Zelos36 Maiden Voyage and wipe out.....

[Shoc-RC]

So, love the boat, first CAT, been out of it for a couple years, getting back into it, have a nice little Exceed V that is still fun (especially on 5s now).

Everything is stock, did sharpen props and file tear drops into the water pickups, running 6s 2p (hate that I can't get them closer to the bow up under the deck...sigh. Also you will see a wreck, yup... got lucky, stupid on my part but she just caught and went up. She floated upside down for about 10 minutes until I got her back. Mounting plate and epoxy separated from the hull 50%. She took in more water than I would have liked but thats okay, drained her and got her back out on the lake. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/EucDjMjq15I

[vinnyp]

Do you mean that the battery tray ripped out? Not too big of a deal if that is the case. Its hard to tell from the video, as the boat is small and far away. However, it seems to me that the bow is bouncing too much, looked unstable. You may need to get some weight in the bow. I know you cant stuff those 6S lipos under the deck. Where are your struts at?

[Shoc-RC]

Do you mean that the battery tray ripped out? Not too big of a deal if that is the case. Its hard to tell from the video, as the boat is small and far away. However, it seems to me that the bow is bouncing too much, looked unstable. You may need to get some weight in the bow. I know you cant stuff those 6S lipos under the deck. Where are your struts at?

Yes, just the epoxy came loose holding the tray at the battery area, the rest stayed in. Struts are factory, so guess about 4mm, I knew I didn't have the weight of the batteries far enough forward but very limited with the 6s packs... surprised they did not think about that during the design. I guess I need to drop the struts or use 3s 4p..... sigh

[vinnyp]

Strut heights seem to be very critical in this hull. Make sure you know where they are before you run it again. Also, after a crash like you had, the struts can move from the impact. You need to check them if you crash again.

[iop65]

I woud not stand there,you can't see what you need to see at the place you are standing
You should see how the boot behaves at top speed passing you from left to right,not coming towards you

[mikiek]

Welcome to the club. I agree, you'll get a better feel for what the boat is doing if you can stand in the middle of your straightaway with the turns to your left and right. You need to be able to see if the boat is running loose or what. I know sometimes it isn't possible but do your best.

That's really crappy adhesive holding the tray mounts. Many of us have had the tray tear out. I'd try to fix it before running again - if it's loose and things are flopping around inside it will really throw the balance off. Use some real epoxy or WeldBond. Redo all the mounts even if they look good now. The bad thing is to get the tray out you will probably have to tear down the insides. Be careful with the rudder cables/tubes and the stabilizer holding the tubes. It's easy to hose them up and a bear to repair. Especially since replacement rudder parts are unavailable right now.

[Shoc-RC]

Welcome to the club. I agree, you'll get a better feel for what the boat is doing if you can stand in the middle of your straightaway with the turns to your left and right. You need to be able to see if the boat is running loose or what. I know sometimes it isn't possible but do your best.

That's really crappy adhesive holding the tray mounts. Many of us have had the tray tear out. I'd try to fix it before running again - if it's loose and things are flopping around inside it will really throw the balance off. Use some real epoxy or WeldBond. Redo all the mounts even if they look good now. The bad thing is to get the tray out you will probably have to tear down the insides. Be careful with the rudder cables/tubes and the stabilizer holding the tubes. It's easy to hose them up and a bear to repair. Especially since replacement rudder parts are unavailable right now.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I will try to relocate to a longer straight away for better view. Yes, mounting epoxy I guess was not done correctly, all the forward 3 popped right off after a little flip, nothing even crazy. Anyway, I repaired them yesterday. Hope to have her back in the water tonight. You were right of course, the rudder tubes were a PITA, but I managed to get them out without causing any binding with the cable. Turned the ESC's around so as to have more wire length, have included some photos. Moving batteries up under the hull a bit, see if that will keep my nose down with struts set factory, any thoughts?20170701_143449.jpg20170702_092642.jpg20170702_093958.jpg

[ray schrauwen]

Batteries don't fit in the sponsons?

