Benefits of the radio box?

[Rusty_Noob]

Hey people,

Had my Blackjack out earlier and I manage to burn out the steering servo ($100 servo!)

I was just wondering what the benefit of the radio box was? It seems like the servo was just sitting in water whereas if there was no box it wouldn't be sitting in the water.

So should I run with, or without box?

[EPower]

Hey people,

Had my Blackjack out earlier and I manage to burn out the steering servo ($100 servo!)

I was just wondering what the benefit of the radio box was? It seems like the servo was just sitting in water whereas if there was no box it wouldn't be sitting in the water.

So should I run with, or without box?

FE boats should be totally watertight so no need for a radio box, water is their worst enemy expensive servo 100$ what was it ?

[Rusty_Noob]

It was an Ace DS1015 Brilliant servo, well it was!

I've taken the radio box out and taken the antenna mount out of it, I then used epoxy to secure the antenna mount to a piece of thick round lexan. Once cured I then used the epoxy again to mount the lexan on the hatch, and then used more around the top part of the mount to make water tight.

So I've got rid of the gaping hole in the hatch, what about the seam where the hatch attachs to the boat, how can I go about sealing them?

[z400]

gethca some hatch tape from OSE.

Seal your transom yet?

[Rusty_Noob]

gethca some hatch tape from OSE.

Seal your transom yet?

How do I seal the transom? Where is the transom?

EDIT: The transom is where all the hardware etc bolts on to, the flat bit at the back of the boat, is'nt that sealed from factory?

[sn00p]

You could always run your electrics inside a balloon if your worried about water issues. I run the fastech and sealing the hatch completely is a pain so i opted to leave the box in place. Suits my setup fine. IF however i decided to rid the box then i would deffo go the ballon route for ESC and another for RX and a 3rd for the servo. Just zip tie the neck of the ballons where the leads will be exiting from and that should hold enough of the water out for long enough incase of capsize or subbed.

[Jeff Wohlt]

Always take the balloon off at the end of the day. I have no idea how moisture gets in to them but it does and you need to let all electronics breath after a day out.

Easier is using a condom...works well. AND, you can always tell the old lady they are for your boats! :) Make sure you get the extra large as they are easier to work with and those are the ones that fit me anyway so she then believes me (NOT)

Drobie, Doug R (miss ya bud) bought a bunch of small plastic boxes from somwhere and I bought some. You cut a small groove for wires and just snap it closed. They work well. You can also go to Walmart and get a camping soap box and velcro it down to you boat...works well.

[Fluid]

...I then used the epoxy again to mount the lexan on the hatch, ....what about the seam where the hatch attachs to the boat, how can I go about sealing them?

Why did you mount the antenna to the hatch? You should move the antenna mount to the deck so you can remove the hatch without having the antenna attached to it - far easier.

Seal the hatch with hatch tape. Believe me, there is NO OTHER METHOD which insures a dry boat in case of a flip or crash. It only takes a minute to do it right, and it protects your motor/ESC/packs and receiver. Newbies will try all sorts of rubber seals, baffles, etc. but they never work as well - unless the boat is too slow not to flip that is. Experienced boaters use hatch tape. I use either hockey tape (clear) or 3M electrical tape ( comes in many colors). The hockey tape is not reusable, the electrical tape is (at least a few times).

Some owners have reported that all the holes through the transom will leak, and that you should use silicon to seal them. They are not sealed from the factory. Do a search in the SV forum, you'll find lots of good info. Remember, the boat should come in after a run with no more than a few drops inside, if that. Most of my boats come in bone dry.



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[Rusty_Noob]

Hey Fluid,

Thanks for the post, very helpful. Today I had the boat out and used 3M electrical tape to seal the hatch and the boat came in pretty much bone dry, few drips but nothing much at all but there were no flips, in the pond at least - see other thread regarding cracked hull.

I mounted the antenna mount and tube to the hatch, it's completely water tight I just feed the antenna wire up the tube once I have connect the batteries, isnt' difficult at all but I may find it tedious after a while :p

[rcanuck]

I agree that there is no other thing to use but hatch tape. Being a newbe myself I learned the hard way .

Boon

[Rusty_Noob]

Here is what it looks like inside now, and it shows how I mounted the switch to to prevent it flapping round.









With the hatch taped down only 1 or 2 drops managed to get in last run :)