Relocating stuffing tube

**FE Wannabe** · 02-06-2009, 09:45 PM

I am about to do the .098 flex cable conversion on my MiniV.
I was wondering if the "hopping" issues with this boat at faster speeds would be minimized if the location of the stuffing tube was relocated to the lower part of the transom instead of below the transom? It would require removing the plastic that surrounds the original location of the stuffing tube below the hull and filling in the hull and sanding smooth. It would also require moving the outdrive and linkage higher on the transom as well. Neither should be that big of a deal to do.
I am not sure if it would make a difference or not.

Any thoughts?

See picture below.

Thanks,
Brad

**Diegoboy** · 02-06-2009, 09:56 PM

It could help, but move some weight fwd to help stop that too. I didn't think about relocating the tube when I .098(ed) my mini-v. If you're going to go through all that trouble, at least put some decent HW on her too. I'd use the Mini Hydro strut and Joe Solinger's Micro rudder.

**FE Wannabe** · 02-06-2009, 10:53 PM

Thanks for the reply.
I agree new hardware is in order.
I guess what I am trying to do is make this a true surface drive hull, instead of a semi-surface hull.
You seem to have the most experience moddin this boat, what do you think is the optimal Kv for this hull?
I haven't gone brushless yet so I am still looking for the best setup motorwise.

**Diegoboy** · 02-06-2009, 11:26 PM

The Ammo 28-35-2700 Is what I use a lot. (till the price almost doubled on it)
It was a great fast motor for the boat. Torque roll was something that had to be in consideration. Too big a prop will cause it to lean at full throttle. You can remedy that by placing more weight on the left side. Sitck with a 28mm +/- diameter motor.

**FE Wannabe** · 02-07-2009, 03:58 PM

Thanks Diego.

I will let you know how it goes, if I get brave enough to do it.
What would you use to fill in the 2 " long hole in the bottom of the abs hull where the stuffing tube used to exit?

**Diegoboy** · 02-07-2009, 07:33 PM

You're welcome.
Use the piece of ABS that you cut out, then scuff the surface and epoxy it back in flush.

**FE Wannabe** · 02-09-2009, 03:09 PM

I had a little extra time this weekend, so I went ahead and removed the factory stuffing tube using the soldering iron and pliers trick.
Then I used my Dremel with a cut off wheel to remove the ABS below the hull that covered the stuffing tube and removed the existing epoxy.
I then figured out that the MiniV stand was the same color ABS as the hull so I cut off a piece of the stand and epoxied it in the hull.
Once the epoxy was dry, I drilled a 3/16" hole in the bottom of the transom for the new stuffing tube. Since I did some ABS damage on motor end of the stuffing tube, I reinforced it with a piece of plastic and installed the new 3/16" stuffing tube.
I am now ready for my .098 flex cable to arrive so I can test it out. I think I am going to run it with the stock motor and outdrive to start, so I can compare before and after to see if it is better or worse before I spend any more money on it.
I will let you know how it goes.
Brad

**Jesse J** · 02-09-2009, 09:37 PM

what did you come up with for a motor mount? You have probably removed all that plastic tray by now... I haven't gotten up the guts to commit myself to that level of rebuild. I would like to get the motor cooled and there just isn't room with that molded plastic stuff.

How does yours look inside at this point?

**FE Wannabe** · 02-10-2009, 01:55 AM

Jesse,
I actually haven't changed the interior of my MiniV yet. I am not sure if I will be able to fit a cooling jacket around an 380 inrunner and still fab a mount that can attach to to the stock screw holes. I may try a outrunner with a watercooled mount instead, I am not sure yet. I am trying to go cheap, I am not out to turn an $80 boat into a $300 boat.

**FE Wannabe** · 05-20-2009, 12:37 PM

Update on my Mini V mods,

I ran the boat with the stock motor and stock outdrive and the handling didn't seem that much better or that much worse at the stock speeds.

So I decided to try my hand at making my own hardware with an offset rudder with 1/16" aluminum and brass sheet metal. I kept the length of the flex cable the same as stock and made the prop strut to match it. I will post pictures of the setup later. All in all the hardware cost maybe $6 worth of material.
The problem then was that the COG was off with the added weight of the hardware, so I added some weight to the bow and it helped. But there is still some porposing when at speed, so I still have some work to do. But at least the boat no longer hooks when you turn it hard at top speed.

I then got a great deal on eBay for a 3500kv brushless outrunner 28mm diameter and 30A ESC combo for $13 shipped from China! I made a custom mount from some thin aluminum sheet metal and mounted the outrunner. The outrunner motor fits with an 1/8" to spare on each side which is tight since the can is spinning, but it does work.
I was running it on the stock 7.2V Mini V battery and wasn't getting the performance out of the boat that I thought it should have, so I thought that maybe I received the wrong KV motor. So I connected my 11.1V 1350mah battery up to it and it took of like a rocket. I was then I realized it was just that the stock battery couldn't put out the amps to run the brushless setup. But of course while I was running it, I flipped it and since I didn't really waterproof the ESC too well, it was toast. The ESC crumbled when I took of the shrinkwrap. I think the motor is still OK, but time will tell.

I have picked up a 2S PolyRC 1600mah 18C battery from RCLipos and I have a 30A Mystery ESC on order from eBay, so hopefully I will be back up and running again soon. I can then finish working on the handling issues.

More info later.....
Brad

**FE Wannabe** · 08-17-2009, 03:29 PM

Here are my pictures of my current hardware setup, sorry they turned out a little blurry.
I am still having issues with the boat porpoising at speed. The boat is plenty fast, and turns now without hooking, but the constant bouncing makes it difficult to drive and keep from flipping.

Here is the current setup:
3500kv outrunner
30A Mystery ESC
7.4V 1600mah 18C PolyRC
Hitec HS-55 servo
.98 flex cable x .125 propshaft
x427 SBP

Homemade brass strut with brass tubing- positions propshaft same location as stock out-drive only higher.

Homemade aluminum strut and offset rudder bracket that places the leading edge of the rudder even with the trailing edge of the prop.

Homemade aluminum rudder 1 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/16" sheet metal.

I may try shortening the rudder extension to bring the rudder closer to the transom and see how that works.

Any ideas on how to reduce the porpoising would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brad