Hydro & Marine Drifter L

[snehpetsffej]

I just purchased a hydro & marine Drifter L to build. When it arrived it looked very good, but once I started to sand the hull to eliminate the joint lines I started to see many air pockets the more I sanded the more I found. Some of the air pockets were as big as a penny. I,m very disappointed in this hull my china hull was in better condition than this hull. I also found two of the steps were not formed properly. I have had to spend about 20 hours getting this hull right (I still may sand off all the gel coat to see what else I find). You would think a nice hull would be ready for paint or close to it. I injected the air pockets with epoxy resin and shaped the bottom. Now I going to Carbon/Kevlar the inside for better support. I will try to get up some pics when I get home. If the hull does not turn out I will be buying a HPR.

When adding the Carbon/Kevlar should I cut out for the hydro & marine tag in the boat or just cover it? I'm use to AC rc boats and the number on the tag lets you know the production number you have.

I would not recommend buying one of these hulls I would go with a china hull before I bought one of these.

[snehpetsffej]

Some pics.

[snehpetsffej]

more

[Heaving Earth]

That stinks man....I'm sure it will perform well tho

[Pwb201]

I had the same experience with H&M or as I like to put itH$M.
Had the maritimo hull and stuffed the noise at 35 mph ripping top half from bottom half nearly all the way back to motors. Wasn't reinforced as I planned on in the off season. Well I'll be searching for another hull for my set up that needs a new hull. Good luck with the hull and I would definitely cover up the logo!

[Fluid]

This is a shame as the H&M hulls used to be world-class, great designs and built like a watch. I have owned a bunch and all were top quality - but I bought my last one over five years ago. Several years ago they started out-sourcing some of the builds (Czech Republic?) and I guess this is what you get now.....



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[JCAustralia]

I had the same issue with my small H&M Catamaran. I had a bad experience when holding the hull one day my finger went through the gel coat to reveal a big air pocket. The gel coat was as weak as a crusty french stick.......My Delta Force hull is much better at 1/3 the price...... H&M is overrated and over priced. Will never buy from them again......

[Remmie81]

Please add first a glass math on the seem/joined on the innerside.
Then over that your carbon/aramide.
All drifters are not strong on the seem and need reinforcement.

Ones you are finished you should have a good hull.

Grtz,
Remmie

[snehpetsffej]

I"m going to Carbon/Kevlar the whole inside and with slow set and place it in a vacuum chamber I built to insure no air pockets. If I did not have so much time in this project I would throw it away and start over with a HPR hull which will be my next project. This build will be a slow one but the hull will be right and strong.

[snehpetsffej]

This boat is too *!***!***!***!**ty and I will not trust it to perform at high speeds so I will not waste any more time on it. I would not recommend buying one of these hulls. I'm going to email H&M and let them know the quality of this hull is not satisfactory. I would not use this hull for my dog's water bowl afraid he may die of thirst due to all the holes.

[Pwb201]

It's sad, I lost it while trying to fix the hull and smashed the sh$t outta the hull I know the frustration your feeling man! It honestly felt pretty good although I was less one boat.. Sometimes ya gotta just bail out before you get in too deep. HPR baby!

[snehpetsffej]

Yeah I just sent Manuel a pm on a hpr. I have also been in contact with Hanspeter Rotschi through email this was going to be my next build. I guess it will be sooner than later now. My buddy I race boats with came by when I was about to destroy the boat and he said, he would take is and fix the hull.

[snehpetsffej]

My buddy fixed all the air pockets in the drifter and I painted it today. I have some places I need to fix on the paint and a couple of changes and then we will reinforce the hull with carbon/kevlar. Has any one used a fish aquarium for a vacuum chamber? We were thinking of using one instead of building one.

[Fluid]

Aquariums are designed to confine pressure; the water pressure presses the glass into the frame, tightening the fit. I do not know how well one would work as a vacuum chamber with the opposite pressure configuration. You would be relying solely on the glue to hold it together, not a frame....


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[martin]

Most fish tanks now dont have frames their just sheets of glass bonded with silicon, some are also acrylic plastic welded again with no frame. You wonder how the stay together just butted with silicon but the do indeed.

[snehpetsffej]

I added the rudder and drives to night.

[snehpetsffej]

My ESC's arrived today! But I cant install any thing till I get my carbon/Kevlar

[snehpetsffej]

I built the servo mount and esc enclosure that I will cover with carbon/kevlar when it arrives.

[snehpetsffej]

I got the carbon/kevlar installed now the hull is rock solid.

[snehpetsffej]

I got the motors mounted to night. Motors are mounted 4.5 in. from the back of the sponson.

[snehpetsffej]

Now I'm just waiting to finish my ESC box, plug everything in, and test drive.

[snehpetsffej]

I got the lower part of the box finished, I hope to have the top finished tomorrow then I drill it and mount the connectors.

[snehpetsffej]

I got the box drilled and one ESC mounted to night.

[jcald2000]

Make sure those leads are WELL insulated from the Carbon fiber it conduct electricity VERY well!!!

[snehpetsffej]

thank you jcald2000 I forgot about Carbon fiber conducting electricity. you probably saved me a grand today.

I'm almost finished all that is left, is to hook up the ESC's and program them and run the inlet water lines. I hope to be able to run it next week.

[snehpetsffej]

I went and ran my boat today in a small pound by my house and hit 60mph (on GPS and only able to hit WPT for about 1 second) many different times on 5s so I could get some data. The motors ans ESC's were cool to touch. When I get home and pull the data and I will post it up. If I have time I will run some 6s in it and collect some more data. If the boat preforms well I will up grade the motors to Neu motors I just did not want to spend the money on Neu motors after seeing the condition of the hull after sanding it. This is my first twin and I love it. The out of the hole power is awesome compared to the single screw boats I have.

[snehpetsffej]

I finally got my boat dialed in today on 5s my average was 72.4 (5x 4 passes) and on 6s my average was 96.4 (5x 4 passes) and 97.2 being my high. I'm going try to top the 100mph mark tomorrow then its back to sport driving for this boat. I will have to say this boat turned out better than I expected. the only cheap parts are the motors and the stingers, which I'm going to up grade in the near future. Also being a huge castle/Nue fan I'm quit pleased with the performance of the motors. All the data looked good today even thou I'm at the upper limits of my setup. thank all of you for the great info.

[hollywood1009]

You did such a great job on your boat, I should just send mine down to you, and you should tweak it for me.. :) I buy all the parts and supplys

[Alfa Spirit]

In fact HM isn' t the best quality now... What Leopard motors do you run?

[snehpetsffej]

yeah H&M,s quality is not there any more but this hull sure likes the speed. I did not post the set up because I did not want to hear all the negative talk. the leopard motors are 4082 2200kv spinning octura 447 on 5s this set up works great for me temps are around 130 and running weight is 12lbs. It took about 25 runs to get this hull dialed in I'm happy with it but I will be up grading to Neu motors in the near future.