TFL HobbyKing Outerlimits

[markwithak]

Here goes my first build in a long time so I will see how it goes.

First its for my son and I want to have a good working flood chamber, Kinda following the Pursuit on Youtube for now.
Boat is strictly recreation and will find its way in to some rough water from time to time.

One major delay in this is my learning curve with HobbyKing took 8 weeks to show up and of course missed it for his bday Oh well.

So far I started to mock up my chamber and water ports. I intend to add some ports in the steps as well as venting the front chamber area to the starboard side via simple water outlets and tubing.

Next week I will glass in the chamber and reinforce the mounts and battery tray as most have suggested. before I hollow out the back or cap it so I can check approximately how much fluid it will hold. The Pursuit needed 1.5l so I guess I need to have at least that much or a little more to ensure a roller over. its theoretically the same size hull.

I have a SeaKing 180 ESC for this and was wondering where to mount it. I can make up a shelf to go over the stuffing tube/ coupler area for the ESC or mount in front of motor as suggested by TFL. if behind motor I still have plenty of room to make all cable connections without adding to any. May allow me to adjust balance by changing battery position as needed but would have a slightly higher center of gravity. If in front of motor I would not be able to change balance that much if any at all. Also changing out the rudder for a dual water pickup for extra cooling of motor and ESC.

I intend to run on 4s but is it OK or safe to run on 3s if propped right? and any prop suggestions for the 3s.

Any suggestions feel free to chime in.

Thanks
Mark

[TheShaddix]

Best place for your seaking is in front of the motor, with the batteries on both sides of the motor, that will yield the best weight distribution. If you have a single battery, then the esc on one side and the servo on the other and the battery in front of motor. You can safely run a seaking 180a on 6s with a 42mm prop, just be sure to upgrade the capbanks and run an aux battery (nimh or life) to power it instead of using your lipos for main power. If you have questions about that, I can elaborate.

[785boats]

Mark.
Be sure to strengthen the motor mount & battery tray. They tend to break away in a good tumble. I always use carbon rod on my boats, but a fillet of fibre glass would do the job too. Be sure to sand the hull & mounts where the epoxy or resin will touch & wipe down with acetone first.
Here's a bit of a spiel from a couple of years ago that might give you some ideas on this boat.
http://http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1885879

[markwithak]

Yep I already read your post a half dozen times before I dove in, it does provide some good info.

[markwithak]

Plan on running 3s and 4s for now. Need to keep batts and esc some where in the center as I can't mount on sides due to chamber. Thanks

[covedweller]

Not to burst your bubble, but TFL is building that hull with a new I/O drive. Should be getting some in the states in a month or so. Not a lot of info out, I have been working on Monica from TFL to send me any info she has, but shes more sales than tech. The pictures of the drive are real Purdy!

[markwithak]

Not a big deal to me but if it looks interesting enough I guess I can alway swap it out in the future. Thanks
.

[markwithak]

Ok it's been a slow go (work)but found a way to just do it at work and spend an extra hour or so every couple days at work to get this and my other mono done by spring. It's been progressing which is a good positive sign. So where am I upto. Motor mounts and batt tray are reinforced, Chamber is in, some hardware is back on hatch is removable and gasketed. Chamber is water tight and I can plumb vents to starboard side to vent camber. I have back extension sealed and ported and vented the steps. Next up I have a spartan dual water intake rudder, tabs and turn fins. Next it's almost time to get motor, esc and battery in and do a float, flip and water test. I was only able to get about a 1.1 liter chamber in it with just enough room to get motor in and out. It's beam is narrower that the persuits and less of a vee so between the two is the reason of smaller chamber. At current progress should be another week or two before I know where I am actually at. I can still modify it a little bit if I need more help for it to turn over, but a test will tell. I will follow up with it once I know.

Here are some pics.

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[markwithak]

Still gaining float tested and did not flip by its self add a small block of foam as some had mentioned hatches can make a difference. On the chamber side it never let it sink down. but on opposite side it helped the chamber to sink a little deeper and flip. So I just need to figure out how to modify my deck lid a bit and start wiring.

