Simon.O.

This is what I bought today
A glass over balsa skin with ply frames hull, home-made
Rough condition but has potential.
It has a Kyosho steerable outdrive with a single motor as seen. I have not pulled the motor to see its numbers but it looks to be about a 550 size.
I have just finished putting together a 3 step speed controller to run it with initially. My reason for this is that it has the original single step and forward only switch. I want to be able to learn how this boat goes one step at a time. I have read horror stories of new boat owners running their boats into walls etc, and I am not going to join that club.[X(]
I like reverse too.
I’ll get a deck on it ( yes and tape this one down ) and give it a run during the week, I plan on running it on a standard 6 cell pack for learning…………we’ll see how long that takes.
If the hull is not my cup of coffee then I’ll get a e-bay type rtr with fried electrics ( that should not be hard to find ) and shove the drive in that.
Give me a few days and I’ll report back with my findings.

I love this RC boat thing…………SHE is not so sure

VDub99AML

My Feedback: (1)

Cool looking boat. You may want to reconsider using that driveline in another boat though. I bought a Jet Stream 800 for my dad a couple years ago, and that driveline is extremely inefficient with that u-joint. I am working on finding a new driveline for his boat to get rid of the Kyosho setup. Here's a video we took last Sunday showing the boats we have. The blue boat shown later in the video is his Jet Stream. I wish audio would download from my camcorder to the computer so you could hear how loud the u-joint is.

P.S. sorry to hear about your hatch problem.

forgot to post the link: http://www.rcuvideos.com/item/STK07KKDN52YBTKH

Simon.O.

Well I took it for a quick run today with a temporary cover over the deck. Bad move number-1
As a result of it having a very low transom and a very steep lean on turns water got in to the hull.
No panic, I saw this happen and bought it in straight away. Drained the water and put it back in my truck upside down to drain and dry while I ran the Wildcat.
I am in the process of making a proper deck and top to keep it all watertight……………photos to come.
Oh, by the way it does go quickly and like I was told it is loud with that uni-joint in the drive.
At the moment I am happy and will continue to use this as a development boat for the Kyosho steerable outdrive unit.

ib2525

Looking at it, I may be wrong, but it looks more like the academy outdrive, with the gearbox for 2 x 540's.. I have one, they are cheap but are meant to go fine. If you need parts for it go see the model shop in Birkenhead... Acehobbys... www.acehobby.co.nz

I have just gotten a new hull to put mine into, wont happen in a hurry tho.

Simon.O.

It is deffo a Kyosho outdrive. Yes it can have two motors but I am trying to limit my twin powered boats to 1, the Wildcat.
Ace Hobby is where i go as it is very handy to me and the people are good there.
Where are you, and what do you run and where.
I am in Birkdale and use Onepoto Domain and the Chelsea pond.

xism

nice boat. thats the jet stream gear box with a lemans 360 motor

Simon.O.

I am no expert as I am pretty new to all of this but I don't think it is a 360. That motor is bigger ( longer ) than a 540, I am guessing that it is a 550.
If I am wrong here please tell me as i love learing new stuff.

Simon.O.

Well since the beginning of the week things have moved along well
I have now had a couple of good runs out of it and see this as a good development boat for design ideas.
First off the idea of using a BEC proved to be a bad one. As the power came off so did control. It was doing a slow circuit in front of me and I had no line or anything to snag it with. I sent out my other development boat the “Air-Tri� to trap it and bring it back.
I will now run a Rx battery pack until I get a good ESC to fit.
On that note I am considering pulling the Kyosho 550 can and fitting my hot 540 so that I can run my Tamiya ESC.
Speed may come down a little but if the run time improves then I will be happy.

I think that this little boat 22� may need trim tabs as it porpoises a little at speed. Well that should take all of an hour in the shed to produce and fit.

I must get a tennis ball and a length of floating line………..

