Another Miss Geico 29 Build...

[lt130th]

This has been done several times already so I'll make this thread short.

Plan:
- carbon fiber inlay
- strengthen transom
- Leopard 4082, 1600kv
- T180 ESC
- Savox 1251 servo
- carbon fiber rudder control rod
- wire-drive


Started with a used Pro Boat Miss Geico 29 V1. These are the only two pictures I saw of the boat on Craigslist.

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[lt130th]

Stripped the decals and removed all the stock electronics.

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[lt130th]

Removed the wood and started cleaning out the interior of the old glue and debris.

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[lt130th]

All clear and ready for some carbon fiber.

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[lt130th]

I figured the easiest solution for battery trays would be to laminate the original birch-ply trays with carbon fiber. The interior got a one-piece, 2x2 twill carbon fiber inlay with West Systems 105/207.

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[lt130th]

Epoxy fully cured. Went back and added a little extra on the front seam.

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[lt130th]

Canopy had a chip (so rare for a Geico canopy, right [sarcasm]) so it got a little carbon also. I only put two layers of cloth on that chipped wall...didn't do the whole hatch. I actually used West Systems G-Flex 655 to bond the carbon fiber cloth to the polymer hatch. Then I ditched the magnets and fitted hatch bolts in their place. I epoxied nylon nuts to the underside of the holes in the hull, using G-Flex 655, for the hatch bolts to thread into. Being a used hull, I had to fill a couple small chips in the gelcoat. I used marine epoxy putty that is an off-white. They're not too noticeable against this Geico green-ish/yellow.

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[lt130th]

Cleaned up the hardware, opened up the strut hole for proper alignment and "massaged" the motor mount for coupler clearance. I wanted to retain the sub-hatch so I tried to get the motor mounted as low as possible. I also decided to laminate and re-use the stock motor mount birch-ply platform because it already had the angle set to line up with the stuffing tube.

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[lt130th]

I reinforced the transom by removing the wooden rudder backplate and filling it with West Systems 105/207. I wrapped the new screws (larger than original and a through-bolt config rather than the blind-nuts) and threaded them in after opening up the existing holes. Then I poured in the epoxy and left it to cure. Removed the screws and it left perfect holes. I learned that trick from one of tiqueman's builds. He used brass tubing as liners for the screw holes.

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[lt130th]

Installing battery trays with West Systems G-Flex 655 and a little graphite powder mixed in for black tint. I like to tape off around my glue lines to leave straight, clean edges and no lumps. Needed to cut the stuffing tube back some also, to get the 4082 to fit into the bubble in the sub-hatch. Also set in the new servo mounts. Those are RPM servo mounts...about $2.50 a pair at LHS, if I remember correctly.

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[lt130th]

Stuffing tube trimmed and motor mount set in place with G-Flex 655.

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[Make-a-Wake]

Wow............very nice, clean work!

[lt130th]

With a low profile water jacket and carbon fiber rear supports with 40mm ring I got everything neatly tucked under the inner canopy. Also got the hatch-bolt hardware installed (they just thread in by finger & thumb, but they're snug and water-tight).

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[lt130th]

My SeaKing 180 mount idea. I used silicone tubing for resistance and stand-off, and a mild thread lock to keep the screws from backing out. Ready to get wet...

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[lt130th]

So I set this up with one of Jeff Wohlt's .062 wire drives and learned, on the second test run, that .062 is not strong enough for this motor on 4s, swinging an x447. It didn't feel like I could get a .078 wire to make that bend so I've gone back to the .150 flex. So far the boat is riding completely out of the water, and skipping side-to-side from the trailing edge of the left, rear ride pad to the right. More tuning to do when I get time... I'm going to prop down to a 42mm until I get it tamed and then start moving back up in prop. Sure is fun though...

[lt130th]

By the way, I built this boat to sell it. I'm not keeping it, even though I certainly want to. I'll be listing it in the for sale section after another one or two test runs to get it at least to a modestly decent setup.

[lt130th]

Wow............very nice, clean work!

Thank you. :)

[kfxguy]

Just wondering, why not use a .187 flex for reliability?

[lt130th]

Just wondering, why not use a .187 flex for reliability?

I wanted to run a wire drive (thought it would be more reliable than flex cable), so I positioned the motor nearest the stuffing tube & modified the original motor mount around the size of the wire drive coupler. I don't think I have enough room to fit a .187 coupler in there (at least not the ones I have on hand). They're pretty bulky. Also, I've never run a flex cable without a Teflon liner. I don't know what that would do to the cable or brass tube. Seems like a quality .150 flex should be fine, but I don't know, yet.

