New OSE Pursuit Hull ?

[lawdog]

I just bought a nice new Pursuit 32 from OSE that arrived last week. I am new to RC boating and have been reading all that I can. One problem I have run into during my couple of initial bath tub tests is a leaking hull. I checked and loctited all the hardware on the back, installed the one piece upgrade shaft from OSE and installed the servo and receiver as instructed. So she is ready to go as soon as I am comfortable with the hull being dry. I marine goo the back seam and even siliconed the hardware to try and see if that helped. I can't see a rush of water but after 10-15 mins you can see water seeping in from somewhere. Collects under the servo mount back of boat. I'm stumped and short of epoxying the whole hull not sure what else to try. The back seam/stuffing tube area seems good but I suppose that could be the culprit area. I installed the 2 o rings from kintec racing to help.

Honestly it seems like it may be coming slowly in drops thru the hull... But that seems unlikely. Just racking my brain trying to figure this out. I don't see any major cracks or anything in the hull. The gel coat had 2-3 minor little cracks but I assume that is pretty normal and should not cause water infiltration. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[Alexgar]

most likely the flex stub have you greased your flex

[Cooper]

The o rings go inside the stinger, then the Teflon slips into them/stinger. So the gap between stinger and hull is normal. Like said above pack grease into shaft tube. Maybe the pushrod seal also. When I have a elusive leak I place some pieces of paper towel at locations you suspect. If its wet above then you have a better idea where to look. If packed around stuffing tube through hull area or place some around shaft where it comes out of tube / motor end. I did a tub test before and realized the faucet was leaking. It's where the boat settled right under faucet! And hatch off trying to figure it out . Dhuu :). Hopefully this helps find it. I too put a dab of silicone over holes and smear some on mating surfaces before attaching. Sounds like your going about it right.

[Cooper]

Oh and congrats on the purchase of the pursuit, great boat, I love mine. If you haven't done yet and it still has the silicone motor cooling jacket that's about the only thing you really need to do (if you want to ), good luck and enjoy!!

[rabosi]

I have one of those. Water comes in where the strut meets the transom and usually only when the boat is running. A little silicone around the tube should alleviate that problem. Also if possible make sure the strut is flush against the stuffing tube ie no gaps.

[lawdog]

Thank you so much for the advice. It has to be the o-rings... i installed them on the end of the tube and not inside the strut... has to be the culprit. I was wondering why the strut
couldn't sit flush against the transom with the o-rings. I will take it apart and reassemble and re-grease the one piece and then re-test.

Cooper... I was not following your comment on the motor cooling jacket? Mine came with the blue silicone jacket direct from OSE. Should I do something with that?

Also, anyone have any ideas on how to remove some marine goo from the hull bottom? I must have gotten some on the hull bottom and now i have a small area that smeared size of
quarter....with the goo and it is dried. Touch up paint for the Pursuit? It is the bright yellow one... anyone found anything good to use to touch up small nits in the yellow?

Thank you all for the help.

[tlandauer]

Thank you so much for the advice. It has to be the o-rings... i installed them on the end of the tube and not inside the strut... has to be the culprit. I was wondering why the strut
couldn't sit flush against the transom with the o-rings. I will take it apart and reassemble and re-grease the one piece and then re-test.

Cooper... I was not following your comment on the motor cooling jacket? Mine came with the blue silicone jacket direct from OSE. Should I do something with that?

Also, anyone have any ideas on how to remove some marine goo from the hull bottom? I must have gotten some on the hull bottom and now i have a small area that smeared size of
quarter....with the goo and it is dried. Touch up paint for the Pursuit? It is the bright yellow one... anyone found anything good to use to touch up small nits in the yellow?

Thank you all for the help.

I don't want to hyjack the suggestion by Cooper: do a search on the motor cooling jackets that OSE carries and you will see the metal ones are far superior to the silicone jacket that came with you boat. The silicone ones will split open in the inlet and outlet area---at least the ones I tried on some other projects did.
As for the dried goo, where exactly is the spot? If it is in the ride pad area, many people purposely scuff their bottom with very fine sand paper or steel wool to increase speed. If this had happened to me, I will do some reading on this subject and carefully scuff your hull ( bottom where the boat rides on water once it gets on plane) and forget about touching up. You only scuff away the top gloss off, not the whole layer of gel coat!! You will not be able to completly cover the imperfection IMO and finding the exact paint is a pain.
just my $.02