[Shoc-RC]

Batteries don't fit in the sponsons?

They might but that would be more modding than I want to do it's only my second run on the lake. I figured out how to get 6s2p under the top deck.

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

[ray schrauwen]

Cool.

It would be good to fill the empty spaces with more flotation since 6s2p is quite heavy.

[Shoc-RC]

Well went out tonight, So here is a list of THE GOOD:
1. I got to go back out. 2. Skipping like a stone but nose is staying down. Moving the bats forward did help keep the nose down. guess I will need to move the batteries back just slightly to keep dialing in the sweet spot. 3. No wrecks and it didn't catch fire.

Now for THE BAD: 1. Was very loose, 2. had to de-pond grass her twice 3. I got into more pond grass but it was not around the prop, just the strut....sigh ... when I brought her in, I had run passes for about 3 to 4 minutes, maybe that was too long, maybe the grass was a problem even though not on the prop....everything was hot as hell, my batteries were about 104, but everything else was nutz, sigh..... I checked water flow in the bathtub with a syringe earlier and it flowed fine but it is so hard to see flow on this boat when running, I am at a loss, what else could cause heat like that. I filed the pickups and filed a tear shape per forums. I thought I had everything dialed in and it was both motors and ESCs that were scorching. I only ran it for like 4 min tops. Feeling bummed. I will start the research tomorrow on the forums to see if there might be suggestions.

[ray schrauwen]

A small bunch of any kind of pond plant will add way more load than you think. Gas or nitro boats might just slow down or stall, electric will cook itself.

[mikiek]

As far as the heat, check the timing. You can do that manually, but it's easier if you get the programming card. You didn't say how long you ran the boat. Keep in mind that idling around does nothing but heat everything up. It takes a pretty good head of steam to start water into the intakes. Also the ESCs will heat up when idling or running slow.

If you are going to continue to run with so much weight up front you might try angling the prop struts up about 1 mm. This will help keep the stern in the water giving you more control. Just a mm or so. Sounds like the opposite of what you might think. But there is a difference between skipping and porpoising . If the whole boat is running level and the whole boat is coming out of the water that's skipping. Takes a different adjustment than if just the bow is bouncing up and down.

This is also where 4 3S will win out over 2 6S. More weight.

You may also be at the point where you want to consider an air dam. Disrupting the air flow thru the tunnel will reduce the lift the air creates. Search the forums here. An air dam does not have to be fancy. For a test, tape something to the underside of the deck in the tunnel about an inch back from the front edge. A thin strip of wood even a pencil. If you like what it does then you can start thinking about something more permanent.

[Shoc-RC]

A small bunch of any kind of pond plant will add way more load than you think. Gas or nitro boats might just slow down or stall, electric will cook itself.

Yes, lets hope it was only that, I cleared it a couple times but probably should have cleared it more, was in a different part of the pond, smooth as glass but probably has a lot of that really fine stringy grass or whatever it is near the surface that I can't even see. Going to avoid that area. My first run was in much deeper part of the water where I flipped it but no heat issues. Just to far away to film with gopro.

As far as the heat, check the timing. You can do that manually, but it's easier if you get the programming card.

Will check on doing this, thanks. The boat is stock in terms of timing.

You didn't say how long you ran the boat. Keep in mind that idling around does nothing but heat everything up. It takes a pretty good head of steam to start water into the intakes. Also the ESCs will heat up when idling or running slow.

Bout 3-4 min and now that you mention it, I guess I did slow way down in the turns cause of the area I was running in, then cleared the grass a couple of times. Area as mentioned was new to me so being careful but it was still moving pretty good, I will go back to the open area and run it where I know there is wide open, bit far away to capture on my GoPro, will try to use a camera phone with zoom.

If you are going to continue to run with so much weight up front you might try angling the prop struts up about 1 mm. This will help keep the stern in the water giving you more control. Just a mm or so. Sounds like the opposite of what you might think. But there is a difference between skipping and porpoising . If the whole boat is running level and the whole boat is coming out of the water that's skipping. Takes a different adjustment than if just the bow is bouncing up and down.

