Deep V surfer

[ebfoxbat]

First off, thank you to the many of you who have put up with me the past week or so. I know it's irritating to have a newbie stumbling through seasoned forums.

I'm on a quest to have a hopped-up kyosho quality surfer. Since they can't be bought readily, I'm going to make one. I've thought about upgrading the fake one I have now (new to market available at select Sears (http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Vehicles+%26+Playsets&pid=05284092000&vertical=TOYS&subcat=More+Vehicles&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes) and Walmarts) but that will always be a toy.

I've also thought about making a hull from scratch and cannibalizing a RTR boat. That way I'll know I bought components that work well together as I take them apart and learn. As I tried to design a hull I realized it's going to be such an unconventional "boat" that it's too much for a first-time build. There would be no real transom and the rudder would be a fin.

This morning I was sketching and I came up with this. I'd love to to have some veteran advice on this shape. It's basically a deep vee with a surfboard deck up top. The deck will be much wider than the vee. Probabaly 1"-1.5" of overhang on each side. I'm going to put the 2 battery packs in a V-formation on eachside of the vee. The theory is that the waterline will be the bottom of the deck making the center of gravity below the waterline and thus self-righting.

Initial plans are to over-power it with a brushless and a big prop to get it moving but cap-out the top-end speed. Having a transom should make it a lot easier for me to learn with.

So please, your thoughts, comments and wisdom are truly appreciated.

[saleens7]

its not irritating having a newb on the forums..

the slope that the vee traveks on (from a side view) will mean that when in plane, it will tip forwward and dive into the water....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/saleens7_01/11121111334.jpg

[ebfoxbat]

Would this work any better?

[Steven Vaccaro]

A copy was on ebay. You may want to look into one of those. Although I'm not sure how good it was.

[saleens7]

maybe...but i think it would be better to make the entire bottom of the board a smallow vee type hull.

[ebfoxbat]

The low point in the hull is going to be pretty heavy. When on plane it shouldn't be too nose-high. I'll have some trim tabs I'm sure, but I don't want it to be nose-high, hence the curled up nose of the surfboard part.

[ebfoxbat]

I want a deep V so that when it's upside-down it'll be so unstable that it flips back to downside-down. With my original drawing, it should plane on the deck's bottom instead of the V. The entire V would be submerged. It's not going to be very fast. But it should be very floaty and very bottom heavy. I can always play with weight distribution and trim tabs to keep it planing.

It should be aquadynamically on plane but not look it. The leading edge of the V will cut through the water while the huge bottom of the deck will keep it floating.

If the deck were to detach from the V it would sink (even if it were sealed) The V's purpose is to give me a transom.

[ebfoxbat]

Well I've got the foam. The glue between layers is drying.

[Rex R]

if you have surface piercing drive setup with the prop under the overhang. it might not ventilate properly and have problems getting up on plane

[ebfoxbat]

Ok, I've shaped it. I used the pink foam from Home Depot. I'm very happy with the shape. I took my time and it paid off; it came out better than I thought it could.

What kind of resin/epoxy do you guys use with that pink insulation foam?

[SJFE]

Dude I would say to build one like a real surfboard. Make it like 35 inches long and 4 inches deep by about 10 inches wide.Loose the deep V and go for a flat hull with skegs like the real thing. Hollow out the gear compartment 3/4s of the way toward the rear of the hull. Then install a jet drive. Hid the drives outlet under the hull in a notch. I would use a. 8 or 9XL on 12 cells. That’s how I'd do it. No reason you can't.

[ebfoxbat]

If I could figure out how to make it self-righting like that I would. Right now I plan on putting 2 packs in parallel in the V making it so bottom heavy that it'll be unstable upside down and thus right itself.

I couldn't think of a way to make the COG reasonably far below the waterline. Because of the nature of surfing (launching off waves and tumbling in white-water) self-righting is a must have feature.

PS: Hey a new default font. Coolness.

[ebfoxbat]

Any ideas for self-righting without having something heavy down in the bottom of the V ?