Darin's UL1 Race Prep

[sailr]

Good news! The Krylon Fusion with the Model Masters clear over it held up just fine to the tape! Hoooray! I use vinyl tape (electrical tape) instead of the high dollar hatch tape. It lays down better, conforms better, has less adhesion and doesn't leave any residue. Walmart sells a CLEAR electrical tape in their automotive department for $1.79 a roll. BARGAIN! It works great!!

Also, I filled the hull with the foam Darin recommended. Great stuff. The hull is now solid as a rock! Ran the boat the first time last weekend and it's a Keeper for sure!

It remains to be seen if my paint is gonna hold up to tape! All I painted was the hatch and cowl. I'm in the same boat as you...waiting for a water jacket. I gave up on the POS one that comes on the boat. Also had to do your major surgery on the right sponson where the fin bolts on. Mine came with the sponson pretty badly split open already. Just finished that job. I'm going to use the foam you suggested (it just arrived today) and pour it in several places in the boat. I just don't like how flimsy the hull is. Now I'm trying to find the little 1 oz medicine cups to measure that stuff. No luck at Walgreens!

[Darin Jordan]

Also, I filled the hull with the foam Darin recommended.

Just for the record... that wasn't me... I think it was Mike Martin...

[sailr]

MY BAD Darin! Sorry about that.

Just for the record... that wasn't me... I think it was Mike Martin...

[falconfinder]

OK Gang... I've finally gotten around to taking one of my UL1s out of the box.

First thing I did was remove the stickers and fins, and then I tore the entire boat down. That's just how I roll...

What follows details the things I'm doing to prep mine for racing this season.

WARNING: What follows is in NO WAY authorized, endorsed, promoted, or otherwise condoned by AquaCraft or any entities associated with AquaCraft. Doing many of these actions could very well VOID any factory warrantee on this boat, so please be aware of that before proceeding. This thread is simply ME sharing what I'm doing to my UL1 to get it ready for a season of racing. The content provided is solely from me for the purpose of showing one approach to making this boat race-ready. Proceed at your own risk!

I did pressure test the water jacket (blew into the water lines) and it leaks badly right out of the box. I'm not concerned at all, however, because I know that Mike Z is on top of this.

So, with the boat torn down, I put all the parts into Ziplock bags and set them aside. First setp is to reinforce the turn-fin area. I KNOW that this won't be necessary on later boats, as AQ is working on the issue now, but at least this one is rather soft in the turn-fin area and I think it should be reinforced.

These pictures show how I'm approaching this.

Great job with this thread. I have not ordered one yet. Do you know with AQ has made improvements on the stock boat on the turn fin if i order one now?

thanks man

[longballlumber]

So Darin,

Is this thread dead now that your running an Proboat hull?

[Darin Jordan]

Well... no... but the UL1 is ready to go. Haven't done anything with it since then... I may do the foam-pour thing to it once my order of that arrives...

[engineerjoe]

I just wanted to say thanks to Offshore Electrics and Darin for this writup. I did it last night and thanks to the work of everyone here it went off without a hitch. a couple more epoxy pours and it will be "rock solid"

[LiPo Power]

Darin, do you think Aquacraft will make changes to the fin on their later models ? Or, why there is no fin on the left side taking away some of the force?
BDW, very cool showing of your 2 mods. ( so fare )

[MarkJnK]

Great info here Darin, I'm just doing the same process, and will finish it off with expanding urethane inside to act as a space frame to support the thin skin. I also used a Kintec fin bracket which adds a third hole. It is rock solid.

My backing plate shape was quite different from yours, as the third hole lines up with the lower standard hole, and your backing plate design didn't allow that hole to be located on it.

My shape was more like this...

[Stealth Assassin]

What Is G-10?

Once they were fitted, I roughed them up a tad with some 320-grit sandpaper, wiped it all down, then put a thin coat of epoxy on both the existing pad surface and the bottom of the new pad.

Taped it in place, clamped things down, wiped off the excess (come back a couple of times to do this as it will continue to squeeze out) and set the assembly up to dry...

Please be VERY careful if you use clamps as I've shown in the picture... the deck will crack if you put much pressure on them. I only used them to help hold some force downward...

Remove the tape and cleanup and you are done... Nice sharp edges, very hard, dense surface, and FLAT... Should optimize the performance of this already fast hull, as well as make the ride-pads much more durable. That's important when you are racing, because inevitably, you WILL flip, and every now and then, someone will run you over... and the sponsons are usually the first thing to get hit!

[bedrock]

Hi from Australia

Thanks for the template did the same thing using your turning fin Template using Alluminum instead of timber - works well also glassed the area 4 layers

This boat is very thin compared to other nitro boats!!!!
-
What Prop do you guys think is the best currently running standard prop brought Aq 40-57/3 have not sharpened this yet thinkin I may get this done or is this easy to do??

Thanks
________
Marijuana card

[Crazzymugen]

Gday bedrock were in Aus do you live

[Brushless55]

Here is my advice to anyone wishing to customize the paint on one of these... buy a color you like, and add lots of decals/graphics... Much simpler!

I agree!
my UL-1 in my avitar took weeks to complete, because the paint kept pulling up and wrinkling...
I gave up two times on it

[mavdriver]

seems like this thread has slow down , well good news Im bringging it back I`m thinking about doing the air dam does it work ? im still a bit offish wouldn`t aquacraft figure that out before they release this boat with all the hype you would think this was allready figure out , don`t get me wrong I love the UL 1 but does it really handle when you put the coals on , major wobble , thats what i get do have to add air dam to settle the sponsons why ? even so still wobbles , sorry just dissapointed I realised this is whole different animal , but give me Catamaran and it just handles , sorry just venting my UL 1 works but don`t hit full throttle she gets squirlly , slow down so she wont flip , come on I`m jet pilot i like to go fast , i don`t want to slow down , only when i need too LOL

[Sway]

What Is G-10?

Fiberglass plate.