Widowmaker - Need help

So I have to say that I am completely new to this hobby and got a widowmaker as a birthday gift (not a lot of research on my part).

I seem to have a never ending water problem. I've greased the whole shaft two times and have tied clasps to the water hose on ESC cooling exit, and the engines water intake / exit points (read it all on this forum). I've also done the bathtub test and the boat is completely dry. However, when I'm using it in the water, I quickly get a very serious amount of water (enough to effect handling and weight) in about 1-1.5 minutes.

After my third run today (where I thought i have fixed the water issue but clearly hadnt), the steering stopped working (there was again water in the boat) - basically, now the rudder is moving back and forth constantly and I cant seem to stop it without unplugging the battery. Not sure if this is a fried servo or something else?

Any help on the water and servo issue would be much appreciated.

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Originally Posted by offshorenoob

So I have to say that I am completely new to this hobby and got a widowmaker as a birthday gift (not a lot of research on my part).

I seem to have a never ending water problem. I've greased the whole shaft two times and have tied clasps to the water hose on ESC cooling exit, and the engines water intake / exit points (read it all on this forum). I've also done the bathtub test and the boat is completely dry. However, when I'm using it in the water, I quickly get a very serious amount of water (enough to effect handling and weight) in about 1-1.5 minutes.

After my third run today (where I thought i have fixed the water issue but clearly hadnt), the steering stopped working (there was again water in the boat) - basically, now the rudder is moving back and forth constantly and I cant seem to stop it without unplugging the battery. Not sure if this is a fried servo or something else?

Any help on the water and servo issue would be much appreciated.

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Spray the servo plug and receiver with a electrical contact cleaner. Try placing a small piece of cooling tube over the stuffing tube. Make sure you are taping the hatch real good also.

Example of what I mean about a small piece of cooling tube over the stuffing tube.
http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...113_223041.jpg

Thank you for those tips - i will work on them.

In the meantime, I might have isolated the problem. Yesterday, I ran the boat for a few minutes with the water intake unplugged, and it was completely dry inside. I now have zip ties on all of the hose connections, so Im thinking that it must be the engine. I read here that someone else had the same problem with leaks from the engines cooling ring. Now searching on how to fix that...

Thanks for all of the help, this is a lot of fun despite the small hiccups.

Hi offshorenoob

I had exactly the same problem with mine. Then I looked closely at the water jacket around the motor and realised it wasn't round - it looked like it had been squashed a bit so the rubber O rings weren't sealing properly.

To fix it i put a bead of (clear) silicon sealant around both ends of the water jacket (bathtub sealant) and now it seals perfectly and the boat is dry inside.

If you look closely at the photos you can see where I put the bead of silicon (I ran my finger round it to make the chamfer) - compare the Blackjack motor on the right with a step from the water jacket to the motor to the Widowmaker motor on the left (in my Shockwave 26)

- yellowbird