Time for me to build my first saw boat

[kfxguy]

Looks good, Maybe run some CF cloth over the hatch and seal the foam in after leveling. Looks good and adds some strength to it.

I planned on it :)

[kfxguy]

Seeeeeeee..........

[kfxguy]

Here's the top completed.

[kfxguy]

And it's done! I can run it till I get the rest of my connectors tho. Should be here Tuesday. I can't wait!






I was wondering. Should I put plates to hide the wires and ESC? I did on my cheetah but this thing is a tight fit. I'm thinking I'm going to have problems getting to the batteries. Thoughts???

[mekzoid]

Mate once again you did such a nice job! I actually built that exact type of servo mount this morning before I saw this haha.
Cant wait to see it run!

[kfxguy]

Mate once again you did such a nice job! I actually built that exact type of servo mount this morning before I saw this haha.
Cant wait to see it run!

Too funny! How you like it? Pretty simple to make huh?

[olwarbirds]

Nice man !...those Savox servos are excellent, use them myself. I sold alot of them to my serious offroad racers (SCT/Buggies) they do like 6v though.....DJ

[kfxguy]

Nice man !...those Savox servos are excellent, use them myself. I sold alot of them to my serious offroad racers (SCT/Buggies) they do like 6v though.....DJ

I have my Bec set on 6v. :)

[keithbradley]

Travis, are you planning on running this at an actual SAW event or just for fun? There's a SAW event in Michigan in May, just around the corner. If you can make it I would be glad to help out with anything you may need (generator, tools, etc).

[kfxguy]

Travis, are you planning on running this at an actual SAW event or just for fun? There's a SAW event in Michigan in May, just around the corner. If you can make it I would be glad to help out with anything you may need (generator, tools, etc).

Thanks man! That would be awesome but I built it for fun. I'm down here in the far south in louisiana so that would be quite far to travel lol. I never intended to get into doing any actual events but I bet it would be fun..... Especially hanging out with some of you guys! I wish we had stuff like that down here. I think im going to get bored soon.... I like to build them more than drive them. I'm thinking maybe do a twin next. Thanks for the invite!

[olwarbirds]

Travis, we have a SAW event here in NC twice a year (spring and fall) a bit closer than Michigan. I'm not going to be ready for the spring event, but definately planning on the fall, you would be welcome to join us bro. My buddy and I have like 8 saw boats 3 of them are TFL/Fightercat hulls. I have heat boats too, but these SAW boats bring out the old motorhead dragracer in me. Cant wait to fire up the newest fleet member Daytona 37" 1521 1600KV on 8S should be interesting.....DJ

[kfxguy]

Here's completed pics. This is before I buffed it out tho. It looks killer now. I don't think it would have looked different in the pics anyway. My nicer hatch bolts came in yesterday and I found out that lowes sells the perfect flat rubber washer. I water tested it and it fairly water tight. It leaks a little on the sides. I may add two more hatch bolts. I really didn't want to fill with six bolts everytime I take the hatch off tho. I did completely submerge it in the bathtub to check it. Lol.

[kfxguy]

And a couple more

[Fella1340]

The boat looks awesome. Once I get my current build and a whip 40 I got for Christmas I am going to build a fast cat to. I hope it turns out half as nice

[kfxguy]

Damnit. My battery strap hold down setup didn't work. It comes out way too easy. I went ahead and made some nice battery trays like I had originally planned. Putting them in right now so I can go run it this weekend

[srislash]

Looks good Travis. Your getting dang fine at this eh?

[Fella1340]

Properchopper had some good advice on this. In between your tabs that at to bring glued on you use industrial strength velcro. That way you have the bond of the glue and velcro to keep things together for the inevitable and spectacular crash. Probably to late but worths shot.

[Ben_Sorkin]

This is beautiful

[kfxguy]

Looks good Travis. Your getting dang fine at this eh?

Thanks man! I can't take all the credit..... All of you guys have been a big help. Weren't for you guys I wouldn't be doing near as nice of a job on these things!

[Darin Jordan]

I'm looking forward to seeing the battery trays installed.

I like the idea of the straps, but, as I found out on my 25" Radtek Mystic, they often are not ideal to install or work with.

I'm planning on using some trimmed up foam (pool noodle or ??) to "stuff" in on top of the cells when it runs, to help hold them in place in the likely event of a blow-off.

