Pro Boat Zelos 36 Hull Question

[ssuperchieff]

Hello. New here! I've got a Pro Boat Miss Geico Zelos 36" that I'm planning to do a full carbon fiber inlay in. Before I gut the hull, I wanted to ask about these foam blocks/pieces in the bow of the hull. I'm guessing these are there for ballast? My questions are, what's the most effective way to remove them before doing the CF inlay, and are they really necessary to put back in after the fact?




Thanks.

[fweasel]

It's for flotation when the hull rips apart and fills with water. In some instances, it can also be used to brace the front deck against the tunnel. To remove them... pull. Yes, reinstall them when you're done. You want as much flotation material under the front deck as possible.

[ssuperchieff]

Gotcha, thanks!

[Peter A]

I did a carbon inlay in one of these recently for a new club member. The round flotation just pulls out. There is a piece of polystyrene (really!) at the front of the tunnel, take that out too.

First I removed the plastic tray/frame and motors.
Tape over the motor mounts, and it is a good idea to tape the whole boat top to stop inadvertant drops of epoxy resin landing where they don't need to be.
I poured about 30 ml or so of resin into the sponson tips. Do this with the boat standing nose down in a bucket with at least 4" of water to keep the epoxy from getting too hot as it cures.
I cut some carbon cloth for the sponson bottoms, wide enough to come up the sides and from as far forward as I could reach with a brush taped to a stick and back to the motor mounts. I also did some pieces on the sponson insides alongside the motor mounts and to the transoms.
The final piece was across the tunnel, making cut outs to go around the tray mounts.
Do one piece at a time. don't rush and leave to cure. I did them in the evenings so it had 24 hrs before doing the next part.
When done reassemble.

[Peter A]

Oops, I almost forgot.
For the tunnel, I made a bulkhead from a piece of 6mm ply and glued that in far enough forward of the battery tray end. The carbon for the tunnel folded up across the bulkhead to tie the top and bpttom of the tunnel together. This stiffened the boat up hugely so the there is virtually no torsional twist.

[Peter A]

I only took a few pics.

20230227_200344.jpg20230227_202534.jpg20230228_201827.jpg20230304_174202.jpg

Also I replace the polystyrene with a piece of flotation of the same type as the round stuff.

[ssuperchieff]

Thanks!! That's all really good to know! I'm looking forward to reinforcing my MG36. If this goes well I'm going to do my Recoil 2 next