What did you do to your boat today?

[Hemifear]

Pickups are in the bottom and I scraped the extra paint out of both with a hobby knife on day 1. The video is still on my camera as I just haven't had time to upload....I have watched it 4x with the volume at 10 to try to see, or hear anything abnormal....nothing! Running good....two rooster tails shooting up....stops...give it some throttle and it starts turning with no steering input...release the throttle and go slowly in reverse...goes about 3 feet and completely dies. By the time I actually got my hands on the boat, it had been in the water for about an hour. Open the canopy and smell burnt electrical but everything is cold by this time. ESC's were still a solid green so I am assuming they are ok. Only thing I can think of is the cooling system, but it is impossible to see water coming out of the sides of the hull on the video. When it is close enough to see, it is going too slow (needs to be doing 30mph for cooling system to operate).

[fweasel]

I'd be worried about an ESC issue existing too, perhaps what caused both motors to go up in smoke. When you get the new motors installed, recalibrate the throttle range on each ESC, and then make sure each motor spins in the correct direction and at least makes a similar noise (crude measure of RPM) to the other while on the bench.

[Hemifear]

I am concerned about an ESC issue as well but at this point I have no way to test them. I did take both motors out and used the one motor that kinda works, (will spin when throttle is applied but will immediately start smoking),connected it to the left ESC and it worked the same as the right one... but I will definitely recalibrate everything and do a thorough bench test before hitting the lake again.

[Tamelesstgr]

Can you test with the ESC from your Voracity? Are there any settings that can be adjusted on the stock Zelos esc's? Maybe re-verify that timing etc was not altered?

[Hemifear]

Timing can be changed on the stock ESC's. On the last run the ESC's beeped 3 short beeps indicating 3s, LVC 3.0v, and timing at 4.5 degrees. I have not messed with the ESC's in any way except to arm them. Would it be possible for them to somehow change themselves? Glitch out?

[stratus]

Lvc is way to low in my opinion if you don't time your runs and waiting to hit lvc to stop like me,you will harm your batterys nothing to do with your problem thow,as for timing I think you mean 7.5?

[Hemifear]

yup typo 7.5... I usually time my runs and don't let it get to LVC. Force of habit from running my helicopters.

[fweasel]

Got my GPS friendly fiberlgass hatch in for the Mini Zonda today. Not as cool looking, but it fits perfectly. Undecided if I'll have it hydro dipped in carbon to match the hull or just paint it black. I've got plenty of time to decide that as this is my lowest priortiy/funded project.

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Big thanks to kfxguy for getting these imported from TFL. Arrived much sooner than expected.

[Mxkid261]

Got my GPS friendly fiberlgass hatch in for the Mini Zonda today. Not as cool looking, but it fits perfectly. Undecided if I'll have it hydro dipped in carbon to match the hull or just paint it black. I've got plenty of time to decide that as this is my lowest priortiy/funded project.

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Big thanks to kfxguy for getting these imported from TFL. Arrived much sooner than expected.

Twins? Single? Couple TP2940's would be sweet.

[fweasel]

Twins? Single? Couple TP2940's would be sweet.

I was all about twins until I saw inside the hull. Not worth the effort/agony to stuff it all in there. Kfxguy's single runs fast enough for my needs. Whole lot cheaper too!

[Mxkid261]

Ya I bet there isn't much room in there I thought my rivercat had no space I can only imagine these Lol.

[SD Eracer]

Got my old Pursuit ship shape after cracking the hull and flooding the inside of the boat a few months ago at the lake.

Some weird current pulled the boat down and it hit the bottom of the lake still running, it kept running for almost 3-4 minutes until it finally ran out of power and slowly floated to the surface. It was completely flooded, luckily it was fresh water this time, no damage to any of the electronics including the batteries. Luckily I spray my receivers with Corrosion-X, so it was fine as well.

However, the front seams of the hull were cracked, either due to the initial impact with the bottom or the pressure of 20 feet or so it dived. I cleaned everything up, but put in on the shelf since I started doing more RC car stuff. I finally got to fixing and reinforcing all the cracks, did a few upgrades as well and got everything put back together ready to run again tomorrow morning.

I missed the old girl, probably one of the best running boats I've ever owned, sometimes I find it more fun then even by big HPR 115.

[fweasel]

Some weird current pulled the boat down and it hit the bottom of the lake still running, it kept running for almost 3-4 minutes until it finally ran out of power and slowly floated to the surface

That must have been agonizing. I remember running my first Dumas Hot Shot years ago, trimmed with the nose too low in the water, and stuffed it at full speed. Felt like an hour went by before it surfaced again covered in clay and mud.

[SD Eracer]

That must have been agonizing. I remember running my first Dumas Hot Shot years ago, trimmed with the nose too low in the water, and stuffed it at full speed. Felt like an hour went by before it surfaced again covered in clay and mud.

I almost wrote it off in my mind, it was down for so long. The motor was running so hard it was actually creating a small tidal effect on the surface almost 20 feet away. Luckily I think she flooded quickly, which kept the electronics cool.

Seeing it slowly bob back up to the surface probably 4 minutes later was a big relief. The fact I was running in fresh water instead of our usual ocean location was another big plus, because my lipos survived.

What was weird was that my Pursuit rides higher on the nose than any of my boats, it never runs wet. I have no idea what freak event caused it to dive the way it did.

[fweasel]

Took the Spartan out today for the first run since the strut height modification. Pretty smooth water, x642 prop, 6S, 1650kv motor, trim tabs reset at neutral, and strut angle only slightly positive. First run, packs were as far forward as the trays allow which just barely makes COG at 30%. Hull was bouncing, aired out, but still saw chine walk if you rolled onto the throttle too quickly. Second run, packs moved back about 2", less bouncing, same amount of chine walk. Top speed was 41mph, pretty much a failed attempt.

The steering is way too sensitive. I could use a different hole on the servo horn, but I'm fairly certain I just have too much rudder in the water. I'm going to cut about an inch off and re-profile the bottom on the grinder. I only have about 1.5" to play with because the cooling inlets are low on the blade.

Water temps are still pretty cold, but with dual cooling paths, the motor was barely even warm and the ESC and batteries were just 100* after 5min runs. Definitely room to prop up. I'll run either an Octura m645 or one of my ABC props from my Voracity next weekend. The boat is also running too loose. I'm going to run the inner trim tabs a hair lower than even and lower the strut angle about 1mm.