Sea Rider 2000 15.5" cat thread

[befu]

information

Good idea on the stuffing tube, I will have to try that. So, with three cells would you be able to check where your COG is at? also, what is the mAhr rating of your battery.

Is the bottom of your sponson flat or is there a slight hook in them?

Thank you.

Brian

Mine was leaking water up the drive shaft. I put a short piece of cooling line part over the stuffing tube and part over the flex shaft. The piece is only about 3/8 to 1/2 inch long. Mine also leaked in around the rudder pushrod which you already fixed. I would post a picture but my son went camping this weekend and took my camera.

[marko500]

The 3s battery I run is 1500mah. I'm leaving in a few minutes for a party but I will check COG and sponson bottoms when I get back. I'll let you know this evening.

[befu]

About the same weight

The 3s battery I run is 1500mah. I'm leaving in a few minutes for a party but I will check COG and sponson bottoms when I get back. I'll let you know this evening.

Well, my 2s-2200 should weigh pretty close to your 3s 1500.

What kind of run time do you get with your 3s-1500's. I haven't had mine running long enough to find out the run time on the 2200's yet.

Brian

[marko500]

My COG is 4-1/2" from the transom but I still have both turn fins on the boat, just never bothered to take them off. The bottom of the sponsons are level no hook or rocker in them. As far as run time I don't have a lipo cutoff so we don't run too long, probably 2-3 min. but I'm just guessing. My3s battery should only be a couple grams heavier then a 2s.

[befu]

5th run

Well, got out this evening and ran it again. With the same 2s-2200 that had been run for a couple of minutes before, I ran it again (no charging).

Run time was about 6 1/2 to 7 minutes, so maybe 8 to 8 1/2 minutes at full throttle? That probably means 15 to 16 amps with a 2s?

Water was smooth, not a mirror but close to it. Moved the battery another 1/2" forward and it ran fine. Right up on plane, hopped around at lower speeds, smoothed out above 1/2 throttle. Definately running a little wet.

the left sponson was up and looking good. The back couple inches of the outside were wet, the inside was 1/2 the hull? the right side was running really wet. lots of spray coming off the right side, way more than the left. Not sure why, but this is definately not right.

Could it be the hook in the ride surface? Or prop torque? Only a 30mm prop on it.
The left side is heavier with the battery on that side and it sits lower in the water at rest.

Also ran it on 3s. Definately scoots right along but that right side is still too wet. Maybe the rudder is causing it. Lift I would think would plant the right bow but lift the stern. Digging in would plant the stern. That combined with the COG to far forward?

should have bought the mono....

The drive train is fantastic! Nice and smooth, everything is cool. Anyone have a 15" to 18" off shore hull? Not sure about cats. They run great in smooth water, but so does a rigger or scale hydro. Cat turns both ways though. When it is rough, the mono's seem to do better. Not running worried about the blow over. also never stuffed a mono so it stayed under 30 seconds!

Hmm. Also ran the mini-v on 7.4 volt again. Went with a 27mm prop. With the flex drive and lipo, it is still faster than stock and run times should be great!

Brian

[marko500]

Mine seems to run a little wet when the water is smooth but loosens up with a slight ripple on the water. Mine also sits low on the left when at rest but the prop torque lifts the left when underway. The inside of the sponson sits deeper than the outside due to a slight v in the hull (the bottoms of the sponsons are not flat across the width of the boat). I moved my components around to get the best balance when running, not at rest. maybe you can move the receiver, esc or battery a little to get it where you want it.Trimming a small boat is harder then a larger one, think 8' rowboat vs 25' cruiser. Be patient and have fun you'll get it figured out! Mark

[befu]

Sponson bottoms

OK, took off the turn fin hardware tonight and epoxied the holes up as well as around the stuffing tube. Both spots were leaking in the sink test.

I also block sanded the running surface. On mine the dihedral slowly goes away as you go forward. Midship it is about half what the transom dihedral is. that change in dihedral is still there, but some of the hook is gone now.

The speed control is on the right side of the tunnel, half hanging into the sponson space, Rc in the middle. Rc weighs almost nothing, so that will not change anything.

I can also trim my rudder down about 1/2" before I would have to mill a new water inlet hole. This thing has plenty of rudder control, way more than it needs and that is just drag!

I also raised the strut as the bottom of the strut was about .1" below the sponsons. Now the bottom of the strut is equal with the sponsons.

i will keep playing with it. Maybe I will set it up to run on 2s-2200 in rough water with battery forward to keep the nose down, and on 3s - ??? for smooth water for speed.

