Whalleyb0y's First EDF Jet Boat Conversion

[whalleyb0y]

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http://youtu.be/4WYauubsWNY



http://youtu.be/P44LMuqitgI

Hello everyone, I am new to these forums and I have come from the Rc Plane world that exists over in RcGroups.com.
My experience has been mostly planes and jets both balsa and foamies. I used to do a lot of bashing with rc monster trucks and such until it broke the bank. I have since found solace by taking to the air with ready to fly plane kits until finally I came to love the building up of more elaborate kits.
Last year I traded an rc truck for a used Aquacraft brushless Supervee 27 and I really enjoyed that! This was my crash course into rc boating.

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My wife found a Tyco Riptide for my son to use and the two of us have had a lot of fun with boats since. This year my wife found an Aquacraft Air Force kit at an estate sale and bought it for me for $25. I was really excited by this and found the kit in perfect condition unopened in the box.
The kit contained the white hull with canopy and the necessary hardware for mounting a nitro motor with a propeller. This kit did not include the motor or any electrics so this will provide the perfect opportunity for me to apply my background in edf jets. I will use this kit to try and make an edf jet boat. I have plenty of lipos, servos, motors, edf units and esc's laying about so it shouldn't be too costly putting this together.
My initial idea is to use a Wemotec 90mm fan with a 6s lipo pack powered by a Castle Creations 100amp esc. I do not yet know how much thrust this will create or if it will be enough. The original design of this kit was to use a FX Series .46 or .40 glow motor with whatever size prop I don't know.

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Lets see how this goes!

[Fluid]

I like what you have done here, I have been an air boat fan for many years. Ducted fans have had limited applicationx in airboats due to their inefficiency at low speeds. As you know even in "jet" airplanes take off thrust from EDFs is far less than with a corresponding a prop drive. But EDFs sound awesome and are much safer than prop drives - a consideration when young children are around. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with the boat fast or slow!



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[whalleyb0y]

Yes I think your right, it would start slower when compared to a prop. I think once it gets to speed it should be pretty quick with an edf unit. However it would be necessary to determine if a 90mm or a twin 70mm edf setup would be fast enough? I also have a pair of Changesun 70mm 12 blade rotors that would provide even more low end thrust and less top end speed.
I'm thinking of grabbing some aluminum and fabricating some mounting hardware. Then I can mix and match and see what works best.

[whalleyb0y]

I managed to grab some aluminum offcuts from work the other day. I going to try and use this to make the mounting hardware for the fan.

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I have drawn the outline onto the aluminum sheeting and will try to use my cordless sawzall to cut them out. If this doesnt work out I may have to take this back to work and try the CNC plasma cutter instead.

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[whalleyb0y]

I can't believe it's not butter! The Sawzall made quick work of the aluminum and the cuts were clean.


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[srislash]

It is surprising how clean those little cordless guys can cut,glad it worked good for you. this looks like an interesting project
Shawn

[whalleyb0y]

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I had found some time today to get to my bench vise and bend the brackets. I would say they turned out well!

[olwarbirds]

Hey bro cool project, Ive been flying edf's for awhile myself. Was curious what motor you planning on hooking up to that wemo 90mm ? I would think that the 90mm wemo would have alot more torque than the changesun 12 blade. I had a few of those blow apart on runup so be careful man....look forward to seeing end results on this one.. DJ

[whalleyb0y]

Hey bro cool project, Ive been flying edf's for awhile myself. Was curious what motor you planning on hooking up to that wemo 90mm ? I would think that the 90mm wemo would have alot more torque than the changesun 12 blade. I had a few of those blow apart on runup so be careful man....look forward to seeing end results on this one.. DJ

This motor and fan was salvaged from an LX F18 model that I bought used. It was already hopped up with this Wemo 90mm and a Cyclone Power 1900kv outrunner. I crashed the plane rather quickly but I remembered how sweet this fan sounded and how well balanced it was. I'm really hoping it does the trick. I will be trying to find a spot to mount a 6s 5000mAh pack next. And with any luck I can get it out on the snow for a test before it all melts.

http://edfhobbies.com/index.php?rout...;product_id=74

[whalleyb0y]

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This is the area that I propose to cut out and make a battery bay within. Does anyone know what I might find underneath the top shell? I would like to carefully cut out the rectangle as clean as possible and use it to make a sealed lid. This area would also be used to access a mounting area for the esc to sit. ( I might have to purchase a jacketed watercooled esc later) What I am hoping to find is an empty cavity in which I can lay in some ply for the battery support. What I am worried about finding is a series of ply stringers running across and making it complicated to create the battery bay. Any input from fellow readers is welcome here.

[flraptor07]

Doesn't the forward part of that hump where the driver is come off? then you could look back in there.

[whalleyb0y]

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Because of the wooden firewall in the servo/ receiver compartment it is impossible to see into back.
There is a lot of wood here in the front. Is it the same in the back?

[ray schrauwen]

Too cool not to be subbed here. Always thought about this concept, glad someone is trying it out. Perfect hull to do it with as well.

If you try to compress the hull in spots you may be able to tell if there are some bulkheads in there but, might as well cut it open, you've gone this far already

[whalleyb0y]

Whalleyb0y's First EDF Jet Boat Conversion

Here are some of the RC Edf boat videos I have been watching.

http://youtu.be/SHeZjBqaisc

http://youtu.be/mxB0_zTkZe8

http://youtu.be/pYBoJjEQ2PU

These video demonstrate some success with the concept even with smaller edf fan units and lower cell counts.

[whalleyb0y]

Whalleyb0y's First EDF Jet Boat Conversion

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