50" Dragon Hobby Mono

[keithbradley]

Figured I'd post a little on this mono I am building. It's a 50" gasser hull that I bought new w/o motor. I removed the gas tank, motor mounts, ect. Power plans are for a 5692 Leopard (1090kv), Swordfish 240HV ESC, and (4) NeuEnergy 4s/5000mah-46/92C lipos (8s2p).

I will of course have to come up with a motor mount for the 5692, I plan on just doing a simple billet aluminum plate to bolt between the 5" rails. I have debated on what to do with the flex, it's currently a 5mm, and the only prop I have that will fit it is the HUGE 79mm that came with the boat. I have considered installing a new stuffing tube/flex shaft, but for now the plan is to turn down the end of the shaft to 3/16", install a 3/16" drive dog, and re-thread the end for standard prop nuts. I cant find couplers for 6mm motor shaft to 5mm cable so I will have to make my own.

Other mods will have to include
* Sealing off the "ventholes" in front of the windsheild area and rear of the hatch
* Removal of 2nd water pick up
* Installing trim tabs
* Installing turn fins
* Sealing the exhaust hole in the side of the hull
* Sealing the antenna and Kill switch holes
* Either a sub hatch or another way to keep things dry. The hatch on it now is
not really designed to be taped.
* Possibly carbon fiber inlay...not sure if I want to yet.

This hull has a rather deep v, and is quite Higher than DF type boats, so I have no idea how it will run. Hopefully fast and sure-footed!

[Make-a-Wake]

Yee-haa.............lets get another big 50 inch gasser going! I'm pretty good with a belt sander and file.........my 78mm prop is now 63mm, balanced and sharpened. Thats as large as i'm willing to try for my first run. This way i can use the 5mm setup.

I'll be following this one for sure!!

[H2OCamel]

What is the Quality of the hull and hardware like? I'm intrested in some of their boats and am currious. Can't wait to see it run!

[forescott]

Wow, that motor actually looks kinda small in that hull! You can order a nice sturdy Peter Z. mount for that motor if you have 100-bucks to part with. I'm really interested to see how this turns out. I have similar plans for a gas cat conversion with one of the new castle 2028's.

[keithbradley]

What is the Quality of the hull and hardware like? I'm intrested in some of their boats and am currious. Can't wait to see it run!

The hull is nice. Make a Wake is doing a 50" hydro from the same company and he says his is nice as well. The only complaint I have with the hardware is that the notch in the strut doesnt really allow adjustment. The notch goes straight up and down and it just wont work that way. Thats not a very big deal though, struts are pretty cheap anyway and it should be easy to mod this one.
Its going to take a fair amount of work to get it watertight for FE but that can be expexted of any gasser really.

[Rumdog]

Keith, is there a teflon liner in the stuffing tube?

[keithbradley]

Keith, is there a teflon liner in the stuffing tube?

Yeah, its actually a HUGE stuffing tube, with a liner inside another liner.

[Rumdog]

If you pulled the liner, you may be able to get away with running one of these http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...od=hug-b8666sp IF, they were in stock..

[keithbradley]

If you pulled the liner, you may be able to get away with running one of these http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...od=hug-b8666sp IF, they were in stock..

Yeah, that was originally my thought. Southriver has them in stock for like $40, but I think I'll just bring this one into work and turn it down. In the end it will be very similar to that though. I think there will be enough there to cut new threads and just use regular prop nuts.

[keithbradley]

Going slow, of course. Splitting time between this and another build, work, and family...in order from last priority to first!

Got a little closer today, not much done on teh boat yet, but I got some much needed parts in: 3" Trim tabs, Extra Large turn fins, 5692 jacket, and 3/16" drive dog.

[keithbradley]

I also got the work done on the flex shaft. It turned out to be easier than I thought. Starting size was .194", and it needed to be .187" to fit a standard drive dog and prop, so only .0035" had to be taken off. I had intened on rethreading the end but due to taking so little material off, the threads still look great! I will just use teh prop nut that came on it...thats about as easy as it gets. I would reccomend this to anyone who has a boat with this odd size flex.
If you look closely, you can see where its machined from the back of teh drive dog notch up. The rest needed to be left factory size, because it rides on bearings in the strut.

[Make-a-Wake]

Nice job on the prop shaft...............i can see where its been turned down a bit in the blown up pic.............The only thing i dont like about that setup is the drivedog looks so small now.........but thats nit-picking i know. Do you have a starting prop picked out.............x455 or so?????

Looking forward to watching this build!

[madgadget]

I will of course have to come up with a motor mount for the 5692,

Will something like this work

[keithbradley]

The power...(4) 46/92C 4s/5000mah. I have a pair of matching 5s as well, so I can run 8s2p, 9s2p, and if for some reason I needed to, 10s2p.
Hopefully 460A continuous/960A burst will be enough

[keithbradley]

Transom's looking better!