Will see what it does next time out. Thank you for the reply

Brian

Mine seems to run a little wet when the water is smooth but loosens up with a slight ripple on the water. Mine also sits low on the left when at rest but the prop torque lifts the left when underway. The inside of the sponson sits deeper than the outside due to a slight v in the hull (the bottoms of the sponsons are not flat across the width of the boat). I moved my components around to get the best balance when running, not at rest. maybe you can move the receiver, esc or battery a little to get it where you want it.Trimming a small boat is harder then a larger one, think 8' rowboat vs 25' cruiser. Be patient and have fun you'll get it figured out! Mark

[befu]

6th outing

OK, ran it again. This thing is really leaking bad. In a 8 minute run I have to bring it in twice to empty it and when the battery dumps. Enough water that it severly changes the run characteristics. This much shouldn't be coming in the stuffing tube. It is either the water outlet which I noticed is loose or one of the cooling hoses leacks. I will work on both tonight.

Flat water, ran well on the 2s, didn't have a 3s with me. Nice and cool, but that could be the cup of water splashing around in the hull also

the right side is running way wet. As it goes by you can see the water coming off the right sidewall of the hull along the transom. i mean a sheet from the bottom chine all the way up to the hull seam. The right side is WAY wet!

I will have to run it on 3s and see if that lifts it out of the water, but it is going plenty fast.?.? Raising the strut didn't help either. It is slower out of the hole, cavitates a bit but then pops up on plane and runs well, so I do not think the strut is to high. Going deeper I would think it would push the sponson more into the water. Need to get a video of it....

Brian

[marko500]

Did you put the piece of hose on the driveshaft? Mine did not leak in the sink but when running the flex tends to "pump" water into the hull. There are only so many places for water to get into the hull. On mine the bottom of my strut is level with the sponson bottoms. Did you try a little positive or negative angle on the strut? Too bad we could'nt run them side by side to set them up. The boats small so to video tape it is pretty hard. I'm starting to think we're the only people to buy these boats!

[befu]

latest changes

Fuel piece is installed. The water outlet was also not installed correctly. some of the seam glue dripped down and was keeping the nut on the water outlet from seating evenly. Some might have been coming in there. I fixed that and sealed it up.

The water lines all seem sealed.

I also put on an Octura X431 red plastic prop.

I will try it again, but that right sponson being so wet is what is bothering me. I am wondering if I will need to widen that sponson pad by 1/8" to 1/4".

[befu]

wet wet wet

OK, still getting water in the hull, but not as much. Ran it the first time with one of the 2s-2200's from HK that I had not charged yet. It was reading full, so I tried it. Ran full speed on and off for about 10 minutes. Not bad. Nose was hopping bad so I brought it in and raised the strut and angled it to push the nose down some. Made an improvement in the nose attitude. Also cavitated coming out of the hole, but punch it and it gets on plane.

After 10 minutes, not as much water in the hull as before. After that I changed batteries. A freshly charged 2s-2200. Water calmed down and I was able to run it full speed, even through the turns. I was timing it but at 5 minutes I lost a blade off the prop

Still not sure about the run time, but 8 to 10 minutes seems good on a cheap 2s.

have to get this water under control. I think I will try it without the water cooling and see if that is doing it.

[marko500]

Just a thought but did you pressurize the water cooling system, maybe the water jacket on the motor is leaking? My boat still gets a little water in it maybe about 1/4 teaspoon or so. Also check the seam between the hull and deck mine had a small hole in the seam in front between the sponsons.

[j.m.]

Two words:

Pushrod seal.

[befu]

leak 95% solved

Well, after seeing other people do it, I also added a piece of shrink wrap to the stuffing tube overlapping the front of the strut. 95% of the water is gone now. At the end of 5 minutes there was about 1/2 teaspoon of water in the hull. It even submarined on me once, but was only under a second or two. Also had a minutes or so of idle drifting time, so could be seaping in through somewhere.

I will be continueing to work on this.

Water was rough and it did not run well. Since the run times were nice and long on the X431 plastic prop, I decided to try a X531 this time. The motor pushed it but the torque was worse. With the waves the transom would be violently pulled to the left (right turn) whenever it hopped out of the water above 1/2 throttle. I will be going back down to the X431 red plastic prop. The minicatracing one runs a 32mm prop. I am wondering how much removing the turn fins is effecting this? Of course, the one in thier video also seems to hop sideways like that when it leaves the water sometimes. Had to make it worse, just not sure how much worse. And yes, I epoxied the holes over

Push rod is sealed. Sealed it with silicone inside and out. maybe you were thinking three words: pushrod seal boot! I know, smart a$$.

Of course, this time the inside was pretty dry, but I think the receiver died. So going to be ordering a new 2.4Ghz radio and will take it from there.

[befu]

sealing hatch

OK, I HATE taping the hatch everytime, so I am trying to get it sealed without tape. here is what I did

I filled the hatch with expanding foam and sanded it flush. I then epoxied the outside 1/4" so it was flat with the bottom of the hatch. I ran some 1/4" wide x 1/8" foam around the hull where the hatch hits. I think it was a small roll of dubro wing saddle foam tape? Not sure if I have the label anywhere anymore. Had it from years and years ago, do not remember why I bought it.

So, you just attach the lid with the thumb nut like normal, but no taping.

Haven't had it upside down yet, so not sure how it works.

Brian