Outboard lower units and Mounts... and Hulls while we are at it...

[Darin Jordan]

Hey guys,

I'm an FE guy, but am interested in building an FE Tunnel...

I think I have a lower unit located that will adapt to my brushless motor... but I'd like to locate one of the higher-performance jack-plate/mount to hold it to the hull...

Can someone post some resources/links to this type of stuff, or otherwise make a recommendation???

Seems like with this type of stuff.... if you aren't in the know... it's tough to find out...

Any help on this would be appreciated...

Also... WHERE do you guys get your hulls??? I've been considering just doing a Top Speed 2, as they are readily available and fairly reasonable... but they may be a bit heavy (2lbs 11oz according to the Tower Hobbies website...)...

I've seen the pics of the Tunnel Championships in the latest RCBM, and there are certainly some cool boats out there.... Would love to have a resource directory to some of these as well...

Maybe a sticky page or something simply listing all the Tunnel racing resources by category (hulls, hardware, motors, etc.) would be a nice resource to have here to help people jump on board???

 

[Mark Poole ModVP]

There are quite a number of people here on the forum that can help out. Most of the pics of boats you saw in the RCBM article are available, HTB's, TS2's, Woodstuff's, OMC's and more. A lot of guys like using the Villain S-1 for an electic tunnel since it is light and handles good. They come up for sale often although they currently are not produced. James Clegg (Oval Express Racing) can help you too since he has done an electric tunnel and is a die hard tunnel racer. Lowers are available from K&B, Lawless and REK. I agree, a resource board would be nice to have. Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[user 115]

Darin,

Get in touch with Jerry Dunlap.. He sells all kinds of plans for tunnels. You could build one to suit your needs and be able to control the weight. You don't need one of the jack plates to mount the engine to the hull. Dubro, ocutra and prather(?) make cheap and easy mounts. The jack plates are nice for easy height adjustment but not necessary. You could aslo get a hold of Mike Hughes(also in WA) as he built the tunnel Dick Crowe runs/ran.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...=LXD582&P=7

Lawless is a great lower unit.. The K&B lower could be cut away to reduce a ton of weight. Those are the two I'm familiar with. There is the REK unit but I don't know about it. I think Fuller has it on his site..

Charley

 

[moparbarn]

as mentioned, james at O.E.R.(topfuel443 here) will have good info, and parts. also, check with deryl-SCTunnel, on this site, he was selling a rek lower with a fe conversion on it. i run the rek with a 3.5 k&b, i love it. i'd suggest the octura mount, more adjustment than dubro, and more setback (1 1/4").

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

Hey Darin - I working on a FE OB tunnel. Been e-mailing back and forth with Brian B. I "fried" an ESC last week running a BL motor I bought from Ray a few years back. Too high a K rating, too much prop, blew off a cooling line in the radio/battery box, JD's learning curve with FE OBs is pretty steep. I'm supposed to get a few Ammo motors like Russ and Grim ran in their SV BLs in P Mono at the FE Nats. I've seen several FE TS2s that worked pretty well. I ran(granted it was a rather short run) my BL OB on a prototype TS. I think Ray sells the lower units like I have.

JD

 

[Flyguy55]

Jerry , what motor mount are you using ? Hyperperformance ( Rippe )has some longer setback mounts he doesn't list on the web site . BTW good job on the waterbox , someone told me it holds water

Dick

Hey Darin - I working on a FE OB tunnel. Been e-mailing back and forth with Brian B. I "fried" an ESC last week running a BL motor I bought from Ray a few years back. Too high a K rating, too much prop, blew off a cooling line in the radio/battery box, JD's learning curve with FE OBs is pretty steep. I'm supposed to get a few Ammo motors like Russ and Grim ran in their SV BLs in P Mono at the FE Nats. I've seen several FE TS2s that worked pretty well. I ran(granted it was a rather short run) my BL OB on a prototype TS. I think Ray sells the lower units like I have.
JD

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

The motor mount is a DuBro, same as I use on my 3.5 nitro engine.

 

[Darin Jordan]

Thanks for the info you guys... I've pretty much settled on getting a TS-2 hull and am going to go with the REK lower end... and Dubro 3.5 mount... Seems like good bang for the buck to start out in the world of tunnels...

We have a couple of other guys in our club going the same route, and I think the SV27 power system is getting the nod as well... though that may change...

SURE think it would be a GREAT idea if Aquacraft would just release a TS-2FE and get it over with!!

 

[moparbarn]

darin- i'd still recommend the octura mount. more setback, more adjustment (both height and tilt), one piece, extruded aluminum transom bracket, aluminum (not nylon) pivot block-with bushings for pivot pin, and within pennies of the price of the du-bro mount. both the octura and du-bro are $18 to $20, depending on the source. i sure can't argue with jd's knowledge of the ts2, but mine sure seems to like more setback. could be due to driving style and setup, though. i've also broken the nylon pivot block on the du-bro mounts, and have heard of it happening to others, as well. i'm a die hard nitro guy, but cool sounding project! good luck with it, and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Fast Guy]

Thanks for the info you guys... I've pretty much settled on getting a TS-2 hull and am going to go with the REK lower end... and Dubro 3.5 mount... Seems like good bang for the buck to start out in the world of tunnels...
We have a couple of other guys in our club going the same route, and I think the SV27 power system is getting the nod as well... though that may change...

SURE think it would be a GREAT idea if Aquacraft would just release a TS-2FE and get it over with!!

Maybe that new TS-2FE would look like this.

and this

 

[ozbryan]

that looks SWEET! with the cowl over the motor!! makes it look more life like i love it!

 

[lohring]

I'm also thinking about an electric tunnel. I think a real 4S setup now has almost the power of a 7.5 outboard so I'd consider a smaller 7.5 hull. I just happen to have an old Leecraft (33'" long) epoxy hull that I was going to use as a rough water 3.5 boat. With a K&B 7.5 lower unit and an adapter to my Neu 1521 1.5D motor, it should be a quick boat. I think it will run the cut back 1450 props (actually more like 47mm diameter) the 7.5 outboards run. It will be fun to see how it works.

The Leecraft tunnels are available from www.leecraftracing.com. Hopper also makes a good tunnel at www.htbboats.com

Lohring Miller