Aeromarine H-45 Thunderbolt rebuild.

[shua]

I picked this massive boat up at a good price locally from a fellow aircraft pilot. It's been well loved but not in too bad a shape. Still I think it's time to be pulled down, checked over, tidied up and reassembled. This part is almost as much fun as Running it will be.



Man this prop is massive. Its a Prather 270!
Here is is next to a P220!

[shua]

Motor is out.

[shua]

Bottom is fair. Bunch of prior repair work done to the trailing edge of each sponson. Especially the left hand side.

Should I repair further or just leave it??

Right



Left



And the stuffing tube has a couple small dimples. Should I worry?

[shua]

Going back together and I noticed that the engine does not align with the flex very well. I can raise the motor up some to help as the motor mounts are slotted. I assume I should do this?

[JMSCARD]

almost looks like someone mangled the stuffing tube and cut the end off... that's a long way to go from the motor to the flex tube... flexshaft whip will occur... you might need to install a new flextube, then figure out the right alignment... yes that is way to far off as far as alignment goes as well... lol... needs to be as close in alignment as you can get it... then with the flex shaft installed before tightening motor move the motor ever so slightly until the flex feels smoothest operating.... but the way it is there... sure isn't going to work!

[shua]

almost looks like someone mangled the stuffing tube and cut the end off... that's a long way to go from the motor to the flex tube... flexshaft whip will occur... you might need to install a new flextube, then figure out the right alignment... yes that is way to far off as far as alignment goes as well... lol... needs to be as close in alignment as you can get it... then with the flex shaft installed before tightening motor move the motor ever so slightly until the flex feels smoothest operating.... but the way it is there... sure isn't going to work!

Thanks JMSCARD for the help. I wondered about this. Can I install a sleave to extend the stuffing tube? I did later notice that the engine mounts are slotted and adjusted the motor to align with the stuffing tube better.

[JMSCARD]

Thanks JMSCARD for the help. I wondered about this. Can I install a sleave to extend the stuffing tube? I did later notice that the engine mounts are slotted and adjusted the motor to align with the stuffing tube better.

You can, its not much fun lol... but do some searching on here and you'll find the trick to do it... cut your extension of brass tubing, then youll need the next size up of tubing so you an make a "sleeve" to go over the two pieces... I see many have used the Loctite technique, and some use pure silver solder (flexshaft solder) to affix the pieces... anyway do some digging with the searches here and you'll find better explanation on the install... at this point though, since the boat has some signs of use, I'd heat up the flextube and yank it out and install a new one, since its not all prettied up lol, you cant mess anything up... and is the more appropriate thing to do... the next appropriate thing is yank that stinky engine thingy out and put in a nice electric setup :0

[shua]

You can, its not much fun lol... but do some searching on here and you'll find the trick to do it... cut your extension of brass tubing, then youll need the next size up of tubing so you an make a "sleeve" to go over the two pieces... I see many have used the Loctite technique, and some use pure silver solder (flexshaft solder) to affix the pieces... anyway do some digging with the searches here and you'll find better explanation on the install... at this point though, since the boat has some signs of use, I'd heat up the flextube and yank it out and install a new one, since its not all prettied up lol, you cant mess anything up... and is the more appropriate thing to do... the next appropriate thing is yank that stinky engine thingy out and put in a nice electric setup :0

Alright, the search is on! I have some locktite 603. This beast will be brushelss before long. I have a Castle 2028 800kV ready to drop in it. I just wanted to run it as a gasser first to see how it runs then convert. I will probably install a new stuffing tube at that time.

[shua]

Stuffing tube repair complete.

[shua]

She ran good last weekend. Clocked it at 38mph!
Now it is time to strip out the old gasser and apply some brushless power!