Carbon rivercat revamp....

[kfxguy]

Nice job refitting it Travis. I really like the hatch hold downs, really clean look. You should be able to trim them an even possibly get the elusive water tight boat without tape! I will be borrowing the idea. With that motor you should be able to swing a monster prop, might be a good boat to have one custom done. where did you get the hose clamps? Looking Forward to seeing this one rip up the lake!

I have a better way of doing the hatch bolts now. Just hold tight and I'll get some pics up for you soon. This was my first attempt, while it was decent....not quite optimal. The tiny hose clamps came from the hardware store. Ose or kintec sell them too. Cant remember which one. I have been seriously been thinking about hitting up dasboata for a prop. I'm gonna see how it goes this weekend. Sold the shovker, now I'm getting ready to order a fantasm. .....

[Fella1340]

Glad to hear the builds will continue on. I only suggested a custom prop for the boat so you could spin a big prop that's been worked to take some of the torque/steer roll out of it so it handles nice for you. I still have a long recovery ahead of me, had some issues so the boat building is progressing at a snails pace. I switched to doing a twin motor genesis as the fountain is going to take some serious time to do the way I want to. The genesis was supposed to be a quick, found out the entire rudder mount area was only resin, no cloth whatsoever! The sponson tips are the same! Lots of dirty little secrets in it. So it's a major workout now. I have stopped putting time lines on anything as it just leads to disappointment. Still the building though very slow is still fun. Hpr or MHZ next, no more cheap hulls!' I really want a rivercat though, love the boat on cf. Keep us updated and things rolling!

[kfxguy]

Glad to hear the builds will continue on. I only suggested a custom prop for the boat so you could spin a big prop that's been worked to take some of the torque/steer roll out of it so it handles nice for you. I still have a long recovery ahead of me, had some issues so the boat building is progressing at a snails pace. I switched to doing a twin motor genesis as the fountain is going to take some serious time to do the way I want to. The genesis was supposed to be a quick, found out the entire rudder mount area was only resin, no cloth whatsoever! The sponson tips are the same! Lots of dirty little secrets in it. So it's a major workout now. I have stopped putting time lines on anything as it just leads to disappointment. Still the building though very slow is still fun. Hpr or MHZ next, no more cheap hulls!' I really want a rivercat though, love the boat on cf. Keep us updated and things rolling!

Yea I know in the prop. I have a few 45 mm ones I'm gonna try. They will be thinned pretty good tho. I'm still on the fence about the fantasm. im going to decide in the next couple days.

[Fella1340]

The fantasm is a great boat! Checkout srislash's videos. Run great and stables at speed.

[kfxguy]

Pics as promised.

I'm happy with how it is now. I didn't plan in fixing it tonight but got a wild hair. The way it was....had a threaded spacer with a very short screw from the bottom...up through the canopy rails. The thumb screws would bottom out inside the threaded spacer....not putting enough preload on the canopy and seal. So......I took those out and got some t nuts. Looks like a pop rivit but it's threaded. Then I drilled two small holes to help the epoxy grab. I rough it up to. When I was finished I put a dab of anti seize in them so it wouldn't gall. Now it seals all the way around on the foam seal. Has a nice ring around it that it only had in a couple places before. I feel confident it's going to seal perfect now. Pics...

[kfxguy]

Here's a side shot of the t nut epoxies in...



And a t nut by itself

[Fella1340]

Very nice, you may just have found the solution you have been looking for. Nice and neat to! Where did you get the round t-nuts? I am going to borrow your idea if you don't mind.

[kfxguy]

Very nice, you may just have found the solution you have been looking for. Nice and neat to! Where did you get the round t-nuts? I am going to borrow your idea if you don't mind.

I don't mind one bit. I've borrowed ideas from guys on here before....that's why we are here...to help each other. I got those round t nuts from the hardware store. Stine to be exact. They came with a big aluminum flat heat screw. I do feel much more confident in the sealing of this. Make sure you use a small dab of anti seize in the threads for insurance against galling. I doubt they will as the thumb screws are hard anodized, but rather safe than sorry. It will be hitting the water soon.

[Fella1340]

I couldn't agree more about the anti-seize, the low quality aluminum and repeated use isn't the best combination. I have some stainless t-nuts with the square bottom that will be hitting the lathe for a remodel. I can't see using them now as is and they weren't exactly cheap. I had thoughts on building up the hatch edges to widen the contact area in hopes of a better seal but you have saved me some time. I really wasn't a fan of the standard t-nut look, especially if they hang past the edge.

[bikergreen]

nice work with the CC bullits right on the ESC, I have thought about doing that before but hadn't check it out yet. Good to know it can be done!!

[kfxguy]

nice work with the CC bullits right on the ESC, I have thought about doing that before but hadn't check it out yet. Good to know it can be done!!

You can do them straight up or an angle. You will have to drill the connector out a little to fit over the solder posts on the esc for the straight up position. For 90 degree angle you need to break out the dremel and slot it. I then coated them with brush on rubber coating.

[bikergreen]

You can do them straight up or an angle. You will have to drill the connector out a little to fit over the solder posts on the esc for the straight up position. For 90 degree angle you need to break out the dremel and slot it. I then coated them with brush on rubber coating.

Awesome thanks, I may go 90degree, we'll see what fits the build best. I'm sure I'll see where to put the slot when I get a chance to give it a go. Will be way cleaner for sure. What brush on coating do you use?

[kfxguy]

Awesome thanks, I may go 90degree, we'll see what fits the build best. I'm sure I'll see where to put the slot when I get a chance to give it a go. Will be way cleaner for sure. What brush on coating do you use?

Liquid electrical tape.

[kfxguy]

Just for kicks I weighed it. Rivercat weighs 7.83 lbs. Shocker weighs 10.21lbs. And my mini weighs 5.95lbs. Those are weights with batteries, ready to run. Empty (no batts) mini weighs 4.20lbs. Shocker weighs 7.80lbs. And rivercat weighs 6.08lbs.

[kfxguy]

I went run the rivercat earlier today. Overall I can tell it's going to be pretty fast. Here's some things I figured out and noticed during the run. I didn't get to fix anything because my son had to be somewhere shortly and we didn't have much time.

-the prop was angled up and the boat didn't like it. It wah wah wah like a geico at low speeds and ran real loose. Nose kept coming up so I couldn't stay in it.

-sounded like the prop was out the water because of the angle it was at. Again, not good

The esc and motor temps both never exceeded 107 degrees. Pretty good I guess.

-I was very nervous during these runs. We got there and my recovery boat didn't work. Wow. Later on diagnosed it and the esc went bad. So another thing to worry about and make me take it easy. This lake I had never run in before and I wasn't going for a swim had I flipped it.

-I only drained the batts .3 volts per cell in the total time I ran it which was a little over two minutes.

Kinda the same thing that happened with my shocker on my first run. I'll get it lined out and have another go. Maybe tomorrow. I'll post the vid's as they are uploaded.