phmaximus

Hey guys, I got myself a EP racing boat, its 0.7m long twin motors and kind of toy grade. First impression, great... mind u I had to greese the shafts because the old stuff was dry & re-adjust one of the motors it was not centred with the prop shaft & was noisy
Seems fast for what it is, mind u I was running it on 2400mah nimh batterys not the stock 1800mah yellow NICAD.

But it was getting boring running up and down the river, I thought i could make it faster with a cheap $50 brushless combo, but its going to be the same thing just faster....

anyway

We took the kids to the beach today and the surf was small great weather for it(all week its been 37-40c). I rembered the boat was still in the van.... I couldent help my self. I had to try it. *who wouldent
No kidding most fun ive ever had with a r/c thing. it was sick, u could ride the wave then cut along with the brake, rail sliding the lip like a skateboarder, then as the wave brakes u turn in and drop down the face. its awsome!!!!All fun till i tryed a massive wave jump, yep, it backfliped, battery came loose and knocked the hatch cover loose (had to dive in and swim to find the cover,areial sleeve gone) & she filled up with water. mind u it did look cool.

After 30min or so of drying its back up and going. phew, I thought I killed it on the first day

ok im off to the hard ware shop in the morning to get some 3M Scotchkote. Then ill cover the combined reciver/ESC, That should stop it cutting out when wet.
Next time ill run some tape around the hatch seal... that should reduce water getting in if it goes through a wave or flipes over.
But the biggest pain is when it flips, it needs a way of uprighting it self.

Questions?

Has anyone ever fitted a keel to a speed boat to keep it upright??????

How many Auto bailers should i use???? or use a pump??? I was thinking about 3 auto bailers, 1 down low & 2 just above it

Would it be a good idea to glue a small bit of polystyrene to the hatch cover so it cant sink?

here is a pic of what it is

phmaximus

OH forgot to mention i haven had much luck with boats...

this was my last boat, it collects dust now waiting to be fixed NQD T-19


it was slow so I fitted a 13 doubble turn modified brushed motor, RCline No limit ESC and pluged in a 11.1v 2200mah lipo with a novak cut off... new recever..servo... blah blah, my god it was fast for about 10 seconds till it shattered the motor to propshaft coupler into tiny little peices.... its sat on a shelf since...

ryan_t888

1 and 2
I would suggest not to use them. The keel would become excessive drag and wouldn't really keep the hull upright upon hitting a wake.

Autobailers are not needed in electric hulls as you typically tape the hatch closed. Hulls are typically sealed off and radio boxes are not used.

3
Yes, this would be a great idea. Your hatch even though it is taped up tightly can still break loose in the event of a significant crash. Use foam on the hatch and be certain there is enough inside the hull as well.

Ryan

phmaximus

ok scrap the keel idea...

no auto bailer??? why not? I was thinking just as a backup

definatly will be upgrading the electrics, ive got most of my 12 cars running on the same 2.4ghz controller and plan to use it for the boat.
doing that I will need 2 new ESC's... so may as well go brushless, cost is nearly the same.
Apon doing that I dare say i will use water cooling for the motors & ESC. but ive been thinking about fitting Traxxas Villain outdrives.
looks like it would fit without to much moding... but that setup looks expensive

Whats the best steering setup for very tight turns? nothing worse than a wave hitting it side on during a turn.
The vector push doesent work that well when its caught a wave, it really needs a rudder, but with twin props do i need twin rudders?
\
whats the best tape to seal the hatch cover??

and generally should a racing boat be able to land upside down with out taking on water?

Is it worth trying some trim tabs down the track???? do they help in rough conditions?

ryan_t888

Renfrew hockey tape works well for most.

In general a FE boat should be able to be submerged for a period of time without taking in any water. It should be very dry. If this is accomplished an autobailer is never needed. An auto bailer can also only remove water when the hull is in motion. It is still advisable to water proof the components. During a hard crash/flip damage to the hull can lead to water leakage. An autobailer won't help here however sealed electronics will.

