Upgraded water cooling system....

[FE_Chris]

Alright, well; bottom line the lake water is really warm here in the south during the summer months. Last weekend I temped the water out at 98 degrees!!! Not to mention, the water cooling system on the AC MC leaves much to be desired. The water pick-up is small, and the tubing has a small I.D. So I went and picked up a couple of traxxas water pick-ups which are MUCH larger than the stock AC MC pick-up. I also grabbed some 1/8" I.D fuel tubing. I put the motor and ESC each on their own separate water loop and I also moved the outlet's to the side of the boat. I mean, who can even see the stock unit shooting water out of the back of the boat anyway? You can't. But, I am sure i'll be able to see it now!!!

I also had to move the hull plug. I did hack it up a bit before I moved it, thinking I might be able to leave it. No dice. It looks a little funky, but it still works. I'll order a new one later....

Anyway, here are some pics. I am hoping this will improve my cooling performance. As it stands now with the warm water, I can't run a M445 for a full 3.5 minutes. My gear will start to burn up..... I am hoping I can now.

[Peregrine]

I will be very anxious to hear how this works out. I have a MC I ran for the 1st time today and the motor was 140 after less than 3 minutes. I agree that the stock water system needs improving. Separating the two loops was just what I was thinking also. Please post the results after you get to run it.

[FE_Chris]

Yeah, I see your in TX so you know what I am talking about when I say the lake water is almost hot.

It's a bit too warm to run this weekend, and I have to patch my raft too. I may run tomorrow but I don't think I will. I will definitly post results when I get a chance to run.

Also, I would have liked to have used metal water outlets instead of just lopping the silicone tubing off on the side of the hull, but this hull design makes it almost impossible to install something like that. Oh well, function over form I guess.

[bruce5385]

i was in the process of doing the same thing. lol. had the same idea as yours i believe it will worl great!

[bruce5385]

works great. motor and esc run alot cooler here in fl. water temp was 93 and ran full bat. through (approx 15 min) motor and esc were around 115.

[FE_Chris]

Thanks. What size tubing and what water pick-ups did you use?

[upnorthMC]

Hello,
I'm new here to the forum as I just got my MC running. I'm up in Minnesota water temps are not
too hot like the south. However the M445 runs much fast and hotter than the 42x55AQ as you have
said. Two runs with the M445 and I had minor smoke in the tub when I opened it up. I raised the strut
as Grim described.
I like this cooling set up a lot.
Seeing two of you did this upgrade did both of you discharge to the side ?
Did both of you upgrade to Traxxas pickups ?
Since I am a bit chicken to drilling holes in this new boat , what is inside the transom?
Wood or just fiberglass.
Is there enough meat to get the screws set?
I had thought about looking for a water pickup rudder with dual pickups or maybe just one.
Any opinions on the rudders with pickups ? Good, bad ( not enough volume) or ?

Thank you for posting this upgrade it looks like a great solution.

[FE_Chris]

Yeah, I had the minor smoke too. Motor temps were pretty warm, lipos and esc were ok.

I used the traxxas water pick-ups and 1/8" ID tubing. The inside of the hull appears to be hollow and made of just fiber glass. I did use some epoxy on the second pick-up as the traxxas screws have a fine thread.

I have not had a chance to test my setup yet. We'll see what happens. I think most of the problem is the sub-par AC cooling system. Good on AC for using brass tubing, bad on AC for using really small brass tubing and really small ID silicone tubing. I don't really think the problem was the water temp, I think the problem is the cooling system cannot support enough water moving through it. I did order a 42x55 grim prop from a fella in the swap shop. We'll see how all this performs once the temps cool off some. It's been in the 105-110 temps here and it makes doing anything outside miserable.

[siberianhusky]

The UL-1 or SV rudder with the water pickup is a drop in replacement, think I'm going to enlarge the hole in the plastic part of the stock pickup and run a larger diameter brass tube, able to keep the drain in the stock location this way.
Before I do this I have to come up with a way of mounting a pair aluminum outlets in the side, thinking cutting a 1" hole in the inner tub and epoxying in a length of carbon tube in there with the water outlet in the little "compartment" in the side this would make.
This would keep the inner and outer hulls sealed together with a bit of carbon bling. Also would stiffen up the side a bit.
Also going to machine up a drop in replacement 6061 aluminum motor mount, the stock one flexes way to much, plus it actually bent in a barrel roll with a geico motor in it. Planning on including watercooling in the mount, I know it doesn't do much there but every little bit of heat we can remove helps. Just going to drill a couple of through holes and tap them for fittings.

[upnorthMC]

I'm going to prep up to try a few options. I will be drilling out the stock mount to install a larger tube. I'll also try the rudder with a pickup, I just worry that it won't have as much volume as I want. I'm also getting another stock water pickup mount for the other side and will drill it out as well. I looked all over for rudders with dual pickups but they are none that are made this small. So I would have to trim well over an inch off the bottom and then trim the width down from over 1.25 inches to .75 inch. That would require cutting pretty close the the leading orifice's. I am temped to try it.
I'll then eject water either out the side or out the back. I like both approaches just won;t know which way to go until I put the drill to it.

[siberianhusky]

I always like the side exit, you can see the water that way, I can't tell with this boat using the stock set up.
I'll also admit I probably need new prescription goggles......

[siberianhusky]

Installed a SV rudder and made up a pair of 2 1/2" long water outlets from the biggest pop rivets I had and 5/32 brass tube, drilled out the rivets slightly and pressed the brass tube all the way through the rivet until it was flush with the face. Drilled right through the inner and outer hull between the Motley and Crew on the port side and shoe goo'd them in.
Now I have separate cooling systems.
I'd strongly suggest blue printing the bottom of the sponsons, they are anything but flat, needed filler in the center of both sides the whole length of both running surfaces, there are also some serious lumps in the gelcoat at the end of the steps and along the edges in a few spots.
Should help free up the boat a bit more as the sponsons will not be sucking it to the water anymore!
I see there is another crunched up one in the swap shop now, doesn't take much with this hull thats for sure!

[jharper]

I have a ding repair kit for my surfboard. Can I use that to fill in the running surfaces or what would you recommend? Thanks for your time

[siberianhusky]

I use Bondo and glazing putty. A long very flat block is essential to flat sand them properly. I started with 180 grit, in a couple of spots it was almost through the gel coat and they still weren't near flat, shiny untouched paint down the centers. Thats when I realized they needed filler and not a simple sanding.
I imagine your board kit would have the same materials, LOL I live in the middle of Canada, I've only seen pictures of surfboards! Snowboarding behind the dogs is more like it here.

[jharper]

Surfboard is made of fiberglass with foam inside. The kit is for dings and dents and the nose. Resin, hardener, fiberglass fibers. I see what your talking about- I to have shiny painted spots on the bottoms. I was scared to take off too much for it feels thin so I will take your advice. Does it have to be perfectly flat or van I just eye it? And I want the edges kinda Sharp or squared of right. Thanks for your help I'm switching from trucks to Fe boats and you guys are great for help. Thanks again- stay warm