Gas Tunnels ? s

Intlwaters

Help Support Intlwaters:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bruce Clark

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2013
Messages
111
Any advice please on rules and what guys are running in gas tunnels. Who makes the tuned pipe you run? I know Thor and MLBoat works are very respected boats that run good. Are you running stock or mod 26 in the class or mod engines up to 30cc? We don't have any gas outboard tunnels in the area yet. Thanks for any info. and to the I W community.
 
I have an Ossi Tunnel. Fitted with a mod 26 with QD Hot Pipe on a Joe Caligrao Lower Unit. Sorry if I misspelled joe's name!! Mine runs great until I get it to a race, most race sites have docks to launch from when I test I can step in the water to set it down level?? I am thinking of thinning the fleet and the Tunnel will be one of the first up if anyone is interested??

Later!!

Pat
 
Bruce,
I agree with Buddy. The hotpipe works great. Here is a pic of Vansracing THOR with one setup you can consider using a Lawless Gas lower unit. I am running a Padgett modified Zenoah 300PUM. This setup has won first place at three of the last 4 major Gas Tunnel Races. Wins include the 2013, 2014 and 2015 World Tunnel Championships and the 2013 and 2014 Fall Nationals.

You can PM me for Carl's contact information if you are interested in the THOR.


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bruce,

Contact Insane Boats. They make a real good looking gas tunnel and lower unit. If it runs like the other Insanes, It should be fast. Good luck.

Lawson
 
PTI Racing GX-480 Gas tunnel kit, which is my old ML Boatworks kit. Paul is the current owner of my tunnel designs. Look back at the results for the last 5 years of CMB Fall Nats and Tunnel champs, you will find this boat on top pretty much every year. Buddy Lowe took 1st and James Beasley took 3rd this year at the latest Fall Nats. Contact him at [email protected].

Mike
 
I run the Insane and it runs pretty good, finished 2nd at the Fall Nationals, i run a GZ 29.5 with a QD hot pipe and Joe C. lower.

lot of test time, but when you get there its worth all of it.

Hats off to Buddy Lowe, his boat is fast and turns very well, the Thor is also a very fast boat.

After 2-1/2 years running the gas tunnel I think there is no one boat or out drive is better, I have been out run by all of the above mention,but also I have out run them too.

So I say get a gas tunnel and hit the pond when you get to the high 50's low 60's you will be right with the rest .

Greg Rowe
 
I run a Thor with a gizmo 30 it's the way to go ,just had a couple gremlins the last two years at wtc , but its fixed now .
 
Hey guys the info I'm getting here is great and the pm's I received is even better. I still need to put a list of places to buy what I need to complete the boat. Once I have everything in place and prices, I'll be ordering my X-mas present. Thank you Santa
 
Insane hull - Lawless Drive - Quickdraw Hot Pipe - Zenoah 300PUM with Gizmotors Top End Kit - Servo City Gear Drive - Savox servo's. Boat runs and handles good,still looking for right prop.I also added a home made turn-fin after talking to Steve at Insane,really helped! Only one other Gas tunnel in our club so not a lot to compare it to.

DSC_0005.JPG

DSC_0008.JPG

DSC_0089.JPG

DSC_007399.jpg
 
Seems like there should be a lot more gas tunnel boaters that can share some input on what they are running or something about setup. Is gas tunnel really that small a class? How many gas tunnels are in D 14 and maybe or area's can share that thoughts on this too. Thanks for all the input so far and it has really opened my eyes on gas tunnel$.
 
Insane hull - Lawless Drive - Quickdraw Hot Pipe - Zenoah 300PUM with Gizmotors Top End Kit - Servo City Gear Drive - Savox servo's. Boat runs and handles good,still looking for right prop.I also added a home made turn-fin after talking to Steve at Insane,really helped! Only one other Gas tunnel in our club so not a lot to compare it to.
Hi Mike,

Where do you put the turn-fin and what size fin in your Insane tunnel ?

And how would you place the Servo City Gear Drive in the Receiver box as the Servo City servo mount and large gear are much wider than the Insane tunnel receiver box ?

I am planning to put almost similar stuff, Lawless Drive - Quickdraw Hot Pipe - Servo City Gear Drive - Savox servo but a CY27cc engine onto the Insane boat.
 
Hi Gilbert:

Before I get to your question I would just like to say that I am not a die hard racer (my eyesite won't let me) I could care less about lap times or adding a ounce of weight because of an extra coat of paint.May not have the fastest boat on the lake but I still have fun running with the guys in my club.Love to watch the guys who do race! That said when I built my tunnel I reached out to Steve at Insane Boats and Fred at Lawless Drives and tech guys at Servo City.

Steve sent me pictures of the turn fin set up. ( see attachment) Really helped with hooking,but some of that is probably the driver.

Fred at Lawless offerd a steering linkage kit that includes some things you need if you go with the gear drive.Look at attached picture an you will see a large steering horn on top of the big gear,that is mounted on top of the radio box lid.You will get this part, rubber gromet,longer output shaft in the linkage kit.I highly recommend you call Fred at Lawless an talk to him about this setup.

Same thing goes for the gear drive.The ratio's for the gear drive can be tailored for you need.I believe mine is a top mount 5:1 180 degree. I think a 300 oz. in. servo in this drive would be 1500 oz. in. of torque with a 7.2 volt receiver pack.Don't hold me to these specs,again Fred is much more knowledgeable and can help you with what to order from Servo City.

The only problem I had with this setup was this,When you get the gear drive from servo city you need to replace the output shaft that the large gear goes on for a longer one (Fred supplies the longer shaft)this lets you mount the large servo horn on top of the radio box lid and is sealed by the supplied rubber grommet.The large horn has only 1 set screw to attach it to the output shaft.With all the torque of the gear drive it wants to slip on the shaft (the output shaft is not splined) The bottom side of the horn where it slides on the shaft is square not round with only 1 set screw so I drilled and tapped the other 3 sides of the horn and filed flats on the shaft (440 cap screws) just like you do for a prop shaft and drive dog problem solved!

This is really not as hard as it may sound,i'm really happy with the way mine runs and handles.

F1 Turn Fin.zip

gear drive1.png

DSC_0071__1448639558_85847.jpg
 

Attachments

  • F1 Turn Fin.zip
    5.9 MB · Views: 34
Mike,

I got the similar Gear drive unit from Servo City through the help of Fred of Lawless drive, he is very helpful, unfortunately he has been very busy these days and a little bit slow in responding to enquiries, may be I asked too many questions! he still owes me a couple of engine/motor mounts for the lower drive units for more than a month now.

I guess I have to grind the receiver box to fit the unit as you did to fit the big gear into the Insane receiver box.

Steve Lopez of Insane boats never returns my emails after I have bought the boat from him.

Mike, thank you for your very detailed explanation, it is really very helpful.
default_smile.png
default_smile.png
default_smile.png


Gilbert
 
Back
Top