[properchopper]

Properchopper had some good advice on this. In between your tabs that at to bring glued on you use industrial strength velcro. That way you have the bond of the glue and velcro to keep things together for the inevitable and spectacular crash. Probably to late but worths shot.

To recap : ( I use 3/32" birch ply - way less expensive than CF and once painted black, they look fine given that once covered with velcro they're basically invisible 'tho cf does have allure)

fairly big feet/spacers drilled to contain epoxy give plenty of bonding surface for strength - Gflex for sure - the tiny "feet" that come with the cf trays are way smaller - I've used bigger ply feet on cf trays in earlier builds - here's some birch ply trays under construction :

DSC05613.JPG


another pair in a boat, drilled/painted before velcro

DSC05310-1.JPG



in the sponson tunnel with velcro one-wrap to secure the battery. the one-wrap just slides under the tray spaced by the 3/32" ply foot/spacer

DSC05660.JPG

[kfxguy]

I'm looking forward to seeing the battery trays installed.

I like the idea of the straps, but, as I found out on my 25" Radtek Mystic, they often are not ideal to install or work with.

I'm planning on using some trimmed up foam (pool noodle or ??) to "stuff" in on top of the cells when it runs, to help hold them in place in the likely event of a blow-off.

I finished them up last night. I'll snap some pics when I get home.... They look great. I bagged my own cf and made the sheet myself then cut them out and milled slots in them. I also added another pair of hatch bolts to seal in the middle of the hatch. Shortened my antenna lol. I made some templates for cf covers to go obverse the esc and other electronics but decided against it because it would make getting the batteries in and out harder. I ordered an mbp collect for it last week. I've also been running my flex shafts with no solder because I coukd never get the solder to stick. Found out that rosin core electrical solder ain't gonna work lol. I picked up some acid core silver solder.... Works perfect! Now I need a few more 3s lipos.....

[kfxguy]

Pics as promised.......

[Fella1340]

Battery plates look right at home in there, nice job making them. Ready for the maiden voyage!

[kfxguy]

Trying to get everything ready to go run the cheetah and rivercat tomorrow or Sunday. My connectors didn't come in today. My lhs supplier sent him 6.5mm motor bullets instead so he had to reorder. I had to use a little ingenuity to be able to run it this weekend on more than one set of batteries. I only have four pairs of connectors so I did the esc with a pair and my charger with a pair. Then I picked up some extra plug in connectors that go in my hard 2s packs and made a pair of leads for that and went cc connectors on those and my venom 3s packs. I have 2 pairs of matching 2s and 2 pairs of matching 3s packs. My son gets to drive the cheetah and I drive the rivercat. First set of packs for both will be 2s (4s total) and ill get the rivercat dialed in. Also figure out what prop it's gonna like and I'll also see what the speed difference is between both of them. I'm hoping the rivercat walks my cheetah lol. May not happen first time out tho. We shall see.... Ill get vids of course.

[Fella1340]

Bring it on!

[olwarbirds]

Travis, nicely done brother ! ...can you post a link to that 2 part foam your using pls...I also dont like using tape, so what size weather stripping are you using around your hatches ? Im searching for some of those thumb screws to use, Im tired having to use a allen wrench to get my hatches off, but even in some very severe blowovers, somersaults, flips and rolls at speeds over 70 mph ive never had a hatch come off since I stopped using tape...really looking forward to the vids man..... DJ

[kfxguy]

Travis, nicely done brother ! ...can you post a link to that 2 part foam your using pls...I also dont like using tape, so what size weather stripping are you using around your hatches ? Im searching for some of those thumb screws to use, Im tired having to use a allen wrench to get my hatches off, but even in some very severe blowovers, somersaults, flips and rolls at speeds over 70 mph ive never had a hatch come off since I stopped using tape...really looking forward to the vids man..... DJ

Its the only w part they sell at kintec racing. The foam Seal I'm using around the hatch I got from keith Bradley. The thumb screws... EBay. Here's the link to them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-32-x-3-8-K...60246460&rt=nc

[olwarbirds]

Travis tks brother....workn on orders now....DJ

[kfxguy]

Came across this thread by accident. How far my building has come since this thread is pretty impressive to myself. I used to think this was tidy and neat looking...lol.


Here's a pic to compare how the same boat looks now when I build one just for reference lol

IMG_4585.jpg