U7 Notre Dame 1/8 build

[Peter A]

That looks great Peter. For one that is not fond of painting I’d say you got this!

Thanks Shawn.
It's not perfect, there are some runs in the clear coat and some 'smudging' in the blue lines, but hey, it's a race boat and we don't do concourse. I just need to put it together and get it on the water!

[Dirk Jan]

Great build, Thank you for sharing!
Interesting to read your setup. I often see 200-300A esc's for such boats and I have always wondered if a low kV motor setup with a HV 120-150A esc would work.

The paint looks awesome as well [emoji106]

[Peter A]

Great build, Thank you for sharing!
Interesting to read your setup. I often see 200-300A esc's for such boats and I have always wondered if a low kV motor setup with a HV 120-150A esc would work.

The paint looks awesome as well [emoji106]

Thanks.
As far as the esc size goes, we run 10s but are limited to 6000 mah. I run 5500 mah. From experience over a few years now, testing and racing, that equates to an average current draw of around 100A. Therefore 130-150A esc is sufficient.
I did however blow the esc i the Albert Lee at the start of the first heat of our last race day at the end of last year. Later I discovered the 6s pack that was in the boat had lost one cell completely and another had dropped it's voltage to 3.7, this was a fully charged and balanced battery. Hit the throttle to go, and boom! Blew the hatch and cowling off. Shame about that is that I would only have needed a couple of seconds or 3 third place to have taken the win for the class for the season on points. Any how, the esc was a few years old and I have a new one for the new boat anyway.
At the end of the day it is always a balance between space in the boat, how fast you want to go and current draw.

[Peter A]

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Hardware and running gear installed. Getting close to a maiden.

[Peter A]

Got the maiden run in on Saturday. 1st run got up easy but was real flighty so brought it in after two laps and adjusted the turn fin. Next lap it lafted at the end of the back straight and just kited, hung in the air for about two seconds before going over. Retrieved it, more turn fin adjustment and a couple more laps, still a bit flighty, this was on an X448 detoungued.
Changed to a Prather 225 and it was a bit better, a little bit of strut adjustment as well, but still flighty as it wound up on full throttle.
3rd run was with a 447/3 M cut, this was the best run so far, still a little flighty but I got a couple of full throttle laps in.
I might try an air dam or some weight inside the left sponson yet.
Pretty happy so far, I haven't even touched the steering trim yet either!

[Peter A]

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[Peter A]

So I tried an air dam, it was still a bit flighty. Then I dropped the strut about 2.5 mm and that settled the boat nicely, I ran a full 6 laps hard. So then I thought, perhaps the air dam wasn't doing anything much really then, so I took it off (it was just taped on). Nah, it was doing something because the boat went back to being unstable. I had the gps in on that run and still managed to clock 97 kph, so the air dam has now gone back on ready for club race day this coming Sunday.
Getting there.

[srislash]

Good luck today Peter.

[Peter A]

Good luck today Peter.

Thanks Shawn, sadly I now have a two piece cowl and some other minor damage. We have some really bright sparks that decided we should draw for who gets lane 1. Being a new boat and not having done many laps, when I went into turn 1 I didn't turn as tightly as the boat outside me which went over top of me. I wouldn't otherwise have been in lane one, or with my Q hydro which got squeezed and hit a bouy (turn 1 again) and nailed itself, so damage to repair on that one too. It's almost enough to make a grown man cry! I'm pretty gutted to say the least. Oh well at least I hadn't got the detail all done on the U7, so paint repair is doable later when all the detail is ready. Sucks though!

[srislash]

Well although the carnage sucks, at least you were out racing. I’m still ice skating here and it’ll only be joyriding when it does thaw for me. Be nice to get some sort of group going.

I’m sure you’ll get it all ready for the next battle.

[Peter A]

The damage.
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[Peter A]

The repair.

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Actually came out better than I hoped. I'll have to finish and repaint but that can wait until I am ready (and have the decals etc) to finish the detail. Ironically, the driver turned up Monday morning. Go figure.

[srislash]

The repair.

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Actually came out better than I hoped. I'll have to finish and repaint but that can wait until I am ready (and have the decals etc) to finish the detail. Ironically, the driver turned up Monday morning. Go figure.

Boy the one side will be barely noticeable as is. Great work

[Peter A]

Gonna call it Sooty! SK esc had a melt down on lap 4 of 6 . The boat stopped, then a few seconds later, esc exploded. Not too happy about that. It looks like an internal failure.

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[Peter A]

Cleaned up boat. Fortunately I had just purchased a ZTW HV 150 esc for my next build, so I have put that in and will program it tonight ready for the weekend.

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