Rick's GP310

[rickwess]

There are lots of build threads on this hull, so I'll be brief and really just documenting for posterity. This was my first wood boat build and I has to say it went together fairly easily. The directions are showing there age a little, but if you step back and think about what it will.

Sponson's built and a nice chunk of aluminum bonded to attach the turn fin to. I inlay'd CF on all outside surfaces while I was sealing it. It was a shame to cover it all up with foam.


127858 127859 127861 127868 127869

[rickwess]

Tub built and CF inlay added to all bottom surfaces while it was being sealed. Attached the sponsons to the tub with thickened epoxy. The thickened epoxy made it easy to get a nice smooth seam.

127866 127867

[rickwess]

Everything skinned and fitted the canopy. Fitting the canopy is a more difficult with the gelcoat version than with the epoxy version. You can't see the tub opening so it's finicky work.

127870 127871 127872

[785boats]

Nice one Rick.
You'll love running this boat.
What power system are you planning for it?

[rickwess]

I'm looking forward to getting it wet when the lake melts.

I'll be using a TP3630 2100KV on 4s1p and most likely start with a m445 prop. The ESC is a SF120 Pro+..........overkill but fits nicely in the side cavity. Once you start data logging it's hard to imagine not having it.

I shipped my motor directly to HRC so Dave had a guinea pig to build a water jacket. I should be getting both this week so I can start laying out the inards. I'm going to build a battery tray out of 1/8 ply and top it with CF. I also want to do something to thicken the floor where the stuffing tube passes through as well as a dam for the GFlex bonding the motor mount. Again, probably 1/8 ply with CF on top. Still noodling on it though.

[jcald2000]

Lay all of your power components in the hull, rudder, strut, servo, turn fin and check for balance before glue anything. The foam in the sponsons has added weight in the bow.

[RayR]

Lay all of your power components in the hull, rudder, strut, servo, turn fin and check for balance before glue anything. The foam in the sponsons has added weight in the bow.

The added weight in the bow will help the balance point, but as Mr. Caldwell said, lay everything out before proceeding.

[rickwess]

The added weight in the bow will help the balance point, but as Mr. Caldwell said, lay everything out before proceeding.

For sure. The CoG should be 1" behind the sponson according to Mike.

I have everything but the VC turn fin which Dick is still working on. It should have little impact since it will be straddling he COG.

[rickwess]

The foam in the sponons didn't add enough weight in the bow for my liking.

I built a battery tray from 1/8 ply and put a layer of CF on it. This gives me a flat surface right to the bow.

128832

In order to get the CoG right, I first needed to order a pair of 2S batteries so that the batteries will fit right into the bow. The motor also needs to go further forward than I would have liked. The front is very crowded as a result. Nothing is epoxied in yet, but I don't see other options to how it's laid out now.

128834 128835

[Shooter]

Nice job Rick. Looks like you made some nice fillets between the sponsons and tub, and the finish looks good as well.

[rickwess]

Nice job Rick. Looks like you made some nice fillets between the sponsons and tub, and the finish looks good as well.

What you're seeing are the remnants of me experimenting what would happen if I put a 2nd coat of epoxy on it. The 2nd coat I tinted white. It's mostly sanded off and then sealed one more time with straight epoxy then wiped off with a cotton shop rag. It'll still be a month before the garage will be warm enough attempt my first even spray.

[rickwess]

Got the motor mount installed last night. I really like working with GFlex for bonding.........thickened to get a proper bond to the hull and straight to form a nice finish. GFlex dyes nicely with epoxy tint.

The HRC mount works nice. I like the adjust-ability of the angle so I can precisely determine where the stuffing tube hole gets cut.


.......includes obligatory shots with OSE logo

128965 128966 128967

[ray schrauwen]

Nice job Rick, looks great!

I've heard others mention G-Flex. Can you fill me in on this adhesive? Actually, that was a bad selection of words... How about, looking for more information on GFlex.

[rickwess]

Thanks Ray.

G/flex is a West Systems product. I suppose it's initial application was the repair of aluminum boats, but in general it's great for bonding aluminum and dissimilar materials together. It also has some flex once it's cured. It's a bear to sand since it has that flex though.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/g-flex-epoxy/

It's a fairly thick epoxy, but much more viscous than JB. Heating it with a heat gun while stirring will thin it out but reduce the time before it kicks. Since it's a typical epoxy, you can add fillers to reduce sag as well as tint using epoxy dye. I will say that it blushes a lot (waxy film on top once cured). That's easy to take off with rubbing alcohol, but it does remove the shine.

[rickwess]

Moving slow as I know I'm about done until things warm up enough to be able to paint in the garage.

I'll install the stuffing tube after it's painted, but I thought I'd get everything ready while I have some free time. I've never seen it mentioned here, but I find it easier to get the bends perfect by lining up the flex without the collect installed on the motor shaft. The pics below are without the stuffing tube epoxied in. The only thing holding the stuffing tube in place in the first pic is the strut. Having the adjustable motor mount certainly helps as well.

129290 129291

[Fella1340]

great looking build. Nice job getting the cf down so smootly, it looks a lot more tricky getting it to look nice that your standard inlay. i have a wood boat that needs building and seeing how you put it in will be very helpful come time.

