My 8th scale Hydro project!!!!!!

[Mad Racer]

Hi All.

Well as most can tell I'm a newbie to FE Boats but don't lack anything in enthusiasm. After spending close to 30yrs in all off road classes ( 10th electric, 8th Nitro. 10th Nitro and a few Kyosho boats over the yrs) I have given off road a rest for a while and joined 2 boating clubs near me. Boating guys seem so much easier to get along and don't snub their noses at beginners on the social side & racing.

I have now 5 boats in 4 months with this 8th scale being a long term project as finances allow it. At my Lakeside club next yr 8th scale Hydros are a exhibition class and the following year if numbers permit racing will follow. This gives us all interested a year to get them and sort them out. So wanting to a part of this exciting class I scrapped up all the funds I had to purchase this Vantex fiberglass Hydro with adj wings front & rear as they were on sale for a staggering price of $390 + delivery of $60. This was for a complete gasoline 26cc motor with polish pipe and a basic 2.4g radio. Of course with some advice from our expert members this would be a cheaper way out to get started as gasoline motor set will be sold off. ( it's on our local craigslist equivalent all ready thanks to Trevor who pulled the gas motor out quicker then i eat a big Mac)). The rudder & prop will be used but a new one piece flex shaft will be purchased.

Once the motor was ripped out there is lots of room for my new electric motor . HV esc and up too 12s batteries. This is where the big $$$$$ will be. Final spec's of the electrics hasn't been finalised but i'm for the long run and won't skimp on anything on this build. Please feel free to comment..

Cheers
M/R

[Mad Racer]

Well it's getting very close now.

To stay within our rules the strut had to be reversed around so the prop is in line with the transom. Sounds easy but this required some real boating experiance So Paul performed this mod while I kept him happy with moonshine LOL. This mod meant a new rudder bracket had to be purchased as the original one was now too long.
Motor has been pinned in by Paul & he did the wiring of the ESC & safety loop with the anti spark bullets. Paul also fitted up the new one piece Flex shaft & aligned it all up. Since I got it back I'm doing my best to have it finished in 2 weeks for our Test & Tune day at Lakeside. ( sounds a long time but work & family commitments are getting in the way lately) & since Paul has done most of the work on it.

The Carbon & alloy motor mount is now fully mounted with 3 layers of fibreglass to help hold the mount in place and Carbon rod epoxied in for good measure I Then added some extra glass around the whole motor area. I knocked up carbon fibre radio tray for the steering servo and all the wiring finished with new 8mm bullet connectors along with the UBEC for 50V.

After much though and innately wanting it on 12S I decided on a 10S set up but the ESC can go to 15S so i have room to play if needed. Motor of choice is a SSS 5694 @800KV. ESC is a Swordfish 300+ pro. Anew rudder had to fitted up as well. I'm in the middle of making a new top hatch to seal it up.

I powered it up today for the first & calibrated the ESC. Too funny another club member is doing the same conversion on a Hydro almost the same . Paul has been really busy on these. Thanks Paul Your Keg of Moonshine has been ordered.

Very close now..

[Doug Smock]

Nice job on the conversion fellas.

[785boats]

Thanks Doug.
If mark gets this 1/8 scale to our next practice day there should be about 5 on the water at the same time. That will be a first in our club. Only ever had 2 up until now.

Tell me it will be there Mark!!!

[Fella1340]

That's one incredible value on the hydro! If only the rest of the conversion was so inexpensive. I feel you pain being new and trying to swallow the staggering lipo costs when starting out and trying to run multiple boats! The boat looks great and it should really haul with that setup, it's great you got it together so fast. Good luck, hopefully we will see some video of the hull in action!

[flraptor07]

Exceed has some 49" Hydros in kit form that would be real easy to convert to FE. They come without Engines and electronics, just Hull and Hardware. http://www.nitrorcx.com/kit3.html

[Fella1340]

I was wondering where you picked your boat up from. Some sites seem rather dubious as to who and what they are. If you could give me a heads up it would be much appreciated. I just have to have one!

FLR I tried the nitrorcx route. Placed the order just before the new year, it was a great deal. Payment went through, 10 days later I get an automated email message stating my order was cancelled due to size of package not being able to ship. Then I had jump through hoops trying to get a real person to email me back. The money finally showed up in my account another 10 days later, never did speak to an actual person. The vantex looks like a better boat and has a proper pipe if you want to run it gas. The nitrous hydro had a chrome tube muffler likely off a scooter.

[Mad Racer]

Hi Fella1340.

Im in Australia and bought it from this Sydney seller.

I have had some teething problems and all is good now with lots of small mods been done. I still feel there is more left in it but it might be my imagination.


http://www.rchighperformancehobbies....rol-pe/GL016FP

[Fella1340]

Thanks for the contact information. I have no lofty goals or expectations of the hydro, just something else to play with at the lake. Any idea of how the gas motor that comes with it performs?

[785boats]

Fella.
You can buy a gas version, or a brushless version. Or you can buy the hull only if you like with no hardware or electronics.
This is the main Vantex distributor. The page is for hull only & there are some more paint schemes on the following page too. Just scroll down.

http://www.fuyuanrc.com/dept.asp?id=...=0&sort=1&pg=2

You will have to sign in & check the prices & delivery costs to see if it is worth it to you. We explored the option some time ago & they were very helpful with their communications & emails etc.

All the best.
Paul.

[bracka69]

image.jpgHello. I just purchased this 1/8th scale hydro myself and was wondering what would be a good motor/ESC combo for this hull. I won't be entering any race it's just for fun and get whatever I can out of it.

