Radioshack Tsunami, modding possibilities? (Pics inside/coming)

[fs454]

I have a Radioshack Tsunami here, from a long time ago..I was wondering what capabilities it has to be modded into a nice boat. Its kinda small, i am taking off all that plastic junk to see what's under it. I'm thinking a nice powerful motor, ESC, and servo to replace the junk inside. Let me go get some pictures, i'll post them in about 10 mins once i get them.

Has anyone modded this boat before? What do you recommend? I will have about $280 but not sure if i want to spend all of that on a radioshack boat, lol.

Thanks for the help, pics coming.

[fs454]

Pics, sorry for the quality, I'll take more if you need to see a specific part of the boat. It has a gear drive powering a shaft that goes under the (single) 6 cell pack compartment


http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture15.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture16.jpg[url]

[url]http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture14.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture13.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture12.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture10.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture9.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture8.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture6.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture1.jpg

http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture11.jpg

Can anyone recommend what I can do to this? As i remember it was pretty torquey, but slow.

[fs454]

Also, it does have a motorized bilge pump in the back behind the "servo" that it has. It doesnt work anymore, but i dont know if this will cause a problem when modding it.

Also, this is another pic that kept disappearing in the other post:
http://img88.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img88&image=Picture16.jpg

[Hydro Junkie]

I would start by gutting it out. You may not be able to do anything with the motor, so I would look at an ESC that can handle the motor and do a few more cells. A mini or micro sized two channel receiver is a must,to save space. You won't need a lot of torque to turn the rudder, so go mini or micro servo there too. A new prop is a must, if you can find one to fit the limited space available. Not much left to deal with except the hull. It's not a speedy design, so I wouldn't get too excited about spending a lot of money on it. Good Luck ;)

[fs454]

Is it worth it? How much do you think it would cost? I could also use this money to buy a nitro/electric RTR/kit...if you could recommend anything good there, already have two nitro hammers, might want another good boat to have fun with too.

[Hydro Junkie]

It would cost many times what the boat is worth to upgrade like suggested. Get yourself a set of plans for a boat of some sort and have a winter project. At least that way you would get your money's worth.

[fs454]

I think the stock motor is a 540 after doing some looking on it, i might just ditch the idea....I've never built a boat from scratch before though, are there any good kits that have the hull and parts ready to build? I doubt there are any RTR's worth getting over my Nitro Hammer. I'm gutting it now to see what it looks like under all that black plastic, what if i mount the motor so it's direct drive instead of the gears it uses? Will it change anything?

[Chris LaPanse]

Here's what I think. If there is anyone else in your area running Radio Shack crap, then definitely mod it. It would be worth it to see the looks on ther faces when your POS (sorry) blows by their POS at like 20mph. Still, if you just wand a fast maneuverable boat, get something else.

[fs454]

lol, yeah i know it's a POS, I just wanted to see if it was worth it, needed something to do. I gutted it, looks a bit small to do much, but when i go to maine on vacation, there's always a bunch of kids that run Radio Shack/other crappy toy boat brand in the pond..I guess i can school them with my Nitro Hammer, much easier :D

Can anyone recommend anything for around $280, electric or nitro, that would be a fun boat? It can be a kit, but i dont have any boat building experience.

[porschefan911]

go to www.offshoreelectrics.com ...they have the waveshark on sale now for 100 buks i think and u can hop that up easily...actually i think they already have a hopped up version of it too

[porschefan911]

the sale is ove...its now 299 buks and goes 32 mph...its rtr i think

[Chris LaPanse]

The 32 mph $299 one is hopped up (by OE). It comes with the hopups, and on 16 cells, is probably almost as fast as a NH.

[mocars2]

Well - now let's hear from someone who has one of these (Yes I'll admit it) along with a stinger ss and aJet arrow.

I've been trying to mod the RS boat but I've haven't had any luck BUT there is a guy who has (so he says). Here's what he did in his words

I upgraded the prop on my RS boat. With the stock prop (X-37) I'd say the boat's speed is 6 - 8 MPH!
The new prop (smaller than stock) I used is a slightly agressive pitch X-35 plastic prop. I had to replace (cut) half the original stainless steel prop shaft.
I used the following materials for the upgrade:
1) 4 mm brass rod
2) 4 mm drive joint by Kyosho, part# 94901-4
3) 4 mm Drivedog & collet by ABC Hobby, part# 55015
4) X-35 plastic prop ( unknown brand ) Cost: $ 1.69
The boat now runs at about 8-10 MPH, not much because I'm still using my stock motor


Well I couldn't find a 4mm shaft so I used a US version just a hair smaller, put on a Kyosho 94430 D35 P1.4, I water cooled it, Put a Traxxas stinger 20t motor and 2200 6 cell batteries - IT GOES SLOWER - I even tried changing the gears from a 8:16 (2:1) to a 12:16.
So here's my conclussion - he went up to 7 3300 batteries - That had to help a ton, and the water cooling.

