Miss Geico 17 Brushless/Flex Drive Conversion

[fishslayeryo]

Howdy all,

Received a used Miss Geico 17 without battery and controller from a friend and as my son is getting into RC boats, figured I would do the brushless and flexdrive conversion with my son to see if we could make a nice handling/faster boat from it. In the end might be cheaper buying a new brushless boat, but we both like tinkering and it's a project we can both work on:) Seen couple threads on this and H&YRACING seems to have done a really nice one. Sure I will have questions along the way, any inputs welcome as I am new to RC boats, thanks!

Regards,
Yo Han

Here's how I got the boat with the top fin broken off:
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Taped off the sponsons and used a sharp utility knife and cut out the old drive:
IMG_4108.jpg

Had to cutout the area where the drive shaft came up to the motor to break it free and remove it, went ahead and cut out the motor mounts as well:
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It's gone!
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[fishslayeryo]

This part was bit nerve racking, I wanted to remove the top plastic to give ma more room and clean slate to work on. Might move the servo to the side like H&YRACING did on his. I stuck her in the freezer and then gently started prying around the front lip to separate the glue. Took 3Xs in the freezer. Once I broke the front loose, the rest popped off and I didn't break anything! lol!
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[fishslayeryo]

Waiting on parts ordered, not sure if everything I ordered is the best for this setup, but this will be a learning experience for sure. Have following coming soon in the mail:
- OSE 1/8" .098 flex drive
- motor mount
- 3900kv brushless motor
- 2s 1550mAh lipo and charger
- $20 strut and offset rudder(concerned on the depth i can get on the strut, but will grind out the mount hole to get more depth if I need to)
- cooling jacket
- 30amp ESC
- 1.5mm stainless servo rods
- new cooling tubes

[fishslayeryo]

I do have a question in regards to the servo. I think the stock servo is a mini servo, does this have enough torque for a boat that goes over 30mph or should I upgrade to a sub-micro or standard servo? Thanks in advance!

[1coopgt]

Have you gotten any farther on this upgrade/build? I picked up a Gieco17 myself and have started picking up parts to upgrade it and make it go faster.

[Alfa Spirit]

What 4000kv brushless motor did you get ?

[fishslayeryo]

Have you gotten any farther on this upgrade/build? I picked up a Gieco17 myself and have started picking up parts to upgrade it and make it go faster.

Howdy gents sorry I moved and changed jobs, you know how that goes. So my conversion is on hold currently. So after messing with buying parts that are too small or too big I ended up with a 60mm rudder with water pickup. The prior ones were way too short in height. The strut I got is also below which will drop lower than the bottom of the pontoons so seems like plenty of adjustment. I bought some stainless 2mm rods but ended up using the stock micro servo which I can upgrade to a high torque if needed in micro. I drilled out the hole in the servo arm and bent and cut the rod to work. Currently I have some cheap aluminum angle iron i got from lowes I need to cut and bend the correct angle for the motor mount and then bend and cut the brass tubing for my 1/8" flex drive. H&YRACING did a really nice one, honestly outside of the parts where I mounted the servo and removing all the junk and doing a simply motor mount is mimicking what he did:)

Some pix below of my last progress. I just used the plastic I popped off to make a servo mount. It's just epoxied just inside of the pontoon wall. Lines up perfect with existing rod hole and the mini servo. I will finish this project someday! Good luck gents. By the way Steve here is awesome and helped me a lot through the buying process of parts I need. Super fast shipping as well.

Here's the rudder I ended up with, fits it perfect and has a water pickup:

https://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80047

Here's the strut I used:

https://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80046

Flex drive 1/8:

https://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-cable-64pkg

Pix below of my last run at it:
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[fishslayeryo]

What 4000kv brushless motor did you get ?

Honestly it was some cheap Chinese motor, in hind-site I woulda asked Steve what he recommended. See if the one works out once I have the motor mounted and flex drive installed, if not I'll be bugging Steve:)

[MarkF]

I have one of these boats too and would like to know what motor I should get to run on 2s. Is a 2845 leopard 3650kv ok? I will do everything fishslayeryo did to get the boat ready.

[Alfa Spirit]

I have one of these boats too and would like to know what motor I should get to run on 2s. Is a 2845 leopard 3650kv ok? I will do everything fishslayeryo did to get the boat ready.

4000 to 4400kv Outrunner .

[Dr. Jet]

I like this one. Long can for extra torque, suitable Kv, air cooled.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Detrum-BM2822-KV3800-Brushless-Motor-Outrunner-for-T-REX-450-RC-Helicopter/282091300898

[Alfa Spirit]

SUPPO Motors

https://www.altitudehobbies.com/collections/h-series-heli

[MarkF]

OK I found this one and liked it because it was green. Thanks for your links. Once I figured out they were trex 450 motors I found one that ships from CA. to my place in Las Vegas so wont have to wait long.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163550692709

[Dr. Jet]

OK I found this one and liked it because it was green. Thanks for your links. Once I figured out they were trex 450 motors I found one that ships from CA. to my place in Las Vegas so wont have to wait long.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/163550692709

Note it is a short can motor = less torque. You'll need a smaller prop.

[MarkF]

That's fine since this is a narrow boat and I have octura props in 27-32mm to work with. If I don't like it I will get a bigger motor.