Should I use something to keep the teflon tube in place while in the stuff tube or should it stay in place? Also I am using the stinger strut. I also heard about water coming up the tubes. How do I remedy that incase it happens?
I had a lot of water entering the Mean Machine from the flex tube. I added a rubber grommet between the drive dog and the strut. It is soft and collapses for flex shrinkage. Someone said to use a drive dog that is the same diameter as the strut. I also added some heat shrink over the flex tube and strut connection. I am trying some heat shrink where the flex leaves the tube inside of the boat. Not sure how long it will last. Some use a piece of water tubing here, but I did not have any large enough to try. Grease the flex cable. Only have a few drops of water getting in now. Hope the pictures help.
The teflon tube should fit relatively snug in the stuffing tube. Should not need anything to keep it in. My understanding is that nearly every boat takes on some quantity of water during a run. I believe though, that if you have all the holes sealed, a thorough job of hatch taping, and a good coat of grease on your cable, you shouldn't take on very much. Some will attach inverted thumb tacks near the stuffing tube and put a small piece of sponge on the tacks to absorb any incoming water.
My boats somehow always seem to suck in water. Last night I had enough to short out a receiver and leave it dead in the middle of the pond! I'm going to put an auto bailer in that on I think.
On all of my boats I'll put a good bit of cut-to-size kitchen sponge in them to soak up whatever gets in there. You can get it in different thicknesses and without the scrub part on there.
I toss her in the water, then WOT and bring her in, few drops of water, that's it. I do not tape, only thing is I thoroughly grease the flex shaft every time. There is a piece of cooling line on the stuffing tube to flex shaft and that seems to keep the water at bay.
Just went through this with my new OM29. The first couple runs I had 3+ oz of water inside the boat. First I tried some shrink tube but it only lasted 2 runs before it tore, I then went to silicon water hose and now with a greased cable I get maybe a tablespoon of water in the boat. Still enough to get the Rx. wet but I just took it out and re-applied some corrosion-X, hope that will help me out.
The heat shrink inside of the boat failed after 2 runs. I was surprised to see that no water was in the boat after 3 runs. I guess the grommet has stopped all of the water from coming in. Its like adding a rubber bearing seal to the prop shaft. When I pull the shaft each day, I can replace it if it looks worn, but no signs of wear so far. I am using WD-40 on the flex shaft with no teflon liner. Best speed yet.
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