TomMoorehouse

Well I finally finished my FireFighter .18 plans. This boat is for everyone that wants to use one of the hot new .18 engines that are available. It is 27" long, should fit a 6oz tank if it is custom made. You could fit a plastic tank but it would be above the deck. You just can't draw a boat this size to fit a plastic tank and still have it meet all my design criteria. Currently it is just a plan. It has never been built. It has all my best design ideas so I know it will work great. The difference between this design and my others.... This design is an all out heat race design. It is not designed to fit a pull starter (It likely still could though), It is designed to be able to run and be stable at very high speeds. It could be raced confidently in a .21 hydro class since it is bigger than my other .12 designs. It will not fit a stock motor mount as that would have comprimised the design. The kit firefighter .12 was designed with a stock motor mount in mind and less power than these .18's. It can also easily fit a pull starter. The blazin is also an all out heat racing design but for stock .12 size engines. The blazin is for people that really want to RACE a .12 size boat. An .18 in the blazzin is really too much power for it.

What ya think?

Thanks,
Tom

Sean Bowf

I think I want to know where I can download the full size version at...

I had hoped of running my .12 rigger in an organized race, but have not seen enough interest in them for the class to make it. I thought of putting an .18 (or .15) in my little home made rigger, and trying to run it with the B-hydro guys...but building this is probably a better idea.

Sean

gooycheese

You know I like them allready

Paul


But I got a .21 that needs a home and this is just a little too small.

TomMoorehouse

The reason for the generic post..... I'm worried about giving it away for free. It is probably a better design than my current .21 and I really don't want to have people scaling it up as it could hurt my .21 business..... I thought about selling it, but would people be willing to pay for it? That's why I made a post to see if it would generate enough intrest. Or should I just share it with my friends?

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

Tom, I'm always torn on this subject. Free plans are always welcome but on the other hand, anyone that puts a lot of work into designing a boat should be able to make a few dollars. CAD programs aren't cheap plus the time involved should be worth a little something. If you wish to give away the plans then that's up to you.
The problem with this site is that things can't be offered for sale in the forums.
I know that you've been working on this boat for some time now and happy to see that you've got it this far.

Sean Bowf

Being someone that has never tried to make money at something like this, I don't know what input to give...

I would have never even thought of the option of upsizing it and putting a .21 in it. Thought never crossed my mind...but I am sure others would have figured that out.

If the plans were close to the price of the .12 rigger...then I would have no problem paying for them.

Only other thing I can think of is to package it with both .18 and .21 versions together and sell it. Of course it would be redundant if one was just an upsized version of the other... But then folks would not need to figure out how much to upsize the .18 plans, or downsize the .21 plans to get what they want.

Sean

gooycheese

I know you aren't looking to sell here Tom you are just checking to see if there would be an interest. It looks like 2 for sure 3 including you would have some interest.


Paul


The only problem is the .18 is not in its own class, it would have to compete against the .21's and thats not an easy task for sure (but it can be done, D4 would really be tough to be competitive for sure).

Sean Bowf

Paul, I know what you are saying about it not being the top of its class (its class being .13 to .21 riggers). But to me, the benefit of the .18 size plan is the affordability of the .18 size engines, in comparison to the .21 engines.

When I raced in Dallas, they did not have enough folks to have B-hydro (riggers) and B-sport hydros in seperate classes. They combined them. So...I took second in the class with my .18 CVRM powered MV. I lost to a .15 rigger...

I know different districts would bring different levels of competition in this class. But as you know, a .12 rigger can pretty easily get tuned to run over 40MPH. So with classes like I have seen here, it would not be hard to be competitive with a .18 powered rigger. I am guessing this would be a 50+ MPH boat with a TZ or CVR in it...maybe even 60+ MPH if tuned right (just guessing).

Sean

gooycheese

I would guess upper 50's maybe even lower 60's for sure I get upper 40's with my sport 12.cvr engine. Yes for sure you could be competitive with a .18 rigger, I would guess you could be competitve with a .12 rigger (did the .15 rigger smoke your vegas or was it a close race?).Ya know different classes are more popular in different areas.


Paul

Sean Bowf

He had the sides of the rears of his front sponson shaved, to cut into the waves. I was surprised, but it seemed to work pretty good (we had rough water on day 1). I knew I was behind, so tried to let it all hang out in the third heat, and rolled my vegas...so really had not chance of catching him in points after that. I think he was pretty much walking away from me anyhow. I think, it is the same guy that has the website explaining how to port the TRX .15 engine...so his engine was probably not stock. But, I think a well setup .12 rigger would probably be able to beat my mod MV. Well, if you are hitting high 40s, then no doubt that it could. Best I have seen was 43.6 MPH with a 3oz GPS in my boat...so probably close to 44 MPH without it. And, it gets quite flighty at that speed (I run with a .7 oz weight in the nose of the MV to try to keep it down). Anything over 40 MPH, and the vegas hull, in its stock form, is real loose, and wanting to blow over (especially with any sort of head wind).

Sean

gooycheese

I got a trx .15 my .12 blows it away.


Paul

Sean Bowf

Sent you a link to the mod he posted. Here is a link to the last heat of the race...you can see the rigger and my boat in the video... http://media.putfile.com/Dallas-B-hydro-5th-heat

Sean

ralph289

Tom any news on the .18 kit ??
Ralph

ryan_t888

Tom, what program do you use for your drawings? I use to be an AutoCad fan until school taught me SolidWorks. Now I won't touch AutoCad or similar programs with a 20 foot pole. It takes way too long drawing in all those lines!

I believe you should sell the plans for a reasonable price.

Ryan

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

It looks like Tom is now selling the plans, http://www.firefighterboats.com/index.php

ralph289

Thanks Ron, do you know if he has any CNC Laser cut kits for the .18 rigger ? I just see the plans.
Ralph

TomMoorehouse

Sorry no kits yet.