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Thread: Fightercar Rivercat 32" carbon Bud Select

  1. #1
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    Default Fightercar Rivercat 32" carbon Bud Select

    I traded my Mini Zonda back to kfxguy and struck a deal on his Fightercat Rivercat single motor 4S boat. Hoping to take it to the Flint Michigan speed trials this year and try to break a record. A boat this fast needs a proper paint job, not to mention it was just to hard to see on the water in raw carbon. A few shots as I was tearing it down:

    2018-11-06 20.07.22.jpg PART_1541963858036_image000000.jpg

    I packed it up and shipped it out to my friend Nick Battiato at Vivid Image at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Nick painted one of his personal boats in the Bud Select Mystic race boat paint scheme and I fell in love with it the first time I saw it in person. Bright red seemed like a good choice for this boat. Nick only sent me one teaser pic during the process. It was a long wait, but well worth it in the end. I asked that the raw carbon show through instead of painting the front half black like the original boat. That added a lot of prep, clear, and buffing work, but it was going to make it unique for sure.

    PART_1549120816794_IMG_2252.jpg PART_1547916430135_Screenshot_20190118-233615.jpg
    Last edited by fweasel; 03-18-2019 at 02:43 PM.
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  2. #2
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    A good friend of mine from Saint Louis picked the boat up from the Ozarks and drove it to Michigan on a snowmobile trip. He handed it off to another college friend of mine who drove it back to Indianapolis. I met him a week later while I was down there for the Indy Admirals pool race and then drove it back to Chicago. Wasn't going to risk shipping damage on this boat!

    Paint01.jpg Paint03.jpg Paint04.jpg Paint07.jpg Paint08.jpg
    Last edited by fweasel; 03-18-2019 at 02:44 PM.
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  3. #3
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    I'm just now putting it back together again. Running all of the hidden cooling lines and wiring is no easy task. Travis builds a clean boat and it shows. It was a little nerve wrecking to take a tap to fresh paint, but I took my time and it's coming along nicely.

    2019-03-09 20.00.51.jpg 54435335_399915784105347_4253800107482284032_n.jpg
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  4. #4
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    fweasel, that is one sweet boat and paint job!!!!!! Looks stunning!!!

  5. #5
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    Awesome Ryan one of my favorite paint schemes!

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by bikepilot View Post
    fweasel, that is one sweet boat and paint job!!!!!! Looks stunning!!!
    Thanks!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike W View Post
    Awesome Ryan one of my favorite paint schemes!
    Mine too. I was able to see the real boat up close at LOTO years ago and it's fun to have a mini version in my fleet.
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  7. #7
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    Everything is put back together. All new cooling lines too. Love those Fightercat water outlets, hard to find them these days. Just needs a receiver, setup the steering, and ready for spring. I'm switching my SAW boats over to Futaba FASST this season and still have a lot of reading to do.
    2019-03-24 11.16.10.jpg 2019-03-24 11.16.31.jpg
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  8. #8
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    Just started to get this boat dialed in over the last few weeks before the Flint IMPBA record event next weekend. I missed last weekend because of a busy schedule and had only today to get some last test runs in. I should have stayed home. It was too windy and the water was too choppy. Had a pretty nasty roll and a smack that blew out the right seam. Looks like I won't be going to Flint this year. Pretty bummed.

    2019-09-22 11.40.00 (Medium).jpg 2019-09-22 11.39.50 (Medium).jpg
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by fweasel View Post
    Just started to get this boat dialed in over the last few weeks before the Flint IMPBA record event next weekend. I missed last weekend because of a busy schedule and had only today to get some last test runs in. I should have stayed home. It was too windy and the water was too choppy. Had a pretty nasty roll and a smack that blew out the right seam. Looks like I won't be going to Flint this year. Pretty bummed.

    2019-09-22 11.40.00 (Medium).jpg 2019-09-22 11.39.50 (Medium).jpg
    Ryan, sorry to see that, that's a bummer. How fast were you going? With that CF inlay I would think that's a pretty stout hull. . . .man, that's really too bad.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by fweasel View Post
    Just started to get this boat dialed in over the last few weeks before the Flint IMPBA record event next weekend. I missed last weekend because of a busy schedule and had only today to get some last test runs in. I should have stayed home. It was too windy and the water was too choppy. Had a pretty nasty roll and a smack that blew out the right seam. Looks like I won't be going to Flint this year. Pretty bummed.

    2019-09-22 11.40.00 (Medium).jpg 2019-09-22 11.39.50 (Medium).jpg
    That sucks. Is the hull scrap? If that would have been a Geico 36 your pic would have went viral by now...
    TFL Zonda (124mph), Miss Geico Zelos 36 (108mph), Veles 29 (91mph), Zelos Twin 36 (90mph), Miss Geico 29v3 (83.5mph), Sonicwake 36 V2 (83mph), Blackjack 42 (81mph), TFL Pursuit (79mph), UL-19 (75mph), Sonicwake 36 (73mph), Motley Crew (47.5mph), AquaCraft Rescue 17

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bp9145 View Post
    Ryan, sorry to see that, that's a bummer. How fast were you going? With that CF inlay I would think that's a pretty stout hull. . . .man, that's really too bad.
    I've been testing with a smaller prop because I haven't had the right conditions for it to run flat out at 100+. Last trip out it was doing well on a breezy day at 87. This trip I idled out to the starting point, turned around, and came back for one pass when it crashed, partial throttle at best. GPS had a peak of 65, which is pretty mild, but the angle of impact is definitely what caused the damage. The forward portion of the deck has two part foam, which I believe stopped/slowed the crack propagation in that direction. The inlay stops about an inch forward of the canopy opening. Hard to say what happened first, maybe the top crack near the deck, which allowed the side of the hull to collapse and flex at the seam.
    Vac-U-Tug Jr (13mph)

  12. #12
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    Holy sh$$! Sorry to see. Going to fix it? My FighterCat did the same thing. I beefed up the inside with CF cloth and all I have now is a line is the clear to show the accident. But it’s back to solid. This was of course a number of years ago

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by fweasel View Post
    Just started to get this boat dialed in over the last few weeks before the Flint IMPBA record event next weekend. I missed last weekend because of a busy schedule and had only today to get some last test runs in. I should have stayed home. It was too windy and the water was too choppy. Had a pretty nasty roll and a smack that blew out the right seam. Looks like I won't be going to Flint this year. Pretty bummed.

    2019-09-22 11.40.00 (Medium).jpg 2019-09-22 11.39.50 (Medium).jpg
    What a bummer bud. So sorry to hear that. U definitely got me beat. I was mad that i smoked a dasboata prop in 5 minutes on my mhz last weekend. Off the subject a little, what is that carbon tab on the left of the transom? Is that a trim tab for low speed torque?

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