New build....Rivercat twins

[kfxguy]

Time to finish things up. I'm installing my hatch seal setup. I get this awesome hatch seal foam from Keith Bradley. ..it works very well! Anyway this is how I do it.....

First I Lay down the seal. Then I put the hatch on it and center it. Just so happened that two razor blades in each location to center it perfectly. (Thanks manualw....saw it in his build thread). I measure how far each centerline of the hole needs to be with consideration of the threaded inserts I use. Then I put the hatch on and mark it. I used 4 thumb screws after some research on here and talking to keith a little about it.



Drill 4 tiny holes being care to go straight as possible

Please note: what you see is one hole and a sharpie mark to the outside. The sharpie marks how far back the hole needs to be. Then I measure how far in it needs to be and scratch it then drill.



I don't drill through the rail just yet. I let the drill bit tip it to make sure it's straight. In this pic, this is an example of how they all lined up. Just right off the seal and not close to the edge.

[kfxguy]

Next I get my threaded inserts (8-32 thread serts) and cut 3 notches in them 90 degrees apart. They are a press fit (must find the right drill bit) and I use jb weld to hold them in. I use jb weld be a use its tough, sticks well to aluminum and carbon fiber. Make sure you rough them up too....



Now I cut 4 strips, 3" long of 2mm carbon fiber. I sand them and the bottom of the rail with rough sand paper then epoxy them where my holes will be. This is to spread the load and reinforce the rails. I use 2 part epoxy for carbon fiber on this....

Once it cures I drill holes and epoxy in my inserts. Everything lines up....it looks like this...

[kfxguy]

Once I screwed it all down I could see a nice contact line around the whole length of the foam seal....indication that it's doing its job and will be water tight!

[kfxguy]

Next it was time to paint the hatch. The guy I'm building it for likes orange (I do too and this turned out better looking than in the pics) so I had some orange decals made to match the paint. In the pics, they look off, but they really aren't. The light is shining on to of the hatch but decal on the side....

Here's my first light coat. I'm no professional painter and I used an airbrush. ..still turned out really nice...



And laying it on thicker next coat...

[kfxguy]

I had monojeff make a couple decals for me and a split carbon fiber windshield (paint isn't dry enough to put it on yet!)

[srislash]

Orange looks sharp with the CF

[kfxguy]

Paint finally dried enough to get windshield on....

[rearwheelin]

Where do you get the foam seal your using ? I'm finally getting to my hatch part of the build , I have run my boat 11 times and taping is getting old ! The thing is I'm getting good at taping lol 3 crashes and not a drop , but sure is getting old

[kfxguy]

Where do you get the foam seal your using ? I'm finally getting to my hatch part of the build , I have run my boat 11 times and taping is getting old ! The thing is I'm getting good at taping lol 3 crashes and not a drop , but sure is getting old

Keith Bradley sells it.

[Luck as a Constant]

New build....Rivercat twins

Looking real nice Travis :yesway:


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[PowerDemon]

Real nice Travis. The carbon windshield on the orange looks awesome!

[BlkY2k]

Great looking cat. I think I would do the antenna in black though so it disappears. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.

[Spartanator]

Great looking cat. I think I would do the antenna in black though so it disappears. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.

I thought about that but I stuck with Orange. For some reason antennas look cool to me... lol

[kfxguy]

It's up to the owner, but the orange color of the antenna doesn't match everything else. It's kinda dark orange compared to everything else. It went on its maiden voyage today. Did really well first time out. With a m545 prop on 6s it went 70.9mph and when I swapped to a m645 it went 77.0mph.....surpassing Spartanator's goal.temps stayed in check whether I was making hard passes or just tooling around. The esc was 111 degrees max. I had a water flow issue for the cooling but once I caught that, it stayed pretty low. The motor had to have been less than 110 degrees as it felt slightly warm. I ran it for at least 5 minutes and my packs were only pulled down to 3.9v per cell so it looks like it will have a decent runtime. I liked the radio setup, mostly the telemetry but the range wasn't quite were I'd want it. Maybe we can try a couple different things to get it a little farther. ...a boat of this speed....needs a good range on the transmitter. All in all I enjoyed this build and I'm pleased with the outcome. I look forward to building another one of these boats.....this is my favorite hull at the moment. I may be starting on the fiberglass hull in the next couple weeks. I went visit a buddy of mine and brought my small rivercat and my 32" rivercat with me....after seeing them run he told me today we are gonna work something out on the hull I have for me to build it for him. He sent me home yesterday with a few parts for it. I can't wait to start on it too!

[Spartanator]

I am dying from excitement! One day you will log in here and have 15 Pms' asking for a CF Cat! lol