just got spartan in the mail... Looking for basic upgrades / preventive maintence tip

[dshaff24]

just browsing this site I noticed some things im going to purchase... basic ss prop.. bullet nut.. re route cooling lines...

Any other preventiv things I can do? or basic upgrades recomended? splash guard? im not looking to smoke my electronics... or upgrade them YET.. but fine tune what they can handle and make this boat more efficent

[breeze400]

You need a duel pickup rudder. Also water outlet. Run seporate lines to esc and motor. An updated water jacket for the motor. Trim tab adjusters and extra set of tabs! With the prop(panther s215 or octura x442) and splash guard you should be golden. Do the cooling upgrades first though!

[Troy711]

Hatch tape!

[Thefridge189]

The coolest solution to the spartan electronics is to have two translm mounted water outlets. Much more water runs througgh vs. rudder cooling tubes.
I have 4 total water inlets. 2 on the transom, 2 in the rudder. I can run on 3s for 7-8 minutes and i can almost touch the motor, I can always touch the esc without my hands burning. I am however runnig after market electronics, however you definately need at least 2 cooling tubes. The best solution is 2 for the motor, 2 for the esc, and use a Y splitter to turn the two inlets into 1 inlet.

[dshaff24]

The coolest solution to the spartan electronics is to have two translm mounted water outlets. Much more water runs througgh vs. rudder cooling tubes.
I have 4 total water inlets. 2 on the transom, 2 in the rudder. I can run on 3s for 7-8 minutes and i can almost touch the motor, I can always touch the esc without my hands burning. I am however runnig after market electronics, however you definately need at least 2 cooling tubes. The best solution is 2 for the motor, 2 for the esc, and use a Y splitter to turn the two inlets into 1 inlet.

I got a little brushless mini moto boat that is set up with the transom style water pick up and it seems to shoot water 25 inches from the boat at full throttle so I can see where your coming from on this

[Thefridge189]

Yea transom pick-ups are for sure the way to go. Sure rudder pick-ups are more streamlined, but in a electric screamer like the spartan which can run VERY hot, you almost need the transom pick ups. I also run an electric water pump, which is great insurance for getting water through the system. It also looks very cool, seeing the water spew out when your boat is standing still.
I'd bet money that if the spartan had two transom water pick-ups, the electronics failure rate would be expenentially lower.
That being said, if you do these alternate cooling options I can just about gurantee your electronics will last longer. My gen 1 spartan electronics probobly have 10 plus hours of running HARD on 6s, as of about 4 months ago, they still have yet to fail. I think a large part of this was because I had two transom pick ups, as well as a water pump.

[TMESTMAKER]

Dshaff24,
Here is a previous post I left for another new Spartan Owner when asked what spare parts and extra knowledge he needed starting out.. Hope this helps!
1) The Spartan Package comes with a plastic boat stand. Works just fine but I recommend adding a little extra adhesive (super glue) to the rubber pads that the boat will sit on. They start to slip after a couple days.
2) You should get the following spare parts: Flex Cable, Teflon tube & shaft tube, Prop, Prop nut, grease, the Spartan screw set, maybe some extra bearings, batteries. That should get you started. The more you alter it from its stock state, the more extra parts you are going to need! Trust Me! You really can get the boat to cook with everything the boat comes with.
3) my first spartan is all stock and has never had an issue except broken flex shaft cables which was caused from my own disability of driving over shallow water banks, logs, turtles, and anything else in my way when hitting high speeds!! Your boat is equipped for 6s batteries. Just remember to set the low voltage detection when you start using Lipos out of the box.
Hope you get one! They are the best stock boat you can get.
4) Make sure you have a method of retrieval because you will turn her over!!

[dshaff24]

Dshaff24,
Here is a previous post I left for another new Spartan Owner when asked what spare parts and extra knowledge he needed starting out.. Hope this helps!
1) The Spartan Package comes with a plastic boat stand. Works just fine but I recommend adding a little extra adhesive (super glue) to the rubber pads that the boat will sit on. They start to slip after a couple days.
2) You should get the following spare parts: Flex Cable, Teflon tube & shaft tube, Prop, Prop nut, grease, the Spartan screw set, maybe some extra bearings, batteries. That should get you started. The more you alter it from its stock state, the more extra parts you are going to need! Trust Me! You really can get the boat to cook with everything the boat comes with.
3) my first spartan is all stock and has never had an issue except broken flex shaft cables which was caused from my own disability of driving over shallow water banks, logs, turtles, and anything else in my way when hitting high speeds!! Your boat is equipped for 6s batteries. Just remember to set the low voltage detection when you start using Lipos out of the box.
Hope you get one! They are the best stock boat you can get.
4) Make sure you have a method of retrieval because you will turn her over!!

Thanks for the tips!