[rickwess]

great looking build. Nice job getting the cf down so smootly, it looks a lot more tricky getting it to look nice that your standard inlay. i have a wood boat that needs building and seeing how you put it in will be very helpful come time.

Thanks. It just takes patience, which I normally don't have. There are a lot of little patches to cut. I spray the CF with adhesive a day before before I cut. It stays tacking enough to "stick" it in place and then you can laminate all the pieces at once.

[ray schrauwen]

What brand spray adhesive stays tacky that long?

[rickwess]

What brand spray adhesive stays tacky that long?

http://www.compositescanada.com/product-catalog/process-materials/product/319-airtac-2?search=spray%20adhesive

It loses it tack over time, but that is a long time. The reason I mentioned a day is that this stuff is really tacky after a few hours. You better be 100% sure of your placement is you use it right away.

The stuff I sprayed a few months ago still has enough tack to hold it it place. This also helps prevent the CF cloth from fraying during and after it's cut.

[rickwess]

Killing time while it warms up enough to paint. Made an ESC mount as well as platform to mount the receiver and voltage protector. I'll use small pieces of antenna tube to route the receiver antenna wires across that cross member then along each side of the hatch opening.


130266 130267 130268
130269

[785boats]

Looking good Rick.
Isn't it frustrating waiting for the weather to turn, just so you can spray a bit of paint around.

[ray schrauwen]

Thanks Rick.

[rickwess]

It's been a busy non-snow season. Lots of construction projects at the cottage so building boats took a back seat. I had to be content running the ones I have built already.

I left off needing to paint this, but have never painted with anything but a rattle can. A quick trip to Princess Auto for an HVLP gun and Composites Canada for 2 part epoxy Primer and Topcoat and I was all set to go. The below is after 3 coats of primer, but I did sand between the 1st and second coat because I ended up with runs in 2 spots. I think I had too much paint flowing through the gun so I adjusted it down. All said I'm happy with the the way it's turning out.

The primer is Endura EP-2C Sealer/Primer. It's not a high build primer but did a good job and filling in the minor sanding lines.

137777 137778

My spray booth was good 'ol mother nature. I strung a rope in a clearing between two trees and hung the boat from it. Once sprayed, I brought it into the basement to cure.

[ray schrauwen]

Green primer, woohoo! The weather looks pretty good for painting now. Nice work sdo far! I'm working on my GP265 right now.

[rickwess]

Green primer, woohoo! The weather looks pretty good for painting now. Nice work sdo far! I'm working on my GP265 right now.

That's the zinc chromate in the primer. Don't need to worry about the wood rusting now. :laugh:

[ray schrauwen]

Once you paint it, you could let it cure until Feb., March. I'm going to let my Cheetah cure all winter before I put all the rigging back on.

[rickwess]

That seems excessive, but it may end up being that way based on how much time I have. My biggest concern would be the hatch tape peeling off the paint than the rigging having an effect on it. The spec sheet on the topcoat shows a full cure within 9 days depending on the temperature.

137779

[rickwess]

Not a perfect paint job, but I'm happy with it. I'd be more concerned if I didn't have a dog who instinctively needs to nose butt (or worse) each boat when it gets puts in the water.

137870 137871


Also, added sum two part foam to the hatch for flotation and a layer of s-glass to stiffen it up.

137872

[rickwess]

Tinted G-Flex used to bond the stuffing tube in place.

137874 137873

[ray schrauwen]

Very professional! me likee!

[ray schrauwen]

What is S glass compared to regular fiberglass?

[rickwess]

Merci Ray.

S-Glass is a poor mans carbon fiber..........LOL. It pretty much looks and feels exactly the same as E-fiberglass cloth but has approximately 30% more tensile strength and 15% more stiffness than E-Glass and also has a superior impact strength.

If I want to get it wet this year, I need to finish it in the next two days. I've got most of it put back together and just need to install the water outlet and solder the bullet connectors on the batteries. The limited depth in the nose forced the use of two 2S batteries in series so I want to take my time to get the wiring tidy.

[TRUCKPULL]

Rick

Where did you get the HRC motor mount??

Larry

[rickwess]

From HRC. I asked Dave to design one for the TP3630 that was adjustable and had flat feet to improve bond strength. Mine is the first one he built. I also thought Steve was going to carry them.

The water jacket is also the first Dave built for the TP3630.

[rickwess]

Ready to get wet. I won't have much time to play with it so this will pretty much test if it floats and moves forward. I'll start with a m440 prop and maybe try a m445 or even a x437/3 (detongued) if all goes well.

137895 137896 137897 137898 137899

[rickwess]

Everything seems good and I'm happy I finished it up before the lake solidified. Water temp was about 5C this morning. I still need to get used to driving hyrdos. They really only steer well under full throttle.

The motor is a TP 3630 2100KV. The prop is a m440. I still need to pull the logs, but everything was cool when I checked.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k61pytc6gOY

[rickwess]

The log.

The max current was 103.9A with the current during the straights in the 80A range.

138012

[cybercrxt]

Looks real good! Time to prop up! Mike Luszcz

[rickwess]

Thanks. Propping up will be next year when the water is warmer. My retrieval person (wife in paddle-boat or kayak) advised me to make sure the boat came back under it's own power.