Recommissioning a 24" R/C speedboat

[nsa]

I found this R/C boat washed up on an island when I was sailing at the weekend.



It's 24" and had what I think is a 540 motor inside. Everything was waterlogged and I'm trying to get it going again. I have done a bit of research but can anyone tell me if I'm heading in the right direction?

This is what I think I need:

540 brushless motor (2000kv?) with water jacket or cooling arrangement
3 Lipo cells around 5000mah
Waterproof ESC (amperage?)
Waterproof receiver (I'd like to use a Team Associated XP 2ch that came with a car I bought)
Servo (metal gear?)

Any idea what boat it is? There were no markings but it looks old. The receiver inside was a Kyosho crystal.

[clockworks]

How fast do you want to go?

For scale speeds, I'd be looking at a 1400kv outrunner brushless with a 35mm prop, 30A ESC and whatever 3s LiPo you can physically fit inside. A 2830 size motor should be big enough.

I've recently finished a semi-scale day boat that size, and it planes nicely with a 2830 on 2s. A 30 minute run uses around 1500mA.

I've never bothered with watercooling a brushless motor, not really needed unless you run flat out for extended periods.

A decent plastic geared servo should be fine.

Shouldn't need to waterproof the receiver, as it shouldn't get wet - unless you flip the boat

[nsa]

Fantastic, thank you. I'll report back when it's done.

[nsa]

Thanks for the help. I spent a bit of money on a HobbyWing XERUN Axe brushless ESC V1.1 with a 2300KV 540 (I didn't want to have to fabricate a new mount) motor £150, a Futaba T3PV transmitter and receiver £65 and a waterproof 20KG servo £12. At the moment I have a basic 2S lipo cell and might upgrade to 3S when I've had a chance to try it out.

[The_Jackal]

Wow you certainly didnt go cheap with an AXE system.
Make sure its not leaking before you stick all that in the water. That may have been the reason you found it washed up.

[The_Jackal]

Found it.
It's a Kyosho Sunstorm 600, £150 new so only entry level.
https://www.pshobbiesandmodelshop.co.uk/kyosho-400...
To be fair once you've had a bit of fun, you could find a nice secondhand twin or vee hull and put your electronics in it for a really nice boat.

Edited by The_Jackal on Sunday 23 August 15:01

[clockworks]

I agree - that's lot of money on electrics.

I get most of my electrics from HobbyKing - about £30 for a 30A ESC and 2830 motor. Plenty of power for a 2 foot boat. I also use cheap 9gm servos (Turnigy) which are about £3.

I just had some stuff turn up from HobbyKing. Two brushless 30A marine ESCs, two 2830 motors, three servos, and an ESC programming card. Total including shipping from China was under £65. Costs a bit more if you order from their UK or EU warehouses, but they carry less stock.

Inrunners are fair bit more expensive though.

[The_Jackal]

As expensive as it is, that AXE system is actually a high end Crawler esc designed for accurate and controllable torque at low speeds on off road trucks. I've never heard of anyone putting one in a boat?
I'm curious how you came to decide on that ESC?

[nsa]

Thanks for finding the boat. That's awesome.

I went into a shop here and they did initially try to sell me a brushed motor with a cheap ESC for about £50 combined. I asked them about 3S lipo and brushless motors and said I didn't mind spending a bit of money and they pointed to this one. It is a bit overkill but as said assuming we don't lose the boat I can re-use the ESC and motor in something else later. I really didn't want to buy cheap, pay twice on this. The programmable features also allowed me to setup a gentle throttle for my 7yr old boy.

We took the boat out for the first time on Sunday and it works great on 2S 18650s. Looks like it will fly on 3S. I broke off half the prop by crashing onto a rock. Very little water ingress.

Edited by nsa on Monday 24th August 02:01