hi guy, i've joined the club and downloaded a predator rigger plan to get ready for another build. not doubt i'll run into problems as i progress and your advice and criticism are always appreciated.

as i'm on a small budget, i'll try to use whatever i have on hand for the build, the goal is to enjoy building the boat and having a bit fun once finished instead of breaking any speed record.

this is what i have in mind:

* scale the plan down slightly to keep the boat around 19"-20" (as i have 1 sheet of ply left from previous build and save on cost of buying big motors, esc etc)
* construction will be with 2mm ply all round (as this is what i have), maybe strengthen some important areas with thin glass cloth
* battery: 2s lipo
* motor: feigao 540S (or L?)
* ESC 60A-90A hobbywing
* drive: not sure yet and would appreciate some advice on wiredrive vs flex
* rudder, strut etc will be the cheap ones from ebay. is 90mm rudder too small for a boat this size??
* prop: please help me choose one

i've been looking at the plan to get an idea what's involved and can't seem to figure out the distance between the sponsons and tub. do i just take the actual measurement on the 1:1 plan? i'm thinking to make the boom length adjustable by mounting aluminum tubs inn tub and sponsons and connection them up with carbon tube.

would the experts out there consider this setup is acceptable?

I would run a flex cable over wire drive.

90mm Rudder would work.

ESC - I would recommend 90A, the higher the better.

Prop will be determined after motor selection. Select the motor based on these [link=http://radiocontrolinfo.com/ElectricBoat/motor.php]Motor[/link] tips.

Scaling Drawings is not an ideal case. I can't remember if the plans have a dimension for that sponson distance. If not you may have to scale the drawing, meaning take the dimension as measured.

Ryan

Thanks Ryan for the info. Very useful indeed. I haven't had a chance to make a start yet, been hecticly busy. I got as far as printing out the plan. I didn't end up scaling it. I'll keep the tips in mind when building.

Another question, I have a nitro wildthing that I built a couple of years ago, with ply and balsa. It's got a .15 nitro engine, which i can't seem to master the art of tuning. Any suggestions if I want to convert it to fast electric?

forgot to mention, it's about 23" [8D]

You will most likely want to use a similar setup. 2s 5000mAh will be a good start. Build/select the rest of your components from that.

Ryan