50" Expresscraft Thunderbolt Twin Electric

[bill34207]

Today was the maiden of my latest "project". An Expresscraft 50" Thunderbolt Cat built as an electric twin. Powered by a pair of Castle/Neu 1717 1580kv motors running 6s 2p 5000 ma lipo and Turnigy 180 marine esc's.. All up weight with batteries. 23 pounds.

You Tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Ch_Fdvd8A

Link to build: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1331421

[Jesse J]

What a treat! thanks for sharing. great video work and that baby looks/sounds amazing. Great inspiration to get me one of those built up for the great thaw.

[Ub Hauled]

I have one of those hulls as well, yours is looking great!, I will be using one motor on mine, hope it works as well!!!!
Funny you have the Goldfinger paint job, I was going to have the Quantum of Solace on mine... lol

[bill34207]

Thanks for the compliments gents. It was actually a pretty fast build (for me) as it only took a little over a month to complete. I was happy with the end result for it's 1st outing. A little tweaking and might have a 70 mph+ boat.

[blackcat26]

Got any idea of the speed? Looked great especially for that size boat!

[sailr]

It was super windy and rough that day. I doubt Bill could open her all the way up!

[DISAR]

Very nice boat. I will use the same setup in a 54" custom cat. Are you going to add extra caps on the T180s?

[blackcat26]

It was super windy and rough that day. I doubt Bill could open her all the way up!

Yeah she looked a little bow light on full power! I was just wondering if he had a GPS on there to see it's speed so far.

[bill34207]

Sadlly there was no GPS on board. Hebner was there along with Truckpull, Osprey21, Tiqueman and myself. Hugh said 65-70. Scott and I were thinking along the lines of 55-60, but that was at about 3/4 throttle. Full throttle was a little too scary to use in it's current trim.

Here's a thought to bat around. It's currently CG'd at about 33% of the sponson length. Should I go for a more forward CG or go for a little down trim on the stingers?

[bill34207]

Very nice boat. I will use the same setup in a 54" custom cat. Are you going to add extra caps on the T180s?

Yep. Ordered the cap banks last night. That was the only thing that got hot.

[bigpapa]

that is truly awsome

[timjz]

Sadlly there was no GPS on board. Hebner was there along with Truckpull, Osprey21, Tiqueman and myself. Hugh said 65-70. Scott and I were thinking along the lines of 55-60, but that was at about 3/4 throttle. Full throttle was a little too scary to use in it's current trim.

Here's a thought to bat around. It's currently CG'd at about 33% of the sponson length. Should I go for a more forward CG or go for a little down trim on the stingers?

I had one of these boats with a stock RMCK gas engine. The spark plug right at the front of the hatch scoop, as far forward as it would go. Mine ran very bow light, even at the low 50's I was getting with it. The gas guys usually add some weight to the nose.

[mpg43]

Yep. Ordered the cap banks last night. That was the only thing that got hot.

What cap banks did you order for the 180's? that is a great looking boat, thanks for sharing the video with us. some day I will have to learn how to post a video.
Where in FL. do you live, I'm in Ft. Pierce.

Thanks,
Mark

[bill34207]

Thanks guys. Gotta admit that I'm enjoying the compliments. I've only been playing FE boats for a year now and this Thunderbolt was my 1st attempt at a twin. (chose it because it was roomy enough to allow me to work inside it).
I've been playing with battery arrangement and can move the cg about an inch forward of where it was just by lining them up lengthwise with the hull and as far forward as possible.

The cap banks I ordered are the etti's sold here at OSE. Nobody would really give me a straight answer as to whether there would be any benefit in running the big monster HV cap sets so went with the LV ones whish are supposed to be good for up to 7s lipo.

As for location, I'm in Bradenton which is roughly 50 miles south of Tampa.

[mpg43]

Are you coming to our pond for the Nat's in June. Our club is hosting the 2011 Nat's in Ft. Pierce.