The Rise.
When I was approaching early retirement I thought that I might take up Model boats as a hobby. To test the water I bought a cheap vacuum formed twin motored RTR speed boat through the Internet.
While it performed reasonably well I was disappointed with it primarily because there was only full speed or stop and it was steered by the means of one or other of the motors switching off.
As you know, it takes an increase in energy to change the direction of a body that is travelling at a steady rate and here was the boat dropping to half power to make a turn.
Never-the-less I was bitten by the bug and I bought two books, one called Radio control Model Boats by Phillip Connolly and Vic Smeed and the other was The Complete Marine Radio Control Manual by Hugh Bright. I also consumed every back issue of Model Boats magazine that I could lay my hands on in the local library.
I decided to exercise my new found knowledge and fit the boat with rudder steering and an electronic speed controller. Fortunately for me a colleague at work took an interest and persuaded me to re-power the boat with brushless motors.
We measured the current under load and the free running speed of the existing 360 type motors. My colleague then selected a pair of brushless motors that would give twice the power and would rev higher using a three cell 11.1 volt Lithium Polymer battery. The great thing is I would get a slightly longer run time as well.
I gutted the boat and using basic tools such as battery drill, hacksaw and file, I made a wooden mount for the two new AeroDrive B2040-2080 brushless motors and fitted the two HexTronik HXT36 brushless ESCs inside a plastic container to protect them from moisture.