JAE FE21 Build Fiberglass

[electric]

I've finally got some time to work on mine, so I've started to document it here - http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...594#post328594

Great, nice to see it going forward. Here is mine in my professional painting booth. Only had one stray bug mishap, should have kept him there and clear coated it. I have been doing the usual sanding painting sanding painting. I have been paying attention to keeping all the edges sharp. Putting the clear coat on this weekend...

I am trying a new paint as recommended by one of the members here:
http://artprimo.com/catalog/spray-paint-c-26.html
I must say, it blows away anything else I have ever used(which isn't much, since I am lousy at painting). I am painting it in a high humidity environment(Houston, Texas) think 96 degrees and humid and it is going on great!!

I am am shooting to run it next weekend if I can get all together in time.

[electric]

Making progress on the rigger. I am happy to report I am done painting. The quality of the job is typical for me, nothing to brag about. I consider it a success when I get get the clear coat on and nothing tragic occurs. I even wet sanded it with some 1500 grit paper to get the overspray off in spots and then buffed it out. It came out pretty good. You can't see it in the pics put I let the wood shine through on the tops of the sponsons and that really looks nice. I am test fitting the gear in and the hardware on back is mostly mounted.

Discovered that I don't have a good water Jacket for this 2200 kv motor, but I am going to try it out without one. The Neu/Castle motors run pretty cool and the run time will be very short with this rigger, so we will see how it does. I also am going to try a skywing 200amp esc since it was cheap and would actually fit in the boat. I have a few other ESC's handy, 120amp Swordfish and a 180amp turnigy so we will see what works best.

Later I will try some other motor/esc combinations for the p-spec set up etc.

I need some additonal water line because the tube is smaller than the typical line diameter I use, but no big deal. Should be ready for a test run next weekend.

[electric]

A few more pics. You really can't notice much in the picture, but I added a blue pinstripe to help tie the main hull up to the sponson's. Only in the first pic.

[Scott T]

Looking good!! It will certainly stand out on the water. Your spray booth looks a lot like mine.....

You may not need a water jacket with that motor, I think you'll have plenty of power for the hull without working the 1515 too hard.

[electric]

Finished!!..almost..

Here is the completed boat. I am going to take it out for some tests this weekend. The pictures show a huge prop on it, but I am going to pull something smaller out to start with.

I did my standard "tub test" for leaks and what do you know, a slight amount of dampness was in there. hmmm. After staring at it awhile I think it may be coming up through the shaft because this boats sits so low in the water. It barely "floats" sitting still. The other possiblity is there might be some type of leak where the brass tube goes through the hull for the carbon rod. I left it in there for a fairly long time (10 minutes) and it was just damp. Will let it dry out and think about it.

The "unknowns" for this boat are: 1. The esc (200 amp skywing) never used one, will see if it holds up. 2. The motor(no water jacket), but this type of motor runs very cool and is huge for this size boat. 3. My water line to the esc is a smaller inner diameter than I prefer because that is all the local hobby store could supply. I will get a bigger line later.

I had way to much trouble just trying to drill simple holes in the copper tubes for the screws that go into the carbon rods. Odd, since I would expect it to dill out easily. Possibly time for new drill bits.

After building this I have new found respect for those who build their own boats from scratch. This was a lot of time to put together and Eric(who did the glass hull and sponsons) had already done a lot of the work.

I will report back on the first few runs. You never really know what will happen that first time you pull the trigger do ya?

[electric]

More pics. Notice the small piece of metal I have on the servo. I never noticed before that those traxxas waterproof servo's have a small "bump" on the case which creates a slight mounting issue. You can't really see it, but there is a dreaded bit of water in there. I much prefer my hulls to be completely dry.

[LuckyDuc]

Nice looking rig!

Have fun testing her.

[Scott T]

Looks great! Hope the testing goes well for you

[electric]

Thanks! While pondering the leak on my drive in this morning I put a strategy together to find it. I am going to put the front half of the hull in and hold up the rear and see if I get anything and then work my way back.

I am also going to pull the water line and tape over the carbon tube that Eric put in to run the line inside of. The water line I am running is a bit small and I think maybe the water is coming in through that carbon tube. This will be remedied with a larger water line if that is the issue.

Scott, I am looking forward to seeing how your JAE does as well! Keeping an eye you your thread.

[Insaniac]

More pics. Notice the small piece of metal I have on the servo. I never noticed before that those traxxas waterproof servo's have a small "bump" on the case which creates a slight mounting issue. You can't really see it, but there is a dreaded bit of water in there. I much prefer my hulls to be completely dry.

Yes, I replaced the servo on my FE-30 with the same one and ran into a mounting bracket issue because of the small "bump" in the case...never noticed that before either!
Have you tried the digital version?

[electric]

Yes, I replaced the servo on my FE-30 with the same one and ran into a mounting bracket issue because of the small "bump" in the case...never noticed that before either!
Have you tried the digital version?

No, I can't say that I have tried it yet. Does it not have that "bump"? By the way, I really have had good luck with these Traxxas water proof servo's. I know there are probably better ones out there technically, but these have been great with no failures.

[Insaniac]

More pics. Notice the small piece of metal I have on the servo. I never noticed before that those traxxas waterproof servo's have a small "bump" on the case which creates a slight mounting issue. You can't really see it, but there is a dreaded bit of water in there. I much prefer my hulls to be completely dry.

Looks like a MiniCatRacing boat stand!

[electric]

You noticed that stand eh? Chuckle, I am boat stand deprived, it was all I could find to use at the moment...

[electric]

Found something new and interesting last night that I thought I should share with the other owners of the fiberglass hulls. I was looking for my leak and guess where I found it? I glued down the ski on the main hull and then painted it. This means that the hull portion that is under the ski has no paint. Get this, the water is seeping through the fiberglass into the hull. Doesn't happen right away, you have to let a sit a bit and then it literally comes through the glass. So, I am pulling out the insides and putting down a thin coat of epoxy to resolve it.

As they say, there is always something new and different with the hobby. Not a big deal to correct though.

[LuckyDuc]

Yeah, that can happen with glass hulls. I use a 2 part epoxy primer on my fiber glass nitro boats to prevent the fuel from seeping through and underneath the paint causing it to bubble from the inside out. Learned the hard way awhile back.