Tweet
Well, as I got into this hobby again with my fleet of Pro Boat Mini-V’s for the kids, I also impulse purchased one of the Eba_ SeaRider 2000 Catamarans. The hull is about 15.5” long (almost 400mm), has a 30mm prop on it with a nice brushless motor. The speed control is water cooled and the shrink wrap is sealed with a clear putty (like shoo goo).
It was shipped in its original box with pictures on the side just like it came off the shelf! Concerning, but it was bubble wrapped and is a small strong hull, so it made the several thousand mile trip just fine. Box is scrap though!
The hull looks decent, actually fine for the price paid. The gelcoat is good and the hull is strong enough. I know that from running it full speed into the rocks after it submarined on me, but more on that later. One thing I did notice is that both running surfaces have a small hook in them. Not sure if this is designed in or if it is a result of pulling it from the mold too early. If anyone has one and can check it, I would like to know before I flatten out mine.
A couple things about this boat:
The clear lid to tape on for sealing the hull fits odd because the motor sticks up above this surface. So I used a heat gun and put a “bubble” or hump in the clear lid so it now fits without being force deformed over the motor.
The water outlet was a machined aluminum piece, not the hose sticking out the side as shown on Ebay.
I took the turn fins off. I am only running it on 2 cells and it is rated for 3. So my speeds should be low enough that turn fins should not be needed.
I removed about 12” of water line from inside the boat as they were very long! Better too long than too short.
I replaced the drive tube. The original drive line did not seem right. The drive cable is .093 with a 3mm prop shaft. The Teflon liner seemed like it was way too loose, maybe for 1/8” or 3mm drive cable. The shaft also ran in the Teflon tube unsupported. Either way, I drilled and reamed the aluminum stuffing tube out to 3/16”. I then securely epoxied this into the hull as it came right out while drilling it. Into this, I put a piece of 3/16 brass tube from the inside of the aluminum tube to just in front of the strut to hold the new .093 octura Teflon liner. I soldered a ½” long piece of 5/32 brass tubing into the end of the 3/16 tubing and left a ¼” sticking out. This is the correct size to slip into the brass nose piece on the strut. So now the flex cable is securely supported from the collet all the way to where it enters the strut. A simple thing to fix, the drivetrain is now secure and spins freely!
I also added foam into the front of the hull and the hatch cover.
The rudder push rod was not sealed either. Being short on rubber boots and impatient, I put some Vaseline on the pushrod and then sealed it inside and out with a dab of clear silicone. Let it dry and now it slides through the silicone, works pretty good.
Driving
I am running a 2s-2200 battery in this boat in the recommended place. The COG is 4.5” in front of the transom which seems pretty far back, but this is 30% on a 15.5 hull. I tried a 27mm prop from OSE but this did not work. Once on plane, it was great but it was really hard to get it onto plain. So back to the 30mm prop. The 30mm prop from OSE looks and measures identical to the original Sea Rider prop.
Even on two cells this thing jumps right up on plane. Now I need to figure out how to adjust the strut. The pond I ran on twice is fairly large (100 acres?) Both times the wind has been blowing towards the shore and been choppy. Waves in the 1.5” to 2” range I guess. Not real rough, but for a 15” boat this is choppy.
First time with the strut parallel and at the bottom of the ride surface it was hopping real bad. Bow up and 45 degrees and then down, up and down. Tried a few places and angled prop down to try to plant the bow some. It worked but too much and it would hook the nose and spin.
Twice I submarined it. Driving full speed it would bounce and just disappear under water. You could see the yellow and white color disappear down into the depths with the prop still pushing it! About 10 seconds later it comes back up and off it goes!
Well, a few minutes later it happened again. And nothing. 10 seconds.
Still nothing, did it sink? 20 seconds…. It can’t sink, it has too much foam in it.
25 seconds… Can’t believe its gone. It has to come back up unless it went deep enough and got caught on something… around 30 seconds it comes back up floating fairly level and the prop still spinning! Jumps on plane, scoots towards shore, hits the football sized rocks and makes a clean jump up the two foot high bank and lands upside down about 8’ into the yard upside down with the prop spinning. Then the motor shuts off. Huh?!?!? Hatch and tape actually held but it had some water in it which got into my Spektrum 3ch receiver and glitched it.
Well, a scuff in the hull, a hair line crack in the gelcoat at one of the strakes and a bent brass stuffing tube. Nothing else wrong! Brass tube has been replaced and it is ready to go again.
So, how the heck do you trim these little guys out? I am now thinking on how flighty this little cat is I should have bought a Velocity mono from Sailr. Dang impulse buys!
