BJ29, how do you hold your lipo's down??

[<AJ>]

Just got my boat and not really too impressed with just Velcro pads to hold the packs down, has anyone come up with any better ideas??

AJ

[macace123]

i just use the 2 inch wide industrial strength Velcro it holds great.

[lenny]

Pool noodles work good,
Or I just use some neoprene wedge on mine.
For running and testing setups and moving CG around for speed runs.

[<AJ>]

Wider Velcro is a good idea :)

[jeffrey1]

industrial strength velco,just dont use too much works great.

[BHChieftain]

Note that the industrial strength velco is so strong that you are likely to rip the battery trays out of the boat when trying to remove the packs (the stock glue is pretty brittle, so this happens frequently). If that happens, just reglue it with a good epoxy.

Chief

[St3alth_Frenzy]

I just use a sheet of this on the boat and battery: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Velcro-Sticky-Back-Industrial-Strength-Tape-2-x-10-Black/17338080

[bob_t]

Note that the industrial strength velco is so strong that you are likely to rip the battery trays out of the boat when trying to remove the packs (the stock glue is pretty brittle, so this happens frequently). If that happens, just reglue it with a good epoxy.

Chief

I've already had that happen with just the standard velcro that comes in the box with the boat. Their glue does seem to be rather brittle. Please tell me that is not the same glue they use to join the hull top/bottom together. :doh:

[Garrett]

This happened in my mystic. And after re epoxying the wood trays down, I bought some Spartan battery hold down straps.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[bikergreen]

I just had both of my battery trays in my MG come loose after a good roll. On of them split in half which is a bummer. Guess I should have added some epoxy from the get go for strength! So I am thinking ill be ordering some new trays from OSE but they aren't as wide. Anyone had to replace them yet?

[tlandauer]

I just had both of my battery trays in my MG come loose after a good roll. On of them split in half which is a bummer. Guess I should have added some epoxy from the get go for strength! So I am thinking ill be ordering some new trays from OSE but they aren't as wide. Anyone had to replace them yet?
Mine ( MG V1) came loose after a flip, got to say that it was the best thing that happened after the incident. Got rid of the stock trays---ther are too high, sitting flush with the tunnel floor, I had a difficult time fitting a pretty "standard" sized 4s, 5000mah battery in the sponson. I just cut two ply wood strips, narrower than the stock so they can "sit" lower in the sponson. I also made them longer so the batteries can be moved to achieve the desired COG. For the strip of ply wood to seat correctly, I placed two small pieces of the same wood underneath so the long strip of wood can be glued ( epoxied) on the floor of the sponson level. I use industrial strength velcro strap to tie down the batteries. I NEVER use velcro on the batteries direct as I learned a painful lesson one time: cracked a DF 45" Sniper hull yanking the batteries loose from the velcro.:sad:

[martin]

The more ordinary 1" wide diy type Velcro is a waste of time if your not using straps as well, the industrial heavy duty is much better as it hold unbeleivably well with no straps. When sticking to the lipo dont put it the length of the battery, as said youll pull the bottom out of a rtr hull as it hold that well. I put a few small pieces along the lipo, enough to hold well but still removable without ripping the bottom out of the hull. When i do a new boat or battery i start with just a couple of small pieces on the lipo & try the fit, if its not holding quite enough i add another piece or two untill im happy.

[lenny]

I just make a cell holder out of pool noodles,
Once I know where the setup right and CG is.
I just cut out a hole in the noodle the size of the biggest cell I may use for the boat,
And put the cell in the hole and if I use a smaller cell I just add some wedges to fill the gaps.
You could put a strap around cell and noodle to,
If you think you need it for a big blow over if your pushing limits of speed for the hull that day.
It makes easy in and out with cells for me.
Plus more flotation in the hull to.

[tlandauer]

:iagree:
The more ordinary 1" wide diy type Velcro is a waste of time if your not using straps as well, the industrial heavy duty is much better as it hold unbeleivably well with no straps. When sticking to the lipo dont put it the length of the battery, as said youll pull the bottom out of a rtr hull as it hold that well. I put a few small pieces along the lipo, enough to hold well but still removable without ripping the bottom out of the hull. When i do a new boat or battery i start with just a couple of small pieces on the lipo & try the fit, if its not holding quite enough i add another piece or two untill im happy.
No ordinary 1" DIY Velcro double sided tape. But I won't use the industrial stuff any more after the incident. What I do is in addition of using the straps which do not hold the slippery battery well, I wrap a friction mat around the battery---the kind you buy in hardware store that looks like a net but very soft. After the wrapping I tie down the battery with the strap, it is as sucure as they come. 99050 99051

[tlandauer]

