New to site/Aquacraft ul-1 first runs and headaches

[BamaHydro]

First I would like to say that I am new to the site and very green to water rc stuff, ran dirt oval for 10 years out west in the days that 1200 and 1400 batteries were the stuff.


After stumbling upon a youtube video of the Ul-1, I got one as I live on a near 300 acre private lake up here in the sticks of Alabama.

Got some grim racer 4200 lipos to power it. First run off my dock went smooth but there was not enough room to wring it out and turn. Next time out an error beep rang out and I guess I screwed with the throttle setting on the tranmitter, silly me. Got the local hobby shop to baby-sit me thru getting it right.

So the next time out I hopped in the pontoon boat a little farther out and ran that thing, all was going well til it stopped dead in the water, the motor revved up but the boat sat idle. Took it out and saw the stock prop blades sheared clean off,okie-doke.


I ordered a grim racer prop that Aquacraft recommended, put it on and took it out, all it did was bubble the water, never got on plane, swell. What is wrong now? The hobby shop tells me that you need to get the prop finished, what? It don't work out of the package, swell. Silly me for thinking a recommended aftermarket prop needs works to get it right.

So I got some stock props for now and it works fine.

Questions, how, where, what and whom can "finish" props? How do you measure the skid fin placement for the smoothest ride as well as the rudder, I am a total rookie and need help, boat seems to track nice and carry well on the water.



BamaHydro

[tlandauer]

dasboata does magic to props and is a great guy, you can ask him I am sure. http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...-after-harding
All after market Grim Racer props need to be sharpened, polished and most importantly balanced. if you go to OSE parts store, click on the props button and you will see ''Polished/balanced" props as compared to "raw" props.
As for your skid fin, I am assuming you are referring to the "turn fin", you should be good to go if the bracket has not been moved. The top of the blade should be parallel with the bracket.
The strut is something you can/should fine tune. You will get a lot of useful info from this thread:http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...-Hydro-Q-amp-A, off hand I don't remember where mine is set.
The rudder is either "tucked in" or "tilted out", tucked in will raise the bow when you turn the boat, conversely a tilted out rudder will raise the stern when you crank the rudder. I will begin with a rudder that is set in "Neutral" , meaning that if you look from the side, its leading edge should be parallel to the transom.

[gsbuickman]

Welcome to OSE B.H

I agree with Landauer. You will find a wealth of prop information in the prop forum.http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...p?51-Prop-Talk

Another way of explaining the pitch of your prop,his to think of your ul-1; or any other boat for that matter, as a teeter totter. When the pitch of your prop is at neutral 0`, its parallel and level with the hull , like an empty balance beam or empty teeter totter.

When the prop is negatively pitched, its angled slightly downward .
When the prop is positively pitched, its angled slightly upward.

Like a teeter totter, when the prop is angled upward, it pushes the back of the boat down, and in turn raises the nose of the boat higher out of the water.

Its just the opposite when the prop is negatively pitched. Neutral prop pitch let's the boat plow around flat & level. To adjust the pitch of the prop, either raise or lower the strut. Adjust the boat so it plains nicely, rather than plowing the water, also called riding wet. Remember, if you run with the nose too high, the air will get under it and flip the boat over. If you run with too much negative prop, the ul-1 makes a great submarine, trust me......

[BamaHydro]

Thank you so much for the help and tips, got a whole lot to learn, this hydro stuff sure is fun.


BamaHydro

[BamaHydro]

If it is really cold outside and the water somewhat cold, is this a no-no to run the boat?




BamaHydro

[TheShaughnessy]

I've ran my boats while it was snowing with no issues, others have ran theirs in actual snow. I know racers that run ice water through the cooling system before a heat.

I think gsbuickman is trying to describe strut angle NOT the pitch of a prop. A prop will not have negative pitch. Pitch, when talking about props is the distance the prop will move forward in one revolution assuming no slip.

However if the strut has a positive or negative angle/pitch . Then the effects described above will happen.

One other thing is Tim mixed up what happens when you adjust the rudder. Tucking a rudder or putting a negative castor on it will direct a portion of the water passing it down. As a result of water going down the stern raises and the bow drops. The opposite is true for positive castor. The water is directed up pushing down on the stern and raising the bow. Lastly rudder adjustments generally only affect ride attitude while turning and not necessarily while going in a straight line.

You should be able to find a lot of this info in your owners manual.

Another question, is the prop you got a l40x55/ 3? That prop needs to really be thinned out to hook up. It's a bad first prop to try balancing. If you want to practice balancing you can get a x442 to practice on, for more speed you can go to a m445 but you would need to limit run times at that point as you will be pushing the amperage limits of the stock components. Being cold will help keep electronics cool so you may be just fine in your geographic location.

[tlandauer]

Sorry , if I said the opposite thing. I always thought it was the other way.
Anyway, I agree, rudder adjustments only affect ride attitude while turning.

[TheShaughnessy]

I always thought it was the way you said too. Personal experience and an article I read a while back lead me to believe otherwise. Ill see if I can find it.

[tlandauer]

I always thought it was the way you said too. Personal experience and an article I read a while back lead me to believe otherwise. Ill see if I can find it.

yes, please, I want to learn, I think I got it really mixed up and I am embarrassed to say that I need to go back to my entire fleet and rectify this mistake.

[kfxguy]

Go to the ose store and buy some graupner props. They are ready to go as is. Stronger than a plastic prop. I use these a bunch and has good luck with them.

[TheShaughnessy]

Ok you have it right Tim, according to the two illustrations I found. Doesn't seem to work like that for me

http://www.modelpowerboat.com/content.php?122-RC-Model-Boat-Hull-Attitude

http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...chmentid=86504

[tlandauer]

I don't know, my last rudder adjustment was on a BBY Zephyr, now I think I know what you mean that the opposite was your real life experience. I looked at the boat now and tried to reconstruct my memory.
See, at first the hydro was rocking left and right, especially when I turn and I thought the sponson tip was digging into the water too much, so I thought by tucking it in would raised the bow and not send the sponson tips into the water, but that made it turn even worse, so I pulled out the rudder and it worked better.
Too late for me, my pea sized brain is completely fried.
The end to my BBY story was that I made a turn fin w/o the customary curve and all is well. Never did verify if the rudder angle contributed in any way to the unsteadiness of the boat while it is being turned.