Harpoons-1 an epic odyssey of rebuilding a chineese rigger!

[Basstronics]

Ive seen the H&M knock off riggers awhile back and they looked decent for the money. While at the Toledo show there was one there that... well it needs some love...

First off it got smashed a bit in luggage. Next thing to note is the carbon rods were stressed, misaligned and just funky.

[Basstronics]

So I started off with the tub. To join the two halves it appears they used gelcoat (as its yellow). The hull partially split or cracked numerous areas on the rear. It looks like the strut was jammed up also, breaking the joint on the transom- there is no wood in there... So I ground down all the gelcoat seam in the rear of the boat I could reach. The front portion was ground and glassed in with cloth. Im going to try and remove the stuffing tube and motor mount. I got some 1K standard weave coming and would like to do the entire tub inside.



While Im waiting I dug into the sponson. They simply shove a carbon tube in the sponson and put a wheel collar on the outside. A little glue down the tube to secure the outter of it, then a HUGE fillet of it around the collar. With a little work it came apart. The intent is to pour expanding foam in there. Drill the foam and insert a new tube with Gorilla glue so it expands.

[Brushless55]

What do you think of its quality so far?
and what power are you thinking for this rigger?

[785boats]

Basstronics.
Have a read through these couple of pages & you'll see what I and another club member found with these things. We've got them running pretty well now. But there are some other things that need attention.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1799833

Cheers.
Paul.

[Basstronics]

What do you think of its quality so far?
and what power are you thinking for this rigger?

Typical sub par quality we are all used to. The assembly of the boom tubes on this one was horrible. However thru are fairly easy to get off . I want to upgrade boom size ad well.

Basstronics.
Have a read through these couple of pages & you'll see what I and another club member found with these things. We've got them running pretty well now. But there are some other things that need attention.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1799833

Cheers.
Paul.

Will have a read on it tonight, thanks Paul.

Looking at something in the 4082-92 flavor and 6s pack, 55k
Rpm.

[Basstronics]

Since my last post I removed all the glue from the sponsons. I also put two layers of 1K plain weave CF on the side the was cracked and the bottom up to the transom.

Ive decided to upgrade the booms. Im going solid 8mm. I got some 11/32" Brass tube from the LHS and it fits 8mm perfect. So Im going to drill clear through the sponson and glue the tubes in. Then Im going to take Pauls experience and drill some big holes and foam it and make a turn fin mount.

I got some 5/16" aluminum clamp collars like the Zipp kits JAE ones coming in. The 8mm is undersized and almost a perfect 5/16" anyhow...

[Basstronics]

In my reading of 785's thread and some other pictures Ive seen I decided I got to do something better for the rudder. So instead of trying to mount it to that little pad in the back Im going to take note of this thread.

http://www.hobbydepot.com.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=87

Im not going to try glassing something on. However Im going to make a nice bolt on CF plate. Two bolts in the back and one forward. This is the side I put CF on in the inside. So it works out well.

[Basstronics]

Got some work done one this baby.

My hi-tech way of knowing where to drill my holes:


I hit it with a small centerdrill:


Then I used a step drill to 3/8" diameter.


Another:

[Basstronics]

The 11/32" brass tube allows just a small amount of float in the 8mm diameter carbon rod. The original boat had 8mm od X 6mm ID tubes running in the tub and into the sponsons. The spars themselves were a meager 6mm...

Im going more of the JAE route. Brass tube in the tub. Brass tube thru the sponsons. Bolted at the sponsons and clamped on the tub and the CF parts.





Mocked up:




The sponsons are fairly out of alignment. The factory that assembled these did a very poor job at alignment. Im probably going to have to open my holes up over 3/8" to give me enough float to align everything.

I need some help with the ideal spread on the sponsons and how much toe out I should have. Once I get that info or figure it out, I will then jig this up and JB Weld the tubes. Then I will fill it with expanding foam.