Arowana Build...

[electric]

Ok, so much for the high dollar builds with the carbon fiber inserts. I bought two of these for my son and I to race. Another friend bought two for his son and him as well. They meet the following criteria:
1. Cheap (Hull with hardware was around 65 or 70 dollars)
2. Roll Over (So we can run them anywhere and not worry about recovery)
3. One battery per boat. More fun, less money.

First the general impression on the boat:
1. High Gloss hull (Shine like Gelcoat)
2. Everything fits together well. Hatch fits perfectly.
3. Wood flood chamber wall (not so great, but we can deal with that)

I own from a Toyssport to a SuperVee to a Surge Crusher. This boat blows away a Surge Crusher in terms of finish. Not as thick of glass job as the Super Vee, but it feels light in a good way like a Toysport.

Really, all I can say is I am shocked at how nice the boat is given the price.

[electric]

The Set up

Ok, here is what we plan to run in them:
1. Fiegao 7L
2. Swordfish 120amp
3. 2s(7.4volt)

Most of the inside parts were purchased here so we cleaned Steven out of his 7L motors and some ESC's. We are going for reliability on these boats so they run, run, run.

I have all the items in to build the first one, so I will get it started while I wait one more Motor and ESC.

I really like the profile of the boat.

[electric]

Check out the drive shaft on this one. Solid. Kinda like a fat wire drive. Nice collet. Bearing on the back. They had it oiled up as well.

The collet, while nice, will not work because the diameter is wrong for a Feigao motor shaft. Also it looks like the shaft diameter is smaller than a .150 shaft. I will check that tomorrow.

[electric]

Ok, I need to sort out this drive shaft. You see the SV drive shaft next to the solid shaft of that came with the boat. I need to know what size shaft that is, because it is slightly smaller than the SV shaft where you get to the solid part of that shaft. I am sure it is some mm size?
I also am a bit perplexed by the other end and which collet to get. The diameter of that appears to be smaller than a SV, but will not fit in a .150 collet I have. It's slightly to big for that. Pretty sure, this is all MM stuff. Would someone tell me what they think I am dealing with?

[electric]

And one other issue to be worked out. The 9l motor is a bit large, but just a little dremal work on the back end will solve that. The battery is a bit of an issue, but again, with a micro servo and a bit of work I think I can get that sorted out....

[NativePaul]

Is there enough freeboard to stand the Lipo up on its side against the flood chamber wall? they roll over better like that anyway if there is enough hull depth to do it.

The 9L is rather a low KV for mono1, are you going to be running 3s? Many mono1s start acting up when fitted with a big prop so you may not be happy with the speed you can get on 2s.

[electric]

Is there enough freeboard to stand the Lipo up on its side against the flood chamber wall? they roll over better like that anyway if there is enough hull depth to do it.

The 9L is rather a low KV for mono1, are you going to be running 3s? Many mono1s start acting up when fitted with a big prop so you may not be happy with the speed you can get on 2s.

The boat is to "thin" to stand it up. Sorry, I got the wrong motor wind, its 7L. Revised my earlier posts. We would end up with 3,566 RPM * 7.4 = 26388 rpm, so I guess we will see how that works and go from there.

[BHChieftain]

Are you using a fiegao 380?
Chief

[electric]

Are you using a fiegao 380?
Chief

No, on advice from Jay, I am using the 540L 7. He suggested the bigger can will have less problems with heat build up.

[electric]

Made some progress on the boat(s) tonight. I am sharing a lot of pictures because a friend is also going to build out two of these. I do have a question. What is the preferred way to mount a servo when there is no room? I have a small piece of plywood to give me a good base for the servo. I was thinking double sided servo tape might work? This is such a small boat the loads are not going to be to much anyway? Or should I just glue it down somehow? Ideas?

[electric]

More Pics...

[CornelP]

Get some ideas from here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1073547

Over 11 pages and some of the guys actually race them, so there are a lot of good hints.

[electric]

Get some ideas from here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1073547

Over 11 pages and some of the guys actually race them, so there are a lot of good hints.

I took a look at the thread, but that is for the larger boat. Ours are 22.5" long.

http://www.r2hobbies.com/eng/proddetail.php?prod=rcbt0401002_code

[electric]

A couple more things happened tonight. I decided it made more sense(and much easier) just to cut the back stop where the motor is completely out. There is so much wood glued down on the mount it should not be a problem and it enables easier maintenance of the motor. I also built a very rough home made servo mount with some wood. This will enable me to screw the servo in. It will also make it possible to get the servo out if it fails. I am waiting on the rest of the hardware and collet's to finish out the build.

Every wonder how they make those perfect z shapes for servo wires. There's a tool for that.

[electric]

One more post to show how the servo will sit.