Today, I was at the Antelope Valley R/C Boat Club’s Sunday run. I tried my tug out, which ran okay, but it was dwarfed in the recovery dept. by this 12 kg beast…

This recovery boat had TWO 12 v gell cells powering a Sullivan starter motor, which in turn drove a prop down the center with a flex shaft. It was powerful, and I liked the concept, but it was a bit rough hewn..

That’s water cooling you see there, since the motor had no speed control and was running fill tilt when underway. it was cooled by water driven through a fuel pump that runs when it operating A servo switched it on/off/reverse.

Heading home back to the garage, I cleared the work bench and started here, my Retriever Class boat, The Labrador Retriever. I plan sister ships to be named Golden and Chesapeake Bay..

Seizing the concept of the starter motor for its enormous torque, I grabbed my Hobbico starter and stripped it down, mounted it center on the hull.