Oh to see what the “Air tri� is have a look here http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_59...tm.htm#5985638

xism

yep you're right its a 550 motor, but the real name is "lemans 360" idont know why kyosho put that kinda names at their motors.... its the same with lemans 240, 480 etc (both 540 size) but the 360 motor is in 550 size

i think it has to do with the seconds(run time)

Simon.O.

xism, cheers for that info, like I said I am learning so much every day it is great.

This one ran well today with the BEC replaced by a 4xAA Rx pack.
The photos are off it when the Rx pack was at the stern.
It still had issues with porpoising but showed good speed.
I then shifted the Rx pack forward and outboard.
*** !!!!
Now it goes like s%!t off a shovel !!!!
I have got the prop running as a proper high rpm surface drive with the customary rooster tail………..yoohoo!!!!!
Only problem is that now it has a turning circle of about 4 miles at full power………….O.k not 4 mi but farking large.
If I drop the power a little just before rounding a turn mark it is o.k
I will work on my turn technique in the morning as soon as the sun is up on the pond.
More photos may come as SHE thinks these things are fun to watch………for now

Simon.O.

O.k as I see this as a hull to learn with I am doing well so far, I think.
I have established that if the weight is too far aft then it will porpoise and reduce the efficiency of the surface drive prop.
However now that I have fitted 2 great big turn fins and run the hull flatter, by shifting battery weight, I am bringing the bottom of the vee to bear more. I have found that it has a massive turning circle under full power.
Dropping the power to pull a tight turn is easy and fun but does not make for a fast rounding ( 180 deg ) of a mark.
To hopefully increase the turning ability I have:
1. Chopped 15mm off the turn fins…….don’t panic, I made these and can make more if I am wrong.
2. Reduced the throw at the servo for the steering cable. This will reduce the turn angle of the outdrive but increase the power / torque that does the turning.

I will go to the pond again in the morning and test this theory.

Simon.O.

O.k so I cut the 15mm off the fins and reduced the turning movement of the outdrive. It still skids at the end of a turn like a jet boat being stupid !
I then fitted a pair of trim tabs to help keep the stern up during turns and run the boat flatter, it runs very well but still has a tendancy to skid during a tight turn. I can either button off the power or turn wider, neither option is too appealing.

I will now lower the turn fins to replace about 5mm of the 15 that I cut off. Worst case is I will have to make a new pair and I can throw these ones onto the Wildcat, well I might just do that anyway.

I am still playing with ballast in terms of the Rx battery pack. I have now found a longer 4xAA stick pack that I can tuck a little further forward and outboard. This dramatically improved the balance and flat running.

Today I ran it with a 30A fuse in the motor line and it did not blow, this is good news as it now means that I can run my Tamiya ESC which is 60A rated @7.2V fwd / rev.

Pics of the new trim / running tabs.

Simon.O.

Development problems
The boat is not evenly weighted. It lays a little to the right and needs rudder trim to run streaight when on the plane.

I have found that it has a tendancy to turn far better to the left than the right. My theory is that during a right hand sweeping turn the turn fin has a far greater bite that during a left turn.
It is during left turns that it still will slip and spin out under higher power loads.
I have played with weighted ballast to try to correct this but with limited success.
I have now fitted a set of adjustable tabs under the main running tabs and will see how that pans out.
The plan is to trim it enough nose down so that it does not porpoise and at the same time to get it to run flat with even cornering ability both left and right.
As this is not a race boat I want to be able to turn both ways equally, or as close to as possible.
I will run tomorrow if it is not raining too hard and will bring back my findings.

BTW pics of new tabs to come if successful.

Simon.O.

o.k, so I ran it with the new adjustable trim tabs today and what an amazing difference !! [X(]
It runs flat and I can now adjust the nose up / down attitude without resorting to using ballast weight.
The cornering to the right is still an issue but I found one problem.
It is the flex cable from the servo to the outdrive, it has too much flex in it.
I have added some light framing inside to compensate and may need to fit a guide on the transom if this is not enough.
If this is still not enough to correct the cable flex then I will run a pull/pull set-up from the servo using superfine braid through two nylon guide tubes.
Running a standard rigid rod presents the issue of waterproofing the wide exit point with a boot that I just don’t have right now.

