a puff of white smoke came out of the outboard.  That was it, one motor toasted.

Trial #1 - A Failure

I'm guessing that the motor I had was defective, I'll replace it with another and give it another go.

Trial #2

I put in a new 550 stock motor and this time it did run for a while but after a few minutes, smoke came out of the motor again.  I guess the problem is not in the motor but probably in my modification to the drive line.  Although I can't detect any binding using the brass tube instead of the silicon one, it is the only thing that I can think of that may cause the problem I am having. 

Trial #2 - A Failure

Another burnt up motor.  I will remove the brass drive line tube I made and put back the factory silicon tube.  Time to dig up another motor and try again.

Trial #3

Ok, I am out of stock 550 motors so I am going to use a cheap 19 turn double.  I removed the brass drive line tube that I made and replaced it with the silicon tube.  I really don't think the brass tube is the problem.  I am thinking it is my home made speed controller.  I tried modifying a proven design to handle more current but apparently this caused some sort of feedback that fried the motors.  I have gone back to the original speed controller design for this trial.

Trial #3 - A Success

Well, this time it all worked.  I am guessing the problem was my speed controller all along.  Oh well, live in learn.

The speed is a bit slower then I would like but quite acceptable for a beginner.  The boat handles very well, it is able to turn very quickly.  The motor gets a bit toasty but water cooling will fix that.  Now that is is running, I plan on making it faster.

Trial #4

I have modified the outboard by adding a gearbox and water cooling.  I reused the cheap 19 turn I had been using.  I also added a Prather bronze 215 propeller.  Changing the propeller usually adds a lot of speed.   I am hoping for some impressive action out of this boat.  Too bad that I do not have the original motor/setup so I could compare the speed from the different setups.

Trial #4 - Ok But Not Great

I found a bit of water in the hull after running it.  Nothing much, maybe a tablespoon but I will have to find where it came from and fix the leak.

Thanks to Vac-U-Boat for supplying the picture.

The new drive system worked but it did not seem to be all that fast.  That is probably because of the motor I am using.

The water cooling setup looked to be working well, a stream of water could be seen coming from the discharge hose.  Now that all systems are go, it is time to put a good motor in it and see what it can do.

More Later...