Time for me to build my first saw boat

[kfxguy]

After building my cheetah, a GEICO and a Daytona I figured I'd try to build something fast. I chose a carbon fiber rivercat. I've been wanting one of these neat little hulls and on an impulse buy I bought one the other day. I'll be getting started on it in the best few days when I get my hardware in. Its going to be heavily reinforced from the inside. I'll do a carbon inlay along with running carbon fiber down the seams as far as I can reach. I'm going to reinforce the transom heavily with carbon and flooding with high quality epoxy. My motor is a castle 2200kv 1515 with a fighter cat 240amp ESC running on 6s for speed passes and 4s for cruising the lake. I haven't decided the servo yet. I'm open to any help, opinions or parts you guys may have I might need. Right now I need a servo and a mr200 receiver.

Parts ordered

2 part marine floatation foam
Flex shaft(s)
Couple props
Strut and rudder assembly (pending)
Windshield decal

Parts I have


Cf rivercat hull
2200kv castle 1515
240a fighter cat ESC
Hobby wing ubec
Water jacket
Stuffing tube
Hatch locks (might be too small
Drive dog and bullet nuts

Parts to make

Cf battery trays
Cf trays to mount the esc, servo and receiver
Cf covers for everything

Here's my hull

[kfxguy]

Tonight I'm going to try and vacuum bag some battery trays. I'll post pics if anyone is interested.

[iridebikes247]

nice, you're building some nice looking boats man keep it up! The inlay will help a lot, usually on a thin hull I'll do one layer of cf on the tunnel and keep it nice and light, same with ride pads, then two layers for the sidewalls.

I wouldn't try to do 2 layers of cf at once with epoxy, I always have difficulty gauging how much epoxy is absorbed and if the base layer is adequately soaked or too soaked. Have heard some hit or miss things about the FC controller so proceed with caution, especially considering this is an expensive hull and will have a lot of cf work done.

[kfxguy]

nice, you're building some nice looking boats man keep it up! The inlay will help a lot, usually on a thin hull I'll do one layer of cf on the tunnel and keep it nice and light, same with ride pads, then two layers for the sidewalls.

I wouldn't try to do 2 layers of cf at once with epoxy, I always have difficulty gauging how much epoxy is absorbed and if the base layer is adequately soaked or too soaked. Have heard some hit or miss things about the FC controller so proceed with caution, especially considering this is an expensive hull and will have a lot of cf work done.

Thanks man! I'm going to run a strip of cf tape down the seam then do my inlay.

The fc ESC....I've been warned about using the Bec in it. I was told if I use the Bec it WILL fail. So that why I've got a seperate Bec for it. I have to remove one of the wires in the receiver pigtail to do it. If it don't work out I'll just get a swordfish.

[kfxguy]

Vacuum bagging some more battery trays. This time using all carbon instead of a balsa core like I have been.

[mekzoid]

Hey mate use some coremat along the seems and transom then cover in cf cloth. Is much cheaper then cf. I bought 10 meters for $50, It just needs to be covered in resin front and back, Most brands change colour when they have had enough resin, Some dont though.

[kfxguy]

Thanks. I already have a few feet of carbon fiber tape for the seams and several square yards of cf so no biggie. I'm not trying to hold back anything on this build.

[mekzoid]

Okay cause I was going to say I obviously have a fair bit so I could always send you some mate. Really gonna watch this build as per your cheetah :)

[kfxguy]

Okay cause I was going to say I obviously have a fair bit so I could always send you some mate. Really gonna watch this build as per your cheetah :)

Thanks man! I'll be getting Started on it this weekend doing my inlays and stuff. I can't wait either!

[kfxguy]

I had a little time to fool with it this evening. I also got some goodies in the mail today. Couple flex shafts. Couple more props. 2 part foam. Reamer to try and convert my strut to ball bearing and a centering tool for marking perfectly centered holes. I went to Walmart and picked up some lime green pool noodles and a bigger tool box too. I sanded the interior of the boat getting ready for inlay and epoxy reinforcement . I also made some braces to go under the rails where the canopy mounts to. I felt it was too flimsy in that area where my hatch locks will be so I made some L shaped braces to help it out. Here's the braces



And then epoxying them in. Lol I ran our of clamps hahaha

[mekzoid]

Bloody hell you always do some finesse stuff haha. Looks good man.

[kfxguy]

Thanks. I'm going to be doing a few little things here an there to make it very strong. I expect alot of blow overs until I get things right on it. I despise hatch tape. I've had it come off on a hard hit and the boat almost sank. I believe the hatch locks and foam seal is a better way of doing it off done right. I have my cheetah done this way and it gets no water in it sitting upside down quite a while. I've also read on here where people had thier hatch come off with tape g to and list their boat.

