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[Bill D203]

Hello Martin
These boxes? are they any good? What do you use to get the linkages though the Box ??? Bellows ? They look a lot better then the maplin box which leaks. I found out the hard way today. the boat capsized and the radio box was under water for 20 mins till it came back to the bank. OH Dear not one of my better days :( :(

[martno1fan]

Hi Bill i havent tried the camping box but theyre suposed to be air and water tight as for sealing the box for pushrods and cables etc yes id just use bellows,on my plastic box i also use a small piece of ply on the inside to add extra thickness where the bellow fits.Not had a box leak so far  touch wood.Ive just used a good strong food box we had lying arround and its very strong and the lid seals very tight,water tested it and all was fine.I really like the look of the box i linked though and the lid fasteners seem a good idea,if you try one let me know.
Mart

[Bill D203]

Hi Tony. Got your bits you wanted from Syd's collection.  When and where will we meet up?

[bigtee]

bill thanks for that , sorry i clean forgot about it  too much going on , hope you did not mind 
i will send the money of tonight , just in case i don't see you till we race

thanks again 

tony

[Blagmeister]

OK fellas, I finally got it finished!

It's taken far longer than I anticipated and cost loads more than budgeted for [mostly due to me buying tools and stuff in order to do the job], but hopefully it will have been worth it.  In retrospect, I would do things a bit differently next time. I don't think I would use stringers and would simply beef up the hull with more layup and would use posts for both the engine and radio box.  I would also get someone to paint it for me next time as the rattle cans cost a fortune and the end result is not as good as I would have wished.

I think I would also go for a centre or twin rudder rather than an offset one which means that siting the steering servo amidships would be easier.  I know there are pros and cons for both arguments but I remain to be convinced that the offset rudder gives massive gains in handling or performance.

It time for the maiden on Sunday at Kingsbury come rain or shine. Can't wait!

Here's the finished pics. Prop by the way is a sharpened and balanced Occy x472

[Blagmeister]

Few more details here

[martno1fan]

boat looks great mate and the offset rudder is the only way to go,twin rudders add weight and drag,also inline rudders slow the boat quite a bit.you wont have any problems with an offset rudder especially if your props offset to the right a tad to overcome any prop walk or torque roll.paintjob looks ok too  .

[Bill D203]

Well Done!!!
Lets hope it stays fine for you on Sunday. Don't forget to get someone to video your 1st run. Then we can all see how good she runs. HAVE FUN WITH HER. 

Martin. Got the radio box in and it seems to be air tight now i have added more foam seals. Fingers Crossed.

[martno1fan]

Well Done!!!
Lets hope it stays fine for you on Sunday. Don't forget to get someone to video your 1st run. Then we can all see how good she runs. HAVE FUN WITH HER. 

Martin. Got the radio box in and it seems to be air tight now i have added more foam seals. Fingers Crossed.

Sounds good Bill hope it stays dry for yaa how good are the lid fasteners? you might wanna run an elastic band or something from one to the other to make sure they dont pop off in a flip ?.I have to say i like these makaras ,apache whatya macallems lol  ,what sort of speed you getting from yours Bill ,your running a stock zenoah arent you?.Ohh yea good luck Phil weathers not looking too kind for her first run but dont let it put you off  .
Mart

[w3bby]

Good looking boat you have there 
Two observations: I can't tell from the photos if you have bouyancy attached to your cowl, last thing you want is to watch it disappear beneath the waves if it happens to pop off :(
Get some bouyancy in the back and sides of the boat as well, I try to get my boats to float level if they fill with water, stops the radiobox from ending up 60-70cm below waterlevel........

Good luck with the maiden and regardless of the outcome, ENJOY

[Blagmeister]

Thanks for the good wishes gents and the kind comments.

Regrettably however, I have already run into snag number 1.  I thought I would do a range check for the transmitter/receiver before I drove all the way over to Kinsgbury only to find there might be a problem. Good job I did. I am getting some very weird behaviour from the transmitter/rec setup. It's a Futaba Attack 2ER 40 Mhz by the way.

