Radio Shack Caliente II RC Boat

[BIGDANO]

Well, I searched for any posts on this and didn't find any, so I wanted to share. I've been looking for a cheap plane retrieval system for splash-downs. We fly off of a taxiway at NAS Alameda. The distance from flight-line to lagoon is about 400 feet so, as you may have guessed, we have the occasional splash landing. Not too long ago, it happened WAY out...almost in the Bay!! :eek: This is when I decided I'm going to get an RC boat for plane retrieval duty.

I searched some of the RTR boats on Tower and whatnot, but I just didn't want to break out any serious bread for this thing. So, one day while I was at Radio Shack, I spotted the Caliente II on sale for $40, RTR.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2205149&cp=&origkw=caliente&kw=caliente&parentPage=search

It looked perfect, but that 100 foot range had to be dealt with. I had an old Hitec Tx/Rx for land-based vehicles handy, and a Traxxas XL-1 ESC that wasn't doing anything, so I figured I'd swap out the radio components for something a little more "hobby grade". Also, there was something resembling a servo performing rudder-duty, and that thing had to go, too!

Basically, I yanked everything electronic out of the boat except for the motor. Here are some pics:

Full size shot of the boat with cheesey Tx:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1006.jpg

Here's a shot of what Radio Shack is passing off as a servo:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1010.jpg

The innards...UGH, open circuit board with Rx and speed control integrated....glitch waiting to happen:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1012.jpg

Shot of the motor and some weired spring contraption...anyone know what this is? I'm thinking some kinda manual speed control or voltage limiter/regulater... :confused:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1017.jpg

It wasn't too tough, just yanked everything and replaced it with hobby grade components.

Here's a shot of the new servo, attached with servo tape to the old servo well. Had to CA the horn of the old servo on top of the servo horn, and both horns are held to the servo with the same screw (didn't get pics):

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1018.jpg

You can barely make out the Hitec AM Rx, servo taped to the side wall of the boat. That black thing in the foreground has the ESC servo taped to the underside of it, better seen in the next pic:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1021.jpg

ESC servo-taped to underside of black cover:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1027.jpg

Here's the boat, ready to go:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.07.2007Resized/img_1028.jpg

I will maiden it at Lake Merritt in Oakland after work today. Seems pretty strong with the new electronics in it...we'll see. I'm gonna try to get video!

-Dano

[bluesy]

Hey BigDano............

Welcome to the boat side of RCGroups. That looks like a pretty good conversion. As I mentioned on "another BB". After you run in the Bay be sure to rinse it off with fresh water. Did you put any lubrication on the prop shaft and the rudder shaft. That will help protect the metal and will also seal the water from migrating up the shafts. (we boat guys call it a "stuffing tube"). But its all just another lingo to get used to.

Best of luck with the maiden run. Post more pix as you will find the crew here very appreciative and helpful....

Doug in Victoria

[BIGDANO]

Hey Doug! :lol Thanks for the kind words...this place is a LOT different then that "other BB", but I like 'em both. On my way home now...maiden in about an hour or so.

Oh, what should I use for lube? WD 40? For the first run, it will be in "fresh" water...Lake Merritt in Oakland.

[bluesy]

Hey Dano...........

WD 40 will work for this time but for long term and salt water you will get may answers (almost as many as there are members). I use white lithium grease as it is relativly light and does a great job of sealing out the water. Others use anything from good old vaseline to lube from the fifth wheel on a semi rig. Don't use KY for this as it is water soluble..........*******snicker********

good luck with the maiden..........

BTW.....search for "retrieval" on the boat section. There are a bunch of contraptions from plastic tubing shaped like a "H" to full on retrieval boats.

If you are going to use the reel and line arrangement you mentioned elsewhere be sure to add some flotation to the line and then circle your "retrieval subject" and snag it.

The only problem I can see is that the boat you have may have too much speed and not enough torque to do the job. But you haven't spent a King's Ransom to get where you are. Have fun with it.

Doug

[der kapitan]

Big Dano,

Nothing works like doing it right the first time.

