Advise for fist run

[jfrabat]

Hi, Guys. During the quarantine, I have been busy building my first FE boats. One of them, a 30 inch cat, is almost ready to go as of today (read about details here). Now, tomorrow, we are allowed to go out, and there is a pond near by I was thinking of hitting tomorrow early. Now, I am a noob when it comes to boats (been in RC, mostly planes, for decades now), so I want your advice on 2 specific issues:

1. Flex drive: I do not have any specific grease for flex shaft (and with all stores closed, I will not be able to get one either), but I do have regular automotive grease. Will that work for the test run? I have Dynamite Marine grease ordered, but will not arrive in time for this... So my intention is to clean the grease after running, and then using the Dynamite Grease.

2. Hatch issues: because this was my first boat build (scratch built), I did not do a good job with the canopy as far as securing it goes (did a lot better job on my second build, but that is not ready to run yet). Currently, the hatch is secured by friction only, and it is not exactly water proof... Especially the rear part (and with waves coming in from behind). I do not plan for long runs tomorrow (if I run it at all), as I need to check temperatures every few minutes, and we are only allowed to be out a total of 1 hour (Panama's Corona Virus lock-down has been fairly extreme!), so most likely, only one battery pack will be used. My idea was to just use a bit of tape to seal it and call it good. It should be fine like this unless I flip it at top speed, but since I am just trying the boat out, I will not be hitting top speed or anywhere near it, the flipping risk should be reduced.

Anyway, any other advice you want to give?

EDIT: Sorry about the typo in the title!

[Capt'n Crash]

I think you should be good with auto grease for a test run as long as it's not too thick. Lots of FE boats require taping of the the hatch for waterproofing so nothing out of the ordinary there. Remember cats like calm water and very little wind/waves. Make sure you have a means to rescue your boat do not swim after it if something goes wrong in the middle of the lake.

You built quite a nice looking cat with the octopus theme. Good luck on your maiden voyage.

[fweasel]

You can thin the auto grease of its too thick, use something thin like motor oil. Make sure the tape is on good, if it gets wet underneath, it cap rip off if the boat flips. I often use electrical tape, which is great for a single use, on a dry hull. Note, it comes off pretty easy if its laid down on anything other than a perfectly dry surface.

Hopefully you've got flotation in this hull, especially on the maiden run. Closed cell foam is the best. Most use pool noodles. But in a corona pinch, I've seen chunks of stryrofoam, ziplock bags with ping pong balls, or 20oz plastic soda bottles.

[jfrabat]

I think you should be good with auto grease for a test run as long as it's not too thick. Lots of FE boats require taping of the the hatch for waterproofing so nothing out of the ordinary there. Remember cats like calm water and very little wind/waves. Make sure you have a means to rescue your boat do not swim after it if something goes wrong in the middle of the lake.

Time allowed out are per last digit of national ID; mine happens to be 7AM to 8AM, so I should have calm waters and no winds. Besides, the pond (would not call it a lake, really; it is about 150m x 40m more or less) is in a dip surrounded by trees all around, and beyond that, a hill on one side and tall buildings on the other.

Lago-CdE.jpg

So you get an idea. My intention is to run in the 50m to the right, which is easier to see. Also, I will bring another micro FE to try to rescue it should something happen, but my intention so far is not to push it to avoid any issues.

I think I got some hatch tape somewhere round here... if not, I got all kinds of tapes I can use, from duck tape to gorilla tape to gaffers tape, scotch, packing... I got a lot of tapes! I just need to be sure they will not ruin the finish (the blue color came off with masking tape the first time I painted it when I went to paint the black circle!).

You built quite a nice looking cat with the octopus theme. Good luck on your maiden voyage.

Thanks on both comments!

You can thin the auto grease of its too thick, use something thin like motor oil. Make sure the tape is on good, if it gets wet underneath, it cap rip off if the boat flips. I often use electrical tape, which is great for a single use, on a dry hull. Note, it comes off pretty easy if its laid down on anything other than a perfectly dry surface.

Hopefully you've got flotation in this hull, especially on the maiden run. Closed cell foam is the best. Most use pool noodles. But in a corona pinch, I've seen chunks of stryrofoam, ziplock bags with ping pong balls, or 20oz plastic soda bottles.

I used styrofoam in the front for flotation. The entire front of the pontoons and tunnel are full of it. Wish I had though about the pool noodles, though... I think the grease I got will work. I will try it with that one and see how it goes!

[jfrabat]

Well, just came back from the pond. No first run today... I found 2 small issues with the pond.

20200516_071351.jpg

If you zoom in the picture, you can see that the fountain heads have strings going out left and right, which significantly shortens the usable area. Sure, I could run under them, but if I stray too close, I could get tangled in them... So I rather not. Besides, all that is irrelevant, as there is issue #2...

20200516-071405.jpg

The park was closed due to the outbreak... Guess I will have to wait a bit longer now!

[Capt'n Crash]

Judging from your pictures it doesn't look like the best place to test the full capabilities of a fast cat but on the bright side you'll probably have the proper grease by the time it opens.

[jfrabat]

Judging from your pictures it doesn't look like the best place to test the full capabilities of a fast cat but on the bright side you'll probably have the proper grease by the time it opens.

You are probably right... But it is the largest lake near my house. I used to run glow boats there (0.20 engine size) just fine, but it was kind of small for bigger boats (I remember we ran a 0.60 engined one once, but it was way too small for that). I also ran my micro FE (an Aquacraft Minimono) there, but that is MUCH slower than the cat (maybe 20 mph). But now with the strings/ropes holding on to the fountain heads, I am not so sure I want to run it all out there. Maybe a first test, but not for all out throttle.