Hull floatation

[worriedsick4u]

I have a Hydro & Marine hull I'll start building here shortly. What is best used for floatation? Is the 2 prt product OSE sells any good and how is it used? Thanks

[siberianhusky]

All my fiberglass hulls use cut up pool noodles. Easy, cheap, removable for repairs and clean.

[JIM MARCUM]

Pool noodles are indeed cheap, easy to install/remove & work well. However, if you plan on racing a good 2 part urethane foam is a good option but can be tricky to do. Too much can crack the hull. Done right, a 2 part will provide extra hull strength, and reduce flexing - especially on cats.

I don't know about your hull, but most boats made in China are too weak in the upper/lower hull seam and can easily crack banging hulls in racing. Resin or epoxy 1-2" fiberglass tape along the entire inner seam joint will fix that. I now do it on all my cats.

I met Daren Jordan (he designed the Miss Geico for Pro Boat) at the Legg Lake SAWs last year. After my MG (w/o the extra seam tape) hit a turtle the port seam had an 8" seam split open on the port side & cracked 1/2 of the cheap plastic canopy. Here's my take on what Daren suggested: 1. Put your cat on it's starboard side, bow slightly down, and pour in an ounce or so of 2 part urethane. While on it's side, lower the bow to get a coating of urethane at the tips and a coat all the way to the stern. Repeat for the port side - be careful to not foam over the water discharge thru hull fittings. But if you do it easy to scrape the foam off after it dries. 2. Turn the boat upside down and lightly coat the hull interior from the bow to where the removable canopy begins. 3. Use cut up pool noodles to fill any remaining spaces (my opinion - not Daren's).

The result will be a much stronger hull that can survive being hit & one that is easy to repair - from the outside. Unlike pool noodles, if the hull is punctured little or no water will get inside where the 2 part foam is.

As to the cracked MG canopy, I taped up the exterior to keep it together, put a few drops of CA to tack it in place, and epoxied a thin layer of flexable fiberglass on the inside. It fixed the cracks & will help prevent future cracks. Ain't beautiful, but it's strong.

Apologies to Daren if I misstated your advice. JIM

[worriedsick4u]

Thanks Jim. I paid good money for this hull from Germany. It is taped at the seam. The back of the hull seems to be fairly thicky fiberglass so I'll assume I don't need to reinforce before I install the strut and rudder. I'll purchase the 2 part from OSE. And cut up my wifes noodle.

[JIM MARCUM]

Great. Go easy on the wife's noodle.

PS: If you aren't going to race it, I'd go with pool noodles. With a strong hull you don't need 2 part foam. JIM

[martin]

I prefer pool noodles, if you need to repair a hull its dead easy just remove all the foam.

[siberianhusky]

Which hull? I just got my hardware for my H&M Drifter S.
I am doing a bit of fiberglassing and installing a 1/4 ply block in the strut mount pad area of mine. Not sure I trust just the glass there, could see bad things happening if I hit something in the water.
The rest of the hull is great with a nicely taped joint from the factory.
I agree with what Jim says for the most part, until I had to do a sponson repair to a foamed cat. I had foam crumbs everywhere!
I have to say that the impact only crushed the chine in, didn't break the cloth just shattered the vinyl ester resin.
The damage may have been worse if it didn't have foam, but removing the foam to reinforce the repair on the inside was not a fun job at all.
There a positives and negatives to both, pick your poison.
Even with the foam If there had been much more damage I would have just bought another hull, With the cost of the chinese hulls they are almost disposable.
The H&M hull is worlds apart in quality. Unfortunately also in price!

[worriedsick4u]

I got the 26" Miss Bud. Still waiting on decals and spoiler from the guy I bought it from. I'm about ready to file a paypal claim since it's been over a month and he hasn't delivered. I know we aren't supposed to talk s**t about guys on here but he's a douche.

[Flying Scotsman]

I use pool noodles but the other method mentioned is a great choice. The other point brought up is the original hull structure I will never buy knock off hulls as they are crap most of the time....pay the piper and buy the original otherwise you may regret your descion and believe me I am always looking for a bargain the cheap Scot that I am but I always look at quality first.

Douggie

[siberianhusky]

Uh Oh did you buy from the N.A retailer of them?
Get ready to file if so, you may have problems!
You may have a "Fine" time with this!

[worriedsick4u]

You got it. A "Fine" time indeed.

[JIM MARCUM]

When I have to repair a hull that's been 2 part foamed, I sand & bevel the outter hull down to the foam (or what's left of it) & re-glass it. Working with fiberglass can be an itchy pain in the ass, so always wear light gloves & a long sleeved T type shirt with no gaps. When I do glass work on real boats, I use a hooded painters jump suit taped down to rain boots, dust mask, hard hat & goggles - everything taped off to cover my skin. Fiberglass dust is quite clever at finding a way to get to your skin anyway. When I'm done sanding, I blow everything off (including me) & remove the clothes carefully. Hose off hands & arms outside, then take a COLD shower (keeps your pours closed) to get remaining dust off me. Even with all that there will be some itchy areas remaining.

Doing fiberglass repairs to a FE boat is not that hard, bus is not for everyone. But anyone can add a layer of cloth inside thier FE boat hull to add strength with minimal pratice. As with painting, surface prep is everything. I use a microfiber towel & an acetone wipedown to prepair the hull interior. Acetone is also used to clean up any excess resin after glassing - always use it outside cuz it's extreemly flamable & the vapors are toxic. Be very careful using acetone on the outer hull as it will disolve most paints. I use epoxy or vinyl ester resins rather than polyester - both are stronger & do better in water. Both Vinyl ester & epoxy resins will adhere to/over poly ester resin hulls, but poly ester dosen't stick well to Vinyl ester or epoxy. Also, gelcoat can't be used over epoxy - gotta use paint.

With a little pratice it's not that hard to do fiberglass repairs on a FE hull. Just error on the side of caution & keep away from any open flames.

If this sounds like too much of a hassle, buy another hull as Siberianhusky said. $200-$400 bucks ain't that bad. And it dosen't make your skin itch. JIM

[worriedsick4u]

Good info. Thanks. What kind of hull are you holding in your hands?

[JIM MARCUM]

That's a gas powered Segad C1, converted to FE. Single Leopard 5692 motor -1090 or 1340KV - the new Castle ICE 200HV, 8-10S2P Trinity Nano tec batts, 1/4" flex drive with a seamless stainless steel stuffing tube. It did 72MPH+ with the 1090KV at the Legg Lake SAWs (S Offshore Cat class) on my first & only run. Blew up the old style Castle on the second attempt after changing to the 1340KV. It was my first NAMBA event & was a blast. Met a lot of great FE guys who are friendly, knowlegable & willing to help you out. Was worth the 300 mile round trip from San Diego & hotel fees.

It's a great straight line boat but rolls easily. I may run it again with the 1340KV & 10S2P in T Offshore Cat class at the second SAWs this year. Gotta hit at least 90MPH to stand a chance at the existing record - unless someone raises the bar at the upcoming SAWs in March. I know Boyd is aiming at 100+MPH.

Also building an 44" Aeromarine cat for T class sprint, oval & offshore racing at Legg Lake using the above setup with the 1090KV motor. It's big & wide & an Aeromarine so it should handle great. JIM