patriktegelberg

Drill a hole, insert hose, blow in it and look for bubbles.

martno1fan

Hi Glenn ,sorry to hear about your loss [X(] thats an expensive lesson mate.I use a zip tie on my flex just in case as for the servo and water thing did you spray the innards with corro x? it does work ,might be worth trying it next time.Hope you get her back on the water again soon.

glennb2006

I know, it is a frustration. The radio box has been "underwater pressure tested", and passed. The servo was indeed pre emptively opened up and sprayed with the very same Corrosion X, to no avail.

Never mind.

The boat will not sail again until such time as I am 100% satisfied that the radio compartment integrity is good.

On a positive, while it did not get to full speed before the failures, it did appear to track a whol lot better than it had previously, and it positively leapt onto the plane with no trim tabs.

So, we shall see, if anyone wants updates then I will post them here.

Glenn

martno1fan

Isnt it funny how its allways the 1" of water that seems to get into the box that kills servos etc,ive had it done to me a cpl of times on sail servos in sailboats.Maybe a deeper box with the servos raised off the floor of the box would overcome this in the event of a leak?.Have you figured out how your shaft came out yet or do you think you just hit something?,hope you get her back running soon mate so we can see some video .

glennb2006

I have no room for a deeper box, the one that is in clears the hull (or the shaft) by about 2mm, so it is tight, I can only go up a bit, got about 25mm there. So as I said, I am thinking of rebuilding the radio box, going to put a bulkhead in and a frame to screw a lid onto, and the whole rear of the boat can then be the radio box, plan on making it look like an FSRV at the rear, then the hatch cover will go on and that's it water tight, unless there is major structural hull failure, in which caseit matters not anyhow.

I still have no idea about the shaft, the collet was still tight when I took it off, not sure if it hit anything, the rudder and turn fins were unscathed, the strange thing was it was driving, power on when it let go, which is strange to me in as much as the forces should have been pushing the shaft etc forward and in to the collet, so I would have thought.

Just another one to ponder on.

Will post some pictures of my solution for anyone who is interested. When I have a suitable solution.

Glenn

martno1fan

Hi mate im very interested in your idea for making the boat water tight ,as you say the collet still been tight on your motor is a mystery especially if you didnt notice you hit anything.As you say you would think if it was just going to fall out it would happen when you stopped not at full speed.

bigteeracing

hi glen , just thinkin about your prop flexy loss , what was the end of the flexy like ? was it cut off to length from a longer flex ? i have lost some over the years but not for some time now due to two things 1 always run a shaft saver ( 1/4 wheel collets work well ) and 2 i always solder up the end of any flexy where it goes into the collet on the engine this stops the shaft from becoming that little bit smaller as it winds up under load and then spins out of the collet ,leaving the collet done up but no shaft just an idea

tony

martno1fan

Tony ive seen that idea before and did consider it myself but my flex is such a tight fit i doubt id get it in if i used solder on it so i opted not to use any.I might look into it again though,by the way i use a zip tie for a shaft saver or silicone tubing works .

glennb2006

Hi Tony,

good point, it was a cut shaft from a longer length and it was soldered, although I am not sure how old it was or how many hours were on it, so compression of the cable is a good theory.

Might just need to make sure I tighten it harder next time, and I have also ordered a shaft saver to go along with this one. 5 quid to save 60, and I did not have one in place!!

As I said earlier, another one down to experience.

One positive, although it never got flat out before the shaft went, it seemed to be tracking straight, seemed a bit quicker, not able to tell, but did seem to accelerate away harder, and the flush water pick up was cooling the pipe and the header well.

So not all doom and gloom.

Glenn

dicko

I've heard that if the coupler comes loose at speed, the boat speed continues forward with momentum & the drag on the prop as its rpm slows down pulls it out the back of the boat. when i bought my flex shaft the guy who sold it to me told me to buy the 1/4 inch collet as well.

glennb2006

Well, I am now in posession of all the parts required to get back on the water. New shaft is cut to length adnready, radio box is wearing a new lid with new fixing system. Two new props to try, so, off we go again.

Wish me luck.

Hoping to find some real speed now with the new props and the hull streamlined, water scoop flush, rudder and turn fins sharpened and trim tabs removed.

