Another noob question

[kendt]

Im just curious why people dont often seem to use gear drives. Do they not allow for more prop and motor options. Are they high maint?..I was thinking twin motors geared to a single prop in a mono might be cool.

[penz]

I don't have too much experience on the subject but ill give it a go. I'm guessing the only time a dual motor single prop setup would be needed is on a rig that's design only allows one prop, and a single motor with enough power is not ava to spin the desired prop for optimum performance. Another motor also requires another esc thus taking up more space.

It would be a cool looking setup though. I can only see it being usefull if no other option exists.

[Fluid]

There used to be a lot of boats running single motor gear drives, and there still are some running, see below. With the plethora of motors and various Kvs available today there is less need for a gear drive. I used to run them on half the boats I raced, they have big advantages if you don't want to buy a drawer full of motors to try in a new boat. By changing the ratios you can match the motor's power curve to the prop, which can be more efficient than trying to match the prop to the motor. If limited by motor size (P Limited class) a gear box lets a smaller motor swing a bigger prop for better performance. You can use a more powerful motor (higher Kv) with a large prop to get more power than a direct drive would allow.

The biggest problem with gear drives is/has been the lack of understanding most boaters had of their use. I have read many posts where a boater put a gear drive in his boat, didn't change the motor, packs or prop and was disappointed in the performance. Had these guys understood gear boxes better they would have seen performance increases. Instead they wasted their money, bad-mouthed gear boxes, and discouraged others from trying them. Gear drives are not always an advantage, but used properly in the correct application they can be very valuable.






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[kendt]

Hmm interesting, thank you. It seems to me that it would allow for some serious fine tuning of motor, prop and hull if one could put in the time needed to get it all working in sync. Maybe not a good idea for a first boat but def something to be considered down the road.

[kendt]

I def would like to learn more on this topic. Are there any sites to help understand gear ratios and how to choose them etc.