Hydro Junkie

I went back and looked at a shot of the 1982 Atlas and, from what I can tell, the tails are in the same position as what your picture shows. Apparently, the tail mounts are installed on the outside of the sponson inside, rather than on top of it like most modern boats are. Here's the picture I'm looking at:

In this second shot, that being the 1977 Atlas, the tail looks to be on top of or just outside of the sponson inside. I'll have to ask Don Mock about that next weekend, if he goes to the race in Monroe.

I'm wondering if the tail mounts were attached to bracing or frames between the sponson insides and the nontrips. Guess I'll just have to ask since Don was the crewchief on both of the boats restorations.

Hydro Junkie

Just for the fun of it, I went back and looked at some of the pictures I shot of boats just to see where the tails were mounted. Apparently, most of them were on the sponson inside, HOWEVER, both Atlas boats I posted pictures of and the Pak you posted pictures of were built by Jim Lucero, not Ron Jones like most of the boats in that time frame. Let me see if I can post some of my pictures for a bit of a comparison:
This boat was built in 2006 by Madison crew chief Mike Hanson.

You can see, in this picture, that the tails are mounted on top of the sponson insides

This boat, built in 1994, has the same basic tail arrangement

I couldn't get some pictures to post, but I did find some videos. I was looking at the Miss Madison in the first one since it's the boat the second video is talking about :

Aros

Yep, you are proving my point in the sense that the tails are closer to the edge in the earlier boats where they are closer inside for the more contemporary boats. I am not sure what to do about that because the molds are set.

Hydro Junkie

The only thing you really could do is take off the decks and move the tail mounts outward to the desired position and reinstall new decks. Yes, that would suck but if you want the boat to be accurate, there really isn't much else you could do to fix the problem. This is only an issue with Lucero boats, not Jones or Staudacher designed and/or built hulls

Aros

Yep, you're right. Not sure what my builder plans to do but I suspect he will go with them as they are. Oh well.

Aros

I noticed the builder has the forward tail mounts way too inside, angled inward from the aft mounts at the back that look correct. Wondering why he did that? I sent a note to him to see what his thoughts are. Here’s a pic. This looks off to me. What do you think?

Hydro Junkie

I don't think they are off but, rather, the deck is narrower at the transom than at the front mount. Two ways to check this:

1. take a square or triangle, used for laying out cut lines, and place it against the inside face of the tail mounts. If it lines up with the transom, the mounts are correctly located
2. measure from the engine bay deck edge to the inside of the mounts. They should have the same measurement on both

If the measurements are different or the square/triangle don't line up with the transom, the mounts are installed wrong or, worse, the boat wasn't built square. If the boat isn't built square, it can lead to a whole bunch of set up issues

Aros

Good info, thank you!

Hydro Junkie

Trust me, been there done that. One of my early boats was built using mahogany doorskin for framing, not only to save costs but to replicate what Dumas used in their boat kits. Since the mahogany was slightly "damp" when I cut the framing parts out, they shrank as the wood dried. This gave me a boat that was far from square and was hard to get the birch plywood to adhere to with the hobby shop epoxy I had used to assemble the boat. Fortunately for me, a long time builder/racer saw the assembled frame and asked to see it. He gave the frame a slight twist and it literally shattered in front of me. Not one mahogany part was usable so I had to start from scratch, this time using aircraft grade birch plywood. Live and learn I guess

Aros

Wow, hard lesson though! Yikes!

Hydro Junkie

Not really. A harder lesson would have been to have completed the boat and had it break up while running it. That would have cost me an engine, drive system and all the radio gear. To me, having the boat's framing fail before I got too far was a blessing in disguise. When you compare that to what I could have lost, it was actually a very cheap lesson, in the long run

Aros

True! That would have been much worse.

Hydro Junkie

Unfortunately, due to having to work tonight, I overslept and didn't get to the race in Monroe. What I did find, fortunately, is a video that shows the turbine Pak being built. I think I also know why the verticals on your boat are not in the correct location, due to what's on that video.
You can view the video here:
What I see, in the video, is that the verticals are on top of the sponson insides, as I said in an earlier post. The reason the verticals are so far out is due to the relatively low height of the transom. This can be seen at the 15:30 mark in the video. It can also be seen in this video:
At the 16:50 mark, there is a shot of the boat's transom that shows how short the transom is, height wise, at the outer ends.

Aros

Great stuff, thanks for sharing! I really appreciate the detailed information. My builder sent me these photos last night. I really like how it looks closer to scale, between the wider intakes and tail width.

Aros

Build complete. Just need to add radio, receiver, batteries and of course paint. He did a fantastic job!

JS440

My Feedback: (10)

The fit up on that cowl and wing could use a bit of work! Looks like it will be a fun boat.

Aros

How you mean?

Hydro Junkie

The area of the cowl that extends forward of the air intakes doesn't follow the curve of the deck but, rather, it sticks up above it. Nothing a little heat gun and pressure can't fix.
Same thing on the tails, the bottoms were sanded flat rather than with a deck following curve. A little epoxy and micro balloon mix added before painting will take care of that quite nicely.
With that said, if you're happy with it, ignore what has been posted

Aros

Ah, gotcha. Yes I do see what you mean. I know he made an effort to flatten that nose section. Looks like it could use a bit more pressure/heat. Frankly I think he is more than happy to be done with this build as I am very demanding with scale detail, lol.

Aros

She's home. Overall, looks great! Can't wait to get her painted with graphics.

Aros

A few more pics...




The Smart Water bottle is the perfect size for the turbine tube.

Hydro Junkie

I would strongly recommend one change, that being to replace the vertical tail metal screws with nylon or plastic ones. It looks to me like you have them in the wing ends already, just use them on the bottom of the uprights so that when(not IF) the boat blows over, the verticals won't be torn apart by the metal screws.

Aros

GREAT point, thank you! And the builder did tell me the same thing. He said it was temporary. A great reminder. Appreciate that!

Any ideas on a battery/rx/tx? I am flying blind here as a newb hydro guy. I have a SSS 850KV brushless and Hobbywing 130HV ESC. Still looking for the proper prop as well.

JS440

My Feedback: (10)

RX/TX is all personal choice, and everyone will have different opinions. I personally have been using FlySky in all of my surface vehicles for the last 10 years, and have never had a problem. Great quality at a great price. There are always guys that say "I don't risk my expensive toys with cheap radios, I only use *insertreallyexpensivebrandhere* radios".

Take everyone's advice (including mine) with a grain of salt.

I don't think any RX/TX on the market today would cause you any issues. Just don't worry too much about getting the latest and greatest. You only have 2 channels, you don't need anything fancy, expensive top of the line etc. (unless you want to).

Aros

Good advice! I am an RC aircraft guy. I guess I was wondering, are all rx/txs created equal? I am a Spektrum guy, could I just get a low channel Spektrum receiver and match it with a wheel-driven transmitter? In other words, would any receiver work or do hydros/boat need special type of waterproof receivers?