Oh boy …..I love trial and error to produce good performance on a shoe-string budget.
I have time, skills, and materials……….money is not to be used if possible.

yeah yeah the pics are coming soon

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

That is what counts. You are having fun, making it work and learning.

Simon.O.

Here is the latest update.
Up until now I have had a few issues with the turning ability of this wee boat. At full power it has a turning radius the size Australia.
Lowering the speed did one of two things. It either came off the plane and spun or came off the plane and turned sharply. Bad both ways.
I have tried a variety of adjustments to the out-drive and had limited success at best. All of the results were not consistent either. It would do one thing one time and then another the next. I was getting a little annoyed and began to think that this was not a good hull.

Then while sitting on the can I had a brain flash !!
Whack a center fin in there for it to turn about.

Well the results with the temp fitted fin were spectacular. It will now turn at full power in about 8ft.

This fin will now be replicated and fitted through the hull with epoxy and sealed.

Pics below are of the new adjustable trim tabs and of the center fin.

pompebled

You just re-invented the fin that's under a lot of Crackerboxes!

Due to the shallow V, this kind of behaviour could be expected.

Keep up the good work!

Regards, Jan.

Simon.O.

This one has been in dry-dock too.
A new cabin top was fitted and looks nice...........well I think so.
Next refit will see a water cooling system go in.
New cabin top pics

Simon.O.

Here is the little 20’’ mono after another refit.
It now has a kill wire as do all of my boats now, plus water cooling to the brushes.
The esc shows no sign of needing cooling at the moment.
This is still my favorite boat as the acceleration is instant and run time is very good.
New props are on the way so may get a little more pace soon.
Run pics to come.
Back soon.

retaobcr

I thought you got lost or i scared you off! The red boat with a new cover looks like one of the boats in MMI of U.K. Mag. So she wants to skid which is normal for a mono to a degree. Just put a pair of strakes on the bottom will cure the skid. Get rid of gearbox and u-joints but keep the outdrive. SUGGESTIONS ONLY!!! OK! LOL! Where the straight shaft and transom meet, i cut that off and take u-joints out; since shaft is good , i would check what i.d.( inside diameter ) is so you won't get no slop. Reason if you get .130 cable and teflon, they need to be secure and 7/32 brass tubing will work fine except teflon in 7/32 tubing will need to be sanded cause any bigger size tubing will slop all over and any size teflon smaller will not work with .130 cable. Now using a smaller brass tubing will work great. Lost, well where tubing and transom meet, you need to fill in where gap occurs between cable and shaft to keep water out. Answer, drop of oil on cable and then use Goop and let dry. The area between transom and outdrive will not be covered so cable can flex with outdrive unit. Now a good example is the Pro-boat Mini--v with the same mod as i described. Might be a good idea to scan thru and see if it is to your liking, won't hurt. Subject - Sea Dagger, almost got mine done but no paint just was white but dark blue 1/4" stripping with small turn fins and trim tabs and extended strakes to transom. SUGGESTIONS ONLY!

retaobcr

Seeing as how your the originator of this thread; if you see fit to erase my postings, your welcome to do and as i read the rules, you can do it. I'll let you alone!

Simon.O.

I am not going to delete a post that has solid mechanical information. Get abusive or similar and I'll do it.
Your sugesstions as always are welcome and I enjoy reading any constructive comments on my boats.
By now one thing is very clear. I love my solid shafts and you are a big fan of flex setups
Fair enough.
In this particular hull I have left the original drive as it works well.
In the modded Sea Dagger I got the main shaft a lot flatter and locked the outdrive straight. There is very little power loss through the uni. In fact with the motor disconnected the shafts will free spin by finger. Try that with a flex