Pro Boat PT-109

[OldSoldier99]

Anyone out there got a PT-109? I know its not a race boat, but I recently modified mine with the following:

two Traxxas Velineon waterproof ESC
two Traxxas Velineon 550 motors
two Traxxas Villian propellers
two clip-on Velineon ESC fans

I run it at 2s in Parallel. Works well so far.

I have noticed a tendency to pop out of the water at high speed and almost turn over on its port side. I think this is due to motor torque and the fact that both motors spin in the same direction???

[HappyOne]

One of the guys in our club has one. It seemed to me that it ran faster than scale when it was stock. Once it got going there wasn't much hull in the water and, since it is fairly tall and narrow, I can see how it would list to the side.

[OldSoldier99]

One of the guys in our club has one. It seemed to me that it ran faster than scale when it was stock. Once it got going there wasn't much hull in the water and, since it is fairly tall and narrow, I can see how it would list to the side.

I agree. The Pro Boat PT-109 is a gorgeous ship, and even in stock form it runs faster than scale with the original 3-blade propellers. I found that Traxxas Villian (correction...should say Traxxas Blast) propellers are a direct fit with no modification, so I tried them (they are 2-blade propellers). I forgot to mention in my previous post that I added some ballast weight to help keep it in the water and reduce the porpoise effect.

I was hoping someone would comment on my use of non-marine twin ESCs and motors in a marine application. Pros or Cons??

[Diegoboy]

My Dumas American enterprise uses a Novac super rooster with twin counter rotating motors. There's a scale club locally where that setup is used a lot without issue.

[Steven Vaccaro]

I run it stock with a 2s 5000 pack, plenty of runtime and its very quick. But it also runs on its side. Its pretty comical. My kids race the pt-109 against the aqua profishing boat. Fun stuff.

[OldSoldier99]

I run it stock with a 2s 5000 pack, plenty of runtime and its very quick. But it also runs on its side. Its pretty comical. My kids race the pt-109 against the aqua profishing boat. Fun stuff.

Are you saying you run your PT-109 with only one pack? If so, I guess you could put the pack on the starboard side to help counter the port torque??

[Steven Vaccaro]

Are you saying you run your PT-109 with only one pack? If so, I guess you could put the pack on the starboard side to help counter the port torque??

I've tried that. Once it leans, it gets sucked down and stays there.

[OldSoldier99]

I plan to put my GPS onboard and take it for speed run to see how fast it is going. I'm sure it is nowhere near as fast as my SuperVee (RIP....Rest In Pieces) or my new (spelled SuperVee replacement) Electric King of Shaves (44MPH stock with 4S batteries).

[Steven Vaccaro]

I'd venture to say my 109 is running about 15mph or so.

[OldSoldier99]

I'd venture to say my 109 is running about 15mph or so.

I just clocked mine at 18MPH, but that was with nearly depleted 2s batteries. I'll get a better run later. I should be able to get 20-25MPH with 2s batteries and even faster if I had a pair of 3s batteries that would fit in through the opening to the battery compartment.

[OldSoldier99]

I'd venture to say my 109 is running about 15mph or so.

Yeah...its not fast, but they look SOOOOO good and so realistic in the water. Mine turns heads everywhere I go. I'm surprised how many people know about PT 109 and PT boats in general, since I didn't know anything about them before I read up on it after buying this boat. I feel so dumb and unedumacated

[illz302]

If you had brushed motors the torque twist on your boat would be an easy solution by simply reversing the wires on one of the motors and getting one of your props (for the reversed motor) in the other direction

[OldSoldier99]

If you had brushed motors the torque twist on your boat would be an easy solution by simply reversing the wires on one of the motors and getting one of your props (for the reversed motor) in the other direction

I know how to reverse one of my motors... I just don't know where to find opposite propellers that will fit this shaft. It is not the usual drive dog prop setup. I found that the Traxxas Villian props fit, but they are only offered in one direction also.

OldSoldier

[bwells]

My Traxxas Villian EX has counter rotating motors and a left and right hand props

[Steven Vaccaro]

You need to make sure that the motors have no timing advance. If they do and you reverse the wires, the motors will have less of a life span if used like that. it will also go slower in forward. They are 4mm threaded shafts. I tried some graupner props. The stock ones did better, but are very brittle.

[illz302]

Can you not swap the drive dogs with different ones?

[OldSoldier99]

Can you not swap the drive dogs with different ones?

Kinda hard to explain... basically the shaft has no drive dog. There is just a set of threads at the end of the shaft and the propellers screw onto the threads. You literally screw the props onto the shaft threads and hope they dont spin themselves off. I assume the folks that designed the boat designed it so the motors turn opposite the way that would cause the props to unscrew themselves off the shaft.

OldSoldier99

[OldSoldier99]

You need to make sure that the motors have no timing advance. If they do and you reverse the wires, the motors will have less of a life span if used like that. it will also go slower in forward. They are 4mm threaded shafts. I tried some graupner props. The stock ones did better, but are very brittle.

The Traxxas Velineon speed controls are not very programmable. The only thing you can change is the mode Fwd Only/Fwd-Rev/Training Mode (half speed). And I have never advanced the timing on the endbell of the motor. In fact, the instructions say you can reverse the motor by reversing any two of the three wires between the motor and speed control...I've done it many times on my land vehicles.

Thanks for the tip on the graupner props.

[OldSoldier99]

My Traxxas Villian EX has counter rotating motors and a left and right hand props

bwells,
You are right...I forgot about that. Since I knew the motors turned the same way on the PT-109, I must have only bought identical props. I think I'll need to order a pair of Traxxas props.

[bwells]

Yeah, they are cheap but as Steven said, the motors need to have zero timing to reverse them. I would assume it would not be a problem in your application though.

[OldSoldier99]

Just a note that I made a mistake in my earlier post when I said I used Traxxas Villian props on my PT-109. I should have said Traxxas Blast props. Those are the ones that only turn in one direction. My bad.

[Stephavee]

I found out after my father inlaw jumped his pt109 over my blackjack that you can cut the plastic off the threads and press them into stock sv27 props and run them! Temp not bad and fast...er