I was looking through amazon.com trying to figure out what motor to put in which hull of the hulls that I have. And questions came up in my feeble mind. 1. Which motor should I get? 2. How does the number of turns effect the motor? 3. Can any motor be wire so if there are a pair of them they counter rotate? 4. Brushed or Brushless? 5. With or without heatsink? 6. 1 esc per boat or 1 per motor? 7. What about gear boxes? I saw some at hobby king that had gears connected already. Thoughts? I am sure I will come up with more but that is a start. To give a little background I have a liberty ship that I am refitting after sitting in storage for about 1o years. I have a Moggy that I just purchased. I am planning on an Italian cruiser and in the distant future I have a NC that was fitted out as a big gun battle wagon. I will probably have to do something simple for my kids so they are included as well. I have built before but my motor controls where a radio shack motor, servo and a pair of micro switches.
You need to decide brushless or brushed before most of those questions can be answered. That decision mainly comes down to personal preference. So get started by reading through the "Brushless 101" thread, it should answer some of your questions if you choose a brushless set up.
I was thinking brushed because that is what I am familiar with but what are the advantages of brushless?
Better power to weight ratio but at a cost of added complexity, higher amp draw, and increased fragility.
Meh, complexity is similar in many setups but at the simplest level brushless are more complex, at the level many people use them complexity is comparable. (ESC + brushed motor vs ESC + brushless motor) In my experiences (battling since 2002, brushless since 2012) amp draw is lower for the same performance and durability is higher for brushless. Doing a good job setting up the system is way more important than which you choose to use. Also use a gear box, yes it is more complex, costs more, and take up space, but the extra torque and adjustability are worth it. Our props aren't designed to run at ungeared motor speeds.
Brushed motors will be powerful enough for a small boat I run my Invincible with 2 brushed / 2 gearboxs and no ESC
I disagree that gearboxes are needed with brushless motors. Low KV brushless outrunners have plenty of torque. I've run a 2 1/4" prop direct drive on a 96 scale Hood that was over a 100 pounds. It would actually make speed (34 sec) with only one motor running.
New question, if I was looking to have higher torque would it be more beneficial to run a single motor with a gear box or dual motors with a single output? Looking to run just a single prop. This is not for my moggy project but for something completely different.
You'd be using a gear box either way, so two motors on a gear box will give more torque than one motor. Having run 2 motors to 1 shaft in the past I prefer a properly sized/selected single motor. You can get more than enough torque with the right motor/gearing, no need to double that up from a cost/complexity standpoint.
