Canard Hydro.

[Heath M]

I'll add to the wing so it's within the 25% rule.

[785boats]

Well I've finally spent a bit of time on this bird.
I fitted the strut & rudder a few weeks ago & then last week I made & fitted a motor mount, then added a servo & cooling lines. Then I installed an old TP Power 4060 1350kv motor & a Seaking 180A ESC.
Steve, the guy I bought the hull from, is still making the mould for the cowling. But as I wanted to test it out on our practice day last Sunday, I made a basic ply & balsa hatch to keep the water out. Built that at 3:00am Sunday morning before leaving for the lake.

First run was with an X450/3 blade prop. Didn't look fast enough for a 6s sport hydro & it only used 50% of the pack (5800mah 1p) in 6 laps.
So on went a Prather 245 for the next run. That's the one in the videos.
A bit faster with room for improvement when I get it dialed in a bit better.
Still had 37% left in a 6200mah 1P Zippy Compact pack.
The only bad quirk that she has is that it won't allow corrective left turning at full noise, even with full left rudder down the back straight. Then If I lift off the throttle it would suddenly hook left.
I feel that the cause may be that the rudder is in front of the prop. I have a longer extension that I will fit before the next outing. That will put the rudder slightly behind the prop.
Here's a couple of videos with the Prather s245. And a few pics.
Not as fast as my ML GP400. But this will be fun to race.

[785boats]

The other video.

[srislash]

You can shim the strut to correct it thru prop. Shim one side of strut between strut and transom. A little trial and error but...

Shawn,( whom has always wanted a canard)

[785boats]

She seems to run pretty straight as it is. But feeding in left rudder at full speed just doesn't do anything until I back off the throttle.
I guess I tend to hold it in a turn a bit too long & end up heading inside the first buoy of the next turn & need to veer left a bit. When I cure myself of that bad driving habit, there shouldn't be a problem. But it would be nice to have a bit of left turn when needed.
A bit of shimming in the strut, as you suggest, is probably required anyway, because it does have a slight bit of left trim on the rudder to keep it tracking straight.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I'll see what moving the rudder back does too.

[785boats]

So. The Penrite "STARFIGHTER" will have its first race day tomorrow. Three heats in our EB (6s) Sports Hydro.
I've only had one test session with the rudder moved back on an extension, but it was certainly an improvement.
Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to paint the cowl yet, but it will get done sooner or later.
I'm looking forward to this, because it is a bit different. I don't think it has the speed to win yet but it will be fun.
I'll let you know how she fares tomorrow.

[785boats]

Yep. As I thought. Down a bit on speed & still wants to lift the nose into the wind.
Unfortunately there were only three entries for the day in EB Sports Hydro. But I ended up with 2 wins & a second, and top points for the day.
The two wins were gifts really because in the first race I was the only finisher. But I did do a beautiful backflip & kept going to finish the race.
In the second race Big Ash was having radio problems. You can hear it cutting out. So that made things easy for me.
In the third race I took a big hit when another boat drove into me in the first turn. It must have gone under me because there are gelcoat chips under neath the boat. But it also split the seam on the port sponson. Both easy fixes. There was quite a bit of water in the boat when she came in though.
I think I'll have the TP 4070 1440kv motor in it for the next time we run this class. And a bit of weight in the front.
Here's the fun.

[785boats]

Round 2

[785boats]

Round 3

[wuzofoz]

for a slow boat it performed dam good,
some more fine tuning and watchout

[785boats]

Thanks Wuzza.
Yep. A bit more playtime & the 1440kv motor out of the GP400 & she will be a bit better. I'm happy with the way she corners though.
It's weird having a boat with no turn fins, that corners so well.