He got it up to almost 14MPH with a 40mm prop and a titan or greater motor and 8 cells - it smoked his ESC
Go to forum and see what was done - I think it can be mod and I'd like todup what he did to see. He used a Megatech Caribbean Cruise prop and a Trinity "Monster Maxx 550 motor

go to
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1141210/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm

And let me know how you make out

[fs454]

Interesting...doesnt seem worth the work though with the speeds he got from the mods...Is there a really moddable toy boat out there? I'm wanting to try a project like this but need a good boat to do it on first.

[mocars2]

you said you wanted to:

"I'm thinking a nice powerful motor, ESC, and servo to replace the junk inside."

Well that's a bit of work you know. So when you 1st said this I thought you knew you were in for a project. So if you wanted to do that to any toy boat it's all about the same - new motor - (you should cool that anyway); a new ESC - that's $35 on ebay or more ( but all toys including the Radio Shack won't take a normal ESC) so forget that, and a prop change. But the nice thing about the Radio shack is it's Digital Proportional Electronic Speed Control, and reverse and from this guy it can take 7 cells after water cooling.. The bad thing is it's heavy. So the bottom line is if you've got $280 for this hobby you can spend a lot of that on a faster boat, keep the RS boat as one to go get your fast boat when it stops (sooner or later they all do in the middle of the pond - had 3 last week at the same time I had to get) and just get 7 cell battey for the RS boat. But don't be fooled when you get the new boat you will probably try to make it run faster and cooler.
So go to offshore electrics and also to jeffs page - he's got a bunch of different boats to get some ideas
http://www.wopba.com/index.htm
Let us know what you do.

[davev]

if you are interested in a 8.4 volt great 1/16 scale electric hydro with NiMh 7 cell pack and a auto charger for less than 75.00! go to www.oberto.com and select their outlet store on the links section and select aparel and racing items and you'll see it! it's a bargain! it's hits about 15-20mph! and comes with everything ready to run except 8 AA bateries for the controller.
good luck!

[Chris LaPanse]

where? All i see is the <$10 little toys.

[Hydro Junkie]

Don't worry Chris. I saw some at the Seattle Seafair Hydroplane Race. It was about $80 at the Oberto display and looked like a RS toy. I can't see it even getting up to 10 mph, let alone 20. It would be good for a small pond or swimming pool and that's about all. Believe me, they were really pushing them.

[Chris LaPanse]

Yep, that's what I thought would happen. Still, I would like to see a link with specs.

[MikDee]

After finally seeing the Pics of a Tsunami, I see why u can't get any speed out of it, that skeg is huge! way to deep & fat!,,, a lot of drag here!,,, cut it off, and epoxy in a proper size piece of brass tube in its place for the driveshaft, then try a new prop the same size, or slightly bigger, but harder material, this is the best impovement u can make IMHO, it should be way faster then.

[Chris LaPanse]

Yep-typical of a little toy boat. I had a Nikko Sea Hawk as my first "rc", and it had a similar case, where the hull was designed so badly that when I put a model rocket D motor on the back of it and hit it, all it did was just barely get up on plane.

[MikDee]

A Nikko Seahawk won't plane, but a Nikko SeaRay will!,,, as should the Nikko Tiger boat.

[mocars2]

MikeDee- I got your PM , thanks for the info on your jet arrow. Now on this RS boat, you can't just change it to a direct drive. Nikko, the maker of the RS boat, had a direct drive called the Challenger V and it was the same as the Tsunani and it only was about 1 MPH faster than the geared RS boats. I think Mike is onto something with the hard prop. I've tried a 20t stinger motor, 35mm1.4 prop but the prop was pretty thin and I bet what Mike is saying would help. Who makes a plastic hard 4mm prop that is for some other boat??? Maybe a carribean cruiser from what I've heard works. I put in one of these Johnson motors that everyones talking about that's beats the Titans and it did nothing in the RS boat, but I put it in my GP Stinger and it was as good as a Traxxas Stinger on 6 cells and ran cooler. It kicked butt with 9.6 and was getting hot but not too hot - about 4 seconds with the 5 second rule.
I'm thinking of taking the guts out of the RS boat and put them in a lighter hull, but in another forum the whole problem, besides weight, of the RS boats might be the ESC robbing power to the motor. When the RS boat's ESC is cooled, it can take 7 cells easily but since their ESC has 4 wires from the receiver, I don't know how to change it to a normal ESC or even a micro switch for that matter.
Bottom line ON THE rs boat is - COOL THE ESC; PUT IN 7 CELLS

[Chris LaPanse]

Sure it will-that D motor will plane anything that only weighs 2 lbs-even if it's a lead weight. Seriously, though, I was consistently able to plane it by giving it the "bowling throw" off the shore. However, it is pitifully slow on just it's motor power alone.