bxdobs

Several year old Atlantic II Tugboat starting to take on water ... no cracks in the hull so thinking either the Rudder or the motor shafts are leaking ... is there any products or procedure that will Stop the leaking?

Hydro Junkie

First thing you need to do is figure out WHERE the water is getting in. If it's coming in through the prop shaft, you could fill the shaft tube with water proof grease . If it's coming through the rudder post, you can do the same thing though, to be honest, I doubt that would be the issue. Other locations you could be taking on water are where the anchor goes through the hull, the rear deck hatch or under the cabin.
I would start by putting the boat in the bathtub, with the cabin and rear deck hatch off and watch to see if any water is coming in from either the rudder post or the prop shaft.

bxdobs

The boat was used 4 times (total 4 hours) over a 2 day period in calm water but accumulated around 2 ounces of water ... during the first 3 hours the motor was being used mostly at full throttle ... although the motor isn't a stepper it appears to have very definitive POLES which may attribute to the grumbling sound it makes at full throttle ... I did notice a new sound with the motor during the last of the 4 outings which was more of a screaming noise at full throttle so didn't push the boat as hard that last time out ... My thoughts after finding water in the bottom of the boat was this new noise may be related to the water infiltration.

The challange with greasing the shafts would be how to gain access to the Motor shaft .. the manufacturer glued the motor housing in place so without breaking the glue bonds the only access to the shaft appears to be via the back of the prop

the anchor and other gunnel holes are high enough out of the water that in calm conditions they shouldn't take on water. Will try the bathtub idea just to be sure.

mfr02

A good motor will have strong magnets which will give a very definite "feel" as the armature poles are pushed past the magnet pole faces.
Sounds from a motor are usually caused by the ESC. Resistance types are silent, old ESCs that ran on transmitter frame frequency (typical 50Hz) would rumble, mdern ESCs run at higher frequencies and cause the motor coils to whistle at that frequency. Generally speaking, at full throttle they go quiet.
An unexpected screaming noise sounds like a lack of lube. Could be a dry motor bearing, could be a prop shaft bearing. Could be that the grease in the top bearing has been replaced by water. Broken brush gear usually shows up in bad performance.
Water entering up the shaft tube usually sprays a line of muck across the hull level with the top of the shaft tube, unless there is something to catch it.
Gunnel holes should let water off and should have their lower edge lower than the deck. I have had a problem in the past where the deck at that spot wasn't as glued as I thought, so some that should have drained away drained in.

Got RPM

mfr02

Ah! The old "Reading the instructions" ploy!