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[sglad1]

Hi all im new here and I have just been to collect my new toy tonight and could do with a little help and advice from some experianced users as I have never had a boat before so have no idea what maintanance / set up needs to be done or how they handle in the water ,,.

Has anyone got any tips for me so that i dont sink it 1st time out ?

What sort of position should the 2 vertical blades at the rear be set at ? and what do they do ? asking as they are just swinging loose

Anyone know what boat it is ?

Here are some pics , its a big one at 6'3" from rudder to front any comments or advice welcome thanks

[Prophet]

I've no clue on power boat racing but my only suggestion to not sink it first time out is to check and re-check everything!!! . battery's, fuel, screws, make sure the fail safe works etc. safety first since i have seen these things fly across the water be wary of animals in the lake, if you hit one not only is your boat going sink but you could end up with the bill to get the animal better if yaour going race it then best bet if is to get local advice from a race club memeber(s) but it looks like a beast so enjoy it !

[Martin (Admin)]

The hull shape is traditional 'Cigarette'
The "dagger" plates" should be straight down, ie. the trailing edge should be parallel to the transom.
Make sure the 'flexy shaft' is well lubricated before running and runs completely free.
(You may also have to leave quite a bit of a gap between the drive nut & washer and the stuffing tube end to allow for binding.)
Don't trust the batteries supplied with the boat, replace them for piece of mind.
'Stress' / load test the servos to make sure they've still got the guts to handle the rudder.
Do a proper range check before doing a full power run.

What motor did it come with?

.... great looking boat, have fun!  

[sglad1]

thanks for the info guys , any idea how old it is or who would have made it ?

batts have already been changed for 4 new duracells 

 when you say " leave a gap at the stuffing tube end " would i be right in thinking that is the end under the boat ?  and what sort of size gap ? , are we talking like 2 or 3mm or more like 5 - 10mm sort of gap , [sorry if i sound dumb but i am totally new to boats , i do however have plenty of exp. with rc cars ]

it came fitted with a stihl FS106 engine which i was told is a 33cc but dont know myself

[John Mk2]

As above (Very good Advice ) Keep your eyes peeled  &  Try to be very aware of other craft , water birds ect ect that are about   And Enjoy  

[Martin (Admin)]

thanks for the info guys , any idea how old it is or who would have made it ?

 when you say " leave a gap at the stuffing tube end " would i be right in thinking that is the end under the boat ?  and what sort of size gap ? , are we talking like 2 or 3mm or more like 5 - 10mm sort of gap , [sorry if i sound dumb but i am totally new to boats , i do however have plenty of exp. with rc cars ]

I would say a 2mm gap but if you haven't adjusted anything yourself yet, leave as is but make sure it well lubricated with oil.
FS106 / 35cc - sounds a monster!

[mattycoops43]

I also run cars, and fly planes. I have been using the new Savox 20kg and 12kg servos, would you believe the current draw while stalled is 20AMPS!!! The moral? I NEVER put duracells in anything I run, good quality rechargeables that are topped up before an outing. Bear in mind a petrol boat can run for an hour with a big tank.

[sglad1]

thats interesting about duracells and the amp draw , i was always told that they were best to use due to the fact that they supplied a full 6volt of power where as rechargables only give 4.8volt of power , and they give my cars better stearing power than rechargables do .

would i be better of using my 5cell 6volt 4300mah hump pack from my baja ?

also the servos that are fitted to the boat look low spec , would i be better of fitting some powerful servos from one of my cars ?

Martin .  how would be the best way to load stress check my servos ?  what sort of power from the servos dose a boat of this size need , would 5 or 6kg servos be ok or would i be better off fitting 10 to 15 kg ones

[Dreadstar]

Definately change over to your hump-pack,as it'll certainly last longer than any drycell will,plus it was designed for high draw usage,whereas drycells aren't. Personally I would say don't use a high torque servo in the boat,I made that mistake myself,by puting an Ace 1015 servo in my RTTL,and tore out the rudder linkages with it. 5-6kg should be plenty of torque for this application.

[Circlip]

I made that mistake myself,by puting an Ace 1015 servo in my RTTL,and tore out the rudder linkages with it.

  Sorry Dread, that was due to not connecting the rudder tiller holes to the right servo arm holes, but it does illustrate the power of the gear train.

  Regards  Ian

[mattycoops43]

I wasn't advocating the use fo high power servos, just using it as an example. And yes to the other reply after mine, I always use a 5cell 6V pack in everything. The beauty is, in a boat you are not worried about weight so can use big c cells to get very long life. Just always better to play safe than sorry, especcially with a boat like that!

[sglad1]

thanks for all your help guys , i got to take this out yesterday for its 1st run and managed to have a play and bring it home safe with no crashes or real problems 

thing is that it is not very fast and dose not seem to turn very well [ turning circle is about 15-20 meters ] 

dose anyone have any advice to help make it faster and more responsive ? 

would a diffrent prop give more speed or do i need to upgrade to a higher revving engine that is designed for boats ?

do boats need to get up to speed to turn faster ? or do i need a bigger rudder ?   

been trying to get my head round how boats actually turn , would i be correct in thinking that when they lift up out of the water they turn alot faster as there is less drag from the front of the hull ?

