*** NEW *** Pro Boat Veles 29 Catamaran

[kfxguy]

Had a rainy weekend so figured I'de take out the veles for it's second run. Went about 20 feet ,punched it and the shaft broke. Guess I'll call Monday. Sucks the prop goes with it.
Happens. Had the boat for a few months. Ran one set of batteries then winter hit and it sat.
Now I'm going nuts I wanna see this thing go lol

I’m surprised that proboat hasn’t addressed this problem yet. Sending replacement shafts that do the same thing isn’t helping. Hopefully they get that squared away because it seems like an awesome little boat.

[Veles29]

I have had a chance to take my Veles out twice now. First run was nice and easy just to get the feel of it. Today was the second run. Right off the dock and give it some good throttle, boat goes nice and then seems to cut out. I panic a bit thinking the drive shaft went as I had not installed the OSE drive shaft(I just installed it before this post). Wait a couple seconds then it works fine. I bring it back and check it out. Everything looks ok so back out on the water. Some easy runs for a bit. After a few min of running it does it again. Cuts out then after a couple seconds is fine. Water is coming out of the coolant pipe but not sure if its enough water coming out. There is a pretty sharp 90' bend in the coolant hose at the esc as it goes out one side and in the other. Not sure if I should get a bit more hose to straiten the curve a bit. Its not kinked, just a sharp turn. I am running the stock prop and 2x SMC 5400mah 104amp 50c batteries. At the end of the run I remembered to check the temps. The motor was 114'f and the esc was 148'f. So I think I am over heating the esc and causing it to cut for a second. I think I should go for a smaller prop but not really sure. Also is there a recommended voltage to set my voltage alarm to? I have it set to 3.7v right now. I had heard you should not get the batteries below 3.6v? This boat is fun for sure. I cant wait to drive it at full throttle for more then 1.5 seconds hahaha. Its so fast.

[MADRCER]

If it's cutting out right off the dock then you may have a bad battery or an esc problem. But if it happens after you have been running wot laps on 6s with the stock prop (which isn't recommend) you are probably overheating the esc and its going into thermal shutdown (it will go into thermal shutdown around 170°). If you want 6s wot runs use one of these three Pro prepped props, a Prather 220, or an Octura x442, or x642 and you will be able to still get around 60mph if you have a good setup. Good luck with it.

[Veles29]

Thanks for the info on the props. I took the boat out this morning with the new OSE drive shaft and octura coupler. Get to the middle of the lake and then the boat stops but I can hear the motor running. I wait a while for the boat float in a bit then tired my rescue boat(still needs some modifications to make it work better) but got both boats back. The drive shaft was spinning in the octura coupler. I tired to tighten it again but still after 3 seconds of light use the driveshaft spins loose. Are there any tips to tightening the drive shaft to the coupler? I have tightened the coupler as much as I though but maybe still not enough. Do I need normal size wrenches? my wrenches are small hobby. I just don't want to break anything.

[MADRCER]

Thanks for the info on the props. I took the boat out this morning with the new OSE drive shaft and octura coupler. Get to the middle of the lake and then the boat stops but I can hear the motor running. I wait a while for the boat float in a bit then tired my rescue boat(still needs some modifications to make it work better) but got both boats back. The drive shaft was spinning in the octura coupler. I tired to tighten it again but still after 3 seconds of light use the driveshaft spins loose. Are there any tips to tightening the drive shaft to the coupler? I have tightened the coupler as much as I though but maybe still not enough. Do I need normal size wrenches? my wrenches are small hobby. I just don't want to break anything.

It would be ideal to use normal size wrenches. The first time when it spun on the shaft it probably wore the coupler and shaft down. Normally they won't tighten up properly after they have been spun. You might need a new coupler and a new cable depending on the damages. You can try to clean the coupler groves out real good with a razor blade and make sure no solder is in them and it might tighten up, if not you'll have to replace them.

[vinnyp]

I had the same issue with my veles, slipped the coupler on the flex. I know it was tightened properly. Don't know why it slipped. In the end, the flex was destroyed. However, I was able to remove the coupler, clean out the solder that was jammed in there,still using the same coupler today.

[CraigP]

I’ve had trouble with the Octura coupler. I’ve gone to OSE coupler, but I’ve had the really put the daddy-tight on those too. It’s a lot of HP on a small, round shaft, so the situation is not ideal. I would like a square end, but know it is very difficult getting the square exactly in the middle of the shaft. Also, be sure there is no grease on the end and clean the coupler (take out of the boat) with brake cleaner every once in a while. I clean the shaft with acetone on a rag before each insertion.

[martin]

I have found that some .187" cable to be undersized, I have some Octura cable that is only .180" & some Aeromarine that is .183", as said some couplings can be a few thou oversize on their bore. Some cable appears to be tight initially but as soon as prop load is put on the cable slips causing damage to the flex & coupling.

[martin]

Funnily enough I have found that the .187" flexes from Chinese suppliers or what came in TFL Hobby boats to be bang on .187" with no slippage at all.

[kfxguy]

I wanted to let you guys know that I have a few extra upgraded stock replacement flexes if you need one. Pm me. These are soldered ones like I made for MADRCER.

[MADRCER]

I wanted to let you guys know that I have a few extra upgraded stock replacement flexes if you need one. Pm me. These are soldered ones like I made for MADRCER.

Guys these cables are top notch and very good. Mine have held up to several 75-80mph runs with no issues at all. I have them in my Veles, Geico 29 v3, and in my UL-19. If you want to come back to shore with your high dollar prop I highly recommend these.

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[kfxguy]

I started polishing them for now on. It doesn’t take much time but I feel it’s worthwhile addition and will cut down some friction. I actually hit it with 2000 grit and then polish paste.

[Veles29]

I took the Octura coupler apart and there was lots of little pieces/balls of metal. I cleaned it out and chased the threads. I also got some normal size wrenches and that made the difference. I tightened it very hard and its holding good at this point. The end of the drive only had some very minor scuffs. I also cleaned the end of the driveshaft well. Thanks for that tip.

Now on acceleration is seems like its a rubber band. It will get on a slow plane, give it a touch more throttle and then it really accelerates about 15-20km/h faster. It also sounds/feels like there is a fair bit of vibration. I think I might need to adjust the motor position to align the driveshaft better. I had to take the motor out to install the octura coupler/OSE driveshaft. It did this a bit before with the stock driveshaft but its much more pronounced now. Before I installed the OSE driveshaft it seemed to get on slow plane then a bit more throttle and jumps 7-10km/h. It sounds like the motor is working pretty hard right before jump in speed. Are there any posts regarding motor/driveshaft placement/setup.

[littledvl]

Kfxguy makes some high quality flex cables, and his customer service is top notch. If you havnt got one from him just go ahead and do so. After a mishap today i messaged him, he had it made up and packaged up before i could send the paypal.

Great guy.

[danthem]

first quick&dirty runs of the modified veles today
rather hot setup using a 2400 kv motor on 6s.
still experimenting with the cog,as the motor is rather heavy-4086
got 82,5 mph at the best on a self balanced and sharpened abc 1616.
next prop will be the 1716.

https://youtu.be/7PJ_B17iwSg