Exceed Flowmaster 650mm

[hughb]

Hi guys,

Here's some pics of my Flowmaster 650mm. The stock form of the boat was very disappointing, the little outrunner couldn't even get the boat on plane. This was at odds with the beautifully painted hull, so some upgrades were necessary.

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I don't have any pics of the upgrading process, but it's fairly straightforward. The stock wooden internals were carefully cut out with a cutting disc in Dremel.

Then the inside of the hull was given a thorough sand and wipe over with acetone. A carbon fibre inlay was done, along with filling the tips with epoxy. This was my first ever inlay, with the help of my Dad. I applaud the people who can do this with ease and without a helping pair of hands.

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Pool noodles were used for floatation, and tightly fit in the front half of the hull to aid in strengthening the top deck. Also some plywood panels were epoxied under the hatch to support the large air intakes.

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Power is from a TP Motors 2940 7Y 1790kv. TP Motors seem to categorise their motors slightly differently, the motor is 63mm long, not 40mm. The ESC is a Hobbywing 120amp Pro. This has a "turbo" function, using a third channel to increase the motor timing for short periods. I have the normal timing set to 15 degrees, and the turbo set to 26 degrees, is this ok being a Y wind motor?

So far I've been using Zippy Compact 2200mah 3S 60C in series for 6S total, though I have just got some Turnigy Graphene batteries of the same specs. The boat runs well but is very wild, needs some dialing in.

I've also put in the RCM Telemetry system. This is a great little device, and I'll be putting these units into future builds. Speed so far hasn't been great, 73km/h with a 35mm 2 blade, and 56 km/h with a 38mm 3 blade. However I've had only one run on each prop so far, so as mentioned some tuning is needed.

I'll update this thread with speed increases as they develop.

[Bp9145]

I've always loved the paint scheme of these cats. . .nice job on the insides. looks nice. I hope you get it dialed in and make sure to post a video of it.

[fweasel]

Love these little cats. This hull is very similar to my carbon mini Zonda. Sure is tight in there. One suggestion, get rid of the Y connector on your cooling plumbing. There's no guarantee how much water is going in either direction. Plumb the ESC and motor in series or if you feel there's too much heat, add a through hull water pickup in the bottom rear of one of the sponsons and plumb the ESC and motor separately.

[Beaux]

They are some good looking boats.

[Fluid]

Most Y wind motors run fine on 15* timing advance. 26* is pretty stout timing, I doubt it would give much improvement in performance. Most ESCs don’t run the motor exactly at the set timing, performance would be poor if they did. Most ESCs use feedback from the motor to adjust the timing dynamically depending on rpm and amp draw, the set timing is just a recommendation. Not certain how HW’s 120 does this.


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[hughb]

Update to thread.

I've put in a new stuffing tube in order to better adjust the strut angle. With the stock setup, even with the strut raised there was still several degrees of negative strut angle. Now I am able to set a neutral strut angle. I have also put in a rotating bushing and upgraded to a 4mm flexshaft.

Using a 36mm 1.9 pitch prop, I was getting 75km/h. With a 40mm 1.6 prop, I was getting around 90km/h, with a top of 93. Next step is to try a 42mm 1.9 pitch prop, hoping to crack 100km/h.

[Hastykiwi]

I understand your motivation to re-power. It is a beautiful looking boat. Well done.

[hughb]

Long time between drinks with this one, life gets in the way sometimes...

Several months ago while driving the boat I flipped it, leaving it sitting upside down in the lake. Not thinking much of it I paddled out in my rescue canoe to retrieve the boat. To my horror I saw the clear plastic windshield had been broken in from the force of the landing, and water was swamping into the boat. I took the boat home, removed all electronics and let the boat dry thoroughly in the sun for about a week. To my relief everything still worked, but I coated the open ends of the ESC with Corrosion X as I don't get lucky twice.

To replace the broken windscreen I decided to use carbon fibre. The shiny epoxy finish would still give the impression of a glass windscreen but with the carbon weave on view. I firstly removed the broken remnants of the clear plastic windscreen and the glue used to hold it in, the sanded the inside of the hatch followed by acetone wipedown. I used clear packing tape on the outside of the hatch where the windscreen is to block this area off, then laminated in several layers of carbon fibre. After leaving this to set up for approximately 2 hours, I carefully peeled off the tape from the outside.

The other 2 photos show the new brass stuffing tube and prop as described above in post #6, and a view of the rat's nest of wires and tubes with everything installed. Though it looks a mess it all works I promise!

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[Bp9145]

do take some vids of it running and post them here. .

[hughb]

I'll try. It's just a case of trying to hold the phone to record some video while also drive the boat. A second pair of hands are in order!