My First FE Boat - SV27 Build

[midnightsabotage]

My new project!

I've been big into cars/trucks for 20+ years, and just last fall I got into planes. I have like 13 planes now and it's time to poke my head into the marine world already. So....

Figured I'll be putting in many hours of work and someone might like to see it all.

Got this SV27 for $40 from a guy who didn't want to spend the time and money to replace the motor and driveline. The hull was in great shape, which was more than enough for me to pull the trigger at that bargain price without knowing anything else about it.

The brass stuffing tube has parts of a drive shaft still wadded up in the middle of it. No motor, and obviously no prop.

The guy tried to run a Velineon 3500kv in this, I think. Said he got the boat without a motor, and I guess that's all he had to put in it? The cooling jacket that was laying in the boat when I got it was just one of those coiled aluminum tubes. Don't know how exactly the destruction of the motor and driveline unfolded, but I'm getting some pictures in my head. No idea if he greased things up or not prior to running either. No trace of any grease on anything on inspection.

Here she is pre-project:
sv27-1.jpg

[Phaleronic]

Dang, for 40 clams that's not bad at all. :D

[midnightsabotage]

It was an unbelievable deal, I had to make sure that's the price he wanted without making it sound like it was too cheap.

Still haven't tested the speed control or servos, but he said they're good. Had to add some epoxy to the wood inside to strengthen a couple cracks. It's missing the radio box cover, but I ordered a Kintec platform w/servo mount, so that's no concern.

The biggest problem for me was the decals. I started to take them off, only to see that the basecoat under the clear had gotten discolored or sunfaded. It's bad, like there's still a set of decals on the boat. So we're going to go with a fresh paintjob and it's a perfect opportunity to sand out the stock paint drips and uneven fiberglass work.

And so the sanding begins... Note the sunfade/discoloration where the decals were:
sv27-2.jpgsv27-3.jpg

[midnightsabotage]

Planning on ordering the Aquacraft 36-50-1800kv motor for it.
Ordered all of the other parts I should need already though:

Necessary:
3 piece collet
Upgrade driveshaft w/drive dog and liner
Brass stuffing tube
Silicone cooling line
AQUB9518 water jacket
Lipo cutoff module
Kintec radio box replacement kit
Servo pushrod connector
3.5mm-to-4mm motor wire bullet adapters
Stainless hardware for mounting motor and motor mount

Upgrades or add ons:
Trim tab adjusters
Brass bullet nut
Hatch latch kit with foam liner
Traxxas 2075 waterproof servo
Traxxas waterproof rx box

Also picked up cans of yellow, gold, & black paint... Clearcoat as well.
Should be able to come up with a nice clean & fast looking paint scheme with those :)

[midnightsabotage]

The hull is all ready for paint, but I'm struggling with the design phase. Hopefully 8 full hours of brainstorming at work will come up with something tonight.

SV27-4.jpg

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Spent way too long making this template so I can mess around with ideas. Now if only I was able to print a bunch of these off somehow, no printer access from my laptop at work... Guess the sketches will have to wait.
SV27 Blank Template.jpg

[midnightsabotage]

Well, here's a first attempt... I can't seem to make a good gold color on MS Paint, (certainly nothing near my actual can of gold paint I'll be using) but you get the idea.
Not sure how I like it yet. I'll be trying many other ideas too once I can print out that template - drawing goes much faster than trying o design on MS Paint.
SV27 Template Idea 1.jpg

Opinions? Ideas?

[FastVee]

Great deal you got there! -I had sv once also( actually 4 of them...)

I would change few bits:

3.5 to 4mm adapters, I would forget thous and just use 4mm or 5.5mm if possible. The 3.5mm connectors are usually not that great at these Amps. -4mm is pushing it with some props.


Brass bullet nut... -I would use tapered/nyloc nut and if you want you can screw bullet nut on after that. -if you use just the bullet nut you could loose a prop, so atleast loctite it.

Also the battery trays are at the wrong place(atleast on mine they were) , I would remove them and add velcro straps to hold the batteries. -it also lets you move the battery position to help getting the cog(center of gravity) in proper place. -if you want to remove the trays they usually just pop outif you carefully pull them out. -if not gently prying with screwdriver helps.


Just few ideas here, hope it helps.

oh, and cooll looking painting scheme, would not paint the bottom black though if you drive with others,it is really hard to see capsized boat that has black hull. -looking at thet pic it has black bottom? -if you drive alone, or have the only boat around, the black looks nice.

Pate

[midnightsabotage]

Thanks for all the tips,

The parts listed have already been ordered, so I can't take advantage of the cheaper coupler. Glad that I have the best available on it's way though. My buddy just lost his flexshaft/prop on the stock coupler, so I figured I wouldn't take any chances.