If you're an R/C guy, you should have picked up on the cheapness of the boat's guts right away. What you bought was a nothing. Barn-jobbed electronics by some Chinese
outfit working on making a buck with scrap electronics from 20 years ago---..

If you want a good retreiver boat, take a look at thr "Springer" tug thread in the "Dock Talk" section of this forum. You can build in your own "quality"---.

[BIGDANO]

Roger that! Maidened it today and it is a PIG! I doubt I'm getting 10mph, and not sure I want to put any more effort into this thing. It definitely needs a motor upgrade, I'm just not sure I can access the motor compartment successfully. Here are the pics of the maiden:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.08.2007/img_1050.jpg

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.08.2007/img_1054.jpg

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/01.08.2007/img_1055.jpg

[Shaun Hendricks]

Plastic Models like that tend to be heavy and need more umph to get up 'on step' (planing) which is where your speed is at. From the picture, the nose is riding pretty high and the tail is throwing a pretty 'fan' of water. Hulls on plane generally run with the nose lower and the water coming of the back should look more like a spray than a pretty fan.

So, it may just need a different prop, or a bit of a better motor, even a voltage bump might work (those look like 6 cell packs, the XL-1 should be able to handle a 7 cell pack). Just a little bit more in the power department could free it up from the clutches of displacement hull cruising and give you plenty more zip.... it will likely never be a speed demon though. Most of these plastic jobbies top out at 20-22 mph without going to drastically more expensive running gear... or so everyone tells me.

I'm doing my own conversion on a plastic model shortly. Just cause I have the gear... :D

[Ghost 2501]

looks like it goes well. i think that spring thingie looked to be possibly a damping unit for the drive train. whack a 9.6v and a speed 700 motor in it, and maybe a proboat 50esc :) that'll make it fly

[BIGDANO]

Well, I swapped out the motor for a Spec 19t truck motor. I think it's going to have a bit more pep in it's step! Not sure it's enough to get it up on plane, but it should definitely do better then the hunk-o-crap motor that was in there. I had to drill 4 holes in the top deck to access the motor mounting screws. I will probably just cover the holes with duct tape, unless somebody has a better idea....

Next will be to upgrade the prop. It looks like a cheapie plastic two-blade. I measured it across and it has a diameter of exactly 15mm. I think I can go a bit bigger in diameter...like 18...maybe 20mm. Should I get a 4 blade stainless steel prop?

So far, total cost is just the boat itself...$40. Everything else I had lying around! :D

[Kmot]

BigDano: I recently checked out your Alameda club website and man are you guys in heaven flying off a real Navy runway and facility. Lucky fella's! :)

I would like to fly up there some day.

-Tom

[BIGDANO]

Hey Tom! You are more than welcome to fly in Alameda ANY time we're flying. You get 2 freebies, then, if you still don't want to join, you pay $5 a day to fly after that. Of course you must be an AMA member.

Unfortunately we have limited use of the Taxiway, but we're working on that. We fly 5pm to sunset during the week (which is worthless this time of year) and all available weekends. Be sure to check out the calendar before you make the trip!

For everyone's reference, here's the link to our web-site:

http://www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/

[Shaun Hendricks]

If that 'truck' motor is a 540 size then you can go much larger than 20mm. Again, I'm told the rule of thumb is the motor diameter. The motor can usually drive a prop with the same diameter of the motor. So, a 30mm prop should work on that critter. Your limitation will be the XL-1's ability to handle the amp draw.

[BIGDANO]

That, and prop clearance. I just don't think I have the clearance to run much of a bigger diameter....unless I can figure a way to extend the shaft out a bit further...

Yeah, the 19t Spec motor is a 540 can.

[Shaun Hendricks]

Sorry, I didn't see any pictures that had prop clearance so I had assumed it was a surface drive... my mistake! Yeah, then your big problem will be prop clearance. You can go to a 3 blade prop and it will help you get out of the hole faster but will not impact top speed over a standard 2 blade. If you can't get the prop larger, and prop pitch only goes so far... you might need to look at motor RPM's to get your speed.

