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**Bunkerbarge** · 11-03-2007

Hi John and welcome to the forum. I used to live at Locks Heath for a couple of years so I know what a nice part of the country you are in.

As with so many of these questions there really is no easy answer so all we can do is offer a guidance along a path that you must ultimately follow and come to your own conclusions.

I think the first decision has to be whether you want all three props driving closely followed by which ones do you want to independently control. This will help you to decide what size of motors would be required.

I was looking inside a Perkasa only this morning of round about this size and it had a single motor through a gearbox driven by a 12 v gel cell motorcycle type battery sat flat in the middle. I would have guessed the motor to be in the range of a 550 but the boat didn't plane or even significantly rise so I think it could have done with a bit more.

The only way to be sure is first decide on you choice of drive preferences then experiment on the pond with a ballasted open hull and everything free to be temporarily located.

I always prefer scale so if it was me I would go for all three props driving and maybe the two that rotate the same way being on one speed controller and the other one on its own. You can then play with maneouvring the boat as well. Another more balanced arrangement would be to have the centre one a dummy and the two outer ones on thier own speed controller.

If you were looking at three motors you may even have enough with three 385's but if you were going for two I would think you may need a couple of 500's.

You will need a 12 v gell cell for any sort of duration on the water and I would tend to have it slightly aft of midships as you want the bow to at least rise under power

11-03-2007	#2 (permalink)
Bunkerbarge Moderator Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Halifax, Yorks: Nassau, Bahama's:Port Canaveral, USA: and all points in between. Real Name: Richard My Models: Robbe U-47, Deans Marine Cossack, Steam Coaster, Revell U-Boat, Motorcycles. Visit Bunkerbarge's Gallery Posts: 3,559 Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Images: 230	Hi John and welcome to the forum. I used to live at Locks Heath for a couple of years so I know what a nice part of the country you are in. As with so many of these questions there really is no easy answer so all we can do is offer a guidance along a path that you must ultimately follow and come to your own conclusions. I think the first decision has to be whether you want all three props driving closely followed by which ones do you want to independently control. This will help you to decide what size of motors would be required. I was looking inside a Perkasa only this morning of round about this size and it had a single motor through a gearbox driven by a 12 v gel cell motorcycle type battery sat flat in the middle. I would have guessed the motor to be in the range of a 550 but the boat didn't plane or even significantly rise so I think it could have done with a bit more. The only way to be sure is first decide on you choice of drive preferences then experiment on the pond with a ballasted open hull and everything free to be temporarily located. I always prefer scale so if it was me I would go for all three props driving and maybe the two that rotate the same way being on one speed controller and the other one on its own. You can then play with maneouvring the boat as well. Another more balanced arrangement would be to have the centre one a dummy and the two outer ones on thier own speed controller. If you were looking at three motors you may even have enough with three 385's but if you were going for two I would think you may need a couple of 500's. You will need a 12 v gell cell for any sort of duration on the water and I would tend to have it slightly aft of midships as you want the bow to at least rise under power __________________ “Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"