water submergable ol

[turbodrifter]

I want to make an overland that i can drive in deep water. all my other ol's are very high off the ground so they can travel over water without the electronics getting submerged. but i want an overland that can be completely submerged, electronics and all.
im working on water tight casing that will cover the electronics, and im going to cover all but the tip of the antenna in a plastic guard(maybe a drinking straw). it should be able to drive through a pretty deep trench as long as some of the antenna is accesable.

any ideas on how to make it more suitable for water obstacles?

[ridealot100]

I THINK YOU ARE INSANE!!!!!

lol i am way to careful with my ol

umm try that plastic dip stuff maybe??

[turbodrifter]

lol, yeah its a pretty crazy idea, i just think it would be neat, even if i dont take it really deep it mud and water splash up i want my ol safe. besides this is my 4th ol, so i think its time to be a little bit more crazy with my ideas.

[Stoovey]

People thought I was nuts for waterproofing my E-Maxx (or most of it...). Wow, an OL?! Go for it!!

[turbodrifter]

thanks, im gana give it a shot

[RedRSX]

um...i dont really know where you would start on that project...another thing, if you have ever tried to take an OL through any wet mud that is pretty deep, it does not fair very well...remember the lack of weight these have and the fact they are 2WD...you wont be doing anything amazing in it, i can tell you that

[Draconious]

Well do you literealy want to submerge it, or just keep it splash safe?

if you actualy want to submerge it... dont expect it to last long no matter what you do to it, metal parts will rust and corrode.. on it... bearings will jam... motor will get gunky and need cleaingin every run... but you could just dip the whole PCB in plastic dip.. leaving a power attachment for the motor etc... but you should rig some sort of heat sink on it... that you can shave the plastic coating off of to expose the sink... the servo case would need to be totaly sealed, and thats impossible if u want the tie rod to function...

if you just wnat splash protection, just shrink wrap the PCB, and seal all but the tie rod holes in the servo case and go...

[racer_d]

I wouldn't advise driving in water but get some silicone and put in every crack like take apart the chassis put a bead in between every seam and youll be be fine
and there is also a type of grease that can be put directly on the circuits its meant for computers they submeresd a whole computer in a giant tank and it still worked
but i can't remember the name of it also remember to seal the servo box to.
and unless there seams you forgot you should be fine.
but the batts might short.

[easy]

Automotive stores will probably have a special grease for ignition systems that might work too. It could be the same stuff they used on the computer in a different tube.

That grease was made not to damage electronics, I used it in the distributor cap leads of my '82 Mustang GT to help prevent problems in our wet coast Vancouver weather.

It could probaply work for you to and I don't recall it being very expensive. Sorry I don't recall the name and it is burried in storage. It might have been specifically for Ford ignition systems which might help you track it down.

[DogbreathRacing]

Let me know when you try it........I'll buy the chassis and suspension parts that are left over...........

THESE WERE NOT MEANT TO GET WET!

[easy]

Actually the idea may not be all that unreasonable. Keep in mind they make those little submarines that are not very expensive. RC boats have been arount a long time too.

We used to watch them at the annual boat show at the CNE in Ontario every year back in the '70's. Ehh... I guess I just dated myself eh?

Any how they must have developed ways to seal things up water tight for the inevitable flipping and sinking of rc hydro planes and such. Same deal with sea planes you just know they end up nosing into the water but survive so I'd say check an lhs that's into boats.

As for the servo lever a cv type boot with some grease will do the trick and the motor box can likley be sealed too. Don't use oil shocks and loose your bearings for the swamp buggy. Mind you its not like they are difficult to flush out with WD40.

If you do make it water proof after running it through the water you can just drop it in a bucket of WD40 afterwards. I'll agree its risky business but it's not impossible. Don't forget to put a snorkle on one of the A pillars because it just ain't a swamper without a snorkle.

[terry beebe]

if you live around a boat marina or dealer they have this special oil that you just put on allover the electronics & metal parts that displaces water. everything works fine even totaly submerged, use it on my rc boats, you just have to reapply it often depending on how wet you want to get. it's called THE STUPH and its pricey. good luck & happy motoring!!!