looking for upgrade ideas for Freya Cat

[travis9791]

I bought a 36" Freya cat several years back. The person I bought it from originally purchased it from Fine Design. This was my first RC boat. The current boat setup is this.
1 leopard 4082 1600 kv motor
2 3s lipos combined to make 6S total no Clue on c rating they are unmarked from fine design.
45 mil two blade prop no markings
.150 flexshaft with 3/16 driveshaft
1/4" brass stuffing tube with teflon liner
180 amp seaking ESC i think. no markings

The first year i owned it the ESC blue. Could have been operator error. Fine design replaced with current ESC that looks like its a seeking 180 but there are no markings and 3 35v 1000uh caps instead of two. After replacing the ESC I operated it for the rest of the season until eventually the flexshaft wore down and the coupler would not grab it anymore. The boat sat for A year after that. I got sidetracked with my drone for a while. Now the batteries are slightly puffed and need replacing. So at minimum I must replace the batteries and the Flexshaft and coupler. I am on the fence as to weather i should just replace those Items and run it or take this opportunity to upgrade. I am looking for some ideas of ways to upgrade. Any input from people more experienced then me will be greatly appreciated. I will try to get some pictures posted later.

[Mxkid261]

What are you looking to upgrade on it? If the hull is in good condition pick up a couple nice Lipo's, a flex cable/collet, and go have some fun Lol. You may want to step up to a .187 cable it will be a little more heavy duty, you'd have to remove the liner. Make sure you are wiping grease off the cable before it goes into the collet

[travis9791]

Thanks for the advice on wiping the cable. I think you are right about why my flexshaft spun out. I was thinking about losing the teflon liner and stepping up to a .187 cable. It seems that there are mixed opinions on whether they were good or bad. I wasn't sure if my setup justified having the larger diameter. As far as what I am looking to upgrade I'm not sure. Just like everything I own it's really fast when I first get it. Then I want to go faster. That's why I had to sell my motorcycle when i had my first kid. I have never GPS'd the boat but I think I get in the 50 to 60 MPH range with what I have. The boat is pretty stable in the turns and on rails on the straights. I have rolled it a few times in the turns. I have seen some videos of my size motor running on 8s. However I'm not sure how much the motor will take of that. I don't want A saw setup only boat. I'm pretty sure my ESC would blow imediately. However I don't have a positive id on the ESC. There is a 1050 kv tp motor on sale for 2995 that would take 8s. I am not sure if the boat will handle 8S and still be controllable.. I am very much an amateur, and am smart enough to know when to ask for advice. If the general consensus is run it 6s and be happy I will. If I can go a bit faster and still have A stable reliable boat I'm all for that also. As far as batteries go i was leaning towards the 5000mah 70c revoelectric graphenes. Would that be a Good choice? Here are some pics of the boat.image1.jpgimage4.jpgimage5.jpgimage1.jpgIMG_1035.jpg

[Mxkid261]

Looks like a seaking 180 or similar, it will only run up to 6s. I have no experience with that hull but I'm sure others that have will chime in. 50-60 mph sounds about right for that setup. I run 3/16 cable with no liner in 3 of my boats, never any issues just have to grease more often. If you were running low C batteries that very well may have been limiting your performance. Revo packs are great. If you want to go faster than that you may need to reinforce the hull a little. If it were mine I would strip it down and clean it all up. Put in an adjustable motor mount. Pour a little epoxy/chopped cloth in the tips/transom. Carbon fiber inlay. Some carbon battery trays. Its nice having a couple different boats. You could always just get this running well to get your feet wet again and then save for something else

[Tamelesstgr]

I would suggest getting the boat set up and reliable before changing anything to go faster. 8s in my opinion is not the answer, 6s and even 4s in some cases make for plenty fast boats. I run .187 cables in 2 of my boats. I made the switch so I could have common parts between my setups and I felt that even with modest power I would save myself from snapping a cable and losing a prop at the bottom of the lake. I run a leopard 4082 with 1450kv and 6s in a heavy deep-v, I'm still learning how to add speed by tweaking little things on the boat. My main concern is good run time and no excessive heat coming from the motor, esc, or batteries. REVO has good prices on their non-graphene packs right now as well.

