Custom V cat

[Tamelesstgr]

A Work of art!

[pistol18]

What a neat idea, sounds like a cool project with your Dad, who is obviously very talented!

[TheShaddix]

Thanks guys! I shot a video of it running this past weekend and will upload it asap. The boat runs pretty good, almost no hopping now after a few tweaks (stinger angles and lipo placement). With the 1600kv 4082 leopards on 6s it isn't exactly a race boat, but it's fun running around the pond with no heat issues which makes for a reliable setup. I was running turnigy 180 esc's this time around but I am a bit on the fence now, I think I like the swordfish better as they do run cooler (with 200A 8S). I'll try some bigger props too to see what it does. The giant rudder definitely made it turn better too.

There are a few design flaws we needed to address after seeing this hull in action. I already have the new updated hull here which looks even better so the one in this thread will be up for sale soon once I dial everything in. We added steps to break up the bottom surface similar to those on the mhz/hpr which came out pretty cool. The only thing left to resolve is adding some kind of grooves so the boat doesn't drift so much in turns. Right now it tends to slide when turning due to weight and inertia as there is nothing on the bottom but slippery smooth surfaces. The new build will be focused a bit more on speed this time as I really want to see what it does around 90 mph.

I definitely have a new appreciation for wooden boats now. I had some concerns about the weight initially when we were starting out as the first hulls were quite chunky, but the new design and construction methods such as having a frameless interior and using thinner planks have reduced the weight by about half and is now nearly as light as my fully reinforced mhz 114 hull. And cats can get away with being a bit overweight too as they lift out of the water. If anything, it adds more stability at speed with less chance of a blow-over. I ran it in choppy windy conditions and the nose lifts up only slightly. Also, when I added all the electronics and lipos the added weight totally dwarfed the weight of the hull, so even with a super light fiberglass hull this boat would've weighed practically the same. But we're still aiming to remove weight where it's not needed.

[Darin Jordan]

This is EXTREMELY cool!

[kfxguy]

Got pic of the new version?

[kfxguy]

Btw, suggestion: make the hatch opening a little wider and a little longer. 1" X 1" would make a good difference


And how do you like those battery connectors.

[Tamelesstgr]

Man, I want to see this new one in action.

[TheShaddix]

I will post some pics tonight. Still finishing up a few things. There was a design oversight at the bottom which I'm correcting. The new version is slightly less tall but just as wide. The hull reminds me of the tenshock 95 (shocker), it's wide and really low. I like it much more like that as it will sit better in turns and at speed.

The hatch on the one after this new one will actually be an inch longer. It's being built right now with further design fixes. Not sure about making it wider though because the sides start to curve right near the hatch line. In person the hatch already looks really wide and there is a lot of opening to work with. When I was building this cat (on the inside) I didn't feel like it was cramped, but if it becomes an issue, we will widen it a bit.

I really like those 8mm ose connectors. They get less heat than the green castle 6.5's, easier to slide in/out, way cheaper if you get 10 pairs (only 16 bucks!), and the most important part is they are wayyyy easier to solder 8 awg wires into and with the castles that was a chore. They aren't the best looking and the quality of the plastic is good but not as nice as the green housings on the castles which I thought were top notch, but for all intents and purposes they are of good quality and there is no way to plug them in wrong. The only bad thing is that you can accidentally plug two lipos into one another (done that...) when you're charging as the housings look identical which would never happen with the castles.

[markwithak]

Now that's real woodworking outside the box! kinda reminds me of the the old hydrostream tunnel hulls. Had a vee up front leading down to a tunnel on each side and a calm lake and good setup they were fast. Whats the end result for length and width?

[TheShaddix]

The width (at its widest point at the bottom rear) is 12" which is the same as the mhz mystic 114. The height is around 8" plus the hatch (1.5" or so). The length is around 45 inches (give or take an inch) excluding the little duck tail.

[kfxguy]

The width (at its widest point at the bottom rear) is 12" which is the same as the mhz mystic 114. The height is around 8" plus the hatch (1.5" or so). The length is around 45 inches (give or take an inch) excluding the little duck tail.

Holy crapcakes! I didn't realize that thing was that big! I still love it! I've been eating to build a large mono in the near future. I was looking at the 51" version of my kbb34. How does this thing handle chop?

