ProBoat HyperSport 48 Gas Mono - Prep for Racing

[D&D]

I always ran a square drive on all of my nitro boats. I wanted to run square drive again on the electric that I am building, but could not find a square drive "nut" for a 5mm motor shaft.

For anyone trying a square drive system the biggest problem is finding good durable bearings to fit between the prop and the strut (that's where all the load is). Areomarine sells a set that is very good and durable, it is two outer metal washers (infused, I believe, with some sort of lubricant) with a hard plastic washer inbetween. I'm going to run the bearings on my new build even though I have a thrust bearing at the motor.

[Darin Jordan]

Alright Guys... Racing Gas is a BLAST! Loved it!

Ran the HyperSport at the NAMBA District 8 Race #1 this weekend, and had a lot of fun.

They didn't offer G1-Mono at this event, so I had to run in Open Gas. Interesting enough, since Brian Buaas was there as well, with his new Grim Reaper Gas Outrigger... HOLY CRAP that's a fast boat!

There were two heats due to the number of boats... Outriggers, a Gas Sport Hydro, Thunderboats, a big Gas Cat... and little 'ol me!

Managed to drive well enough to get a 2nd in the first heat, and a 1st in the second heat... then broke the flex cable on the third heat while on the last lap and in a clear second place... ended my day.

I'm going to replace the cable with a squaredrive setup I think, since this has a captured stub shaft style strut anyhow. The cable broke RIGHT at the compression coupler, likely due to an alignment issue with the motor vs. the stuffing tube.

Might work on getting the pipe installed inside the boat, and also have a few other tweaks that I'm going to consider.

Otherwise, it was pretty much trouble free. In fact, several vetran racers commented that it was one of the best driving/handling RTR gas boats they'd ever seen. That's pretty cool! Needs to be freed up a tad, as it really pics up speed when the water gets churned up.

Jerry Dunlap took some GREAT shots... here are a couple....

[mickvk]

Agreed, great pics.

I had mine out for it's first run. I agree that it handles phenomenally but is a little too tight. When greasing the flex shaft, I marked the total adjustment of the prop angle with a dremel and left the angle just about neutral. I'm going to give that a bump towards positive and see if it gets the bow up out of the water a little... -Mick

[Darin Jordan]

I agree that it handles phenomenally but is a little too tight.

Mick, What prop are you running???

[mickvk]

Mick, What prop are you running???

Stock aluminum 70mm. A buddy of mine has an assortment of props that I will try when we get together. I will GPS them and let you know what happens.

The only change I made to the boat was upgrading the steering servo and pushrod since it was bent in shipping.

[Darin Jordan]

Stock aluminum 70mm. A buddy of mine has an assortment of props that I will try when we get together. I will GPS them and let you know what happens.

The only change I made to the boat was upgrading the steering servo and pushrod since it was bent in shipping.

If you have access... try running an ABC 2514/3, or even a 2614/3... I tried a variety of props this weekend, and ended up running the 2614/3 and it worked really well...

I ran the 2514/3 on the bone stock boat, and it's a dramatic improvement over the stock aluminum piece... Might not think the boat is as tight after changing to that prop...

[mickvk]

Another exhaust problem?

I know this is OS"E", but I am going to continue the HyperSport 48 discussion... During my first run my motor overheated. Found that the exhaust pressure was pushing backwards through the water cooling line because the line was blackened on the inside. I removed the line from the exhaust and re tested the boat. I saw that water was now flowing.

I tested the air resistance and don't seem to detect a problem through any component of the system. I guess I'll just mount a water exit in the side.

Unless anybody has any other insight?
Thanks. -Mick

[Darin Jordan]

OK Gang... this is going to be my last series of updates to this thread. I've done the mods I wanted to do, raced the boat, and have seen the results.

Since the last update, I've done a few mods.

First, I tore out the original stuffing box, reinforced the hull in that area with a layer of 6oz carbon fiber weave, and installed a new, linerless 5/16" brass stuffing tube. This also included slotting the transom to allow the stuffing tube to be moved up and down, so full strut adjustment was now possible.

I also installed a Killer Bee 3rd channel kill switch. Works great.

I installed a Gizmo GZ-1 top end kit, zero drag seals, and a CC Racing carb isolator plate to the original Zen 260.

I modified the strut by drilling it out to accept the correct brass tubing to support a standard .250 stub shaft assembly, and installed a stubshaft with a bolt-on squaredrive nosepiece. Flexshaft was replaced with a standard flex with squaredrive on the tail end.

Finally, I replaced the M&D steel pipe with a Cooper Quiet pipe.

[Darin Jordan]

Here are a few more pics of the updates... I also trimmed out an opening in the hatch, which allows me to get to the pull starter and carb, without having to remove the hatch. Race motors need ventalation anyhow, so this will help that too.