[kfxguy]

Did the first pour on the sponson floor. My idea is to get it flat so I don't have to use battery trays. That also adds strength to the sponsons should I hit anything. Also adds a couple ounces of weight to the very bottom of the boat (my thought is more stability?) and the batteries will be lower. So all in all I only see positive results (in my mind anyway! Lol) in doing this. I'll post some pics of it later.

[kfxguy]

Picked up 3 different 2 part epoxies from the hobby shop today. I'm using a quick cure to fill the inner parts of the sponsons so my batts will sit flat. My hardware for the boat came in today. Bout the only parts in waiting on is the motor mount, hatch locks and the hatch seal. I made my experimental ball bearing strut for it too. I used 6 ball bearings in it for extra support. Its smoooooth. The bearings I bought are rubber sealed by fast eddy. Ill let the start strut in my tool box incase I have an issue. My wire came in today too. I got tired of running out of hard to find 8ga silicon wire so I bought 20ft of it lol.

[kfxguy]

Detailed the strut. I feel like the sharp cut in it the way it came wasn't high and low enough. So I fixed it.

[kfxguy]

Just poured 45 grams of epoxy in each tip. I'm thinking I'm moving along nicely but I haven't even done the inlay yet lol. Well I gotta let this epoxy in the tips dry and it's on to the inlay.

[kfxguy]

Well I added some epoxy in the middle of the hull inbetween the the tips. I've been looking around for damaged boats and getting ideas of what fails. I added a carbon plate where the rudder and strut mount too then flooded the transom with epoxy. The sponsons are almost flat on the inside now. I decided to go a little overboard with that and sanded and filled till I got it flat.

[mekzoid]

Looking forwarded to see the finished video bro if you want the core mat let me know :)))

[rickwess]

Just poured 45 grams of epoxy in each tip. I'm thinking I'm moving along nicely but I haven't even done the inlay yet lol. Well I gotta let this epoxy in the tips dry and it's on to the inlay.

Are you mixing anything with the epoxy to give it strength (i.e. silica or milled FG)?

[younglings]

nice job !
more picture please !!!!

[larryrose11]

What epoxy do you use for your vacuum bag CF parts?

[iridebikes247]

Good idea on filling the nose of the boat, where the tunnel ends. A lot of hulls crack in this area as you know. look forward to seeing the build progress

[kfxguy]

Are you mixing anything with the epoxy to give it strength (i.e. silica or milled FG)?

I'm not. I'm using an industrial strength epoxy. Very very strong. Its called max clr. I use it on my cf plates. Very high quality. Ill take some pics but it really hard to get pics inside the hull. I was trying to yesterday. Guess I'll use a light inside of it.

On a side note, here's a plate I made yesterday. Finally got a high quality. Almost perfect vacuum bagged plate.

[larryrose11]

I have had great experience with frekote FMS sealer and 770NC release agent.
http://www.sollercomposites.com/comp...html#materials
dont bother with the spray, just wipe this stuff on and off.
When I last made plate using float glass as a mold, the CF plate literally fell off the glass plate once it was cured and the vacuum was removed. Im never going back.

[rickwess]

I'm using an industrial strength epoxy. Very very strong. Its called max clr. I use it on my cf plates. Very high quality.

It sounds like a laminating epoxy. Check with the manufacturer, but to resist cracking you would typically mix something with it. Since you can't get in there with CF tape, I'd suggest mixing fumed silica or even milled CF, or both.

[kfxguy]

It sounds like a laminating epoxy. Check with the manufacturer, but to resist cracking you would typically mix something with it. Since you can't get in there with CF tape, I'd suggest mixing fumed silica or even milled CF, or both.

Its too late. It's already been done. I have faith in this stuff I'm using. Its much better than not doing it!

[kfxguy]

I have had great experience with frekote FMS sealer and 770NC release agent.
http://www.sollercomposites.com/comp...html#materials
dont bother with the spray, just wipe this stuff on and off.
When I last made plate using float glass as a mold, the CF plate literally fell off the glass plate once it was cured and the vacuum was removed. Im never going back.

I used some green colored PVa once and it worked well but the finish wasn't the best. Then I tryed a semi permanent spray release on the plate above. It worked awesome and the finish is perfect. I'm currently getting setup for vacuum infusion.

[rickwess]

Its too late. It's already been done. I have faith in this stuff I'm using. Its much better than not doing it!

Yes it is.

I've learned so much in the last year from my local shop (http://compositescanada.com/) and wantedot pass it along.

[kfxguy]

Its hard to see but here's the sponson floor filled and flatten. Now its time for inlay.

[kfxguy]

The inlay getting....... Inlayed. Lol

I'm off of work today so I'm going to get done what I can. Hopefully it will be done in the next week or too. I'm getting all the hard stuff and time consuming stuff done this week.