Mean Machine nitro to FE

[dirtnsnowrider]

I picked up this hull a few days ago from Remy at Aeromarine. The hull had seen better days but was still seaworthy and had no flaws except for some dirt and grime. I plan on running this hull on 5s to 6s. I do have all my UL-1 electronics and running gear to put into this hull if I need parts. I started this build last night at 8pm. Here are picks of the hull with the motor in.

9894198942989439894498945

[dirtnsnowrider]

Here are some pics of an idea to mount the motor. I had not even began to think about what to do with this hull. As I pulled the motor I was looking at the nitro engine/fuel tank plate and how to work around that thing. Here is a pic of my bright idea in mock up form.

9894698947

[dirtnsnowrider]

Here are some pics of the wood rails I finished cutting and waterproofing. I am using my leftover UL-1 motor mount to mount the motor.

989489894998950

[dirtnsnowrider]

I will also be using my UL-1 flex shaft. I took the measurement of what length I needed an grabbed my dremel and cut her down to size. I will also be using my UL-1 motor until I find a suitable 6s motor to pick up and a reasonable price. I am also using the UL-1 collet. So far my total investment is the price of the hull and hardware which was a great bargain (thanks again Remy @ Aeromarine). Here are a few more pics of mock placement. I will glass the rails later today when I wake up from getting some sleep. I was able to strip, clean, polish the rudder and strut and start final placement of all electronics. Not bad for a few hours of work. She should be ready to hit the water after I glass the rails and solder the flex shaft end that was cut. I will also drill a secondary water line hole for the secondary pick up. Here is where she sits till I get some sleep.

989519895298953

[dirtnsnowrider]

So I finished off the nirto to electric conversion on this mean machine. I glassed in the wood rails, drilled a secondary water line hole, mounted the secondary water pick up off the strut, put in the water lines and rigged the servo with a linkage this morning. Total cost for this build was just the price of hull and hardware. Remy really hooked me up. :buttrock: I added what I had from my UL-1 and now she is ready for the video shoot tomorrow morning. Total work time 4.5 hours. Check out the final product....

9899898999990009900199002

[dirtnsnowrider]

A few more pics of the servo linkage and hull with applied stickers.

9900399004990059900699007

[tlandauer]

Ingenious! That is the quickest/simplest way to get around the situation. The hull looks great with the stickers! Enjoy!:rockon2:
Post some vid!

[dirtnsnowrider]

I test ran the boat and she ran very very wet. After yanking the strut up all the way and making another pass she was still very wet. I noticed that the stock hardware really has no room for adjusting the prop to a positive angle to get the nose up. The way my boat was made did not allow for that positive angle. I pulled out the stuff tube and cut down a ul-1 stuff tube to the desired length and shaped it. It still did not get the prop where I wanted it so I gut down some brass tubing that was a little bigger and mad a through hull stuff tube that would allow my other stuff tubing to slightly move when I yank the prop angle up. Now I am able to get the hull to ride the way I like. Now I am able to adjust the strut height and prop angle for any water conditions. The boat is only running on 4s.

9948799488

[tlandauer]

HI, that thru the hull out side tube looks good. Is your first picture the way it is now? Just for your info, my MM strut ( bottom of the bore) is almost 1/4" above the bottom of the sponson, that is high but not crazy, I had a lot of input from other guys at the time when I was building mine. When it is set up like that, the strut actually needs 1* of negative thrust angle. All this assuming the COG is adjusted correctly. I had to elongate the hole on the strut blade so it can be set at that height.
Just for your info, hope you don't mind my $.002.
:beerchug:

[dirtnsnowrider]

I love collecting spare change......... Yeah the last pics are what its like now. Before the prop was always negative by about 2-5 degrees. I had the strut way up about where you had it and I was still running wet because the prop angle was severely negative. After examining my options I decided to try this through hull tubing set up for a first time to see what kind of adjustments I can get vs. the normal set up. I have the strut drilled out but my flex tube was preventing the angle I wanted from the way it was glassed in. I have a feeling that I will be running and adjusting the set up on this boat for some time till I get it just the way I like. Thanks for the info as I will keep it logged so when I have trouble again I can refer to you settings a guideline. Best part is now my strut and prop can actually be adjusted.

[tlandauer]

I love collecting spare change......... Yeah the last pics are what its like now. Before the prop was always negative by about 2-5 degrees. I had the strut way up about where you had it and I was still running wet because the prop angle was severely negative. After examining my options I decided to try this through hull tubing set up for a first time to see what kind of adjustments I can get vs. the normal set up. I have the strut drilled out but my flex tube was preventing the angle I wanted from the way it was glassed in. I have a feeling that I will be running and adjusting the set up on this boat for some time till I get it just the way I like. Thanks for the info as I will keep it logged so when I have trouble again I can refer to you settings a guideline. Best part is now my strut and prop can actually be adjusted.
That is great, my stuffing tube is really "buried" in there with extra metal tabs and JB Weld, what size of the outer tube did you use? I like the multiple adjustability of this design, may be my next build...

[dirtnsnowrider]

brass tube 9/32 x .014 (7.14mm x .355mm)

That is the size tubing that I used. The stock stuff tubing was replaced with a cut down ul-1 stuff tube.

[Brushless55]

What is your CG set at ?

[dirtnsnowrider]

9 inches from the rear. Around 32% with no batteries in the hull. I can place the batteries where needed depending upon water conditions allowing me to make quick handling adjustments on the fly. I ran the boat today and she ran dry and fast. The wind started to pick up so I moved the batteries forward to about 40% from the rear and dropped the strut and she handled the white caps like a champ. I live in the wildest weather that you can imagine. The morning will start warm and no wind at all. Give it 2 hours and it will be raining with 30mph winds. I wanted a fully adjustable boat with a set up I can dial in at the waters edge. I was very happy with my results today and had planned on filming the runs but the video glasses my friend gave me to use were not in the case when I opened it up.

[dirtnsnowrider]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lz4XGrIZk

Finally was able to get some video of my boat. Sorry for the video quality as my camera is old.

[Heaving Earth]

Nice mm!
Looks like its running good, even tho your strut looks low? Can't tell for sure

[dirtnsnowrider]

Nice mm!
Looks like its running good, even tho your strut looks low? Can't tell for sure

I have been testing and testing and I seem to have the best overall performance when the strut is 3/16 of an inch above the bottom of the boat. I played around with it today for about 2 hours. When I have the strut all the way up positive she would just cavitate horribly. I slowly worked my way down till the boat started to keep the speed in the turns. She still cavitates a little bit from a dead start but I am happy with the way she is running. This boat really likes rough water which is a good thing for where I live since it is always extremely windy.

[Heaving Earth]

Yeah mine is at about 3/16 too

[tlandauer]

Video looks great! Just love to see how the MM corners!:buttrock:
Love how clear the water is, nice spot to run!:rockon2:

[Brushless55]

Wow, that runs better than I thought it would on UL-1 power!
great job man :rockon2: