Water in Hull - Impulse 26

[ProBoat59]

Hello All,
Need some advise from the pro's out there on the water i'm getting ito the hull while running.
I bought this bought used but like new a few months back. Upgraded to a PB-1500 brushless with 120a ESC and a 4S 330 battery.
The boat screems but I end up with approx 6-8 oz. of water every at the end of every run. I completely taped up the hatch and submersed it to to find only a couple small bubbles from one of the trim plate screws. I removed and sealed all the fasteners and grommets, also pressure tested the cooling lines. Receiver is sealed in a balloon.
Yesterday I made two more runs with the prop shaft greased heavily and the outer hatch taped up. Still get the water......
Is this normal or acceptable ????
All can can determine is the water come up the prop shaft.................
Thanks in advance for any feedback.....

[Diegoboy]

thread moved

[POWERS]

Hello All,
Need some advise from the pro's out there on the water i'm getting ito the hull while running.
I bought this bought used but like new a few months back. Upgraded to a PB-1500 brushless with 120a ESC and a 4S 330 battery.
The boat screems but I end up with approx 6-8 oz. of water every at the end of every run. I completely taped up the hatch and submersed it to to find only a couple small bubbles from one of the trim plate screws. I removed and sealed all the fasteners and grommets, also pressure tested the cooling lines. Receiver is sealed in a balloon.
yYesterday I made two more runs with the prop shaft greased heavily and the outer hatch taped up. Still get the water......
Is this normal or acceptable ????
All can can determine is the water come up the prop shaft.................y
Thanks in advance for any feedback.....

Start by checking the seem where the top and bottom halves of the hull are joined, an extra bead of glue couldn't hurt along here. Next, since u upgraded to brushless if you haven't done so yet I'd advise reinforcing the hull, the plastic hull can crack at higher speeds, sometimes a hairline crack isn't the noticable but can let in water. Laying down some carbon fiber or fiberglass sheet stiffens and strengthens the hull quite nicely, don't forget to give the hatch the same treatment.

[ProBoat59]

To check it out initially and per ProBoats advise, I taped up the hatch completely, the put the entire boat underwater ( in every attitude possible) and only found a small bubble coming from on of the ride plate bolts. So i'm pretty confident the upper / lower hull are intact, Also visually inspected it. I was thinking the teflon prop shaft liner may be worn. I do not know how much the boat was used and or maintained before I got it even though it looked good.
Is this much water common ?

[POWERS]

My two usually come back in with hardly a drop in them. Regardless of seeing bubbles or not resealing the seem can't hurt as well as reinforcing the hull since your going much faster than that hull was intended to.

You can always try to vacuum hose cap method of sealing off the prop shaft. Pick up a pack of vacuum line caps from the auto parts store, drill hole in the tip and it will slide over end of stuffing tube allowing flex cable to come through it.

Other than that it sounds like you did your homework so I'm out of ideas on that much water.

[ProBoat59]

I'll try the vacuum cap idea and seal the hull upper / lower.
Will let you know the results.
Thanks!!

[IKERLEFEV]

I just bought mine brand new and am having the sane issue?? Should I be taking it back? This obviously isn't normal right? I'm fairly new to the scene and wasn't sure if I need to water proof it as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ProBoat59]

Really..... Interesting............
I picked up some vacuum line caps at napa to seal off the prop shaft tube. Will let you know how it works this weekend.
Be sure to protect the receiver in a balloon.

[POWERS]

I've got 2 impulse 26s, neither of which have the vacuum cap on the stuffing tube. Neither have much water if any in them after a run. However, the both have had their seems reglued and both have been reinforced with carbon fiber inside.

[ProBoat59]

Interesting...........
I have never worked with carbon-fiber. Is it like fiber-glass? I assume it would be much lighter.
I'll re-glue the seams and inspect the hull closely for cracks. What type of "glue" did you use for the hull seem?
Thanks

[POWERS]

Interesting...........
I have never worked with carbon-fiber. Is it like fiber-glass? I assume it would be much lighter.
I'll re-glue the seams and inspect the hull closely for cracks. What type of "glue" did you use for the hull seem?
Thanks

I've actually never worked with fiberglass cloth, jumped right in with carbon fiber. It is pretty simple. To make a long story short, pull everything out of the boat, rough up the inside with sandpaper. Then i lay down some black paint to help hide any perfections seeing through the carbon fiber. Next brush on some 3 to 1 resin with a paint brush. After that lay your pre cute sheets of carbon fiber cloth, then brush on more resin, let dry and your good to go. A couple things to help make life easier, use painters tape on the back on the carbon fiber to cut it out, this way you're not left with frayed edges. Use two separate pieces of sheet in this hull, one for the higher portion over the stuffing tube then a second for the lower section hull.

Here are some pics of the process in my Impulse 31, same basic principle.

Remove everything inside and rough up the surface to let resin get a good hold.


Spray down some black to help hid any gaps in the carbon fiber


finally lay down some resin, then cloth, then more resin.




AS far as glue for the seam, I am impatient and hate waiting so I just used gap filing CA glue and a sprayed some kicker on it so the job was done in less than a minute.