Scott's Fibreglass JAE FE21

[Scott T]

I got one of the first lot off Eric Bourlet, which came with most of the hardware pre-fitted, ski installed and a few other bits and pieces. Setup will be:

Motor - Neu 1515/1Y
ESC - Etti 150
Cells - Thunderpower 45C 5000mAh
Servo - Hitec HS225MG
Fin - Mike Hughes JAE
Prop - ABC H5 (to start with)

The boat is really stiff, and lighter than it feels - great job Eric. It came with a fibreglass centre hatch (with motor bubble) and plastic hatches for the front and rear. The centre hatch was easily trimmed to match the cutout in the deck. The plastic for the others is a bit thicker than I'd like, so I've substituted with plywood.

[Scott T]

The included motor mount was effective, but I wanted some minor changes. I chamfered the bottom to make it easier it get in and out of the boat. Holes were added to line up with the holes on the 1515, and a general cleanup of the edges and it's ready to go.

[Scott T]

I test fitted the ESC which will go right in front of the motor. We have to run an external safety loop between the battery and ESC, which means I need to be able to access it easily from inside the boat the connect it all up. Unfortunately the small piece of deck between the front and middle hatches made access difficult. So I made a hard choice - it had to go.

Not the neatest cutting job I've done, but I'll clean it up later. The hull sides have lost some stiffness doing this, but when the sposons tube is glued in, there will be plenty of stiffness.

The front was cut off the middle hatch to get a square edge. I stripped a layer of veneer from some 1/16" plywood to key the hatch and the new part together. The fibreglass hatch is only about 1/32" thick, so this worked well. The parts were joined with eopxy and left overnight.

[Scott T]

Today the hatch was cut to the right size to fit the new opening. The piece of deck that was removed served well as a catch for the front of the hatch. I simply cut a piece of it out to the right size, did some minor shaping and glued it in place. Works a treat!

Some of the leftovers from trimming the middle hatch were used to thicken it up around the edges. Since it was only 1/32" thick, it sat slightly below the deck height. The leftover strips worked great to bring the hatch up to the right height. Some minor sanding of the new front part of the hatch completed the job. I'm really happy with the result, and it should be very easy to tape down. It may have been easier to make a new one from scratch, but I really liked Eric's little bubble hatch!

[Jimmy Sterling]

Looks awesome Scotty, really gotta get my ass down there sometime

[Scott T]

Hey Jimmy, thanks for that, should be a rocket on the water. We've got racing next weekend, or the double header on July2-3. I think Dave is bringing about 25 boats to that one!

[sailr]

Got a website? Where to buy? Price? Turn fin included or not? I don't see one in the pics.

[carlcisneros]

you still might consider installing something there where you removed that top section of glass work.

even tho you have the sponson tube glued into position, it still might have some flexing issues once under power and such.

If it were me, I would go with CF tows soaked in very slow drying epoxy laid in from down one side, wrapped around and across the brass tubing and up the other side.

JMO

[Scott T]

Thanks, I"ll see how it all feels after I epoxy in the tube. There are some decent plywood doublers where the tubes go. I have some carbon, so will add it if I need to.

Got a website? Where to buy? Price? Turn fin included or not? I don't see one in the pics.

I bought it through this thread - http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...&highlight=jae

No turn fin was included, but I ordered one from MIke Hughes and he sent it to Eric, so it all came over together.

[Scott T]

The weather was good today so I took the opportunity to paint the sponsons. The tub isn't ready for paint just yet, and I thought it would be simpler to concentrate on one part at a time.

I've been wanting to do a Red Bull boat since Mark Webber's first F1 win in 2009 (I did slap some RB stickers on my white FE30 a while back, but that didn't really count). The livery is a combination of the blue from the F1 car, and white to make it more visible. The tub will be a combo of blue and white, with yellow underneath for good measure.

[electric]

Very nice paint job. Looks very neat. Can't wait to see how these boats run. With some luck, I will run mine this weekend and possibly try and data log it.

[Scott T]

It's been a long time coming, but I have made some progress on this boat. It was due to be completed in June, but our baby daughter decided to arrive 4 weeks early. Time for boats has been scarce since then (although I did finish and race my DF 21 Mkii since). Anyway right before she was born I got the servo mount done, which is just a couple of wooden blocks. I just need to cut and drill a carbon strap to go over the servo.

A fair bit of priming, filling, sanding, priming etc has gone on recently. Once I was happy with the finish I applied the colour. It's all auto acrylic spraycans, the blue is a few shades darker than I wanted, but it's done now. To paint the hatches I simply stick them to a board with masking tape from underneath. Makes it very easy. You can see how my modified main hatch looks now.

[Scott T]

Next up were the boom tubes in the tub. I started by packing the hull up off the bench and making sure the front boom was level. Once I was happy with it (Eric had it perfect anyway!) I epoxied the tube in place. Once cured, I installed the rear tube, both carbon booms and both sponsons. I set the sponson ride surfaces flat on a good flat board, and packed the rear of the tub up to suit. Then I simply epoxied the rear tube in place. The boat should be nice and square now.

[Scott T]

With the boom tubes mounted, it was time to install the electrics. The Etti 150 fitted nicely under the tube between the motor and battery. There's a bit of room to move the battery to get the balance right. I installed a safety loop to external battery disconnections- as required by our racing rules.

I haven't water cooled the motor yet, my experience running a 1515/1Y in my Whiplash indicated it's not really needed. Since this boat is lighter, it should be fine, but I'll see how it goes.

A Hitec 225MG servo and Hyperion 805 mah LiFe RX pack went in the back with the Futaba RX. There's not much room to play with, so the RX switch and aerial will mount on the rear hatch.

[Scott T]

The final details were applied last night, and she was ready for action! RTR weight is 4.6 pounds (2,080g).