I won't be pushing this boat too hard or propping up while using the stock ESC, so hopefully the 3.5mm-to-4mm adapters will be okay. They were cheap & easy. If I upgrade the ESC later on, I'll definitely up it to 5.5mm. But for now, my driving skills (or lack thereof) won't have me doing anything too crazy with the boat for a while.

Thank you for the pointers about the prop nut and the black bottom paint scheme. I've got one buddy who's got a SV27 as well, I'll probably only be running with him for some time. We usually stop all driving when there's been a flipped boat & try to retrieve it. I never even thought about the lack of visibility being a hazard to mine & the other boats. I might have to do some more brainstorming about the paintjob now!

Again, thanks for the tips! This being my first boat with any speed, I need all of them I can get.

[FastVee]

Glad if I could help.

edited my post abit cause I wrote about the coupler etc prior to understanding that you had ordered these pars allready.

Jus ask if you have any questions, I have build 4 of these for me and 2 for my friends so I should know something about sv´s.

If you guys stop driving when boat has flipped then the black hull should not be an issue? -but brighter the better I guess.

-Pate

[midnightsabotage]

Saw your edit about the battery trays, the previous owner seems to have glued them in pretty well, unfortunately. I may have to dremel down the raised portions of those brackets, and of course go with the velcro straps as well.

You can blame the lack of updates on the extreme humidity (waiting for things to dry out before laying down paint) and i've been busy dealing with my apartment flooding from a torrential downpour storm on Friday. No fun.

I did get quite a bit of work done on a scratch-build airboat though. I might have to start a new thread for that one, if anyone is interested? Here's a picture to gauge interest
Airboat 1.jpg

[midnightsabotage]

Just another design idea. I don't like bits of it, but other parts of the design seem to work well.
I have a black vinyl that would tie in with the name and look good on the top/front of the hull.
SV27 Template Idea 2.jpg

[siberianhusky]

You just gave me an idea for paint on some future boat! Kenny Roberts yellow and black Yamaha color scheme!
One thing we've done with the SV's is to cut the stuffing tube flush with the transom, makes stinger adjustment much easier if you don't have to bend the tube for every angle change.
Remove the battery trays, I run a dual under the hull water pick-up system, one half for esc other for motor, added another water exit.
A strip of fiberglass inside the hull along the deck/hull joint keeps them from splitting along the seam.
Spray some CorrosionX or CRC into your esc, receiver and servo to protect the electronics from any stray water.
Shove some cut up pool noodles in the front for floatation if the worst happens.
These things are a real blast if you have a few of them all basically stock running against each other.

[midnightsabotage]

So it's a good idea to cut the brass stuffing tube off at the rear of the hull? does it ride in the bushing alone well enough at the end? Doesn't the bushing fit snug in the stuffing tube? Without it, it seems to me the bushing would be loose. Can you clarify how to set that all up properly?

I'll mention again, I wont have much luck removing the battery trays, as they're glued in there pretty well. I'm going to see what I can do with a dremel safely though. I was thinking of picking up an extra water pickup that would mount on the bottom rear edge of the hull, right by the trim tab. Should I go with 2 of these, or keep the rudder one and just go with one new one?

For water protection:
The stock esc is waterproof, right? So additional water protection shouldn't be necessary?
If I run an air receiver, I've already got a few completely coated in silicone with servo extensions. And if I get a spektrum marine receiver, are they covered well enough in the coating that they come with? I will mention again that I have a waterproof receiver box in any case. Plus i'm going to seal up the hatch/cowl as best as possible too.
I've got a Traxxas 2075 waterproof servo for this build as mentioned before, so that's covered as well.

Anyhow, an update on my parts ordered, I have only gotten the servo so far.
So, the mail woman that's had my apartment's route for 16 years has just been moved to a different route, and the new woman hates our route. So she's been showing up after the apartment office is closed and marking packages as delivered, even though they haven't been. 3 days after the website tracking said my 1st package of parts was delivered and I finally got a notice in my box saying my package is at the post office. SO... I'll be getting my 1st order of parts tomorrow. I may have to go to the post office, but so be it. I want to get this thing going. Airboat might get finished tomorrow too.

I sprayed the yellow basecoat today, hoping to cover up the fading and get a uniform finish to start from. It got most of it, but not all. I also found a couple nicks after all was said and done, so I'll take care of those and do another coat tomorrow - hopefully get atleast part of the full scheme laid out too.

[midnightsabotage]

I like this a bit more, but I'm still trying other ideas...

SV27 Template Idea 4.jpg