expresscraft Boat hulls
 

Anyone have thoughts on expresscraft hulls.

Good bang for the buck and Tom (Owner) is a OK guy .............;) (just kidding Tom) and he will help you with build info

Lots out there of his boats

Randy

Great boats for the price a bit more finishing than some others but ist also the differance in the price would buy another one from him any day of the week

Expresscraft boats are great hulls and Tom is a very good fella! Go for it if you see something you really like.

you guys are alright. I knew if i paid you enough you would say good things about me. JK... hey cotman if you go to our site www.expresscraft.com look at the (a boat is born) tab and you will see how our boats are made, also there are a lot of you tube video's posted by customers on our boats, thanks guys.

Tom, which of your hulls are best suited for dual drives?

I am not sure what you are asking? a lot of our hulls can handle twins or a single with a gear box to mount duel drives, do you want a cat or a deep v ?

Deep V, dual out drives/dual props.
Inline with gear box or singles side by side - can you do dual stringers for side by side, size permitting?
Just hooked on wanting dual props and looking for the right hull.
Thx!

we would ship the hull without stringers in the case of twins, T0 be honest if you can do the twin build, putting the rails in should not be a issue, all I could do is put in oversize generic rails, as a builder my self I would not want to build a twin based on someone else's thoughts on how it should be laid out. for the most part in most deep v's you will have to stagger side by side motors, not in our sea hawk,or other hawk boats, To me the best twin as you are asking would be a inline with the gear box, then our std 5" rails would work perfect. as well as the inlines are out standing once they have been gone through by a reputable builder. they are still having some quality control issue's out of the box.once you have a plan I can help you make it happen, all we do is hulls, so my info will not be based on selling you more parts, only that you have a great time with our boat.

You should decide all this before you buy a hull. Side by sides and inlines are 2 completely different animals. Especially with side by sides you should mount your own stringers.It's not that big a deal.

Fit everything then go from there.



Is this your first build?

Hi Paul, thx for asking.
Done a few small electrics and a couple of Enforcer Gators - ready to step it up for an off season project. Want something for very choppy lake. Not necessarily looking for mad speed but would prefer responsiveness. Torque steer drives me nuts, hence trying dual drives for the first time.
Have decided on an inline, already have MHZ gear box. Thinking about the WD200 steerable drives.
Will have plenty of placement/setup and exhaust questions over the coming months!

I think a good balanced and sharpened prop will help a lot with torque steer,I would also ask about how well the gear box will hold up to the twin, I could be wrong here but I believe the mhz box is only rated for a 26 cc motor. If am wrong great but ask before building a boat around that idea.I have a friend that is a member here on RCU he goes by (Boss330) he has a c-54 with a inline that runs great and is a 79mph boat. Thats a 225.00 carbon fiber 54" hull. with the twin I recommend a double mat lay up that cost another 50.00, when we did the build the first time without it the hull flexed, no issues with a single and no torque steer. thats with a 3216 prop .

I think a good balanced and sharpened prop will help a lot with torque steer,I would also ask about how well the gear box will hold up to the twin, I could be wrong here but I believe the mhz box is only rated for a 26 cc motor. If am wrong great but ask before building a boat around that idea.I have a friend that is a member here on RCU he goes by (Boss330) he has a c-54 with a inline that runs great and is a 79mph boat. Thats a 225.00 carbon fiber 54" hull. with the twin I recommend a double mat lay up that cost another 50.00, when we did the build the first time without it the hull flexed, no issues with a single and no torque steer. thats with a 3216 prop .

I know of a few guys that use Werner's gearboxes for the inline motors due to the power output of even a stock RCMK. The steerable drives are pretty nice looking for that scale look. If it were my set-up i would use the stinger style drive with a rudder just to avoid the headache of extra moving parts failing.

Literature with the MHZ gear box didn't give a HP rating but stated can be used with 1, 2 or 3 cylinder all brand engines - I have the one with integrated clutch, from MHZ Germany.
How can you tell if a hull is flexing?...from cracks?

The wd200 gearbox works great with the k600,my friend Bob uses this setup in one of my Apaches see pics,he also uses wd200 stearable drives.Boat runs 72 mph with that setup,hulls built with carbon rienforcement to avoid flexing under the power.Speak to Bob aka qdemon on here im sure he will chime in,he can help you with info on how to build this setup.
Mart

What size is that Apache? Was looking at 70 inch or a little better hulls. The WD200 gearbox was not available at the time I ordered so got the MHZ.
Concern is the WD200 is 1:1 - MHZ is 18.5% up speed so not really sure how that may work out...but do prefer the MHZ output shaft spacing.

Shes 58" long, 70" isnt better its just bigger ;),the 1-1 gearbox is what you want for the inline you dont want the 18-5% increase,personally i think that was a mistake def get the 1-1 ratio gearbox for the inline thats my opinion anyway.I dont see the spacing on the output shafts been an issue,Bob actually used teflon tubes no brass,think he just used doubled up teflon with no issues,its how many of the Europeans do it.
Mart

The MHZ gearbox will handle the RCMK with no isue

well there you go, I was not certain so i did not want to give you bad advise,give some thought as to how much and what you really want out of your boat.I love scale stuff and have come to terms that compared to all out model boats there will be some performance lost,To a point, a nice scale model is just awesome and the fact that it actually works is a plus, But not on par with the model itself,Myself I have had a great time driving my friends 84mph inline powered 50" thunderbolt, I have also enjoyed the day at the lake with a sail boat. I think a good single (new quickdraw) with a deep vee pipe and a bonzi clutch with mounts is what I would power my next build with, hands down. Twins are cool but require more work then I want in a model boat, They simply are not for every one, I am glad I have a friend with one but I am glad its his, He keeps his stuff perfect all the time and is very competent with tearing down his motor,For less money you can get the qd with pipe ready to go, and I think have a lot more trouble free days at the lake then you can with a twin,This is a broad statement and does not apply to that very select modeler that is always on his game and works very hard to be on the cutting edge.Most average modelers will find themselves way over there head with a twin.

Tom, I also like the larger boats due to the abundance of rough water at the lake. Also like the twin inline engine with gear drive. I'm torn between the Phantom and the Seahawk. I see the Seahawk has a stepped bottom, is that really going to make a difference over the Phantom? Also I am hell bent on dual rudders and a clutch....If that matters....

lever, am torn also - between Phantom, Seahawk and C-68. One thing that concerns me is talk of hull flexing with mucho hp...ya know it's flexing cuz the hull cracks? That's not good.
Like the lines of C-68 most but never seen a build with it so dunno it's water manners.
Plus am really looking for choppy water hull and all those have a long pointy bow which may grab chop compared to something more snub nose, like an Enforcer Magnum or something along those lines.

Go with the GTX hull....proven here in Bermuda in calm and rough water conditions. Got plenty videos to prove it,not just talk! LOL.

Phantom
 

I decided on the Phantom, I have not heard about hull flexing issues, that would be a deal breaker! This boat is going to be used in a heavy boat traffic wave environment and the hull needs to be strong. I will search the forums for hull issues, Have not seen anything to that effect as of yet. Also decided to keep it simple and use this motor. http://shop.redlinemotors.us/RCMKK30...-RLPM-K30S.htm
A bonzi clutch too. The hardware is anther conundrum, some much to choose from. Thanks guys for any input.

SS, i've seen your videos and it's an awesome boat for sure! I had in mind the Phantom being bigger would handle some serious waves? I had a 57" Formula 402 back in the day and it was heavy with a stock zen26. It did handle great in the rough as it spent more time in the air than water. Never flipped or rolled over. That being said it sucked in calm water.