Cheetah question

[srislash]

Scott(tiqueman) took the "built in trim" out of the rear section of sponson. Says it is much improved.A bit of work mind you. My old Graupner Systems cat was like that. Just FYI

[Chilli]

Chip Gibbs in my club poured a little epoxy into the nose of the sponsons and filed it down to get to 34". He didn't even break through the fiberglass and it doesn't look too bad. He also evened out all the steps in the sponsons and she runs really nice.

[iridebikes247]

I blue printed a cheetah and sold it on the forum http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...0-cheetah-hull

I don't think anything shows the prep I did to the bottom but it was very easy. The thing is the hull was pulled out of the mold too soon I only sanded down the gelcoat and got nice and flat ride pads. The gelcoat is extremely thick at the end of the ride pad making our job quite easy. These hulls ride extremely wet and just weird if this mod isn't made (i will add SOME hulls don't really have the problem and run fine, tony proper chopper built one without the mod and it runs great). Tiqueman on here made the mod and his cheetah runs extremely well.

[properchopper]

Having developed a mild case of "survivor's guilt" I threw the Cheetah in today to make it run wet with the out-of-the-box sponsons. Only a little bit of the bottom gets wet 'tho.
Must be the tailfins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9aLMlDmLbg

[iridebikes247]

Those tail fins have to be adding what like 30lbs of downforce? lol all kidding aside I have spoken with a club that races in florida and a lot of the guys didn't like the cheetah until making mods to the bottom. Looks like your boat is running great, I really regret selling my hull now

[427srule]

It's not really a good P hull. She's a fatty. My opinion. We all got one.

I'm still working on it. Ran it last night for the first time. Turns so hard you can flip it backward and plane out going backwards. Never had a cat that would turn like that. Unfortunately I don't have the setup quite right yet. Still way too planted. Shaved the rudder, chopped off the skeg, and flattened out the strut angle. Should loosen it up some. Not sure where I'll go from there.

Hey guys, thanks for all of the replies on this.
I am going to think about it some more and maybe even consider doing a Q Offshore instead.

Keep us updated on your progress

Mike

[T.S.Davis]

I've done just about everything I can without butchering the bottom.

What has been the typical fix on these? Looks cool but I'm not very happy with it thus far.

[srislash]

I've done just about everything I can without butchering the bottom.

What has been the typical fix on these? Looks cool but I'm not very happy with it thus far.

Scott smoothed the back ride pad flat and level with table. The way I have seen the pics,the last pad is like having built in trim tabs.
Not sure if he had to fill the sponson bottoms prior to grinding sanding.

[iridebikes247]

There is a ton of gelcoat you can sand a LOT of the ride pad down without eating into the actual hull. Sand down with like a 4 inch long 3/4" wide block as much as you can then fill any imperfections.

[T.S.Davis]

Well, I did some work on the bottom this morning. The bottom on my hull is a mess. It's not just the AOA on the last pad. The center pad is/was cambered. A lot. So if the water chased that shape it would have been hitting that last pad right where it starts basically. Making that tab effect even worse I think. It would have been like dragging the leading edge of the last pad through the water instead of skipping over the top of it. At least that's what I think was happening.

Straightened that camber out and buzzed down the rear pads a bunch.

We'll see. It's going to be fast if I can ever crack it loose from the water.

[T.S.Davis]

Getting closer. This thing is so violent and angry it's a bit un-nerving. It's so outrageous it stopped a baseball game because everyone stopped to see what the heck was going on down on the pond. It might be faster than my Q sport.

[keithbradley]

I've done just about everything I can without butchering the bottom.

What has been the typical fix on these? Looks cool but I'm not very happy with it thus far.

Twins baby, twins!
Seriously, two props spinning outward seems to provide the bow lift that the cheetah likes. These cats run great as twins (I still prefer the more efficient Fantasm better, but I'm not an oval racer) up to around 70mph, but better suited for around 60mph in my opinion.
I have a lot more experience with the twin setup than the single, but I essentially tried to do the same with the single I tested...Big prop, a touch of positive strut angle.

[T.S.Davis]

I'm going to take some more off the bottom. Made a huge difference. Then I'll twang the strut some more. It's getting really close.