Propwash April 2019 web.pub

up. Tying the class to RTR offerings created problems. Motor availability became an issue as motors went out of production or manufacturers changed part numbers as part of generational changes to their offerings. Every change of part number or discontinued motor required a rule change proposal to patch up the motor list. We had some quality control issues where materials were inconsistent from batch to batch. They were fine for the intended use of powering RTR’s, just not consistent at the limit where we racers tend to push things. That’s a very general history and brings us to our current situation. There are eight motors on the list, three are still in production. One of those is only available by special order in case quantity. The remaining two have a questionable future due to the original supplier being purchased by a direct competitor. Clearly, we have a motor supply problem. If the class is going to continue we need to make some changes. There’s a long term solution. Over the last couple years, several clubs have been developing an alternate motor rule that is based strictly on motor dimensions. Let’s take a moment and thank Darin Jordan for many hours dyno testing and measuring as many different motors as he could get his hands on. His data is the basis used to start testing the dimensional motor limits. Finding dimensions that allow other motor options without creating serious performance creep took some time. There was a proposal last year that was pulled at the last minute because the dimensions were just loose enough to allow a major performance increase. We now have a chance to vote on a rule proposal that will remove the motor list and replace it with a set of dimensional limits that solve our two biggest problems. First, no more trying to keep up with motors coming to market or being discontinued. Our rule making process just isn’t agile enough to keep up with market changes. Rule proposals are expensive and time consuming for the organization, having to run one through every year or two to patch the motor list just isn’t an efficient use of resources. Let’s not get into how the online wrangling looks to people considering joining our hobby. Second, simplified tech inspection, “if it fits it runs”. Inspection for record applications and protests at big races requires a pair of calipers. No gray area to debate. The proposal opens the class to a variety of inexpensive, high quality motors. Many options are less expensive than the original RTR offerings. It doesn’t ban high end motor options, however testing hasn’t shown a performance advantage. You’re not going see people buying wins. At the same time all the motors currently listed fit the new dimensions, keeping them as legal options. No existing, legal equipment gets obsoleted. Having been involved with P-limited from the beginning of the class, I can honestly say this is a change that’s needed. It will keep the motor supply for the class healthy for years to come without further rule adjustments. Last but not least. Thanks to the individuals and clubs that put the time and effort into coming up with a solution that will keep our favorite class going. Vote yes on the P-limited motor proposal! number which Anthony called for the owners to come pick up. After telling my wife that I almost brought home a stray dog that day, she was thankful as well for the owners telephone number. I was thankful to everyone who helped out from Mike Buck giving us his quilt to help keep the dog warm to Scott’s friend for trying. I unfortunately I did not get his name for this article. Also a special thanks to Madison Verdura for demonstrating to us guys that through a young girls tears, guys will do anything to help. History of P-Limited and the New Motor Proposal By Brian Buaas NAMBA FE Class Chairman Ah, P-limited. It’s by far the most popular power category in the NAMBA FE world. There’s more participation in this class than all other FE power classes combined. Unfortunately, maintaining it has been the source of some of the most contentious discussions I’ve seen in the hobby. There have been plenty of forum threads that were epic, for lack of a better term. We’ve seen an increase in new participants, at the same time losing some long time competitors. All that said, it’s a great class. A few warts exist that are slowly getting cleaned up. Let’s take a look at the history of the class before we consider its future. P-ltd has its roots in a pair of popular classes from the days of brushed motors and round cells. Limited Sport Hydro (LSH) and its offshore counterpart (LSO) were based on brushed 700 class motors (think Makita drill motor) and 12 sub-C NiMH cells. It was a budget friendly entry into FE when a brushless motor and ESC started at $400 and quickly went up from there. Those were the days of the Aussie Cab-over and Dark Horse shovels, not to mention scratch built wood hulls designed by FE pioneers like Dave Franks and Gary Finley. The boats were so much fun to race that everyone ran the class, novices all the way to sponsored “pros”. As the motors and ESC’s started to dry up, something new and cool hit the market. The Jerry Dunlap designed Aquacraft SV-27 was a widely distributed RTR that came equipped with a brushless motor and completely waterproofed ESC. Fun to drive and reliable, it was adopted by clubs across the country as a stock entry level racing class. It became so popular that it ran as a one design exhibition class at the 2007 NAMBA FE Nationals in Monroe WA. The power system was so reliable and inexpensive that some experienced racers started experimenting with it. We put them in LSH hulls, bolted them on outboard tunnels and high end monos. I put one in my heat racing N2 outrigger and it went 54 mph on a $150 power system! That was huge performance for the dollar back then. The clouds parted, the sun came out and we thought, “this is the future of FE”. For the most part, we were right but not without hitting a few potholes along the way. Over the next couple years ProBoat and Aquacraft came out with more boats with similar power systems. There was some healthy debate about how to configure the class. We debated the intent of the class. We still don’t have an answer to that. Two things we could all agree on, it made for great racing and it got new racers on the water. With equipment supplies looking endless, in roughly 2008 the NAMBA membership voted to replace LSH and LSO with the new P-limited class. The new rule set included a list of legal motors consisting of similar size and performance offerings from the RTR manufacturers complete with part numbers. This motor list has become the Achilles heel of the class. Hind sight is 20/20 and in retrospect we should have anticipated some of the issues that have cropped PROPWASH 30 April 2019