[Darin Jordan]

So, now for the performance report.

After some breakin time on the new motor, I filled the tank, and, running an ABC 2614/3 prop, went out for the first heat of Open Gas... The boat was REALLY FAST. The motor was STRONG... too strong for the hull as it was set-up. It was a handful to drive and quite dicey in the turns.

After making it 5 of the 6-laps, I stalled it after a bad hop.

After running the next heat in Gas Mono and almost flipping the boat, I knew something needed to be done to help settle the boat down. It appeared to me that the CG was too far back for this much power. My solution was simple... Not having any lead available, and seeing that we were racing in a rock quary, I found two nice round ROCKS, and placed one on either side of the tank in the bottom of the hull and secured them in place, surrounding them with pool noodles. Total weight, I found out later, was 2lbs 11oz...

NIGHT AND DAY difference!! I went out and the boat was AWESOME to drive. I was able to run out front and would have won the heat had I not cut a buoy trying to run lane 1/2 while holding off a slightly faster Open Gas boat. Running the boat with the extra weight tightened it up quite a bit, which obviously slowed it down a bit, but as the fuel burned off, it go slowly faster and faster. Taking some of the tab out of it would have helped as well.

Racing was going well, but I noticed that the strut bushings I had made from brass were getting sloppy. The pics below show why. They simply wouldn't hold grease and kept getting dry, tearing them to pieces. Not a great idea, apparently. Something more substantial would have to be done in the future.

One other thing I found was that the bolt-on squaredrive nosepiece was cracked at every apex point of the squaredrive. I'm thinking a soldered version, or one made from stainless, would be a better idea. OR, using squaredrive at both ends maybe.

Overall, it was a great racing experience, and I have little doubt that, at least on a club level, this boat would be able to be competitive in the Gas Mono class, or maybe even Offshore. NOT saying it would be an ultimate front-runner, but I would have no problem keeping it in the hunt.

So, there you have it, my one and final modification and race report for this boat. If anyone got any pics or video from this weekends D8 race, I'll post them, but otherwise, the racing and modding of this boat is completed. You'll see why in the next post...

[Darin Jordan]

OK, so... Round 3 for Open Gas... I'm one of two boats that hit the start correctly, and was chasing down the leader's big (50"+) Gas Mono into turn 1 of the first lap, when he slid out to lane 3. So, I turned down into lane one and took a bad hop, stalling me right at the exit of turn two. A couple of laps later, the gas hydro was about to pass the leader on the outside, when the leader slid out wide. So, the hydro turned to go inside, and ended up driving THROUGH the side of my dead boat... OUCH. Forced retirement of this poor HS48! Luckily, none of the major components were damaged at all, but the hull is toast.

I think, had it been important, I could have taped it up enough to get through the final rounds, which would have been fun since I think I was leading Gas Mono at the time, but there wasn't anything important on the line, and I didn't want to risk my motor, so I retired it right there.

I was able, however, to recover my ROCKS, so that was a good thing!

So, that's the end of this project. The Gizmo GZ-1 proved to be a real winner, and the mods I made definitely made it a competitive heat racing boat. I enjoyed tinkering on it immensly.

Time now to move on and put the motor into the Delta Force Sniper 45 I have here, and get serious about this!

Thanks for reading and for the help you've provided to get me going. Hope someone got something useful from this project.

I'll try to get some of the race photos from the day, and I think someone also took some video. It's worth seeing in action, because it really was quite impressive for an RTR...

[Chilli]

Nice report Darin. Sorry to hear of the demise of the Proboat. I'll be running my Sniper in the "stock gas" class at my district race for the first time this weekend. Our stock class is a little different. We allow tuned exhaust and any hull except riggers. We'll see if the Sniper can keep up with the cats and sport hydros.

[mickvk]

Darin, this is one great thread, terrific details. But jeez, you can't say the video would have been quite impressive for a "RTR"! :) You modified the motor, exhaust, shaft, hardware, steering... It looks like the only thing left is the original fuel tank!

Can't wait to see the next project.

[crabstick]

That will buff out!! Just joking, Darin, always sad to see a hull put to rest, sounds like it was a sweet runner for a RTR hull.

Was wondering if you noticed a drop in power or a change in powerband when you changed from the steel pipe to the stainless? or Aluminum coopers quiet pipe.

[Darin Jordan]

Was wondering if you noticed a drop in power or a change in powerband when you changed from the steel pipe to the stainless? or Aluminum coopers quiet pipe.

I can't really answer that, because I never ran both pipes on the same motor... With the Cooper Quiet Pipe mounted to this new GZ-1 Top-end kit upgrade, the motor was STRONG, and, as a bonus, I was the only boat out of the 4 in Gas Mono that was legal on sound... 88db, vs. 94+ for most of the rest... and that was before I decided to add water injection into the stinger...