[Prophet]

I'm assuming its an IC engine? what size are you using?

as a general rule the bigger the engine the faster it will go i say that loosely as i have seen small engines cane large ones in similar size boats.

Tuning your engine is important it will not only aid in extra rpm it also will help the engine , you shouldn't run an ic to rich you will want to lean it out via the fuel mixing needle(S) ( they will be on the side of the carb) you may have one or two needles ,, if you only have one you would be looking to tighten it so its about 1 turn out from tight but i would suggest you take its current position and carfully tighten it 1/4 of a turn and try the engine , and keep doing that 1/4 of a turn until your happy that the engine is working well and not stalling flat out,, if your stalling flat out or its struggling you know you have turned the needle to much

if you have 2 needles for tuning one will be low speed other other will be high speed ( central needle is generally the high speed tuning needle. but check the engines instructions)

in the case of 2 needles you will want to do the same as a single tuning 1/4 tight to low speed and get boat up to mid range speed then bring in and do the high speed needle do each needle one at a time

check the engines not struggling or stalling if its not it will work fine and faster, if the engine is getting way to hot .. you should make sure your water cooling it but if its still getting extremely hot you will need to richen up the mixture opening the needles to let more fule/oil mix in its a balance of this mixing that will give you max rpm and a good running engine.

you may need to adjust the IDLE screw on the carb to allow the engine to idle on the new settings once you have setup the tuning. if your unsure about anything DONT do it engines that are setup wrong can blow the cylinder heads of , or worse..

you could ask a local club member to aid you in setting up your engine you only learn by watching someone who's done it to be honset.

also a poorly tuned engine will go through plugs regally if not burn out every run

a well tuned engine will sound like a extremely high pitched whistle so it gets louder!

to help with turning i would suggest a bigger rudder and a faster high torque high speed servo .. but your racing a boat that i believe are setup to turn one way depending on the track .. either left hand or right hand turns i am not sure on the exact setup for the racing boats, i can only assume that if you wont to go left and right you add 2 rudders one either side of the prop

as i have said before i have little in fortmation to offer on the racing boats but i have had experience with ic engines in both boats and cars

so i hope you find this info helpfull but I'm sure i will get corrected on many things in regards to your boat all i CAN SAY IS ..i don't race !!

[sglad1]

engine is a sthil fs106  2 stroke petrol strimmer engine , 

would i be able to fit a better prop to give more speed ?

would i be better off trying to convert it to surface drive ? if so can anyone give some advice how to do it ?

would i be better off junking the engine all together and trying to fit one of my spare 23cc or 26cc zenoha or cy engines from my fg or hpi baja rc cars ?   [my baja actually runs 2 bolt cy marine cylinders with a custom cooling shell ]

like i say i am a noobie to boats but have quite good rc skills from my cars so dont mind a challenge

[w3bby]

Nice looking boat

The turn fins should be at 90 degrees to the running surfaces and placed at the chine, mount them so they are not in the water when running straight.

How much rudder do you have below the keel? You will probably need about 70mm to enable reasonable steering. The other thing to check is how much throw you have in the rudder, increase the throw and see if it improves.

The trim tabs should be about 2-3 mm above the running surface on the transom.

The gap between the prop and stuffing tube depends on how the flex is attached to the motor. If it is a square drive and floating then 2mm is enough, if however it is a collet and the engine side is fixed you will need about 6-7mm as the flex will shrink under load and bind the drive line.

You can play with propellers until the cows come home... Do you know what propeller is on there now? It should have some markings on the hub.

Take some pics inside the boat so we can see if we can help further.

[Prophet]

i shrug my shoulders at how to use Strimmer engine in boat's, only thing i can advice before you swap the engine is what are you intentions? you you just want to "xxxxx" about on the lake for an hour or are you looking at getting into racing leagues?

 for messing about leave it as is...

If your getting into the competition side i would check the class rules on engine sizes and swap to what's appropriate. I'm not sure what the pro's use to race with but i doubt its strimmer engines.

[w3bby]

I'm not sure what the pro's use to race with but i doubt its strimmer engines.

CMB, SG, Mathe and QD for 35cc, Zenoah, RCMK, Sikk, QD, J&G for the 26cc just about covers it..... There are a few that modify and use trimmers etc.

The 23 and 26 motors you have will probably struggle to get good speed with a boat that large.

As Prophet mentioned if this is just for fun leave it as it is or trim it yourself, there are a number of sites that will give you an idea of what to do. The first thing (if not already fitted) could be the installation of a tuned pipe.

If you wish to race it then the above 35cc motors will work for you but then you will be needing a large chunk of cash..... BOAT, Break Out Another Thousand

[BarryM]

If, as you say, you are inexperienced with boats, wouldn't it be better to see how you get on with this one as-is before you start uprating it?

Barry M