My Rivercat sank :(

[kfxguy]

Too funny! Yea man at this point it's not worth it. I wanted to do a redesign on the adjustable strut and Esc anyway. I wouldn't have tossed the originals in the trash tho! It is what it is I guess. Just going to make sure I have more foam in it than last time. Chalk it up as a learning experience. I think pretty much every very experienced guy here has lost one so I'll join in too. Lol

[JMSCARD]

Well after cruising around with the sonar and determining that it's over 20ft in some areas, I'm not worried about it anymore. I sold a few hulls I had, some motors and my mono. I've collected enough to build another one and another mono along with a twin Rivercat that I've been collecting parts for. So I'm gonna let it go, sadly. I'll miss it a little but this one isn't as dear to me as the original. The original one is in good hands and the owner graciously offered it back to me for a bit cheaper than I had sold it to him for. I almost took him up on it, but I'd rather him enjoy it and I have two hulls already so I can build another. There's some really good guys here on the forum I can say that with confidence. I'm glad to be a part of it.

Right on Trav.... the misses always sings this to me this when I get to OCD or ADD....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=70&v=L0MK7qz13bU

hope it helps ! lmao... but in reality sometimes its the best thing to do... lost a brand new balsa pylon plane in a BIG corn field last year.... never found it looked for days... I had to let it go too!

[kfxguy]

I don't know if it was stated yet... but Trav is the lake ok to swim in? I know I stated "don't swim after your boat" but this isn't the same as sinking your boat and jumping in after it without doing some safety precautions.... why not get some eye goggles, a cheap raft...., have your son take a bobber with fishing line attatched to a lead weight at bottom... he can mark the spot sitting out there in the raft you think it went down while your at shore telling him where to put the lead weight anchored bobber (can look very different when you're on the water). Then he paddles back to you and you go out with your goggles? 10 or 11 feet isn't that deep... you might be able to get just halfway down and get some visuals of the lake bottom enough to locate before making the full boat 11 feet dive to actually grab it. I'm def capable of going down the distance as I grew up having "grabbing rings in the bottom of the pool contests" lol... If you don't think you can do it, ask someone who has good swimming skills to do it, I have plenty of friends who would do a lot for a (2) 30 packs of beer, or paid night out at the bar lol :) Just make sure you have the raft ready... and its not near as dangerous this way as it is when your all emotional, stressed, and end up doing something on a whim jumping in without a life jacket or raft.... anyway just a thought if it hasn't already been stated.

Well after cruising around with the sonar and determining that it's over 20ft in some areas, I'm not worried about it anymore. I sold a few hulls I had, some motors and my mono. I've collected enough to build another one and another mono along with a twin Rivercat that I've been collecting parts for. So I'm gonna let it go, sadly. I'll miss it a little but this one isn't as dear to me as the original. The original one is in good hands and the owner graciously offered it back to me for a bit cheaper than I had sold it to him for. I almost took him up on it, but I'd rather him enjoy it and I have two hulls already so I can build another. There's some really good guys here on the forum I can say that with confidence. I'm glad to be a part of it.

[JMSCARD]

Honestly at this point I dunno. I think everything is probably ruined by now. The hull I'm sure is busted. I have two more new in the box as backups anyway the hardware isn't worth $300 really. I'd be interested in knowing what failed. At this point I've pretty much written it all off but I'd still make an effort with the sonar and a kayak to try and find it.

I did use the sonar yesterday (think I posted this above) and found the water goes to 20-22ft and kept dropping signal so in not sure how deep it really goes. The area I think it went down in is 8-11ft deep.

I don't know if it was stated yet... but Trav is the lake ok to swim in? I know I stated "don't swim after your boat" but this isn't the same as sinking your boat and jumping in after it without doing some safety precautions.... why not get some eye goggles, a cheap raft...., have your son take a bobber with fishing line attatched to a lead weight at bottom... he can mark the spot sitting out there in the raft you think it went down while your at shore telling him where to put the lead weight anchored bobber (can look very different when you're on the water). Then he paddles back to you and you go out with your goggles? 10 or 11 feet isn't that deep... you might be able to get just halfway down and get some visuals of the lake bottom enough to locate before making the full boat 11 feet dive to actually grab it. I'm def capable of going down the distance as I grew up having "grabbing rings in the bottom of the pool contests" lol... If you don't think you can do it, ask someone who has good swimming skills to do it, I have plenty of friends who would do a lot for a (2) 30 packs of beer, or paid night out at the bar lol :) Just make sure you have the raft ready... and its not near as dangerous this way as it is when your all emotional, stressed, and end up doing something on a whim jumping in without a life jacket or raft.... anyway just a thought if it hasn't already been stated.

[jim82]

Sucks you you are not closer to me, I am a certified diver with gear and would try to get it for ya, but thats out of my reach.

[kwiktsi]

Maybe tell him $250 if it's found and $50 if it's not. He's losing $50 if is does find it but earning $50 regardless. Might make it a bit more worth it to you and still worth it to him either way? I'm the "challenge accepted" type and at this point would probably stop at nothing to find it on principle alone lol.

Edit- since it's your money I'm spending and not mine, maybe this would come in handy- http://tritonsubs.com/ haha

[Mxkid261]

I would definitely have the guy go dive for it...if its in about 10 feet or so of water Im willing to bet its right where it went down or in very close proximity.

[kfxguy]

Hull and hardware worth 300? Everything else is a mystery.

Honestly at this point I dunno. I think everything is probably ruined by now. The hull I'm sure is busted. I have two more new in the box as backups anyway the hardware isn't worth $300 really. I'd be interested in knowing what failed. At this point I've pretty much written it all off but I'd still make an effort with the sonar and a kayak to try and find it.

