Cheetah Build

[electric]

Thought I would document this build to solicit the knowledge of others and contribute to the forum as well. I have been reading through this forum and found Tony's excellent write up's and reviews of the boat, so I got inspired to do my very first Cat build. I plan to race this in P-Offshore. I know, the boat is like 1/8" too long, but we are not that picky in our club on the length (spirit of the rule) so I believe I will be fine. If not, I can always just take the 1/8" off the tips later if I need too.

So, here the boat is as it arrived last night. First thoughts are the finish is just "ok", might put some paint on the top of the hull to make it prettier later on. I really love the nice carbon fiber treatment inside though. It goes way up in the front of the hull(need to check the seams to see if it goes up the sides) and it is great to have that step done for you at this price point.

The person who taped the hatch down in China has a sick sense of humor. Every time you get an edge up you pull and the tape goes about 1/4" and tears..repeat. I just cut it down the middle with a razor so I could get the hatch open and check it out and will then go back to picking at tape or try some type of tape remover stuff. Does that stuff work?

I should have taken a picture of the OSE box o' parts as well which arrived. I will pull out all of that stuff and take some snap shots of the parts list as well. I am not committing to it, but I may try to do a "quick build" on this boat as I have a race in about three weeks that I might enter it in, if not I will use my trusty delta force P-Mono.

Sorry for the poor lighting, long day at the job and just a few minutes in the evening to pull the boat out and take a few pictures.

[iridebikes247]

Cool boat many people pick the cheetah over all the rest in their fleet I imagine for good reason. Just use some rubbing alcohol, tape will come right off.

[electric]

OK, did not really get started until now. As most everyone is aware, the boat is just slightly over 34" long which makes it illegal for racing in P-offshore class. While no one in my immediate club would mind, I decided I wanted to cut it down to ensure if I go race it elsewhere it is a legal boat. I poured about 1oz epoxy in each tip before I started sanding. Not sure that it was necessary, but probably not a bad idea.

You can see the pencil marks that show how much should be taken off. You can also see one picture where both the tips are shaved off and another where only one is shaved off. It really is not big deal, and if you don't want to even paint the boat is still looks fine.

After looking at the final picture I may round it off just a bit so the edges are not so harsh.

[kfxguy]

You never mentioned anything about what your using to motor, esc, batteries etc. I assume it's going to be a single. You could crank this built out in two weeks just taking your time. Get cracking son!

[electric]

You never mentioned anything about what your using to motor, esc, batteries etc. I assume it's going to be a single. You could crank this built out in two weeks just taking your time. Get cracking son!

Chuckle... Yeah, it's going to use a single TP motor 2000kv, with a 240amp castle esc, and run 4s2p batteries. First time to try out a TP motor. If it doesn't work for me I am going to put in Neu motor. I actually have some time today so I am trying to see how far I can get with the build. My wife, daughter, and mother in law went shopping so I am pretty sure I will not see them until the stores close. Three generations of women shopping, sigh, wonder how much money I will be "saving" today.

[kfxguy]

Chuckle... Yeah, it's going to use a single TP motor 2000kv, with a 240amp castle esc, and run 4s2p batteries. First time to try out a TP motor. If it doesn't work for me I am going to put in Neu motor. I actually have some time today so I am trying to see how far I can get with the build. My wife, daughter, and mother in law went shopping so I am pretty sure I will not see them until the stores close. Three generations of women shopping, sigh, wonder how much money I will be "saving" today.

Lmao! You gonna be broke. Post your progress. What rudder are you going to run?

[electric]

Today I got the tips sanded down, the motor and stuffing tube epoxied in place, soldered all of the bullet connectors, water jacked installed and the strut mounted. The strut was a particular problem in that even the longest speedmast strut barely has enough length. I eventually ended up doing what Tony(Properchopper) did and purchased the very long strut that has a 1/4" drive. I then soldered in a succession of smaller brass tubes to bring it down to 3/16" at the shaft.

Notice that I have a tube epoxied to the hull and then another tube which actually slides inside of this. A club member showed me this and it allows you to easily remove the stuffing tube for adjustments etc.

If I have time tomorrow, I will do the final setup of the steering servo, water lines, and then time to configure the ESC and settings.

I am still kicking around how I am going to paint it or if I am just going to do something very basic and call it done.

The rudder I am using is a cut down 1" speed master rudder which I purchased here at OSE. Basically the largest one on the site with one water pickup.

[electric]

Here are the tools for getting my ESC set up. It occurred to me between soldering on the connectors, plumbing, set up of the esc electronics, binding, there is a whole lot of work getting your ESC from start to finish. At any rate, you can see here I took off the back of the esc and sprayed corrosion X in there. I then used an old piece of drive shaft in each water tube so when I bent them they would not kink. Also, everywhere a water line connects to something there will always be a zip tie to hold them in place. I have blown off to many water tubes in my time, so now I make sure everything is tied off.

Thought I would put a plug in for craftsman. They have a mini metric and standard wrench set you can buy that comes in a plastic holding pouch. Kind of pricey, but well worth it as I have used them now for years and the perfect sizes for working on the boats.

[electric]

So, I have everything hooked up and tested. Still need to cut off some of the wire on the back of the rudder. I also need to figure our where I want to put the radio and how to neaten everything up. I might get an extension so I can put the receiver near the back of the boat. Lastly, I need to also secure the batteries. Thinking about some grommets for the water lines or perhaps a stainless steal tube to run the length to the back.

Another hour or two of clean up and she will be ready for test. Still pondering the paint work as well. Thanks again to Tony for his great write up on this boat which helped me sort out many details.

So, basically a two day build. I have two other boats to build next. A 40" seaducer and a JAE FE rigger. I am going to start on the Seaducer next as I need a "T" class boat to race.

[kfxguy]

Looks good. Cant wait to see how it runs. I think you'll find that your probably going to need a longer rudder. My cheetah spun around until I put a 6 1/4" long rudder.

[electric]

Looks good. Cant wait to see how it runs. I think you'll find that your probably going to need a longer rudder. My cheetah spun around until I put a 6 1/4" long rudder.

Arghh!! That was a long rudder and I cut it down!! Chuckle. Well, we at least I can get another rudder for it and just bolt it on..

[electric]

Thought I would finish this one off with some final pics. Lately I have been painting my boats, but just didn't feel like it this time round. I dug into the trusty sticker drawer and now she is ready to test and then race!

[kfxguy]

Simple but looks good! Can't wait to see it run!

[rearwheelin]

If it's not too much trouble can you post a link to Tony's write up ? Thanks

[Scott M]

The cheetah looks great!! You'll find it'll be your "goto" boat, the hull is a good design.