In the garage with the Tx moved away form the boat and the aerial closed up, I get perfectly normal behaviour - both servos work independently of one another or simultaneously without problem. [If I stand too close to the boat then there is a bit of jitter but I was putting that down to a bit of feedback].

Out in the street, if I get son to check the Tx range by moving away from the boat whilst operating the servos, he gets about 30 meters away and the servos go screwy.  Jitter like you wouldn't believe and total loss of control.  If he extends the aerial then he gets about 10 feet extra which is hardly worth bothering with.

I had trouble with the fail safe too the other day which would just not seem to hold a signal on any servo so I took it out of the loop and things seemed to be okay until the range test today.  I had a chat with BigTee but he has no problems with these units so it leads me to suspect that either the Tx or Rx might be on the fritz. 

I have not changed the length of the aerial lead [as everything I have read warns against this, although if I pull the aerial lead out of the tube and hold on to it [acting as the aerial myself] then the range is greatly improved and no jitter.  This would seem to suggest that the aerial lead might be too short?  There is about 8inches of it in the aerial tube on the transom with the rest inside the boat.

I am gutted that this has put paid to running it over the weekend unless I can get it sorted but I am not going to take the risk of losing the signal without a failsafe and running the thing up the bank and wrecking it after all the hard work.

Any ideas fellas? 

Phil

[Bill D203]

Hello.
Just a point about your radio prob.
Is the battery's fully charged. You would not be the 1st model boater to have flattern the battery's when do all the setting up bits. I am still running 40MHz FM so can't help you much other then say Futaba did have a recall on some off there 2.4G set as they all had the same coding. Is yours one off them?? :)

[Blagmeister]

Nah It's just a base model 40Mhz cheapy 2ch Futaba Attack Bill. The battery has loads of juice left in it so I know its not that. Battery is brand new too. My money is on the Rx being dodgy as BigTee seemed to think it might be as the failsafe wasn't operating as it should.  Dunno whether to throw some money at a new receiver only or to just throw caution [and yet more money!] to the wind and get a totally new setup.  It will mean burning the midnight oil again tomorrow trying to get the thing ready for it's maiden, but being this close and then having this problem has ticked me right off.

Phil

[Bill D203]

Hi Phill
Not sure where you live, I am going to MK (shopping) in the morn but I do have a working Futaba rx if you want to meet up and try it. Simon tryed it out in his boat a few weeks ago so I know it's a runner. Be back in a bit dinner calls

[Blagmeister]

Very kind of you to offer Bill but I think MK is a bit far. [I am in Nuneaton].  I think a trip to the local [?!!] model shop might be in order early tomorrow morning. Do you think about 8" of aerial lead inside the tube is enough or should I re-site the Rx inside the box to give me an inch or two more?

[Bill D203]

Hi . I get as much Ariel out off the boat as poss even if I have to have a small loop at the top of the Ariel. I did if you look back have probs with a Hitec Rx which i was told was the bees knees. Sadly it was not. Now I am using a very cheap 6 Chanel Rx which I got on e bay from hong Kong £8.50 inc p&p. So far it has worked spot on.  I am pleased to say the chap that sold the Hitex to me has now got a sparky boat himself with a Hitex Rx and he is all so having range probs. Its fine with glow plug engines, but there is something about the HT on a Zen which upsets it big time.

[2772e]

Phil,

Its always worthwhile having a spare receiver anyway. I use the futaba 3 channel with built in failsafe and they are fine as long as you dont drown them.

Well worth taking the aerial out and trying it in various positions first. Does sond like a battery problem though, might be worth discharging and recharging to be on the safe side, no costs to that!

Quick trip to the model shop for a new receiver, about £40 and you will always use it!

Boat looks great, well built and over engineered!

I see you offset the strut in the end.

Look forward to racing with you!

Martin, i clocked mine at 45mph a couple of weeks ago!

