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Although I've only been involved in FE for about 6 months, I originally got involved in RC over 35 years ago. While I've built quite a few land-based vehicles (from crawlers, to race vehicles), I've never built a boat...but, that's about to change. So as to not "break the bank", I felt it might be best to start with something on the smaller side. That way, if I royally screw up, I won't be out several hundred (or more) dollars...so, I chose the 17" Drifter Micro cat, from H&M.
To give me a slight 'challenge', I've decided to build this as a twin (and, to be completely honest, I really don't know if building a twin vs a single will be more of a challenge, or easier).
Before I continue, let me first say, "Thank you", to those who've provided helpful information...especially Bill, aka Dr. Jet, who went "above and beyond", not only providing much-needed information, but also played the biggest part in helping me select the hull I would use, as well as knowing which struts might work best with this hull.
Since this is my first time building a boat, this thread will be quite different than the build threads I've previously done. On one hand, where land-based vehicles are concerned, I knew what I was doing...and, as such, those threads were more to show what I was doing, and to help others who might be interested in doing the same, or something similar. On the other hand, in regards to building a boat, I'll admit, I have little more than a clue. As such, I have a feeling I'll probably be asking more questions, than providing useful information. Or...to put it another way...I'll probably spend a decent amount of time posting queries, ideas, & thoughts, asking for suggestions, posting what I did, and then waiting for those with more knowledge than I have to confirm what I did was "right" and/or point out the mistakes I made (and, hopefully, provide solutions top said mistakes).
With that said...LET THE GAME BEGIN!!!
(and pray that I don't seriously screw this up)
First thing's first...in one of those above photos, you might have noticed something 'amiss' with the hull...namely, the hole in the canopy. Here's a couple more photos, showing the "problem" is greater detail:
I contacted H&M (almost two weeks ago), and explained what I discovered when I opened the box the hull arrived in. The hull wasn't just well-packed, and well-protected...it was extremely well-protected. Whomever packed the hull could teach Amazon a thing, or three, about how to properly pack boxes for shipping. Unfortunately, the damage was, obviously, caused before the hull was packed. At first, they assumed this had occurred after I opened the box as but I explained (and provided photos) that this was how it was when I received it. To make this long 'damaged canopy' story short, I'll end it by saying that they have made a replacement, and I received an email from them this morning, informing me that the replacement is finished, and should ship shortly.
Another "problem" I discovered upon opening the box is that the build manual is entirely in German (something that anyone who's ordered from H&M probably knows all too well). Unfortunately, my grandmother never taught me, so my German is limited to a few words, and one sentence ("Do you speak German?"). Thankfully, there's this wonderful thing called 'Google Translate'...so, I am in the process of translating the entire 17-page build manual to English (I started it over a week ago, and I'm more than halfway finished).
~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place
To give me a slight 'challenge', I've decided to build this as a twin (and, to be completely honest, I really don't know if building a twin vs a single will be more of a challenge, or easier).
Before I continue, let me first say, "Thank you", to those who've provided helpful information...especially Bill, aka Dr. Jet, who went "above and beyond", not only providing much-needed information, but also played the biggest part in helping me select the hull I would use, as well as knowing which struts might work best with this hull.
Since this is my first time building a boat, this thread will be quite different than the build threads I've previously done. On one hand, where land-based vehicles are concerned, I knew what I was doing...and, as such, those threads were more to show what I was doing, and to help others who might be interested in doing the same, or something similar. On the other hand, in regards to building a boat, I'll admit, I have little more than a clue. As such, I have a feeling I'll probably be asking more questions, than providing useful information. Or...to put it another way...I'll probably spend a decent amount of time posting queries, ideas, & thoughts, asking for suggestions, posting what I did, and then waiting for those with more knowledge than I have to confirm what I did was "right" and/or point out the mistakes I made (and, hopefully, provide solutions top said mistakes).
With that said...LET THE GAME BEGIN!!!