[MAMBA2200]

Yea transom pick-ups are for sure the way to go. Sure rudder pick-ups are more streamlined, but in a electric screamer like the spartan which can run VERY hot, you almost need the transom pick ups. I also run an electric water pump, which is great insurance for getting water through the system. It also looks very cool, seeing the water spew out when your boat is standing still.
I'd bet money that if the spartan had two transom water pick-ups, the electronics failure rate would be expenentially lower.
That being said, if you do these alternate cooling options I can just about gurantee your electronics will last longer. My gen 1 spartan electronics probobly have 10 plus hours of running HARD on 6s, as of about 4 months ago, they still have yet to fail. I think a large part of this was because I had two transom pick ups, as well as a water pump.

transom pickups are deff not the way to go i mean why in the world would you want to add more tail drag that IMO is a bad choice the dual pickup rudder is the best way trust me i have tried both in this boat and the rudder is the ONLY WAY TO GO !!! AND I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH HEAT

[Rocket-lawn-chair]

transom pickups are deff not the way to go i mean why in the world would you want to add more tail drag that IMO is a bad choice the dual pickup rudder is the best way trust me i have tried both in this boat and the rudder is the ONLY WAY TO GO !!! AND I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH HEAT

I would have to agree with Fridge on this one. Unless if you really care about 1/2 mph difference get transom pick up.

[hog]

Here's my $.02 worth on cooling.

My first r/c boats ran a single cooling loop through the ESC, then the motor, then out. They ran that way for two seasons without any issues with the stock silicon water jacket. I have since upgraded to aluminum water jackets and double loop cooling. Because I wanted to, not because I needed to.

That said I am a proponent of double cooling loops set up to provide cooling water to each component separately. As I see it, the main advantage to double cooling loops is not increased water flow, but rather if one cooling loop plugs off, you are only starving one component of cooling and risk cooking only one component instead of both.

The important thing to remember is that adding extra cooling doesn't reduce the amount of heat a component creates, all it does is improve the ability to remove the heat that is created and prevent it from being stored within component.

Therefore, so long as you have adequate cooling flow you will cool the components effectively and efficiently. Any additional cooling circulation beyond that provides little benefit, although in most cases extra is certainly not detrimental.

Where the problems begin is when you overload the the electrics and create too much internal heat within the component. Even if your cooling system can strip away the heat and prevent it from becoming stored heat within the component, if the heat being created at the source is too much for the design of the component, it will eventually fail.

My opinion, and one expressed by other Spartan owners, is that for the size and performance expectations (50 mph on 6S) of the Spartan, the stock electrics are marginally sized. Extra cooling is advantageous but anything that increases load on the electrics by any more than a very small percentage is likely to result in a failure, regardless of how much cooling capacity you have added.

Of the 5 r/c boats I currently run, only one is set up with a single cooling loop system. It runs fine with no cooling issues. (36" cat running 180 ESC and Leopard 4082 1500kv turning an Octura 645 prop on 6S)

So.... Yes I advocate basic upgrades to cooling systems on boats (Spartan or otherwise). Aluminum water jacket, and ensuring the cooling is "opened up" as much as reasonably possible to ensure adequate water flow and efficient cooling.

I also advocate a double cooling loop system, but consider it a recommendation rather than a necessity on most FE boats.

Properly sizing your electrics, props, and batteries to the hull size and design, and to your performance expectations, will do as much, or more, for keeping things running within the desired temps compared to simply adding more cooling water flow.

With respect to transom pick ups vs dual inlet rudders. There is no denying that anything that touches the water will increase drag to some degree. The hull, rudder, trim tabs, or transom pick up will all create drag.

I run transom pick ups on my boats that have dual water loops, mostly because when I was upgrading the cooling systems dual pick up rudders designed specifically for my particular boats were not readily available.

The dual pickup rudders are a nice clean looking option, but I have noted that many Spartan owners have installed longer rudders when changing over to the dual pick rudder, obviously a longer rudder will also increase drag so keep that in mind when selecting a rudder upgrade.

If you setup with a dual pick up rudder identical in size to stock this should not change the drag and would be the way to go IF a bit of extra drag is a concern for you.

Personally I don't think the transom mounted pick ups create enough additional drag to be noticeable. Other factors like battery placement, battery weight, strut angle, and water and wind conditions will have a more dramatic effect on performance than a transom mount water pick up.

hog

[Rocket-lawn-chair]

Personally I don't think the transom mounted pick ups create enough additional drag to be noticeable. Other factors like battery placement, battery weight, strut angle, and water and wind conditions will have a more dramatic effect on performance than a transom mount water pick up.

hog

I agree. Me come From Gas boats and I always use clutche and waterpump, I always use transom pick up.
Sorry for bad english, me from Virgin Islands.

[MAMBA2200]

I would have to agree with Fridge on this one. Unless if you really care about 1/2 mph difference get transom pick up.

To each his own it just my opinion and there was more than a 1/2 mph difference with a boat drag is everything i know i drag race 1:1 scale here is some practice footage

[hog]

That looks like fun Mamba2200.

hog

[MAMBA2200]

That looks like fun Mamba2200.

o it is hog it is

[Jacked]

where do you get a dual pickup rudder from

[breeze400]

I got mine off e bay

[67Mustang]

Offshore electrics sells the dual pickup rudder