I will have to post some pics and also try to get a video of it running. Going to try again today and see if I can get some calmer water.
Brian
It was shipped in its original box with pictures on the side just like it came off the shelf! Concerning, but it was bubble wrapped and is a small strong hull, so it made the several thousand mile trip just fine. Box is scrap though!
The hull looks decent, actually fine for the price paid. The gelcoat is good and the hull is strong enough. I know that from running it full speed into the rocks after it submarined on me, but more on that later. One thing I did notice is that both running surfaces have a small hook in them. Not sure if this is designed in or if it is a result of pulling it from the mold too early. If anyone has one and can check it, I would like to know before I flatten out mine.
A couple things about this boat:
The clear lid to tape on for sealing the hull fits odd because the motor sticks up above this surface. So I used a heat gun and put a “bubble” or hump in the clear lid so it now fits without being force deformed over the motor.
The water outlet was a machined aluminum piece, not the hose sticking out the side as shown on Ebay.
I took the turn fins off. I am only running it on 2 cells and it is rated for 3. So my speeds should be low enough that turn fins should not be needed.
I removed about 12” of water line from inside the boat as they were very long! Better too long than too short.
I replaced the drive tube. The original drive line did not seem right. The drive cable is .093 with a 3mm prop shaft. The Teflon liner seemed like it was way too loose, maybe for 1/8” or 3mm drive cable. The shaft also ran in the Teflon tube unsupported. Either way, I drilled and reamed the aluminum stuffing tube out to 3/16”. I then securely epoxied this into the hull as it came right out while drilling it. Into this, I put a piece of 3/16 brass tube from the inside of the aluminum tube to just in front of the strut to hold the new .093 octura Teflon liner. I soldered a ½” long piece of 5/32 brass tubing into the end of the 3/16 tubing and left a ¼” sticking out. This is the correct size to slip into the brass nose piece on the strut. So now the flex cable is securely supported from the collet all the way to where it enters the strut. A simple thing to fix, the drivetrain is now secure and spins freely!
I also added foam into the front of the hull and the hatch cover.
The rudder push rod was not sealed either. Being short on rubber boots and impatient, I put some Vaseline on the pushrod and then sealed it inside and out with a dab of clear silicone. Let it dry and now it slides through the silicone, works pretty good.
Driving
I am running a 2s-2200 battery in this boat in the recommended place. The COG is 4.5” in front of the transom which seems pretty far back, but this is 30% on a 15.5 hull. I tried a 27mm prop from OSE but this did not work. Once on plane, it was great but it was really hard to get it onto plain. So back to the 30mm prop. The 30mm prop from OSE looks and measures identical to the original Sea Rider prop.
Even on two cells this thing jumps right up on plane. Now I need to figure out how to adjust the strut. The pond I ran on twice is fairly large (100 acres?) Both times the wind has been blowing towards the shore and been choppy. Waves in the 1.5” to 2” range I guess. Not real rough, but for a 15” boat this is choppy.
First time with the strut parallel and at the bottom of the ride surface it was hopping real bad. Bow up and 45 degrees and then down, up and down. Tried a few places and angled prop down to try to plant the bow some. It worked but too much and it would hook the nose and spin.
Twice I submarined it. Driving full speed it would bounce and just disappear under water. You could see the yellow and white color disappear down into the depths with the prop still pushing it! About 10 seconds later it comes back up and off it goes!
Well, a few minutes later it happened again. And nothing. 10 seconds. Still nothing, did it sink? 20 seconds…. It can’t sink, it has too much foam in it. 25 seconds… Can’t believe its gone. It has to come back up unless it went deep enough and got caught on something… around 30 seconds it comes back up floating fairly level and the prop still spinning! Jumps on plane, scoots towards shore, hits the football sized rocks and makes a clean jump up the two foot high bank and lands upside down about 8’ into the yard upside down with the prop spinning. Then the motor shuts off. Huh?!?!? Hatch and tape actually held but it had some water in it which got into my Spektrum 3ch receiver and glitched it.Well, a scuff in the hull, a hair line crack in the gelcoat at one of the strakes and a bent brass stuffing tube. Nothing else wrong! Brass tube has been replaced and it is ready to go again.
So, how the heck do you trim these little guys out? I am now thinking on how flighty this little cat is I should have bought a Velocity mono from Sailr. Dang impulse buys!
I will have to post some pics and also try to get a video of it running. Going to try again today and see if I can get some calmer water.
Brian
Will try to get out there this evening and get a video.
Comment