(and pray that I don't seriously screw this up)
First thing's first...in one of those above photos, you might have noticed something 'amiss' with the hull...namely, the hole in the canopy. Here's a couple more photos, showing the "problem" is greater detail:
I contacted H&M (almost two weeks ago), and explained what I discovered when I opened the box the hull arrived in. The hull wasn't just well-packed, and well-protected...it was extremely well-protected. Whomever packed the hull could teach Amazon a thing, or three, about how to properly pack boxes for shipping. Unfortunately, the damage was, obviously, caused before the hull was packed. At first, they assumed this had occurred after I opened the box as but I explained (and provided photos) that this was how it was when I received it. To make this long 'damaged canopy' story short, I'll end it by saying that they have made a replacement, and I received an email from them this morning, informing me that the replacement is finished, and should ship shortly.
Another "problem" I discovered upon opening the box is that the build manual is entirely in German (something that anyone who's ordered from H&M probably knows all too well). Unfortunately, my grandmother never taught me, so my German is limited to a few words, and one sentence ("Do you speak German?"). Thankfully, there's this wonderful thing called 'Google Translate'...so, I am in the process of translating the entire 17-page build manual to English (I started it over a week ago, and I'm more than halfway finished).
~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place
As for the drain hole, when it comes to hulls thar can simply be held upside-down to drain the water, I completely understand, and would agree with, what you said. Unfortunately, the design of the deck, where the canopy sits down 'into' the hull, doesn't allow water to be drained so easily. Also, as much as I like your idea of installing the boots on the inside of the hull (I'm in agreement that it would give the boat a much cleaner look), as you can see by the photo below, in addition to the "upside-down water draining problem", there's also no room for the boots inside the hull, as space between the tunnel & canopy is almost non-existent between the transom & rear of the canopy.
As you can see, from the photo above, the deck has a considerably-deep 'lip' (almost 0.5"), which, should the boat take on water, would prevent a huge amount of the water from draining when holding the boat upside-down. This is why I considered a drain hole/plug. Of my current 7 boats, 4 came with drain holes/plugs already installed, 1 doesn't need one (the deck has a slight 'curve' towards where the canopy sits, and there's almost no 'lip' preventing water from departing the hull), 1 I dropped a hole in the deck, directly above the coupler (the hole serves as a drain, but also allows access to the coupler for maintenance), and 1 I still haven't decided where to place the drain hole (TFL Jet Boat).
Now, to see if I'm correctly understanding what you said, I'm posting a modified version of the first photo, with a red line drawn in, which would equate to the bottom of the hull. If I'm understanding you correctly...and, PLEASE, correct me if I'm wrong...the bottom of the hull should be perfectly flush with the bottom of the strut. As such, however much higher the center of the shaft hole is above the bottom of the strut, that should be the center of the holes drilled through the transom (ie. if the center of the shaft hole in the strut is 4mm above the bottom of the strut, then the center of the holes drilled through the transom should be 4mm up from the bottom of the left/right hulls).
Finally, regarding the build manual, I just assumed they included a manual (in German) with all hulls. Although, I can say, no disc was included. I'm actually enjoying doing the translation (even though it is time consuming). The hardest part...and what's taking the longest amount of time...involves the additional characters not found in the English alphabet. For example, the standard a, and special ?, look almost identical, replacing the intended ? with an a can change the entire word, or even the sentence. A stranger one is the s vs ?. To some, that ? might look like a capital B, but the pronunciation is actually a sharp-S. Too bad my paternal grandmother never taught me German (speaking, or reading).
As for the edge of the strut's mounting bracket that will be flush against the hull, the area where the stuffing enters the stinger strut's mount is 4mm above the mounting bracket. With the opening being 6mm in diameter, that places the center of the opening 7mm above the bottom of the mounting bracket. The bracket, itself, is 31mm tall, work the center of the top mounting hole being 25.75mm up from the bottom of the bracket. The left/right mounting holes are 13mm up from the bottom, and are (center-to-center) 15mm apart.
I hope to have more photos & measurements posted later today.
I say "appears" because it is possible I wasn't holding the strut perfectly (see third photo, below). It IS still possible that points #1 & #2 are at the exact same level, and I might have just been holding the strut slightly "off". If, however, I was holding it correctly, and point #1 is 1mm higher than point #2, then this raises an "interesting" question...which I'll get to at the end of the following post.
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