Darin's Voracity "Race-Prep" - Taking it "One-Step-Beyond"

[kfxguy]

Nice stuff! Thanks again. Already have it all glued in place, so I'll just go with this. I really appreciate the offer, though. Thank You.

Where did you purchase this, by the way?

eBay. It is very nice stuff. I've been getting a lot of my carbon from China off eBay and if you pick the right stuff it is quality stuff. (China and quality usually aren't used in the same sentence lol) I've sent some plate to Monojeff and he's been pretty impressed with it. I bought some USA made stuff a while back and it was coming apart on him when cutting it. We haven't had an issue with the China stuff. Sometimes it takes three weeks to get but I got two plates in yesterday I ordered just last week.

[Darin Jordan]

I decided I wanted to have a bit more rudder chord, get a bit more prop clearance, and to run a slightly tapered rudder, so I cobbled together a break away rudder assembly for my Voracity "One Step Beyond" project.

Consist of an older rudder blade I had laying around, a Pro Boat IM31 rudder pivot, and a little machine work and drilling.

Also modified the bracket to add a third mounting screw for lateral stability, as well as cutting and drilling/tapping the back section to 1) move the rudder outboard, and 2) allow castor adjustment.

Turned out nicely.

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[Darin Jordan]

A few more shots of the rudder and mounting...

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[Darin Jordan]

Also finished epoxying in the flooded stuffing well. Should prove to be solid. Once the epoxy was set, I trimmed up the back... almost flush.

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[Darin Jordan]

Next step will be to mount some upgraded Trim-Tabs, which I'm thinking of doing as a PAIR of tabs on each side:

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...prod=ose-83022



And mount my preferred Turn-Fins:

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=ose-1400

[kfxguy]

Nice work

[Darin Jordan]

Tonight's Project : replace the stock 120A ESC with a "slightly " larger one that will give some headroom and allow me to run up to 8S.

Using the 160A Dynamite ESC from the Zelos 48 for this one.

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Pretty basic. Trim off the original mounting studs, which allow this bigger ESC to about sit flat, locate, drill, and tap two of the 160A's mounting holes, and lay down some velcro.

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[Darin Jordan]

To keep the wiring neat and to allow me to directly use replacement motors without having to alter the leads, I fabled some wiring adapters. 6.5mm males on the ESC, 5.5mm females towards the motor.

Will heat shrink them once I fire this up and verify rotation. Then I'll shrink with matching colors.

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[arrover]

This thing is really coming together!

[Darin Jordan]

Was about ready to start mounting the rest of the hardware this weekend, when I went to move the hull off the workbench by grabbing it from the side, wrapping my fingers in around the lip on the side by the water pickup, when I heard a "cracking" sound.... Well... Turns out I stress/cracked the area where the deck meets the side.

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Wanted to avoid adding the extra weight, as the hull itself is plenty rigid and strong, but decided this area needed to get reinforced.... SOOOO.... Time for some carbon inlay work.

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I already had some 5.5oz Carbon Twill that I had adhered a 1.5oz veil cloth layer of glass to, so I cut a couple of pieces of that for the job.

Using my trusty Scotch 77 Spray Adhesive, I misted a light layer onto the carbon side, letting it tack up for 30-seconds or so.

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Then, I carefully began placing the layer into the hull, starting towards the middle and working it back up into the hull side:

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[Darin Jordan]

I work the piece down with a plastic bondo blade to make sure it's set into the hull nicely:

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Once the part is in place, I mix up my epoxy and wet the piece out:

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After all the epoxy has been applied, you can squeeze it into the layer, as well as remove any excess, by using one of these rubber squeegees. They sell these at Fiberlay or other epoxy suppliers. I have several, and have cut some into smaller pieces to help me get into tight places.

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Once the parts were all wetted out and squeeged out, since it was a nice day, I set the hull out into the warm sun to set up. If I'm inside and/or it's cold outside, I'll actually use a ceramic heater and a large box to make an "oven" that I can get into the 120-150-degree range to cure the parts in. Really helps get the epoxy to cure harder. As you can see here, the part is completely wetted out, but it's NOT all glossy. NO excess epoxy to weight things down. Looks a lot cleaner this way too.

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And, YES, the carbon wraps all the way up the sides and comes back under the deck all the way to the deck opening. MUCH more rigid now.

[Darin Jordan]

Got more done... Almost ready to clean up and start adding Graphics!

Replaced the stock turn fins with my IM31 Fins (available here at OSE: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=ose-1400 ).

Had to slot the mounting hole 0.250" forward to get them fitted right up against the hull using the stock brackets. Also, opened up the hole in the brackets to allow the use of 3mm mounting screws, as opposed to the 2.5mm that comes standard. A little bit better "hold" that way.

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Also fitted a set of SpeedMaster 1.5" x 1.5" trim-tabs. Was going to go with the fancier cast aluminum tabs, but honestly, these trusty old SpeedMaster designed fins offer more tuning options. Went with just a single set for now. The bolt pattern is identical, but you'll want to open up the holes in the stainless tabs to allow them to be slid up above flush with the bottom of the hull. I also opened up the holes in the hull just a size, which let the SpeedMaster supplied mounting bolts to fit.

OH, and you need to replace the adjusting bolt on the right tab with a shorter one, because the longer one hits to bottom of the rudder bracket.

Overall, pretty simple addition.

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[Darin Jordan]

Used my Mill to open up the hole in the stock water outlet fitting to a full 1/8".

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Finally, mixed up two 30-oz pours of epoxy and milled fiber to reinforce the nose of the hull. Shouldn't be splitting open if it hits a buoy!

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[Tamelesstgr]

Help me understand the use of Epoxy over 2 part expanding foam? Is that just to keep the seams together? Is there much of a weight difference?

[Darin Jordan]

Help me understand the use of Epoxy over 2 part expanding foam? Is that just to keep the seams together? Is there much of a weight difference?

Expanding foam isn't an adhesive. It's for flotation, though it does add some rigidity.

At the end of the day, 2-Part foam will blow apart with the seam if you hit something. Epoxy will drive right through it. :)

Not concerned about weight, really... I'm going to have to add weight to the BACK of the boat, ultimately, so I can get it to balance with the battery config I'll ultimately be running, which will be 6S2P 8,000-10,000mAh. (a pair of 4000 or 5000mAh packs.)