Product Review Article ...
An economical clutch solution for you next boat!
When I started building my I-Box, like all of my other boats it was going to be direct drive and setup for racing. As the build progressed however, my daughters became interested in the boat that was shaping up and we decided to make it “their” boat! Of course I would still race this boat but it would be painted in a theme of their choice and I wanted to make it so they could actually try running the boat at the lake. For this it absolutely needed to have a clutch! So I started shopping for one.
I didn’t really know what I wanted or what price range it should be in…I had never purchased a clutch before. After looking around I found this clutch advertised on Ebay by Oneill Brothers Racing out of California USA. They are probably better known for their scooter and RC car divisions but they now have an RC Boat division and it is growing fast!
My first contact with OBR was through Ebay. They promptly replied to my Email and within no time I had a clutch on order. The next day I received a shipping notification along with a tracking number. Within a week the parcel was in my mailbox…California to Canada. The shipping was very reasonable and the documentation was properly filled out.
A little bit about the clutch now. I will be completely honest here folks, the main factor influencing my decision in the purchase was the price. At $69.00 I thought it was quite a bargain. I see now that they have it available for $60.00 on their website (at the time of this writing). Now that is a great price for a complete clutch.
I like to use Insane/CC Racing mounts in all my boats so I was also hoping this clutch would work in conjunction with these mounts, and it worked out nicely with only slight modifications.
Here are some pictures of the clutch.
To get the clutch to work with the mounts I had to enlarge the throttle linkage bracket’s mounting holes so that the mounting stubs in the clutch casting would fit through the bracket. There wasn't much material left after enlarging the holes, but with the bracket sandwiched between the clutch and engine it holds just fine. To make up for the thickness of the mount itself (between the clutch and the engine) I doubled up the spacer washers behind the clutch shoe support. (see pictures). The clutch casing mounts directly to the engine and the shoe support mounts to the tapered output shaft of the engine using the supplied 5mm screw. This installation is quite easy. {sidebar id=13}
Finally, in order to get the clutch and engine as low as possible in the hull I cut off the stub on the bottom of the clutch housing. This is most likely used as a mount in other applications, but was preventing the clutch from laying low in the hull.
As you can see, it was pretty simple to get this clutch to fit with the Insane/CC Racing (Hypertorque style) mounts! The output shaft of the clutch is identical to the tapered output shaft of the engine so you can simply bolt on your favorite square or collet drive! {sidebar id=12}
NOTE: there isn't much space between the mounts and the clutch to get a wrench in for tightening the bolts but it is possible with a thin wrench.
All in all I recommend this clutch to anyone looking for an economical solution that will work with Hypertorque style engine mounts. It would probably work with other types of engine mounts also, but I have not tried it so I can’t comment on that at this point.
*** I will report back with a performance and reliability update when I have significant run time on the clutch but so far so good!
To order one of these clutches contact Oneill Brothers Racing.
Happy Boating!
Contact Information
Oneill Brothers Racing
Website: http://www.oneillbrothers.com/
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: (310) 325 4391