Blazer Marine Sport 20 Electric Build

[InspGadgt]

I used epoxy to build this boat. I was thinking...why are we trying to bend such thick wood instead of layering up thinner pieces that bend easier? I'm thinking for the bent sections of the sponsons I may end up doing that instead. It's already too late for the front cockpit area but maybe not for the sponsons.

[ray schrauwen]

O.k. I understand. PLease do with the sponsons. The reason I say to wet the wood ( I use hot water) is because Whips are usually very dry unless it was just cut and the dry wood might snap without some water before heat.

There is this one little part on the bottom of the sponsons that I do that is imo, important to do.

[Scratch66Builder]

Hello, Any advantage to have a offset engine well? If so what

[RandyatBBY]

Offset engine/motor and drive line give a oval racing boat several advantages. First it to counter act the effect of torque on the hull by having more weight on one side. Effect on prop walk is changes by offset drive assembly. Cg is changed and the boat is able to travel faster in the corner.

[InspGadgt]

Well it's been awhile since I worked on the boat...I had the nose come apart on me again and I got a bit frustrated so I put it aside for awhile. I tried a different epoxy and it looks like this is holding much better so it is time for me to continue with the build and I'm looking at the next steps. Since I will be skinning the bottom of the sponsons next then I will need to purchase my turn fin assembly soon. Looking through the recommended hardware on Blazer's website I don't see a turn fin assembly listed. Which turn fin assembly should I get? Thank you.

[InspGadgt]

I'm thinking maybe I'll just pick up the turn fin assembly from the UL-19 since it is the same size boat.

[InspGadgt]

Got all the excess lower plywood sheet trimmed off and sanded flush. Got the ride pads and the next level up bottom piece installed. Now just to do the sections where I need to bend the wood and the bottom will be finished. Before I install the foam blocks and close up the top I'll need to install the turn fin bracket. I've been looking at this one from Mojo racing...any thoughts on that turn fin for this boat? Thanks!

[TRUCKPULL]

I know a lot of racers that use that fin, including myself.

Larry

[InspGadgt]

Awesome thanks!

[InspGadgt]

So my Mojo turn fin came in...looks pretty solid so I think I'm good there. Now I'm about to tackle the part of the sponsons where I need to bend wood. I've done some reading on various web pages but I still haven't figured out yet how I'm going to go about bending the wood. From what I've read it sounds like soaking it ammonia works pretty well and is easy to do...or heating it with steam and bending it. I don't have a "shop" setup where I would have access to everything I would need to make a form to bend it on...I'm limited basically to what I can do with hand tools and a Dremel. Given my tool availability...what method would you guys suggest for bending the wood? Thanks.

[Jesse J]

If it were me, and it may be soon, I would get a bag of spring clamps and contrive a set up where by clamping the water soaked piece it would achieve needed bend, then let air dry slowly...
there are surely more elegant ways, but this may suit your nonshop setup.

[InspGadgt]

Well I went and bought a kettle yesterday so that I could try the steam wood bending technique...I bought an electric one because I figured it would be nice to be able to use it on my work table to bend the wood. However almost no steam comes out and it auto shuts off when the water starts boiling. D'oh!

[785boats]

I've built a lot of wooden boats both scale & Fast electrics.
I've never found it necessary to soak ply to bend it. I have used a heat gun on some ply to help the process. But mostly I just bend it around a 4" pole in my workshop by moving it from side to side while adding pressure.
I will say here though that most of the Hydros that I have built, have been ML Boatworks kits & the ply used had also been bought from them. Blazer marine may use a different grade of aircraft ply, that doesn't bend in the same way.

Bending a ride pad.
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Experimenting with a piece of scrap to see how far I could bend it.
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The finished bend
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[InspGadgt]

Well the plywood under the sponsons is a lot thinner than the nose section and bends fairly easily...so I'm considering just gluing them and bending them on the boat...we'll see what I feel up to doing this weekend if I can find time to work on it.

[InspGadgt]

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Thanks everyone for the suggestions on bending wood. I ended up using the steam technique to pre-bend the sides of the sponsons and finally got some progress on the boat. Even with the wood pre-bent it still was a pain in the butt to get positioned and clamped properly. Sorry this build is going so slow but it's my first wood boat and I'm doing a lot of other projects at the same time...so I'm taking my time getting it done.