Will update you as I go. Tomorrow morning should be the big day. If the wind stops blowing that is..

Glenn

wayneuk01

lmao

scoop m/b

Hey guys, split collars on the shaft in front of the stuffing tube can upset the shaft balance and possibly engine bearings, a much better flexishaft/prop saver is a small piece of silicon tube (cheaper as well) between the collet and stuffing tube. Having read the start of this thread, all you need on the transom is a turn fin on the starboard side and rudder must be off set to the starboard side. Centre of gravity should be 18" from the transom. If you flat spin angle the bottom of the rudder about 5 degrees towards the bow. Definately no trim tabs. Cheers 4 now Scoop m/b

martno1fan

i use a small zip tie on mine its easier to get on the shaft in case you forget the silicone [:@].

glennb2006

The Panther story goes on...

Now running very well, the strut mods have made a lot of difference to the handling. Speed is now very good after some experiments with propellors, have found one I am happy with for now, although with the new found speed has come a degree of instability. That should be easily sorted out.

Unfortunately, the boat currently has a gaping hole in the engine bay cover after a vertical excursion at high speed last weekend, so it is under repair.

Edit: Forgot to mention this, and it was the point in revitalising this older post really - may be useful for others to check theirs:

While fitting turn fins to my friends boat I am building up, I was checking the alignment of them along the keel line, when finished, I checked the alignment on my Panther, only to find that both fins were out.

As the boat has had no big knocks against anything more solid than the water, I can only imagine that general wear and tear has taken it's toll and managed to actually bend the brackets slightly, they were easily adjusted back to alignment, sp I am hopeful of a little more speed now. If I can just get 3MPH more then I will be happy.


Glenn

Tell 1uk

I to run a panther with a Zen 7 after running the boat with tabs and fins I now run with niether,the hull seems to run well without the extra hardware.I found that the prop selection makes the difference for fun I use the prather 270 for all out speed I use a voodoo prop.With the 270 the boat handles and turns well with the voodoo very fast but you lose a degree stability and will flip in the turns if you run fast into the corner . The radio box I use is from Maplin and has been under water many times without any leeks . regards

w3bby

So true, so true, then you solve the instability gain more speed and it starts all over again. Good to hear the Panther is going well. Any pics of the other one you are building?
I have to replace the turn fin blade on my Sigma, it bent...... won't say where I bought them (it was Sweden) but I won't be buying them again[:@]

glennb2006

But the good news is the instability should be gone now with luck, tomnorrow should tell if the wind stays away.

Photo's of Jon's boat as requested, plus a bonus busted cover off mine from last weekend - oops.















Soon be getting wet when the rest of the parts I've ordered arrive.

Glenn

w3bby

Looking good
I did exactly the same to my Lynx cowl after a major flight, cracked in the same places [:@] I had the same cowl mod for the pipe as well but moved the whole pipe tunnel over so the pipe barely went over the radio box. So knackered after the flip that I cut the tunnel off.

glennb2006

Got some suff together to make an attempt at repairing this one, I've got another one to do for Jon's boat and then a spare in case I need it, so should be OK.

Ian,

PM me your address or drop me a mail and I'll post that prop to you.


Glenn

strikertom

To stop your boat turning left, you need to push the bottom of the rudder blade towards the transon, and tighten the bolt, trust me this works.
I have Dave's puma with his zen 7 and tuned pipe, this boat also could not run in a straight line until i pushed the rudder blade closer to the transom.

Thomas.

glennb2006

Hello Tom.


Running straight was never the issue, it was trying to get it to go left was the problem. Sorted now though. Never seen you down at Herrington before. That's where I run, I take it you do too?

Should be interesting soon, my friends Panther is nearly finished so there will be some sport. Bring your along, three is more like it.

Glenn

strikertom

Hi m8 yeah I run down herrington, good lake, i have not been down for over a year now, hoping to get my boat up there on friday afternoon to do some testing then go one sunday to see all the lads,
do you know anybody up there??

I am one of the people who set up the club by the way.

patriktegelberg

So what ya do to sort the left turnin.

glennb2006

Couple of things. Strut adjustment helped but the main one was a rudder alteration that Dave Marles recommended to me which was successful. It will turn left with power on now, still better right but good enough to avoid traffic if needs be.

Glenn