sponson steps
 

hey guys im building a 1/8 t4 twin hull "miss bud" i have the skeleton pretty much finshed up and i am wanting to build some steps in the sponsons. i have a insane gen 4 hydro hull i could use as a idea and am sure it would benefit the running and ride of the hull. just wondering what the older gents have to say about doing this. or if there are any ideas, also i was thinking of maybe building into the outer wing design steps like catamarans use on their sponsons ,would i benefit more or would it be useless? 1 other thing i am wanting to do when i do skin the hull is i want to either use fiberglass or carbon fiber and not use balsa sheets, should i use thin balsa then the glass or fiber or use the pink sheets "foam"to fill in / form the skin and then cover. im thinkin the foam would ultimately be better as it would add a boyancy / extra floatation in the event of a flip over or a hull opening crash. please do give any ideas and or yea's and nay's about my ideas, thanks

RE: sponson steps
 

Putting steps on the sponsons is a risky proposition as some clubs don't allow them, others require them to be not obvious. I would recommend finding pictures of the sponson bottoms and try to model them in that way rather than try to copy what's done on cats as cats are totally different.
As far as materials, STAY AWAY FROM BALSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Balsa is like a sponge, it absorbs water on contact unless heavily sealed. It's also very fragile so it can't handle the pounding a boat will be subjected to. I'd recommend building with plywood, for the skin 1/16" works good. Stay away from home center wood as well. You want to use aircraft grade plywoods as they have more plys and no voids compared to the home center varieties. This will also precude the use of glass or CF. If you're set on using composites, lay up the CF/glass in flat sheets, cut to approximate size and assemble as you would with plywood. Otherwise, you might as well buy a premade hull and install your gear, paint and run

RE: sponson steps
 

thx hydro i am not in a club this is going to be sport running, i will have 1/8 ply leftover from the lazer cut sheets i will be able to use. i will more than likely use fiber glass to shell it in after all is said and done.  so do you think if i mod the rear portion of the sponsons with steps like a catamaran hull has would help it run or would i see no differance? i know its hard to say though as no one has probably ever made a twin wing with steps lol. i figure it helps the cats why wouldnt it help a hydro?

RE: sponson steps
 

ok heres the exact hull were talking about and what parts i want to mod.

RE: sponson steps
 

Are you talking about chines or steps?

RE: sponson steps
 

He's talking about adding steps across the bottom of the ride pads/runners. The problem with doing this on a hydro is that only the rear 1" or so of the sponson is in contact with the water while on plane. A single step would be plenty to help get up on plane and can be made by simply overlapping a forward bottom panel over the front of the rear panel on the running surface