I did use the sonar yesterday (think I posted this above) and found the water goes to 20-22ft and kept dropping signal so in not sure how deep it really goes. The area I think it went down in is 8-11ft deep.

[Mxkid261]

I hope I never have to go through this, man I would curl up in the fetal position and cry if I lost a boat like that Lol... I think Itd be worth having the guy go diving for it. Even if the water is low visibility, I think your best chance of finding it would be diving. Especially if you know about where it went down. Obviously it couldve drifted underwater to a completely different spot but I think thats unlikely, was there any wind the day you lost it? Do you know how deep it is where it was floating with the tips up? If its not real deep, I bet its within a 20 foot radius of where it went down.

[T.S.Davis]

Hull and hardware worth 300? Everything else is a mystery.

[kfxguy]

For the time and effort, a walmart toy boat will certainly go slow enough. That or simplify things greatly by casting or dragging a line across the lake and have folks walk back and forth on both shores. Alternatively, you can scan in arcs if for some reason one of you cannot traverse the terrain on the other side. Make sure you have enough line to change the distance from you for the sonar. One of the two people will take up a couple feet and then scan again. This makes for a very good grid as well.

Man this lake is very very large. I don't think I could get enough line to strip across. Anyway. I have to make up my mind now. Got an offer to dive for it. $300 of its found. Pay nothing if it's not found. I'd still give him something for his time tho. I dunno what I want to do.

[Meniscus]

For the time and effort, a walmart toy boat will certainly go slow enough. That or simplify things greatly by casting or dragging a line across the lake and have folks walk back and forth on both shores. Alternatively, you can scan in arcs if for some reason one of you cannot traverse the terrain on the other side. Make sure you have enough line to change the distance from you for the sonar. One of the two people will take up a couple feet and then scan again. This makes for a very good grid as well.

[kfxguy]

Made another attempt. We'll sort of. Lol. I made a "hitch" for my mono and put an x450 on it with 4s. It worked but kept dropping signal because it was hard to pull slow enough to where the t pod wouldn't bob under the water. I think I may try a square piece of foam shaped like a boat hull to set the t pod into. That will keep it floating and I'll put as keg on it to keep it straight. I may need to use my mgm Esc so I can control it better, the sf300 won't allow low enough Rpms. All this crap for a toy boat. Haha. The lake was over 20ft deep in one area.....I think if I can get this to stay connected I might find it.


My hitch lol

[Meniscus]

Thx, I'll send you a pm shortly. On a side note, I have an identical boat I built for a customer in my shop and there's nothing in the boat a magnet would stick to except the flex. I don't think it's going to grab it......

If the hull is indeed broken in half, there are several things that a strong magnet can attach to which includes wires, bullet connectors, the motor itself, the rotor, set screws, the flex, bolts, the ESC itself, etc. That is why a large roofing magnet is effective. Also keep in mind that although there may not be much to attach to, or the pull isn't significant, the boat itself won't have much weight while suspended in the water.

The biggest issue is if the boat has neutral buoyancy at a given depth because of floatation. Unfortunately, this means that the boat may not completely sink which means that it can drift in the water a large distance over a long period of time. This is complicated by the fact that even using closed foam, the foam will lose buoyancy over time and eventually settle to the bottom. Besides the initial effort to quickly recover electronics to attempt to run again, you mentioned the hardware you spent so much time preparing. If it is worth your time, the various sonar methods you have been exploring may be more effective if you expand your search area and approach from different angles.

Why Hulls Sometimes Sink:
There is another reason why hulls sometimes become more susceptible to high speed impact. Taking into consideration that our electric hulls are taped up very well with very little leakage except for the drive line, as the electronics inside heat up, the air inside begins to expand. This is why sometimes when you cook something and there's no smoke, the tape will have be compromised. This increased pressure pressing outward from the inside of the hull means that during a high impact, no matter how severe, the hull if flexed the opposite direction. The area that is under the most stress is further compromised by the pressure inside, leading to failure. That is why many of us reinforce as much of the inside of the hull as possible. Now, this is more detail than is needed, but the point is that anything you can do to help strengthen the hull overall certainly can't hurt. It also means that despite best efforts, even a seemingly insignificant crash at higher speed can lead to failure regardless of what you do. The typical scenario is when the model re-enters the water, its first point of impact is the nose or sponson tips which cause them to rip away or fracture down the length of the hull.

So what is the best practice to reinforce a hull you may ask? The most important areas to focus on are anywhere that there is mass that can shift during a crash. This includes the motor mount, around the motor, transom, around the ESC, around lipos (top and bottom), etc. etc. In addition, trying to reinforce the bow in any way you can is helpful. Keep in mind that if the motor mount comes loose, it may impact the hatch. You can reinforce, but keep in mind that it can only sustain as much as the tape can hold in most cases.

This doesn't help for the past, but it can help to contribute to avoidance of a complete loss in the future. As a final note, many of use weigh our electronics, insert floatation/weights to the equivalent and submerge to determine how much buoyancy the model really has. You don't necessarily have to do this with the hull, but you may find that you may only be slightly buoyant so any loss of floatation due to catastrophic failure may lead to sinking. As much positive buoyancy you can provide will help in almost all scenarios. I hope this helps you and others for the future.

[Peter A]

After much contemplating and procrastinating I decided to buy this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vexilar-SP10...item4aded762d0

I ordered it this morning. Plan is to hook it to my mono and pull it around slowly (on 4s) and see if I can locate it. When or if I do I'll get in the raft and fish it out somehow. Guess I'll cross that ditch when I get there but I'll have a few things handy. worth a try.

Hey Trav, why not put it on your rescue rig?