This is also where 4 3S will win out over 2 6S. More weight.

Going to play with Battery position again, this was just a test as I did a mod to the electronics/battery tray to allow 6s under the deck. I will move them aft a bit more, just trying to find the good CoG. I would love to do the 3s 4p but I don't have any 3s, lol... so there is that. My only 3s packs were all too old and no good unfortunately.

You may also be at the point where you want to consider an air dam. Disrupting the air flow thru the tunnel will reduce the lift the air creates. Search the forums here. An air dam does not have to be fancy. For a test, tape something to the underside of the deck in the tunnel about an inch back from the front edge. A thin strip of wood even a pencil. If you like what it does then you can start thinking about something more permanent.

Going to attempt to dial it in more with your suggestions, before I move to an air dam. I will make sure there is not prop strain with grass, move batteries and adjust struts more.. ect, ect.... Was just trying to run it out of the box with only slight adjustments and my first run in the video actually went pretty well even with the flip, so I think this 2nd time having it out was my own fault with the aforementioned issues.

Thanks so much for the advice everyone and have a safe and great 4th!

[Shoc-RC]

Okay I had a successful run yesterday no issues top speed reported by my GoPro is 50mph (to slow) not sure how accurate my go pro is but I bet it's close. This is still completely stock with sharpened stock props (not de-tongued). It was skipping slightly at the higher speed but not too bad. I'll post the YouTube video sometime tomorrow....I'm at work currently. This is 6S 2p. I'll research skipping issues. Moved my props down 1mm so it would keep the nose down and adjusted battery placement. Any suggestions while I research would be appreciated.

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

[fweasel]

I never ran my boat with stock props, but when I did run with just 2 5000mAh packs and x447 props, it ran best with the batteries all the way forward and the struts set at 3mm

[mikiek]

Next time you're out and the 'skipping' starts listen closely. When the boat is at its highest point is the motor revving a little higher? Does the motor rev down when the boat is at its lowest point? That will tell you if the prop is coming out of the water (or almost coming out). If it is, then angling the strut down is not the solution. That's going to make it come out even worse. You may have too much lift (airflow) under the hull/deck - all cats suffer from this. Or your stern is lifting up because of the angling down. Remember, when you angle down the bow stays wetter because you are raising the stern.

[Shoc-RC]

I never ran my boat with stock props, but when I did run with just 2 5000mAh packs and x447 props, it ran best with the batteries all the way forward and the struts set at 3mm

I was only running stock to get a feel... well screw that! I should have just bought the props which I did, couple Octura x447's and Wow, what a difference, ...shaped and polished by me..... holy crap, so sweet..... still doing the bounce along but it was rough and windy today. Thing is it was doing it the other day without wind. This was my first run with the new props and some new flex cables from OSE... (very sweet cables). Too bad the boat dropped the right flex and new prop in the water..... can't believe I didn't crank it tight enough I guess.

https://youtu.be/O2Xg_dhgdjI

Next time you're out and the 'skipping' starts listen closely. When the boat is at its highest point is the motor revving a little higher? Does the motor rev down when the boat is at its lowest point? That will tell you if the prop is coming out of the water (or almost coming out). If it is, then angling the strut down is not the solution. That's going to make it come out even worse. You may have too much lift (airflow) under the hull/deck - all cats suffer from this. Or your stern is lifting up because of the angling down. Remember, when you angle down the bow stays wetter because you are raising the stern.

Thanks for the info, this was a test run, I don't think I hear the props coming out of the water, what do you think. I have my struts at like 2mm down I think.

[CraigP]

Put a collar on that shaft, easy fix from loosing expensive parts!

[mikiek]

You'll know it if you hear it. Kinda like if you were repeatedly pressing a car accelerator down and letting up. When the prop comes all or partially out of the water, the resistance is less and the motor revs higher. When the prop goes under there is more resistance and the motor will slow down a bit. It's subtle but noticeable.