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[iop65]

vents on the starboard side ?
tubes from floodchamber to those vents?

not saying that this is not going to work but never seen it done like that before
and always have seen them putting the lipo between the floodchamber and motor

[markwithak]

It does work but this is a very narrow hull and I was not able to find info on someone else flipping it so I just tried it to see what was going to happen. There is not enough room for battery to fit between motor and chamber and if you think about it when the starboard side sinks the port side raises. It really does work it's for my son so he too was happy. I just need to modify the hatch so it has similar volume as a 3 X 4 X 1 block of foam. I will follow up on it.

Thanks
Mark

[markwithak]

Remolding the hatch lets it flip on its own. Had battery and esc pretty centered with in hull, better that whats shown in pic and with an extra 2s battery from my revolt favoring the starboard side just for good measure and testing Will need to match deck on port side and keep it vented to work and clean it all up. I can now add some extra holes in the flood chamber which should allow it to fill up and flip faster.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViKbXpV56ig&feature=youtu.be

[markwithak]

Home stretch before a possible test run.
Every thing is in just working on the wiring and cleaning up the hatch work.
Still test flips with twin 4s 3600 batts that I will be running.

Next vid hopefully is my test run.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z890_O0vnLk&feature=youtu.be

[markwithak]

Time for a little bit of help!

two items of concern if anyone can shed some light. Finally had the boat out and noticed 2 things.

First up after all my bath tub water testing I now get water in my boat. its a bit harder to leave the hatch off fully loaded to see but I have tested it quite a bit while building it and the only major difference is running the motor. Any tips for sealing the tube and flex or de-grease the stuffing tube and silicone it up or another suggestion? Tomorrow I will tape the hatch to make sure its not that simple as well but there's pressure all the way around my gasketing so I cant see it being from there but taping will proof that out.

Boat seems to run pretty good there is a good amount of weight in it, running 4s2p total 7200mah and 37 3blade for now but it takes a little bit to air out. Once it gets its butt out of the water (literally) it runs pretty good. This will be for my son so I dont mind the smaller prop and alot of overkill is in there to help with what ever he can muster up and he will try. I do have the batts as far back as possible almost touching the motor or am I thinking incorrectly with a step vs non step hull. first out they were moved 1.5 forward then I ran just one it freed up so ran two again all the way back and stayed in it for a few to let it air out. Any tips for getting it to air out quicker? stinger is aligned with transom and first step. I do have a longer rudder on it by a quick eye its about .625" (16mm) longer than oem. Any other info needed please let me know.

It is on the heavier side 7-1/2lbs with all thats going on.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

[markwithak]

Well for hatch it's a hit or miss on the rear thumb screws one test one was bubbling took it out redid the hatch and then the other side was bubbling will look to add correct thickness of rubber washers to both sides and see if that helps.

[785boats]

Mark.
Did you do a water pressure test on the cooling system? There could be a leaking fitting or cooling can O ring.
I use a syringe (without the needle) plugged into the water pickup line. Fill the system with water & when it starts coming out the outlet, block it with your finger & press the syringe hard. Look for leaks at all water tubing joints & at the water jacket O rings while the system is under pressure.

The other place could be up the stuffing tube.
I can't tell from your photos, but is there a gap between the transom & the body of the strut where the stuffing tube enters it. If so, it needs to be sealed because water is forced into the strut & up the stuffing tube into the boat.

They are usually the two main reasons that water enters a boat while running.

I think the prop is too small for that boat. Especially with all that weight. Try an X440/3. It will plane out much more quickly.

[markwithak]

785 I can try testing the cooling going to check my steering boot as well. There's a rubber bushing around the tube at the transom but may try to get it into the stinger a little and caulk it up. Grade does poor out from there as well.

There's the real boater in me not trying to overdue my prop with a heavy boat.

Thanks

[markwithak]

well at least it flips over out in the lake. Will look to hash out my water issue and seal up the stuffing tube to stinger area.

Sorry about the video zoom on my Iphone and my dad was filming.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpMoxv1_zzE&feature=youtu.be

[785boats]

Mark.
You will find that most boats will turn better to the right than to the left. That's why most R/C racing is done on a clockwise track.
Get used to running your boats in a clockwise direction. You should experience less spinouts & flips.