BW

Simon

[martno1fan]

I have to agree it sounds like a battery problem to me too ,if your thinking of a new radio try the  futtaba fasst 2.4 ghz  systems theyre great ,no glitches and no crystals .Simon sounds good mate did you get that lightened piston and some porting done i take it?.No mean feat getting that big boat to that speed ,it would give my boat a good run hehe.i got a new prop modded by chris hoffman on its way its a 6717/3 should make it go well  .
Mart

[Bill D203]

Phil, Been thinking about your Rx. If you can get the case off it , check the Ariel is soldered to the PCB. I have had one which parted company and gave me short rang probs.

[Blagmeister]

Thanks for the advice guys.  I will pop the case off tomorrow and check the PCB but in the meantime I think I will take Simon's advice and see if I can get a new Rx with a built in failsafe.  If you have a model number Simon, that would be useful. Off to the modelling shop tomorrow to rid myself of a few more £££  ::)

Determined to get the thing on the water this weekend!

Cheers fellas

Phil

[Blagmeister]

Simon

I have been having a mooch around and came up with this:    Futaba R143 Rx with Failsafe on chan 2.
Is that the same as yours?

But.... I also found this:

   "The R143F receiver cannot be used with dry cell or NiMH batteries. These batteries cannot endure a large current draw and will drop in voltage frequently if used with this receiver."

Source: Here

Could it be that these Rx are cheapy HongKong copies and thus aren't much cop? Oh! the frustration 

I just bought 2 X Nimh 2700MaH 5 cell AA last week.  :-\   B*gger........

[Stavros]

Right couple of questions
Are you using a separate failsafe or are you using a R143 receiver.
Have you spoken to the model shop where you bought the set

I have used a attack by Futaba on more than one occasion and never had a problem with them 100% reliable over 300yds range with a yacht so I personally think you have a transmitter problem rather than receiver as simply I have had exactly the same fault with a 6exa Futaba which went down and also a Hi tech set,and incidentally both corresponding receiver are still going strong in the boats.


Stavros

[omra85]

Phil
Very nice looking boat - you should be proud of it!
Couple of things - you said
"Out in the street, if I get son to check the Tx range by moving away from the boat whilst operating the servos, he gets about 30 meters away and the servos go screwy.  Jitter like you wouldn't believe and total loss of control.  If he extends the aerial then he gets about 10 feet extra which is hardly worth bothering with."
If you are getting anything over 5 metres WITH THE AERIAL DOWN then there is nothing wrong with the Rx or it's aerial!  If the range only goes up a few feet with the aerial out then I would suspect something wrong with the TRANSMITTER aerial.  Receivers are very forgiving regarding aerial length.  I usually chop mine off 30 cm from the Rx, stick a big bullet connector onto it, then the other side of the bullet conn to a spade connector which plugs onto the bottom of a piano wire aerial fastened to the top.  The only problems I've had are usually flat batteries (or a single cell down) but if you've bought new batteries that's not likely to be the problem.
Hitec Rx's (especailly the red ones for some reason) tend to be very twitchy with a weak signal but if your Tx is OK they are usually fine.
Give me a ring tomorrow morning - I have a few spare sets you can borrow to try out (01788 813339).
Check you haven't had any water down the Tx aerial which may cause corrosion. Try unscrewing it and put a smear of Vaseline on the thread end.

Ian is right about the foam.  Split one of the 'tubes' and superglue the flat part onto the inside of your lid.  Also squirt a bit of builders foam or silicon sealer between the tubes in the front of the boat to hold them together. Even if they feel really tight, they will vibrate loose and could slide back against the exhaust!!

You've done the hard bit - just the tidying up now 

Danny

[w3bby]

The only Futaba Attack 2 ER I can find is an AM radio. I would not advise the use of an AM radio with a gas boat the chances of interference from the ignition system are too high. :(

All that time and money in a boat, is it really not worth a better radio..... I would use a minimum of a FM radio (better still with PCM or IPD) or a 2,4 system.

[2772e]

Phil,

I am running the Futaba  R143F and have not had any problems with nicad or nimh?

Danny is the man, so if he has spares and is local def worth a try. As far as the foam is concerned you have to secure it. Mine was fine when i built the boat and went testing, in my fisrt race i spun out and deposited the foam all over the pond! I wold not use to much of that foam though. Very difficult to get it out.

let us know how you get on.

BW

Simon