New Hobby King Cat (Surge Crusher)

[electric]

I've seen guys add a fuel tube between the motor and the cable tube to stop the water from coming inside. I don't have a picture and I've not done that on my boats yet, I just add auto-bailer :)
Basically same idea as you had with electrical tape just on the other end of the shaft and it is a fuel tube instead of the tape..

Yes, I have seen pictures of that and understand how to do it. I will need some big diameter fuel tubing which I don't have handy right now. I really work to make sure my hulls stay dry at all times(few drops). Just don't want the hassle of glitchy electronics. This thing is so bad right now it has several tablespoons of water at the end of the run. I understand now why the "kit" came with a balloon for your receiver and the esc is completely sealed in silicon. It seems as though the manufacturer expects the boat to run "wet" inside.

[electric]

Thanks for the suggestions. It is an odd problem. I even was looking at the texture of the shaft compared to others I have to see if that had something to do with it. I will go ahead and do the shrink wrap round the strut area, but I doubt that is going to do it since the electrical tape essentially was doing the same thing.

There is something about the design of the drive system that is not quite right. I might go ahead and take a .187 shaft and standard collet and see what happens. I have those laying in my parts bin I think. Interesting problem.

[FighterCat57]

Well I thought I had the water coming up the shaft problem fixed, but no luck. I thought that maybe the water was pushing up its way though the front of the strut and creating pressure that pushed it up the shaft. To solve this I wrapped some electrical tape around it to create a seal. As you can see by the pictures it is pushing the grease and water up the shaft and into the boat. I have had numerous boats, but have not seen this problem to this extent. Any ideas for me to try???

I'm having this same problem on the Apparition. Can't seem to figure out where the water is coming in. The next thing I'm going to try is to eliminate any extra space in between the prop dog and the strut. Since the hard prop shaft is captive, this might help reduce water intake if coming in via the shaft. I already have the shrink tube installed over the stuffing tube & strut and it did help reduce the shaft splatter.

HTH

[vasy]

I've seen guys add a fuel tube between the motor and the cable tube to stop the water from coming inside. I don't have a picture and I've not done that on my boats yet, I just add auto-bailer :)
Basically same idea as you had with electrical tape just on the other end of the shaft and it is a fuel tube instead of the tape..

[crabstick]

try putting a bit of heat shrink between the strut and the shaft.

[electric]

Well I thought I had the water coming up the shaft problem fixed, but no luck. I thought that maybe the water was pushing up its way though the front of the strut and creating pressure that pushed it up the shaft. To solve this I wrapped some electrical tape around it to create a seal. As you can see by the pictures it is pushing the grease and water up the shaft and into the boat. I have had numerous boats, but have not seen this problem to this extent. Any ideas for me to try???

[electric]

So, it is possible to buy a boat for about 180 dollars(with shipping), put some lipo's in it, use the plastic prop that came with it and hit about 37mph. Not too bad. I did not put any additional "hop ups" on it at all except for the teflon shaft mentioned. This boat does take some "tinkering" to get some of the rough edges worked out, but not too tough. I had my son drive it this evening and he had a blast with it. By the way, I owned a BlackJack boat before and this thing does waaay better in the turns with no turn fin. I hope you all enjoyed the review and thanks for the help from other people reading the thread.

[electric]

Well, I did my evening run and the boat ran great. I would post the data, but it is pretty much the same. Top speed is about 35 - 37mph. I am sure if I put an x440 or even an x442 prop on I am going to easily go past that and I probably will try it later on. I am still having a water issue. I am going to re-test the tubing and the seals around the motor tonight to see if I missed something. The Teflon liner I put in really is working great no extra resistance and much nicer fit around the shaft so I feel that is not my problem at this point.

There is a piece of aluminum tubing that is epoxied to the hull so I know that is not leaking. I am thinking about putting some adhesive around the "big" outer teflon tube and then sliding that into the aluminum shaft to ensure it has a good seal. First though, I am going to recheck the tubing.

[electric]

hey electric,

where did you purchased the teflon tubing you use to fill up the gap between stock stuffing tube and 5mm flex cable?

will this work? http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...=oct-oc187t-24

thnx

Yes. That is the right stuff.