You may search around, but will find most people do not run them on most hulls. I have actually removed mine out of the sport gas hull as it seemed to leak and bring water in upon the boat sitting.



You may also want to consider converting to single drive. Half the cost, half the trouble, possibly better performance.

phmaximus

cheerz m8. ive got it now in a new thread, have a sus

I sould have have all the electrinics water proofwithin the week, just having problems tracking down the product

well ive done some water testing and PVC tape around the hatch does not stop all the water getting in.
there was some in there after only 30sec of floating on its roof, so i might try some auto bailers,

Rember this boat is been built to be run it waves not in a river. If it flips im not planning to dry it out, I plan to upright it & keep on going relying on a autobailer and only stop when the battery is flat

The waves that it will be ranning into are around 1/2-6 foot waves, the other day it was only 1 foot & was very hard to keep the boat upright, I plan to show up the professional surfers

now do u see why u want a auto bailer

ryan_t888

Nope, but that's fine. To each their own
With an autobailer, you will never have a dry hull.

My hull hit's the smallest wake at 40+mph and goes noes in to the water completely submerged for 5 seconds creating a fountain of water from the prop wash. After the ESC finally goes in to safe mode the motor stops and the hull re surfaces. The hull surfaces and I continue the rest of the pack.

When brought back in, it's bone dry.

The only time I have a drop of water in the hull is when something breaks.

Good luck with your project, 6 ft waves sounds interesting.

Ryan

phmaximus

Thanks heaps for u help so far.

I can't wait to try some big waves, I use to race real inflatable rescue boas a few years ago with a surf rescue club., and I'm keen one day to get back into it... Damm it was so scary it was fun... I've got a 1 inch scar in my eyebrow from back then.
We were setting up the markers for a comp with a heavy on shore wind with about a 5 foot washed out swell, we were stretch out the chain on the markers to un bunch them, to do that u tow from the bow rope... But the wind was so strong it got under the bow and flipped us, this is about 1k from the shore, we uprighted it using the rollover ropes, and started paddling it back to shore.
This is The fun part, when u get into the brake u can catch waves.... Apparently. Well we tried this both of us layer down as far back as possible on the pontoons, and kicked like mad, we managed to get a wave, but it was to big and steep, the boat nose dived, and bent the bow up, but when it flicked back down the force flung me straight into the engine cover, hence the scare now lol.
Even asked my mate is it ok, he said yes, but I didn't believe him because of all the blood, by the time I got back to the club rooms to check it out, blood was everywhere.... Me been wet made it look worse.... Ahhh all fun and games

That's just one of manny stupid stories I've got with those damm boats

Might hold off on the auto bailer, just need to get a better seal on the hatch.

sundogz

Did you close off the little 'air scoops' on the sides of the hatch? That will let a lot of water in. I agree with Ryan, autobailers are very worrisome. A little bit of trash in them unseats the ball seal and they let water in when not underway. Better to seal the hatch. I think one of those boats with brushless motors and esc's controlled by a radio with 'V' tail mixer capability would really scoot. It would operate similarly to the stock Vector steering but with much more power.

Edit: Never mind, I see you addressed both of those problems on another post. Here's one I converted to jet drive with a custom trim adjustable nozzle. Yes, those are auto bailers. I've since removed them for reasons listed above.

BACKEMF

The seam of the top deck is always leakey on these Hard plastic boats.

phmaximus

oh really? know any fixes

hobby_man

My Feedback: (8)

hockey tape

phmaximus

was kind of thinking about something more permanent????

ryan_t888

Hockey tape for hatch seal.

Epoxy for permanent.

Ryan.

phmaximus

cheerz guys,

filled the hull with water last night, no leaks....

hey what type os plastic are these boats made off?

ryan_t888

Most common is ABS.

Ryan

phmaximus

ahhh cool, thanks