:tiphat: Lenny,
Do you use hobby knife to carve out the pool noodle? I never have success doing that. Mind if I ask you for a picture, sounds like a good idea.:buttrock:

[SloHD]

Here's how I hold mine down kinda like Lenny says, in my mystic. Cut for a snug fit, and the outer bullet is wrapped with heat shrink to protect the heat from the foam noodle. The noodles go all the way to the bow, and transom. It was a pain to get the front noodle pieces in without ripping them to pieces. But way worth it in the end. My batteries sit nice and tight, yet I can slip them in and out with ease.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv147/thewilsons888/E9195980-FB61-45A6-B75B-94174DECD8C9-10095-0000111286DD3092.jpg

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv147/thewilsons888/40B15007-0C72-45A5-97C6-61409498CC26-10264-0000112D8F43384D.jpg

[jeffrey1]

Here's how I hold mine down kinda like Lenny says, in my mystic. Cut for a snug fit, and the outer bullet is wrapped with heat shrink to protect the heat from the foam noodle. The noodles go all the way to the bow, and transom. It was a pain to get the front noodle pieces in without ripping them to pieces. But way worth it in the end. My batteries sit nice and tight, yet I can slip them in and out with ease.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv147/thewilsons888/E9195980-FB61-45A6-B75B-94174DECD8C9-10095-0000111286DD3092.jpg

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv147/thewilsons888/40B15007-0C72-45A5-97C6-61409498CC26-10264-0000112D8F43384D.jpg

use gorilla glue on edges and corners of tray half my boat is gorilla glue, best stuff on earth. i custom made my trays on an angle.will post some pics soon.

[JimClark]

So on your battery trays did you also make the m narrower so the batteries sit lower?

Sent from my MB611 using Tapatalk 2

[SloHD]

Jim-not sure if you're asking me, but no, my battery tray's are stock...

[bikergreen]

Mine ( MG V1) came loose after a flip, got to say that it was the best thing that happened after the incident. Got rid of the stock trays---ther are too high, sitting flush with the tunnel floor, I had a difficult time fitting a pretty "standard" sized 4s, 5000mah battery in the sponson. I just cut two ply wood strips, narrower than the stock so they can "sit" lower in the sponson. I also made them longer so the batteries can be moved to achieve the desired COG. For the strip of ply wood to seat correctly, I placed two small pieces of the same wood underneath so the long strip of wood can be glued ( epoxied) on the floor of the sponson level. I use industrial strength velcro strap to tie down the batteries. I NEVER use velcro on the batteries direct as I learned a painful lesson one time: cracked a DF 45" Sniper hull yanking the batteries loose from the velcro.:sad:

Great call - I am going to go that route I think, I will fab up some carbon trays i think and epoxy them in lower with a support down to the bottom of the sponson. I also had a close call using velcro on the battery, would have been easy to tear the boat in half! thanks for the insite. If you have a pic I'd really like to see the set up. Cheers

[lenny]

Yes that looks good,:tiphat:
I see you cut the rail some to.
Does it make it a little easier getting the packs in and out easier ?
That is what I was going the do next.
And also I was going to get rid of the trays so mine 4s 5300mah genace will fit in the sponsons to,
Also to lower the CG in the hull to.
When I was testing I just had the cells wedged with a small piece of foam and the and this neopene wedge,
And it held good in the flip to.
But the motor moved a little to the starboard side.

The cells are 4s 40c 4000mah packs in this picture below.
9909799098
37"Daytona.
0990999910099101

[jeffrey1]

ind stregth velcro.

[lenny]

The velcro is a PITA when trying to place cells for testing in the sponsons,
And so is taping the hatches.
That is why I mod them with a seal and a hold down of some kind,
It just makes testing and running boats so much easier and so much more fun.

[jeffrey1]

yes,i used pieces of thin wood from hobby lobby and cut them and put them on an angle.my lipos now sit lower and on an angle.ill have to show you pics so you can see.

[SloHD]

Lenny- actually the previous owner cut the rails like that, not me. I believe it does make the packs easier to get in and out. But I wouldn't know otherwise. I used velcro at first but it became a PITA. The previous owner also had filled the bow with ping pong balls and it was driving me nuts. So I got the noodle idea while surfing around here on ose. Then I figured I could cut them right size for a snug fit for the lipo, and do away with the Velcro. It works like a charm.

Just for extra time on the water ill throw in a single 4s and I shove that up in front of the motor with a nice snug fit as well. It bounces like this but it's just to get some extra run time on the water.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv147/thewilsons888/81104317-A3E9-4617-93F4-BC2F4978724E-10635-000011D8632F2F60-1.jpg

[lenny]

Yes,
Pictures would be great.