[travis9791]

Thanks Everyone for the great advice. I am going to run 6S high C as suggested. I will purchase a .187 flex shaft along with A .150 just in case. Can I detach the flex cable from the current driveshaft and replace just the cable? It appears to be soldered. I am going to order some new thrust washers because I lost some of the old ones. Should I be using a thrust bearing also? Is there anything I should be looking at inside the strut itself? I also have a question on my water cooling system. You can see in the picture that I have A single pickup on the rudder that splits and goes to the ESC and then there motor before exiting the boat. I never seem to see water exiting the outlet when I run the boat, but when i finish I can see the remnants of water in the line. Is my current setup sufficient. is there room for improvement? Also I currently tape my hatch every time I run. Is there an upgrade anyone can suggest So I don't have to. Or should I just keep taping the hatch.

[Tamelesstgr]

- You'll want to order a new flexshaft, OSE Sells them as a complete assembly, and you will have to trim down the cable to fit your boat, I use a crucible to solder the end of the flexshaft:

https://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pr...?prod=ose-1190
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17hVYS12Q-o&t=262s

- I don't run thrust washers so I can't comment there

- Water cooling is a topic of great debate. Personally if you don't have water coming out the the port I would check for obstructions or kinks in the line. Cooling is important to the survival of the motor and esc. I personally run a dedicated line to each

- Always tape the hatch, people have commented that even with hold down screws or fasteners in a hard crash you can loose the canopy, better to have the extra water sealing and hold down I think.

20160523_230154.jpg

[srislash]

I would go with the Graphenes you mentioned, 3/16" flex cable assembly and MBP coupler, take the splitter out of the coolant line( run it thru ESC then motor and out). That ESC is plenty good on 6s, get her back running and if you want more at that point go to a TP 1700-2000kv motor. The other cheapest increase in performance is props but changing them can mean adjusting strut or CG.

Oh and the thrust washer, I assume you mean at the drive dog? It is best to run one of the plastic ones and make sure you have The recommended gap there. Thrust bearing are useless, just grief in my finding.
Shawn

[TRUCKPULL]

Thrust bearing are useless, just grief in my finding.
Shawn

Shawn
Are you kidding me.
I have seen $300 motors with the shaft pushed out the back of the motor because the person did nit use a Thrust Bearing installed tight between the coupler and the motor face.

It is called a Thrust Bearing because the bearings in the motor are NOT designed for very much lateral thrust.

In some of the motors now, the rear bearing is installed from the outside.
I have also seen expensive motors with plastic shims on the rotor shaft between the rear bearing and the rotor. with the thrust that we develop the shim shredded and proceeded to jam up between the winding and the magnets. This was a brand new motor second run.
This is fine when the motor is installed on a airplane where the prop is trying to pull the rotor out the front of the motor. In a boat we are trying to push the rotor out the back of the motor.
The little plastic washer between the strut and the drive dog is put their just in case you don't leave enough room in their to begin with.( 1 to 1 1/2 times the diameter of your flex shaft for every foot of length)

Larry

[srislash]

Ok maybe not useless but they sure can create some smoke, but I just may be running too much RPM.
And good point about the bearings being able to 'pop' out, like on my 'New to me' LMTs.

[TRUCKPULL]

RPM's on all my race boats are between 30,000 and 38,000
I use very fine oil on them, oil is designed for high speed air die grinders.

One or two drips with a small syringe every time you grease your shaft.
I also put a drip on each motor bearing, rudder pivot pins, and steering linkages.

Larry

[srislash]

There you go, another day, another learned thing! I was greasing with a syringe and whoa what a spinoff mess and smoke. I'll maybe give that a go Larry.