Triton Build

[electric]

Roll Over Tests

I am very pleased with how this boat rolls over. The best decision I made during the build was to push the motor foward in the boat. The second was to trim the servo mount enough to get a 4s battery room to mount all the way back if needed on the flood chamber side. After several tests, the key to the whole thing is to have the battery on the non-flood chamber side in tight(1/2" - 3/4") to the drive shaft. This is not possible with the way the boat comes pre-built because the motor is mounted closer in and prevents the battery from being pushed closer to the shaft. It also prevents you from mounting a 4s battery against the flood chamber wall. I shifted the flood chamber side battery from the back to the front along the wall and the boat flipped over equally well. Being able to move the battery back and forth along the entire flood chamber wall will help me fine tune the Center of Gravity as needed. Having the motor pushed foward in the hull helps with that as well. If someone were doing this build again I would recommend pushing the motor another 3/4 inch foward to keep the battery away from the collet. I am going to do some work on that issue to ensure the battery stays where it needs to be on that side.

The last picture is the only one that would not roll. The battery opposite the flood chamber is to far away from the center point for the hull. All other configurations flipped withing 8 seconds.

[BHChieftain]

Do you plan to epoxy in some straps to hold down the packs? I'd hate to see the pack hit the collet if it came loose in a crash.

What prop do you plan to use?

Chief

[Jedi Master]

Bracing??

With all of the weight attached to the base of the hull, there is a tendency for the flood chamber to lift from the hull on the bottom side. I had this happen in mine and then I epoxied a brace that crossed from the motor mount to the flood chamber. It made the hull much stronger. I flipped at 60mph+ a couple of times and the flood chamber lifted on the second time. Just someting to bear in mnd, once you are set with your battery positioning.

[electric]

Do you plan to epoxy in some straps to hold down the packs? I'd hate to see the pack hit the collet if it came loose in a crash.

What prop do you plan to use?

Chief

Without a doubt. They were just velcro'd in for the test. I now have the velcro and the straps epoxied to the bottom of the hull. I also placed a small fiberglass spacer off of the drive shaft mount to ensure that the battery never ever gets near the collet. Can you imagine a battery hitting the collet at full speed? ouch.

[electric]

With all of the weight attached to the base of the hull, there is a tendency for the flood chamber to lift from the hull on the bottom side. I had this happen in mine and then I epoxied a brace that crossed from the motor mount to the flood chamber. It made the hull much stronger. I flipped at 60mph+ a couple of times and the flood chamber lifted on the second time. Just someting to bear in mnd, once you are set with your battery positioning.

Hmm. Not sure I understand. Are you saying that the flood chamber may seperate from the bottom of the hull and cause a leak? So I would fit in a piece a fiberglass brace from the mount to the flood and then glass that in?

[Jedi Master]

Hmm. Not sure I understand. Are you saying that the flood chamber may seperate from the bottom of the hull and cause a leak? So I would fit in a piece a fiberglass brace from the mount to the flood and then glass that in?

Exactly!

I had an almighty high speed flip in mine and brought it to shore to check it out. Off came the hatch and I had a tiny bit of water inside. I couldn't figure out where it had come in from, until I noticed that the flood chamber had lifted where it meets the bottom of the hull. I was VERY lucky as the gap only really opened up when I flexed the hull, but it high-lighted the weak spot for me. I put a brace in and re-glassed the flood chamber all the way along the join. It never happened again after that.

[electric]

Final Pics..

Went to the hobby store and rummaged around for more stickers. Pretty much done with the pics for this project. I am going to start testing probably tomorrow with an x442 prop and see how it goes. Should be nice and easy speed wise.

Thanks for the tip on the glass work needed for the flood chamber. A wreck at 60 mph is always a pretty crazy thing.

[electric]

First run went great. I got about 42mph in a small pond which is in the ball park of what I expected given the motor and that I have it propped down. I did notice that the boat was a little squirly. I did a second run with the strut down 1 percent. this actually seemed to not help at all, just caused a raising of the amperage(top speed about the same), did not corner as well this way. I am going to reset the strut next run and move the CG forward. But all and all I am please with my first time out. I need to find a bigger body of water to run in to really tune it. I am just basically excelerating all the way to the end of the pond and then chopping the throttle to make the turns.

The diagram shows amps and speed. I also should mention that the motor is awesome. Smooth and very cool.

[electric]

Well, I squeezed in one more short run this afternoon. I moved the CG forward about 1 inch and returned the strut to neutral. Wow. I have never realized how much CG has an effect on the boat. (No Trim Tabs) It was much more stable and did not feel as if it was going to take off. I also picked up another 2mph now at 44mph. I am going to leave it at that until I can go to my vacation home and get a bigger stretch of water to really run it. There is another lake here in The Woodlands that is certainly big enough, but I need to figure out a way to retreive the boat if it gets to far out to use that. I think I could get close to 50 with just this 442 prop and there is plenty of room for a bigger prop.