[kfxguy]

I wanted to run a wire drive (thought it would be more reliable than flex cable), so I positioned the motor nearest the stuffing tube & modified the original motor mount around the size of the wire drive coupler. I don't think I have enough room to fit a .187 coupler in there (at least not the ones I have on hand). They're pretty bulky. Also, I've never run a flex cable without a Teflon liner. I don't know what that would do to the cable or brass tube. Seems like a quality .150 flex should be fine, but I don't know, yet.

I never run teflon. cable straight into the brass tube. I polish the flex though just to make me feel better. The flex does nothing to the brass. this makes for a very reliable drive line. Not saying that teflon isnt, this is just my preference. Ive had several .150 flex failures myself. I wont use a .150 flex in a 26" boat.

[lt130th]

If I have the same results with .150 cable, .187" is the next step...

[Deepvee]

By the way, I built this boat to sell it. I'm not keeping it, even though I certainly want to. I'll be listing it in the for sale section after another one or two test runs to get it at least to a modestly decent setup.

Ready to sell yet?

[lt130th]

I suppose I can put it up for sale now. I haven't had much time to put in on testing it and getting it set up. I may be able to get a video and GPS numbers on it this afternoon. Weather has been crazy here. Flash flooding, hail and little tornadoes every other day, but today the sun is out. The only issue I've had is a little water creeping up the stuffing tube and being spun off the flex shaft & collet. I just did the water-line-tubing-over-the-end-of-the-stuffing-tube trick and put a piece of heat shrink over the joint on the exterior where the stuffing tube meets the strut. I haven't run it since those additions, though. It's been run about five times, total, on a pair of Giant Power 2s, 6000mAh LiPo's, and the Octura x447 prop is back on. I've finally gotten it to run at wide open throttle at a somewhat stable attitude, but I'm sure someone with more experience could get it to ride better. A more ideal prop would, likely, also make a dramatic difference in stability, but I don't have one more suitable on hand at the moment. I've found, like everyone says, these hulls are very "lifty." I'll see what I can do with it today and then create a sale thread for it this evening. My spreadsheet says I'm over $600 on this thing, but obviously it will never sell close to that. Maybe in the mid-low $400's. I really like how cool everything stays on the inside. All the electronics and batteries and wires are barely warm to the touch after a full run-time. It's still running the oem .150 flex with no issues. I'll miss this boat.

[Deepvee]

Sounds like you don't mess with Texas weather either! Maybe the offset rudder might help too. I know that's the first mod for most guys,but you have out done yourself here with this one. Did you blue print the bottom too?

Looks great man. I will be watching for the sale....

[lt130th]

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Maybe not for sale...

[Deepvee]

Lol! What a great thread. Must have been the .6mph that was too much. Sorry to see it got trashed. Time for a V3

....you gotta give us more than that. Did you hit a duck or something or just take it out in the Texas tornado?

[lt130th]

Yeah, the GPS says 62.6, but for all I know it was 60, 61, or even 64/65. Who knows. Maybe there is published callibration/test data with error percents for the Garmin Vista C, somewhere on the web. Anyway, conditions for this run were virtually zero wind & not a glass surface, but calm. I slowly accelerated over a distance of approximately 50-60 feet, in a straight path, watching to determine whether I should ease off the throttle. I felt comfortable & opened the throttle all way. About 20-30 feet later, the boat began to porpoise, so I let off the throttle, but in the time it took my finger to react, the boat made three big nods of the bow & then took off into a triple somersault. It landed flat on it's top, & breifly sumberged before resurfacing upside down. I heard a loud pop when it hit so I was prepared for damage. When the recovery boat pushed it in, I pulled the canopies off & found both LiPo's had been jettisoned out of their straps, but everything else internally remained intact.

[lt130th]

The actual damage is not that bad. The epoxy bead which makes up the seam between upper & lower hulls came completely off, almost cleanly, from the inside. Some carbon fiber cloth, epoxy & gel-coat will have this hull in stronger shape than it was prior. And I already have a set of high-res, 3D checkered flag vinyl graphics that I had planned to wrap the sponsons in so that will take care of the cosmetics/white gel-coat stripe down one side. After all that work, I may go ahead & blueprint the sponsons, paint the ride-pads white & have the whole boat given a few healthy layers of clear to seal the vinyl graphics & make it shine.

[Tamelesstgr]

Man you do really nice work, love seeing other builds like this.

[Tamelesstgr]

I've been thinking about your crash. Is there any play in the steering rod and rudder attachment? Might that cause some issues with stability at high speed?