Our Club is running a stock .18 Hydro Class. All of us are running the Miss Vegas. This class is meant to be an entry level class (especially great for kids) to limit the expense and challenge involved with getting into this hobby. However, many of us are finding reliability issues with a few things on the Miss Vegas. This post is not intended to bad mouth the Miss Vegas. All of us are generally quite happy with this entry level boat and it is quite fun to run, especially if you find the right prop for it, heeheehee. 
Some of the issues we are having are: Steel collect wear and deformation causing pinching of the flex cable and pre-mature wear and breakage of the cable, weakening motor mount holes in the wooden blocks, pipe to header coupler burn out, breaking or stripping out of radio box lid screw holes. Some of the earlier issues were made better by changes that AquaCraft made, but the issues I mentioned remain to be problems. Now, We are running the boats hard. We race them at least once day a month and many of use are practicing and testing with them a couple more days a month, so it is to be expected that we will have issues with them. But, here's a few recommendations that I would make for a club stock class as far as modifications allowed:
1. Modifications that can be made to increase reliability and durability should be allowed as long as these modifications are shared with the club and agreed to be allowed by the racers in that class.
2. Allow changing the flex coupler to an aftermarket one such as the Octura (I did this and it is a much better coupler).
3. Allow changing to a 3/16" stub shaft as long as the stock sized flex cable is retained. This will allow a wider array of props to be available and makes for more interest and excitement about running these boats.
4. Allow inserts to be installed in the wood mounting blocks for motor mounts.
5. Allow changing to an aftermarket turn fin.
6. Allow replacement of turn fin and rudder bolts to nylon for break-away option to save hull damage.
7. Limit the Nitro fuel to 30% or less (Car fuel OK too).
8. Allow changing the header to pipe coupler to any coupler, but retain stock pipe and header.
My issue is this: If we do not allow some modifications to increase the reliability and durability of these boats, we will soon find during the racing season that there may not be many boats left due to parts breakage and un-availability of replacement parts. Not to mention disappointment with reliability taking its toll on racers tired of dropping out of races due to parts failure.
What do you think? :huh: What would you suggest? What, if any, other changes should be allowed? Our club will be discussing this issue at our next race event.
Some of the issues we are having are: Steel collect wear and deformation causing pinching of the flex cable and pre-mature wear and breakage of the cable, weakening motor mount holes in the wooden blocks, pipe to header coupler burn out, breaking or stripping out of radio box lid screw holes. Some of the earlier issues were made better by changes that AquaCraft made, but the issues I mentioned remain to be problems. Now, We are running the boats hard. We race them at least once day a month and many of use are practicing and testing with them a couple more days a month, so it is to be expected that we will have issues with them. But, here's a few recommendations that I would make for a club stock class as far as modifications allowed:1. Modifications that can be made to increase reliability and durability should be allowed as long as these modifications are shared with the club and agreed to be allowed by the racers in that class.
2. Allow changing the flex coupler to an aftermarket one such as the Octura (I did this and it is a much better coupler).
3. Allow changing to a 3/16" stub shaft as long as the stock sized flex cable is retained. This will allow a wider array of props to be available and makes for more interest and excitement about running these boats.
4. Allow inserts to be installed in the wood mounting blocks for motor mounts.
5. Allow changing to an aftermarket turn fin.
6. Allow replacement of turn fin and rudder bolts to nylon for break-away option to save hull damage.
7. Limit the Nitro fuel to 30% or less (Car fuel OK too).
8. Allow changing the header to pipe coupler to any coupler, but retain stock pipe and header.
My issue is this: If we do not allow some modifications to increase the reliability and durability of these boats, we will soon find during the racing season that there may not be many boats left due to parts breakage and un-availability of replacement parts.
Not to mention disappointment with reliability taking its toll on racers tired of dropping out of races due to parts failure.What do you think? :huh: What would you suggest? What, if any, other changes should be allowed? Our club will be discussing this issue at our next race event.
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