RCoffroadracer

Doing a job at a customers home and noticed a old futaba radio box he had laying out. So i asked and he said it was for the boat he bought his son but the son got a little into the build and its been on the shelf in the garage since 1990. I got it out tonight and started going over it. Has one very important part missing. A bushing that holds the shafts bearing in the transmission housing. Besides that i think i might be able to make a nylon part or use an epoxy to take up the gap around the bearing. Not sure why they made the housing larger than the supplied bearing. The radio was supposed to have a electronic speed control but its missing. The nicad battery was at 2.5v. Might still work...

RCoffroadracer

Found a solution to my problem.
problem, supplied 4x8 bearing needs a missing plastic spacer. Went to the local hobby town and they had brass tube 9mm x .45mm wall thickness. Its a perfect fit 😃

RCoffroadracer

obviously, i'm not going to use the old mechanical speed control. but I might keep the brushed motor. I want to use a 2s 5000mah lipo i have as a spare from my old 1/10 buggy. anyone have a good place to source an inexpensive ESC with a BEC for this brushed motor? I do not know the motor detail as the sticker is missing. the box says it's a m & y 550sh. throw me some websites please. the big stores are lacking. the manual also mentions using a capacitor to cut down on radio noise. is that necessary with a 2.4ghz radio? and if so what is the capacitor rating that should be used. manual says nothing about it.
probably a cheap medium speed steering servo too. any recommendations?

RCoffroadracer

I decided to put it together without spending money on it. Welp now i have another issue it seems no one caught ever. Anyone tell what it is? Has to do with the battery... They used a female connector on the speed controller

RCoffroadracer

Decided it needs a ESC instead of the manual controller. Found a hobbywing quickrun 60A waterproof esc locally. Should work ok. Can use a lipo now. Water tested in the sink. No leaks! Leans to the port side because they mounted the motor that side. I can actually run 2 motors in this thing.
i might have to add some weight to the starboard side. I dont plan on bashing this thing hard. Probably never get a chance to run it much. The creek in my back yard fills up enough in the spring to drive it there. Im using my old Losi mtx radio(spektrum and spectrum receiver) i had laying around. I didnt want to use my airtronix M11x. Too valuable if this thing sinks lol. I dont have much faith in this old plastic hull. Using some super old futaba servo. Seems pretty good for this so far. Close to 42oz torque and .18 is the speed i got out of it with 6V. And my sms lipo hardcase packs fit nice in the hull molding for the nimh battery. (Black foam tape). all in all I spent $25 for the speed controller. and about $10 for other items like tape for the hatch and the brass tube. I might try to sell it since it has the original box. seems to be a lot of collectors out there. if anyone reading this wants it shoot me a message.

RCoffroadracer

took it out on a maiden voyage. I had to add 5, 1/2 oz weights to the hull on the starboard side to make it sit level in the water. lack of the 4 AA batteries for the servos is why it sits out of level. everything went great. ran 2 2s packs through it and nothing broke. not a drop of water inside. I might actually run this thing a lot more. it isn't super fast or anything. it does have a 550 motor so it has some torque to get up and get moving. with the first battery the motor was nice and cool. the 2nd lipo has a lot more C rating. 5000mah and 50 c constant with 100c burst. the motor got a lot more hot. so I'll have to keep that in mind. this was only a 45 degree day and the water super cold.

as for the old NiCad, It works, holds a charge. but I decided to cut it open and one of the cells actually leaked. so I had to toss it in the trash.

JS440

My Feedback: (10)

A battery with a higher C rating shouldn't change the the temp of the engine, especially when it's already overkill. The engine draws as much amperage as it needs from the ESC, which takes said amperage from the battery. If a battery can't supply the power the ESC asks for, the ESC is in danger (obviously not the case here). The battery C rating shouldn't affect the engine temp. You were likely just on the throttle more the second run.

RCoffroadracer

the battery I could tell has a lot more punch to it. and yes, was running it much harder too. that's what I mean by I'll have to watch that. I don't want to cook that poor thing. especially now that brushed motors are practically non existent.

JS440

My Feedback: (10)

The battery *could* have more punch, but it's more likely that it was at least partly in your head. If a battery can't supply what the motor is trying to pull, you'll likely cook the ESC

Brushed motors are definitely NOT nonexistent! They're not very popular with go-fast boats, but they're still quite popular with the scale guys (and rock crawlers), thanks to their good low-speed behavior and low cost. No need to be careful. Let her rip, and if it kicks the bucket, either pick up another one (for cheap!) or go brushless.

birdo

I can't believe I missed you building this. I just built a Baltek up this past fall. I used the same 1060 Hobbywing ESC. The boat performs very well.

I suggest you do a few things.
1. Replace all the bushings with BEARINGs and a THRUST bearing right in front of the propeller. If you need help sourcing them, let me know. They can be had for all less than $18
2. Make sure the alignment of the strut is minimal drag when centered, then focus on full turn. It will always have a little drag when turning...dogbones!
3. Put a heatsink on the motor.

My boat screams running on 3s LIPO. I stayed with a 1500mah Lipo to keep the weight down. The boat didn't like a big 5000mah 2s battery.

These little boats are fun and I run them on the river in fairly big chop. Fun watching them get air.

birdo

RCoffroadracer

It actually came with bearings and the thrust bearing
I might try the 3s batteries i have for my plane. Spektrum 2200 30c now that you mentioned it.
Have you had any issues with the transmission? I found a old thread and someone with a super hawaii and baltek said the gears strip easy. Id rather keep it as a shelf queen than trash it.

birdo

I had a Super Hawaii growing up when I was 11 years old. I put Ball Bearings in it, along with x2 Green Machine motors. I ran it for years. Never had my gears go "bad".

I think the transmission was a problem for people who didn't understand alignment and lubrication...or ball bearings. Just don't go putting a screaming brushless in it...might as well go direct drive for high RPMs. Transmissions are good for spinning big props at lower RPMs.

I collect ABC Hobby Boats and parts. I have gear sets if you ever need one.

This boat with 3s power, stock motor, and gearing SCREAMs. I can't imagine it needing to go much faster and be in control.