MAD PANDA Pursuit

[mabeldk4]

Got bored and cut some vinyl decals for the pursuit.
Yeah I know its not the best looking (mainly the lettering) but I did it freehanded and wanted that "sketchy" feel, plus I plan to paint the thing anyways.
But I thought every boat should have a name right???

[tlandauer]

No Fair... Looks this good--- free hand,
what kind of a change a guy like me have??!!

[mabeldk4]

Haha sorry tlandauer, I guess the artistic side of me just shines every now and then!

[ray schrauwen]

I think it looks great. If no one said it was hand cut, I wouldn't have thought twice. Very cool!

[mabeldk4]

Well it had its maiden today as the MAD PANDA and right as it was passing by the dock the receiver decided to get wet and freak out turning the boat directly into the dock I was standing on at almost full throttle. It literally could not have timed it any better... almost as if i did it on purpose! Luckily the dock is one of those plastic floating ones so I didn't hurt it as bad as it possibly could have due to the dock absorbing some of the blow. Needless to say I need to fix the leak (its leaking from the strut) and waterproof my receiver better (even though it already is waterproofed), fix the battery tray (broke from impact too), oh and lets not forget that fiberglass repair is going to have to happen too... Guess its not quite ready for the season!! lol









I have a good idea on what i need to do to repair the fiberglass but if any of you know of a good thread with some good tips, or have some tips of your own let me know!! Id appreciate it!!

[tlandauer]

Sorry what happened, man.
Do you have the stock TFL stinger?? That thing is an invitation to water intrusion. You need to seal up the gap between the barrel and the mounting plate of the assembly. My Pursuit was the same way , and so are all the ones with the Stinger version.
No Good:DSCN1827_1333.jpg After sealing=GOOD: DSCN1856_1360.jpg Some people use the silicone exhaust connectors for Nitro RC engine, I couldn't find the right diameter and just simply used bath room silicone sealant from every hardware store.
The damage is not too bad ( thankfully), there are some loose and chipped gel coat and perhaps top layer of some epoxy.
I had to do a similar repair on my Miss Geico. I used CA to drip into the seam and "massaged" the hull ( I was able to press the two halves and not only align but see how the glue was working its way into the open hair line) until it was glued. Some people will use epoxy. Depending the gap, my feel is that due to the relatively thick viscosity of the epoxy ( here again, depending what epoxy you have, I had Z-poxy Epoxy which is extremely thick) some tiny gaps are better served with CA ( as was my case).

[mabeldk4]

Yeah that's what I meant stinger not strut, I did seal it with silicone, but (my dumb mistake) I forgot to seal the top part of it and only did the bottom. On kinetic racing they offer o-orings to seal the gap, 2 of them, and I have an o-ring kit in my garage. I think that's what I'm going to try. Just because then when I have to take it apart I don't have to worry about the silicone not sealing right. But anyways yeah upon looking at the damage closer I think I will be able to get away with some epoxy in the big gaps and CA in the hairline cracks. I don't think it split all the way through the glass mainly just busted up the gel coat. Its just my luck that something like this would happen! My genesis decided to die in the water after that happened to my pursuit, it was a very eventful and interesting outing to say the least!! All is good though, everything is still working, with small minor adjustments needed before the next outing!

[mabeldk4]

Well just tried out the o-ring idea, works perfectly!! On to fixing the hull!!