Well, I realized that I never posted a followup for the October battle. I burned out another set of motors, so I shelved the project for awhile out of pure frustration.
Got some shop time in over the weekend. New motors in the 365 size range were installed. I realy, really hope these will work without the burnout issues i was having with the various 280s. They should but I will not know until the weather warms up enough for sea trials. I was hesitant about the 360-380 sized because of dogbone angles, but these seem to lay in pretty nicely.
I have realized I will have to cut down the forward barrels about 1/2" each to lower them enough for turret covers. In addition, I am going to see what I can do about cleaning up the wiring/plumbing a bit. It is not bad, but it could still be better.