[lenny]

SloHD,
2s pack are easy to get in and out,
I run 2s pack and 4s packs in all my boats.
But with 4s packs things get a little tight and the rail is in the way of the big 4s packs,
Also the trays.
I see you are still using the deans and 3.5mm plugs,
The 5.5 bullets will let the boat run a lot better in the long run.
Is that a fan I see in the picture for the motor ?

[tlandauer]

Great call - I am going to go that route I think, I will fab up some carbon trays i think and epoxy them in lower with a support down to the bottom of the sponson. I also had a close call using velcro on the battery, would have been easy to tear the boat in half! thanks for the insite. If you have a pic I'd really like to see the set up. Cheers
Here are some pictures of the simple wood strip, it is much lower than the stock trays by almost 3/8'', I just wanted something narrow enough to sit in the sponson.9910899109
Here is what I mean by wrapping the batteries in the friction mat. Here is my MHZ Lizard Xtreme:99110

[SloHD]

Lenny- I know what you're saying about 4s packs. I come from road racing so I'm just using the packs I already have for now. Eventually I'd like to get a pair of 4s packs and lower the trays like tlandauer has there.

As far as bullets, I just ordered them last night. I ordered some 6mm for the motor. And I ordered some of those new castle 6.5mm connectors for the lipo/esc. Not sure if you've seen those yet but they look extremely nice...

As far as the fan, yea that's a fan. Since installing an x642 my temps went up a little too high for my liking. So I decided to tinker around and cut out the scoops on the lid. I hot glued metal screen to cover it up and help prevent too much water from getting in. It's sounds sketchy but too my surprise it works pretty well. I end up with just a few little tiny droplets on the underside of the lid. Very minimal hardly worth mentioning really... So I threw the fan in since I had some air flow in there now. Of coarse this is running solo and the lake I run at is always glass. I would probably not run it like this otherwise. I run my boats just for fun, no racing or saltwater.

Sorry for huge pics. :)

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv147/thewilsons888/9838B082-787F-4A27-9D22-A99621D98507-10635-000011EB53A57D37.jpg

[lenny]

The scoop came out good,:tiphat:
I was thinking of modding for some air cooling at one time.
And I found some material that let air in but not water,
But that was back in the days when I was new to boating.
And was running my Rio ep brushed and pushing speeds and tweaking what I could get out of it,
That was the whole start of this madness.

What where your temps at their hottest before the fan ?

I use that friction mat as a blocker,
To stop the velcro that is in some of my boats and on some of the used cell that I have bought on hear.
I also it to stop the camcorder from slipping on the side of the TX when strapped on it.

[SloHD]

Well I didn't think to bring my temp gauge the first couple runs before the modding. With my fingers, and experience from onroad racing, Id say it was about 180 or so. But I have temped it with the scoop mod/fan and It dropped to 120 ish after 5 mins running. Opening the scoops have made a big difference. Im sure the bigger bullets will help as well. And I plan on getting a better fan. :)

[lenny]

180F on a stock setup ?:confused1:

Something does not add up.
Are you sure you have good water flow ?
I know that some of the nipples came right from the factory a little bit blocked,
To no flow at all.
From silicone and metal in them, Rudder inlet and outlet to.
Can you show the setup with the cells in place like rtr ?
Also hardware setting to.

[SloHD]

Well it could have been a little lower, that was a guess with my fingers. It was setup like the pics above with the lipos. (2) 2s in series. That was also with the x642, not the stock prop. With the stock prop it wasn't as hot. And yes I found the silicone build up in the nipples and cleaned those out as well. Also I have since rotated the jacket so the exit nipple is on top. (Not like the pic I posted) I believe that has all helped as well... And the strut is setup just a tad higher than level on a flat table, with a slight negative/down angle. (I thinks it's negative...?)

[lenny]

Ok,
Good thing you checked all that stuff out.

[tlandauer]

Yes that looks good,:tiphat:
I see you cut the rail some to.
Does it make it a little easier getting the packs in and out easier ?
That is what I was going the do next.
And also I was going to get rid of the trays so mine 4s 5300mah genace will fit in the sponsons to,
Also to lower the CG in the hull to.
When I was testing I just had the cells wedged with a small piece of foam and the and this neopene wedge,
And it held good in the flip to.
But the motor moved a little to the starboard side.

The cells are 4s 40c 4000mah packs in this picture below.
9909799098
37"Daytona.
0990999910099101
:tiphat: Thanks for the pictures, I think because I use 5000 mah Lipos and those 4s are thicker than the 4000 mah you use. It is difficult for them to get to the sponson, once they are in, they move back and forth freely though.
I also used a Dremel to grind down the wood on the side of the motor mount.