[Mad Racer]

Nice.

I use a Swordfish 300+ pro so it can handle anything I throw at it. It's on 12s now. Good thing about that esc is that it's in a waterproof case which has come in handy when I blew the hull apart on 12s. Motor I'm currently using is a SSS 5694 800kv but looking into a Leopard soon.

[Fella1340]

Trying to get one of these large 1/8 scale boats to Canada is proving difficult. Actually getting one is no problem, it's choking on $400 plus delivery charges as well. Rc boat company is going to be coming out with 1/8 scale modern hulls later this year and I think I am going to wait. Unless a great deal presents itself before than.

[bracka69]

Sounds good. Would a Castle 2028 be a suitable motor?

[Fella1340]

When you say "blew your hull apart" do you mean it separated at the seams during a crash?

Bracka69, nice score on the hydro, those were the colours I was looking at to, did you purchase this in the Us? Sorry, not trying to mess this thread up. Just trying to find myself one these to!

[bracka69]

Fella1340 I got it off of eBay.

[Mad Racer]

The hull is very thin in places and the constant pounding over waves at high speed the left sponsor blew apart. The petrol motor doesn't go half the speed of this as a friend has one.

I have since re fiber-glassed the hull and heavily strengthened all the thin areas & the Hydro has not been the same since. Runs way to wet and the re worked sponsor sucks down. It's a very frustrating road to go down . The rear wing has been all re molded & cross strengthening rods added. Paul is helping me with new ride pads to stop the ploughing we hope. Maybe it's way to heavy now. I need lots more testing.

[785boats]

Hey Mark.
Just to prove that I'm not slacking on you. Here's the finished product. They've had 3 coats of sealer. You can decide whether you want to paint them or leave them clear. Personally, I think that an aluminium paint finish always looks cool on ride pads.
I'll bring it to Boondall on Saturday & you can pick it up there.

[Make-a-Wake]

Exceed has some 49" Hydros in kit form that would be real easy to convert to FE. They come without Engines and electronics, just Hull and Hardware. http://www.nitrorcx.com/kit3.html

I did one a few years back with a 2028 on 9s2p..................sold it after a while, got tired of draggin a 20lb boat around. Great fun while i had it.

VID:

[Mad Racer]

Wow Paul Thanks so much.

See you at Boondal on Sat .

See ya then.

[flraptor07]

Hey Paul, Do you know anything about the turn fin on that boat? Looks like a ArrowShark fin, I have one but have not tried it yet. How do they perform?

[785boats]

You are correct. It is an Arrowshark.
I've helped set up a couple of these big hydros & we used those fins on both of them. They were the biggest fins I could find locally. They keep both boats on the water in the turns at full noise. I've only driven the boats for a couple of laps during set up, But Mark might give you his impression of them if he reads this.

I've actually put one on that experiment in my avatar now, & that has allowed me to take the turns WOT. I'd take that with a grain of salt though because it's not a traditional hydro set up, as you know.
But they are solid & don't seem to flex too much.

[xboxice]

Nice i want to see pic of how you seal the hatch up :) coming along nicely this one.

[785boats]

Sorry xboxice. I thought Mark might have answered you. But then I just realised that I have the boat here in my workshop, & he might not have any pics.
So I just took some for you.
What we've done with both of these boats is make a sub hatch. Marks' is from styrene sheet. It's simply taped on to the hull. There is a slot in it for the tongue of the cowling to slip into at the front, & the rear is held in place with the body pin that is supplied with the boat. Simple but effective.
Here's the pics.

[xboxice]

Wow nice :) i will have to do this to mine as i am taking in too much water.

[xboxice]

Sorry xboxice. I thought Mark might have answered you. But then I just realised that I have the boat here in my workshop, & he might not have any pics.
So I just took some for you.
What we've done with both of these boats is make a sub hatch. Marks' is from styrene sheet. It's simply taped on to the hull. There is a slot in it for the tongue of the cowling to slip into at the front, & the rear is held in place with the body pin that is supplied with the boat. Simple but effective.
Here's the pics.

I have also done this and works like a charm,i will post some pics later this afternoon :)

[Mad Racer]

I have also done this and works like a charm,i will post some pics later this afternoon :)

Well had my first race on Sat just gone & love these big monsters.....

A big thank you to Paul for his help on the sponsors that really put it back on pace. Had some tuning problems with my stick radio which has never been tested in this set up due to the lack of testing and problems with the sponsors . Very limited steering and mowed the lillys a few times and had a ball doing so.

All the action of a full field of awesome 8th Hydros can be viewed on our face book page Pine Rivers Model Powerboat Club Inc.

[xboxice]

I will be checking it out.

[Mad Racer]

Well my Hydro had it's first race the other weekend and up to that I haven't done more then 3 or 4 laps max due to problems.

I just got it back from Paul who custom made some ride pads and I threw in my 2 6S packs to make 12S and just hoped for the best. It had to do 7 laps in total on our off shore course ( larger course) . I eased it up on the plane then gunned it on the line. Boy talk about grunt with 12S and the ride pads working a treat. The biggest problem was the lack of steering. Not run time or speed.

Over the next 2 races I tried more steering throw and moved the batteries up the front more but still lacked steering . The front wing was not on so that was not helping. I have done some more tweaking and can't wait to run it again.

A big thank you to Paul and John T for the pic's.

[785boats]

She certainly looked better out on the water. Running much more freely.