[markwithak]

Thanks guys! I shot a video of it running this past weekend and will upload it asap. The boat runs pretty good, almost no hopping now after a few tweaks (stinger angles and lipo placement). With the 1600kv 4082 leopards on 6s it isn't exactly a race boat, but it's fun running around the pond with no heat issues which makes for a reliable setup. I was running turnigy 180 esc's this time around but I am a bit on the fence now, I think I like the swordfish better as they do run cooler (with 200A 8S). I'll try some bigger props too to see what it does. The giant rudder definitely made it turn better too.

There are a few design flaws we needed to address after seeing this hull in action. I already have the new updated hull here which looks even better so the one in this thread will be up for sale soon once I dial everything in. We added steps to break up the bottom surface similar to those on the mhz/hpr which came out pretty cool. The only thing left to resolve is adding some kind of grooves so the boat doesn't drift so much in turns. Right now it tends to slide when turning due to weight and inertia as there is nothing on the bottom but slippery smooth surfaces. The new build will be focused a bit more on speed this time as I really want to see what it does around 90 mph.

I definitely have a new appreciation for wooden boats now. I had some concerns about the weight initially when we were starting out as the first hulls were quite chunky, but the new design and construction methods such as having a frameless interior and using thinner planks have reduced the weight by about half and is now nearly as light as my fully reinforced mhz 114 hull. And cats can get away with being a bit overweight too as they lift out of the water. If anything, it adds more stability at speed with less chance of a blow-over. I ran it in choppy windy conditions and the nose lifts up only slightly. Also, when I added all the electronics and lipos the added weight totally dwarfed the weight of the hull, so even with a super light fiberglass hull this boat would've weighed practically the same. But we're still aiming to remove weight where it's not needed.

Just a hint for handling. cats have pretty straight sharp keels for the full length of the tunnel, and you are mixing a v and tunnel so up front you have very little bit for the turns and not making it up with the chamfers at the rear of the tunnel and the tunnel is shallow. Not sure if this all has and overall handling affect on your hull just throwing that out there to think about. Just need to R&D some different keels to get the performance and handling combination you are after. But keep up the awesome work, and I might want a hull once you have it hashed out if your up for it and meets an affordable cost to me but we can go back to that at a later time. I run an 80k sf wood shop and would really fit well in my office as well as having some fun with it.

Mark

[markwithak]

One more comment and a question

Did you think about a full perimeter wood lip edge similar to the rear. would be able to add neoprene to help seal compartment.

Any what size batteries are you running?

Thanks

[TheShaddix]

So far I've only run it in some mild chop at our pond. Not sure if you can even consider that choppy, just heavy ripples I guess. It's nothing like a big choppy lake or the ocean. But the hull is wide and low and it just hops over small bumps, no drama unlike my hpr which always feels on the verge of turning over. The cool thing is that at full steering lock it still doesn't spin out, it just starts doing donuts. This boat is very heavy when it's fully loaded with lipos. I'm not sure how much the wood actually adds to the overall boyancy, but when it sits still in the water it doesn't look as heavy as it actually is. It gets on plane quickly though. You can definitely tell it's a heavier boat when it accelerates, but I run it with 47mm octura props and it feels pretty nimble in straight line. The correction turning at high speed is predictable and not scary. I've only flipped it when I was coming up to a stop and turning sharp. I feel like the faster this thing goes the more stable it gets. I'll post a video of it shortly, just editing some final bits.

Speaking of the handling... Actually, modvp55 hit me up in PM with the same idea about changing up the angle on those keels. He had a good point too, so now I'm trying to figure out how to decrease that 45 pitch but still keep the nice rear shape as if I make them totally vertical, they will just ruin the aesthetics and not match the angle of the outer walls which is my main worry.

Adding a full lip edge is definitely possible, but there are a few reasons why we decided against it. First, it adds more weight on top (not a big deal but still...). Second, it reduces working area while building the boat. Third, it's not an easy task to do with wood as the hatch has to match that shape too. I run in salt water so I seal the hatch with doubled up tape every time. The hull is mostly dry, but after 3 runs the grease is gone so the water starts creeping through the stuffing tubes. I only put grease into the drives though through the tiny holes, never into the tubes. I use oil in those. No mess, no water inside.

Before I sell any hull I want to make sure it's perfect. Given I can't do much with the ones that have already been built and we can only improve the upcoming hulls, when I do sell the older ones they will be priced very reasonably.

I use turnigy heavy duty 6s 5000 packs (2).

[TheShaddix]