The official 36" zelos twin modding thread

[BatteryPete.com]

https://youtu.be/NRL0er0OTP8 - One of our speed runs - beautiful day but not ideal conditions.... watch for the bonus... perfect flip over the sunsets reflection... quite amazing. I have done a few of these but never recorded... once I get her wide open she wants to just fly... running 6s here.

[fweasel]

Unbelievable flip. Perfect landing!

[vinnyp]

Wow, what a blow over. I give it a perfect 10!!! I wish mine would land on the props once in a while. I usually have to go get the damn thing. Here is one of mine, just before my ESC's burned up.

https://youtu.be/lfy_-MvJLEc

[fweasel]

REDLINE and I hit the lake today and came to the realization that both of our boats were in need of more weight farther forward in the hull. After an initial run on 4 3S packs, strapped down in the stock locations, Mark's boat was bouncing and ready to take flight in pretty ideal conditions with x447 props and struts set conservatively at 3mm. So we brought his boat in, moved two of the batteries forward so all 4 were inline and as far forward as the tray allowed. The center two were strapped in, the outter two were wedged in between the center pack and white flotation foam in the sponson. Sent it back out, ran true and smooth. I did the same on both of my runs. First run was 70mph and the second run was 72mph. Boat ran wide open, super stable, for as far as I could run and still see the boat. Best setup I've run personally to date. I think there's room for improvement running it a little looser by sliding the batteries back a bit, but the major leap forward was realized today and will get both of us much closer to fine tuning for the next trip. Plenty of people have run with all 4 packs side by side before, it was just something we hadn't tried in our boats. I'm sold.

Other issue we're both fighting is the strength of the wire drives pushing against our struts and altering their position during the run, without a crash. When I ran flex cables, the only time my struts moved on me was during an acrobatic event. I love the wire drives so my fix will be to disassemble the struts into their two major pieces and rough up the mating surface around the adjustment through bolt. You can't do that while it's assembled as a single unit. Not worth the effort or drag to fabricate a vertical turnbuckle style support connecting the strut arm to the bottom of the hull like the big boys use. I may just use a little JB Weld to hold them in place for the LOTO Mini Shootout next month and do the disassembly work over the winter.

Also got my telemetry working with the DX5R. Still only running a single temp probe on one motor, but it was nice to see the motor temp in real time during the run to know that everything (mostly) was happy and healthy. Started at 90* as I headed out from the dock, ran just under 120* during the run, and spiked a little higher when I brought the boat back in and the cooling flow stopped. Good data to have. Can't wait until I can run dual probes.

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[fweasel]

Thanks. Neither of us are chasing any records, just looking to run faster than our smaller boats and keep the business side down. My boat has run faster, but those runs were hotter and less stable. Today it was just plain reliable, which is fun, and something I haven't seen in a while since low 60's. I'll definitely send my 1814's back to Chris over the winter to have them cut down like the set you're running.

[REDLINE1]

Yes good outing today. Boat was much more stable with all 4 batteries forward under the bow. Lost a few mph topped out at 66 with the x447's, but I think I can start moving the batteries back in small increments, find the sweet spot and hopefully pick up a few mph while maintaining stability. I'd like to see 70 then call it a day and just run the boat. Maybe move to the 1814's I have a righhander but haven't been able to find the lefthander

[fweasel]

Mine are 1814's..

Typo on my part. I meant 1814.

[Team Lucas]

My 2 cents on the 4x3s batteries side by side in line forward. Guys I tried that, but what I found was adjusting weight in that boat should be in the center of the hull. I found 2x6s hard case batteries that with a little sanding on the tray, was able to do side by side in the center, big difference.(BATTERYPETE) my be able to do something w/o sanding the tray. Just my 2 cents :)

[Team Lucas]

I wouldn't worry about it, you made a comment about if he even runs his and he got all butt hurt about it. Very sensitive soul. Hopefully he's banned because he doesn't know how to conduct himself around adults.

Anyways, did you do all the free mods I listed at the beginning of the thread?

sorry for not replying, but as in you list of a stock set up? I never seen a list but been on here for a year. would like to see it however, and maybe some others here that might have missed it

[REDLINE1]

My 2 cents on the 4x3s batteries side by side in line forward. Guys I tried that, but what I found was adjusting weight in that boat should be in the center of the hull. I found 2x6s hard case batteries that with a little sanding on the tray, was able to do side by side in the center, big difference.(BATTERYPETE) my be able to do something w/o sanding the tray. Just my 2 cents :)

Ya looks like 2 6s side by side would be the way to go provided you can get them up under the hull. I didn't like the idea of putting all 4 3s up front because the way they set the battery tray up it didn't seen like it was intended to be run that way. But it made a huge difference for me and since I already paid the $ for the batteries and don't plan on buying more now so I'll just run it with all 4 up front. Not sure why others like Madrcer have been able to get there's to run so smooth with all 4 inline

[Team Lucas]

Ya looks like 2 6s side by side would be the way to go provided you can get them up under the hull. I didn't like the idea of putting all 4 3s up front because the way they set the battery tray up it didn't seen like it was intended to be run that way. But it made a huge difference for me and since I already paid the $ for the batteries and don't plan on buying more now so I'll just run it with all 4 up front. Not sure why others like Madrcer have been able to get there's to run so smooth with all 4 inline

see if you can turn them on there sides.

[REDLINE1]

see if you can turn them on there sides.

Ya I'll give that a try Thanks!

[Mxkid261]

sorry for not replying, but as in you list of a stock set up? I never seen a list but been on here for a year. would like to see it however, and maybe some others here that might have missed it

I'm assuming he just means little things like polishing flexes, sharpening rudder, possibly scuffing bottom of sponson's, etc.

[Team Lucas]

I'm assuming he just means little things like polishing flexes, sharpening rudder, possibly scuffing bottom of sponson's, etc.

thanks bro....sharpened rudder, scuff bottom with 220 grit, basics yes, thanks. polishing flex?, never polished a flex cable. how do you do that when the grease pervades the smoothness? is it worth it?

[fweasel]

Strut movement problem: SOLVED. I pulled the struts apart and etched the mating surfaces with a cross hatch pattern using a small screwdriver to increase the clamping friction. Put it back together, set the struts at 3mm, and they held rock solid for 3 runs and 2 aerobatic maneuvers. The boat ais just about finally dialed in and super reliable. The fun quota is increasing exponentially. Ran 73.3mph today.