[bikergreen]

Turns out I didn't have a very good look when I pulled my MG out of the water.. One of the batterys must have smashed the inside of the hull pretty hard, probably the one which actually split the battery tray in half. I now have a pretty wrecked hull, I will patch it and use it as a beater I think.
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww323/bikergreen/CD8643FB-0C46-4C4D-8712-9EE218243889-60299-00000A81C27132E6_zpsf969cee0.jpg (http://s732.photobucket.com/user/bikergreen/media/CD8643FB-0C46-4C4D-8712-9EE218243889-60299-00000A81C27132E6_zpsf969cee0.jpg.html)

[tlandauer]

Turns out I didn't have a very good look when I pulled my MG out of the water.. One of the batterys must have smashed the inside of the hull pretty hard, probably the one which actually split the battery tray in half. I now have a pretty wrecked hull, I will patch it and use it as a beater I think.
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww323/bikergreen/CD8643FB-0C46-4C4D-8712-9EE218243889-60299-00000A81C27132E6_zpsf969cee0.jpg (http://s732.photobucket.com/user/bikergreen/media/CD8643FB-0C46-4C4D-8712-9EE218243889-60299-00000A81C27132E6_zpsf969cee0.jpg.html)
That is exactly what happened to mine, although my split was a little shorter than yours.
First thing I did was clean inside, use acetone to clean , you need to really rub it in until you feel the FG is getting sticky. From the outside, I chipped away any looser paint, then I try a dry run to " Massage " the hull, I want to see in which way would it go back as smooth as it can, remember the steps. Now, use medium CA, ( not thin CA, it dries too quickly), drip sparingly along the open seam, try to duplicate the steps to " massage" the hull back. Let cure.
Only after the outside is done do you want to attack the inside, I epoxied it with a strip of FG tape over the seam.

[bikergreen]

That is exactly what happened to mine, although my split was a little shorter than yours.
First thing I did was clean inside, use acetone to clean , you need to really rub it in until you feel the FG is getting sticky. From the outside, I chipped away any looser paint, then I try a dry run to " Massage " the hull, I want to see in which way would it go back as smooth as it can, remember the steps. Now, use medium CA, ( not thin CA, it dries too quickly), drip sparingly along the open seam, try to duplicate the steps to " massage" the hull back. Let cure.
Only after the outside is done do you want to attack the inside, I epoxied it with a strip of FG tape over the seam.

Well that makes me feel a little better :p Thanks for the tips on the repair! I will give that a go and hopefully save it. That was a bummer for sure, wish I had reinforced the inside of the hull with resin or epoxy before I started hammering on it.. doesn't help that I'm running it hard and fast with CC 1515 in it..

[tlandauer]

Well that makes me feel a little better :p Thanks for the tips on the repair! I will give that a go and hopefully save it. That was a bummer for sure, wish I had reinforced the inside of the hull with resin or epoxy before I started hammering on it.. doesn't help that I'm running it hard and fast with CC 1515 in it..
I had the same experience, after the flip, I saw the trays were loose, but I continued to run for another set of batteries. never saw the seam was wide open, guess the boat was running pretty fast and the seam was above the water line, lol... Not a drop of water inside!! ( the boat did a 360* flip, never needed to retrieve it:w00t:)
I also cleaned out the flimsy foam ProBoat installed under the front deck, used two-part expanding foam from Kintec, it worked well, was not as complicated as I has thought.
Well, you got a great motor in there, I just bought a CC 1515 and haven't tried it yet.
Good luck on the repair!

[Seayall]

Just got a BJ29, first time out with 6S 5000mah & did the same thing. Battery mounts, motor mounts & all broke loose. (But still allot of fun!)
No hull damage. Appears from this forum that I can just epoxy & re glass the wood back in. True?

[macace123]

yes you can i cut my sides down so they fit lower in the boat it will help with the CG and they are at a slight angle. and if you have the time i would reinforce the inside with fiberglass cloth cause once it takes a hit it does delam so be cautious.

[Seayall]

yes you can i cut my sides down so they fit lower in the boat it will help with the CG and they are at a slight angle. and if you have the time i would reinforce the inside with fiberglass cloth cause once it takes a hit it does delam so be cautious.

I epoxied everything back together then laid glass cloth everywhere I could, trying to strengthen the motor mount area out to the battery mounts and up the hull.
Did a little sanding on the bare glass areas of the hull to insure a better bond. During re assembly I noticed the prop nut was loose & allowed the prop to move up &down and side to side on the shaft. Did running it with the loose nut wallow out the end of the prop?

[skeeler]

Can anyone offer any guidance on removing the battery trays? I'd like to run 4S 5450-mAh batteries in each sponson, so I need more room.

[skeeler]

To answer my own question, you can pull the trays out with your fingers and thumb. They pop right out. I'm very impressed with how poorly they are epoxied in place.