[hpipro4]

hey electric,

where did you purchased the teflon tubing you use to fill up the gap between stock stuffing tube and 5mm flex cable?

will this work? http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...=oct-oc187t-24

thnx

[electric]

Thanks Vasy. Yes, I ended up doing just what you are showing. You can get that shaft out, but then you have to take off the drive dog and prop to get the shaft out of the strut to oil that. Not the best. EDIT..Vasy, just re-read your post good idea about drilling a hole in the strut. "SailR", sorry for being so thiick headed you were right also.

Now on to new stuff. I tested the water cooling system and there were no leaks which points me to the shaft. I started looking at that and here is the deal. The teflon shaft the boat is using is so big in diameter no wonder the water is coming up into the boat! (Just as you noted Vasy, read your thread after I was out in the garage working on this) Matter of fact, it is so big you can take a teflon tube (.187) and slide it "inside" the orginal teflon shaft and then put drive shaft though that. A nice cheap easy fix for this problem!!!

I am trying to see if I can just use the boat as it comes, not gut it and start replacing stuff, otherwise what is the point of a cheap boat?

By the way I pulled off the tape and part of the stickers came off. They have the stickers placed right where you tape. They do send you some other cool stickers though.

I will take it back out this afternoon and see if that fixed the water issue and also do some more measurements.

[vasy]

[QUOTE=electric;200456
On the debated shaft issue. Look at the picture that comes with the boat, it specifcally states to push it through to the motor(step2). I took a picture of it. See that groove in the shaft. that prevents the shaft from comming out the back of the strut. I just thought about it some more. You could remove the prop, drivedog and the strut itself and then probably pull it out the back...

Once I get the leak fixed (almost fried my datalogger) I will take it out for a long run for more data and heat testing[/QUOTE]

It could be sucking in the water through the drive shaft.

From the instruction (I have the same as you just for a different boat, they must use one for all) you only need to do step 1 and pull out the shaft and the strut/prop assembly. I also drilled a small hole into the strut to lubricate inside there with out taking apart the assembly all the time. Just cover the hole with tape and it seems to works well.

Wow, 60km/h for a cheap stock boat is not bad at all. Try it on 5s :)

Check out the pictures, I have the same square motor coupler and same one screw removal as in your instructions. I took step by step pictures. Is yours not the same system?

[electric]

Here is the data... I must say the boat ran great. It handled great around the turns and was very stable wide open. Very impressed. I do have some kind of water leak that I have to find. I tested the hull and it was fine, so it must be in the cooling. The temps looked and felt good, but I did not publish them because of the short run time. I expect them to be fine. 37mph out of the box with a stock set up. Not Bad. I was running 4s1p 40c 5000mah Turnigy batts

On the debated shaft issue. Look at the picture that comes with the boat, it specifcally states to push it through to the motor(step2). I took a picture of it. See that groove in the shaft. that prevents the shaft from comming out the back of the strut. I just thought about it some more. You could remove the prop, drivedog and the strut itself and then probably pull it out the back...

Once I get the leak fixed (almost fried my datalogger) I will take it out for a long run for more data and heat testing

[vasy]

The strange thing is that the instructions you showed that discusses lubricating the shaft tells you to do just what I said, remove the strut! Oh well.

I have 5 of their boats. They ALL work this way. I have had two of the Surge Crusher boats. They work the same way. I have replacement flexshafts. They are square on both ends. one end slips into the coupler at the motor end and the other end slips into the captive prop shaft. By removing the strut, you can pull the cable out.

I have 3 of their boats and 2 use this square system with one square end that pulls out easy that way sailr says, making a lube job a super easy. But the shaft ends are soldered in. Maybe the changed something on this boat, but the instructions do show the lube done with 1 screw?

[sailr]

The shaft is 5mm as I recall which is .1968". To convert to a 3/16" (.1875") you would need to shim the inside of the strut with something to make up the difference. If you could buy 5mm OD tubing it might work out OK but I haven't found a good source for it.

Bottom line, run it like it is. It works OK.