How to loose an 2000$ boat in 2 seconds :(

[gerardobrandao]

Hello


The worst thing happened ...Lost mine DF 35 boat....

Everything gone....

This to all of you who have a DF..The hatch is too soft and weak....reinforce it and don´t use only tape to secure the hatch..at high speed diving the force of the water broke the hatch and the water flooded the boat.....
Use mechanical locks and not only tape....Use mine boat as an example...!




video

[video200]

im sorry for your loss

did the flotation come out as well ?

[Raydee]

I almost lost my DF33 earlier this season as well. Even with Flotation these FE boats get pretty heavy and will still sink. I added cowl locks to my boats but I am still a bit gun shy to run my expensive boats without some major mods to make sure the hatches stay on.

[Fluid]

I too am sorry for the OP's lost boat.

Every boat needs enough flotation to stay afloat if the hatch comes off. I've seen too many sink due to inadequate flotation....

Weigh the boat in pounds. Multiply that weight by 29 - this is the minimum volume in cubic inches of flotation you need to keep the boat from sinking. Stuff enough pool noodles, etc. into the boat to match this volume. If you cannot put in enough flotation, your boat will sink if the hatch comes off.



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[Jeff Wohlt]

Bummer...and she was running so darn well! Mech locks and even tape over the canopy...not just the edges. One reason I just can't put that kind of money in a boat.

[Doby]

Sorry for the loss...do you have any diving buddies? The vid shows where it went down, might be retrievable....

[WrknItUp]

First of all That SUCKS!. Second of all WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! A pool noodle float is a 1.50$ at dollar general! IF THEY CAN HOLD A HUMAN THEY CAN HOLD A BOAT ABOVE WATER! I dont get how people spend so much money on these things (me being one) and they cant spend a buck and a half to add some more flotation atleast to the nose so it dont go completely under. Ive had to leave my boats upside down for a top of 30 mins because i didnt have a way to get to them and i wasnt about to swim in croc waters. Had to go get the aluminum john boat. (fishing pole wouldnt cast far enough). Small word of advice. STYROFOAM Or ducttape the hatch to the hull. Better luck next time I hope someone beat the heck outta the kids or made them swim for it one! laugh at your mistakes thats funny! Atleast then if it sank you could be like well it took my flotation and 2001.50$ to the bottom. But you cant say u didnt try to save it!

[hyrulejedi86]

I'd be diving for that sucker! Sorry about the loss.

[Rumdog]

The most important part, besides flotation, is to make sure the flotation is secure. If the hatch blows, flotation can easily be torn out of the hull.

[JMSCARD]

Call a local diving school... I lost a hydro earlier this spring.... lost it on a Saturday... got to work on monday, and the thought of it sitting at the bottom of the big lake was killing me, I made a call to a local diving school and they sent 4 divers out for it and used it for a practice... $200 later I had my $600-700 boat back.... was worth every penny as I was able to save everything.... it was great.... my friends all still pick on me for hiring a dive team to save my rc boat!

[WrknItUp]

HELL YEAH! thats it right there a diving team! i would of never though that extreme but thats awesome! i wonder what they were thinking when you called them and asked them if they would dive for it? Yes Make sure all flotation is glued or strapped in good!. Good to hear the servo held up to the water for a day or so.

[gerardobrandao]

"lost" df 35

Hello guys...

Thanks for your input...I posted this thread with the purpose to everyone have attention to teir hatches, specially DF ones that are weak and very fragile!
Reinforce it kevlar, better then carbon because carbon fiber is hard, and break, do not bend!Is worst for absorbing impacts..Kevlar is much more ductile, meanwhile is also strong and though!

Boat was underwater 10 minutes until i dived into 10 feet deep water....Other important thing is the colour of the boats...Use only "vived" colors...mine was red and was easier to retrieve...

I was a lucky guy because a person was passing by with a small boat and offered me to come in in order to search for the boat....First recovered the hatch...I saw a red thing underwater,but it was only the hatch....After 5 minutes searching around i located the boat...and another dive...It was medium salt water....because the river cross the sea....
Disconnected everything...Batteries, schulze speed controller,and the turnigy bec.
The batteries were connected underwater to the speed controller...when i was under water located the boat by the light emited by the Turnigy bec...
Opened the shrink wrap of the batteries, and soaked with WD40...The same was made to the schulze speed controller,the NEU motor and servo and receiver!
Everything is working good, except the Turnigy BEC that puffed after the retriving it off the water.....The speed controller sustained 15 minutes under medium salt water with the batteries connected!
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME....

In the middle of everything i was a lucky guy..here is the end of summer and water was at 20ºc.

Here is me with the boat after the retrieve...Look at the hatch, completely broken!
Time to reinforce the hatch,and fix it....And next buy aeromine mechanical locks!

In the middle of everything i was lucky....That serve as example to everyone..

[DISAR]

Yes you are right about the hatch, I have a carbon-kevlar one and it does bend. At the end of the day you saved the boat.

[RaceMechaniX]

Gerardo,

My heart sunk when I read the first post, but good to see you got everything back. I almost had the same thing happen this weekend too, but 2x- full pool noodles cut up in the front of the boat saved me from having to send out divers. My battery tray with batts ejected when the cat hit a hole doing 71 mph and busted up the cowl. Although the cowl cracked up pretty bad, it stayed attached to the boat and luckily the connectors kept the batteries from sinking.
Funny thing is after 10 mins with the Schulze connected there was massive corrsion on the cap leads due to the high mineral content in the lake. It blew two FETS while under water.

A little Corrosion X and some drying time and its back in a box off to Germany again........

Glad to hear you got everyhting back. I'll buy you pool noodles and ship them half way around the world if I have to.

TG

[ray schrauwen]

I used kevlar after a hard stuffing with many stress cracks. The knock offs are alot stronger I find, some that is.

I have also started to use premium quality silicone adhesives for battery trays, it stays put better than epoxy, it has some give to hull flex.