That cruddy motor it came with may turn higher RPM's than your 19T motor, it may not. So you might actually get a performance drop with that 19T motor until you go with the larger (higher pitch) prop. You won't know until you get it wet!

Definitely up the volts to a 7 cell (8.4v) pack. This will increase your RPM's right away.

[BIGDANO]

Yeah, good call on the 7 cell pack. I will need the 7th cell to be a hump style, but off-center due to the way it's mounted and locked into place. I doubt I will go that far with it, but who knows? It's been fun hacking this thing up!!

[BIGDANO]

By the way...
I'm doing my own conversion on a plastic model shortly. Just cause I have the gear... :D
What's up with this??? Thread? Pics???

[Shaun Hendricks]

Oh, it's a cheesy "North High Wind" HK rip off I won on ebay. Essentially the Volvo Penta style hull but is a twin screw. I'm going to change out the inexpensive 380 motors with a pair of Cobalt 400's run off a single inexpensive HK 50A ESC. Probably put some serious props on it and customize the paint, rudders, etc. May even go for water cooling.

I'm hoping to get about 22mph out of it, maybe a little more. The only thing I should have to buy is the batteries. I need a set of 11.1v, 20c LiPo batteries anyway. Might as well use them in this puppy too.

Waiting on the boat, have everything else. I'll likely do a conversion thread as well. :rolleyes:

[BIGDANO]

Success!! Well, sort of. The new motor RIPS! I'm not throwing up any kinda roost, but the boat definitely gets up on plane. Seems like the motor is *just* right, not too fast, not too slow.

BUT, my rudder is not working very well with the added power. I think it's just a matter of getting more throw on it. To that end, I've realized that there is an end-point adjustment wheel on my old Hitec radio, so I've maxed it out. I'll get the boat wet again today after work and see if that made any difference. If not, I've got an idea of how I'm going to get more throw on the rudder...will post pics of it if I go that route.

I also bought a couple new GP3300 6 cell packs from Radio Shack at $25 a pop, so now I'm into this thing for about $90. Oh, and I grabbed a couple floats that I plan to make the grappling hook with and some 100 lbs. test fishing line from the local fishing store, so we'll say roughly $100.

The next thing to do is mount a tow-bar on it and get the grappling hook made up and she'll be ready to do recovery missions!

[Kmot]

Get some video for us! :D

[BIGDANO]

Man, I took some pretty sweet video of a couple passes, but the AVI won't play in Windows Media Player. :mad: It WILL play, however, in QuickTime. Go figure. I'm probably gonna shell out the $30 or $40 for the Pro version of QuickTime just to be able to edit this video!!!

Actually, I'll bring my camcorder today after work, instead! (Shot yesterday's video on the Canon S3IS.)

[Shaun Hendricks]

Glad to hear that all worked out okay! Sometimes it's just a motor change that can wake up everything. Sounds like the stock motor was a real dog. That's funny because a good Mabuchi motor might have added a whopping $1 on to the cost of the boat. Bean counters...

[BIGDANO]

Video! (www.alamedahornetsquadron.com/pics/samples/boat1.1.wmv)

Took it out today and ran the new Radio Shack GP3300 6 cell packs in it. I burned up the Spec 19T motor at the end of the first pack! :p Glad I didn't fry the ESC, too! I smelled the magic smoke when I pulled it out of the water and pulled the lid off. I let it cool down, then tried the 2nd pack. I think the ESC thermaled, so it was stuck in the middle of the lake for about 3 or 4 minutes, then I tried giving it throttle and it actually fired up, so I limped it back.

I got like 3 never-used speed 600 motors from airplanes (1x Hobbico Superstar and 2x Sportsters). I might resort to those, but I'm going to pull the fried motor and slap in my old stock DudeMann motor that I have lying around.

Edit: Oh! The problem with my AVI's not playing was that I needed an MJPEG codec. :rolleyes:

[Kmot]

Well, it looks like it was going at a decent clip for what it is. But you might need to stick in one of your airplane gearboxes to take the load off that motor so you don't let any more magic smoke out. :p

[MILLERTIME]

Should have got this.
Tower Hobbies Turbo Vee 3 RTR
FEATURES: Motor: Water cooled 540 size
Hull: Constructed of ABS-white in color, prejoined to deck, chine
rails along hull's outer edge to reduce drag
Trim Tabs: Adjustable to fine tune handling
Radio: Tower Hobbies AM 27MHz 2-channel pistol grip with steering and
throttle trim and reverse, dual rate adjustment, charge jack and
standard servo
Speed Control: Electronic
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKGP2**&P=ML

[BIGDANO]

Nah, I'm liking the Vacu-Cracker! (http://www.vac-u-boat.com/Vac-U-Cracker.htm)

[Kmot]

Hah-hah, the bug has bit!! :)

[Shaun Hendricks]

Dano...

I'm surprised that 19 Turn motor is overheating with such a small prop. Might want to check the amp draw... I agree with you that it's probably the XL-1 that's having the issues. My Stampede came with an XL-1 in it but when I went to a 19T spec motor it also had overheating issues. I switched to a higher quality ESC and have never had a problem down to 12 turns. It's all about the amps... :D

Got my "High Wind" in the mail yesterday... just in time for the long weekend. Time to do my own conversion thread!

[BIGDANO]

Right on!! Yeah, I was starting to suspect the ESC. May have to pull my Novak Dually or my Novak Fusion out of one of my other rigs to do ESC duty in the boat...but I really wanted reverse. What's the ESC that everyone's been recommending, and where can I buy it?

[Shaun Hendricks]

I have a cheapo HK unit that I am going to use to drive two cobalt 400's. It's 50A forward 20A reverse. Just means I'll have to set my EPA in reverse to about 20% of max.... slow backing!

Got it off of ebay. It supposedly has a 100A surge ability. Here's a link:

ebay ESC (http://cgi.ebay.com/50A-ESC-Speed-Controller_W0QQitemZ130067576537QQihZ003QQcategory Z2564QQcmdZViewItem)

[BIGDANO]

Well, the ESC is actually doing ok. Swapped out the motor for a speed 600 that came with one of the Great Planes Super Sportster EP's that I bought. This motor is PERFECT! It has an internal fan that cools the motor. I ran a pack on it and brought it back in, motor and batteries were barely warm, ESC was slightly warmer but I could keep my finger on the heat-sinks with no problem. Was gonna put one more pack on it when disaster struck: NO POWER!! It was about 20 feet out from shore when it happened. I could hear the motor spin but no forward or rearward movement. I figured the motor must've heated up and melted the little plastic piece that connects to the motor shaft and rounded it out.

Well, snap decision. I saw that the tide was actually carrying it AWAY from shore, so I waded in after it! (Now I know why RC float-flyers and RC boaters wear those hip-boots fishing rubber thingies!) I only had to wade in to just below my knees, but I recovered it!

Quick inspection showed that I lost the prop, so it got a prop upgrade after all! Problem is, I think the shaft is 3.5mm. I got a prop from the LHS that I had to widen out, but I cannot find a 3.5mm hex nut to hold the thing on with!!! Anybody know where I can find a 3.5mm hex nut?

Oh, and of course Radio Shack doesn't carry spare props or nuts or anything to support this boat. LOL

[russ.badessa@c]

I bought 2 of these summer '06 & after < 1 hour or total operation, 1 of them developed a rudder malfunctionso it cannot be steered. Moter runs & it races like a 'bat outta...' but only straight ;-(
Anyone successful in a DYI repair for this problem? These boats are an absolute blast in our oval pool - especially when it's took cool to swim/ play insie the pool, so I'd really like to get the broken one going again. Especially since the 4 batteries & charger I bought for the pair so we have less down time weren't cheap.

RS stores I my area don't stock this model anymore & I can't make heads/tails out of the steering mech when I opened up the hull & took a look. I don't know if a worm gear is stripped inside the ruddder opoeration or what. Sounds like you've gutted yours of all but the motor, so I'm hoping you might have a clue on how to try & fix my broken rudder mech. Or sell me some parts you don't need?

Thanks,