To give an idea of what I mean by "cutting" the water, I have attached a pic of the boat making a tight 90 degree turn (see the water behind the boat). The boat is still bow up on a slight plane, but its sitting in the water, not skating over it like a car drifting. A racing hull would probably skate, but a deep v hull is in the water, which makes it ideal for rougher water. At New Brighton (before the damned Swans arrived) on the same day I was able to do figure of eights, and when I crossed the centre of the eight it was quite exciting getting the boat to jump its own wake!
Derek cant say its perfect, but here you have an example of how good its handling (will cover vac forming again later! by the way), its not rolling over too far either, probably more by luck than judgement !!
Timewise we are now at September 2009, and approaching a quiet period due to lack of funds!. Round about this time, after only a few short tests, it was time to go Lipo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. It was my birthday so I invested in 2 x 3 cell 5000mah packs from China, Hobbyking to be exact. The esc was from Overlander in UK, and to recall was a Castle Creations 80amp Barracuda. I am going to stress a point here. The service from Overlander is superb.I always prefer to support a UK shop in preference to overseas online, I am very sad about the demise of our modelshops, over the past few years I have lost 3 just on Wirral
Now You get what you pay for, buy cheap, get cheap. I helped a friend try and set up a Chinese cheapo esc, and it was horrible, all the things we dread, poor start up, poor reverse control etc etc (I know not all are like this, but it was very cheap!). The Barracuda like any of the Castle Creations esc's can be set up using audible control, control card, or for another tenner, you can buy a pc link lead, and set it up there, its so easy once you have installed the programme. Reverse is adjustable, if you want to limit the power, start up can be soft if required, and various running set ups can be set. Low voltage cut off (essential for lipo), low signal etc etc.
It was on a late sept test, that I once again ignored warning signs, it was the first test of the Barracuda esc. I was getting a stuttering when running, and put it down to the packs, Wrong! The esc was faulty, it blew up (literally) and was the best smoke demonstration I have seen, want black smoke in your smoke generator, let you esc blow all its fets off!. Here is where Overlander come in with great service. It was returned for inspection, fearing the worst, user error (although I know it wasn't anything I had done) I was ready to pay the nominal repair fee, as Castle escs can be fixed, not like the Chinese stuff!, but no need to worry, Overlander offered a full refund inc postage, as they where out of stock, how good is that
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After some communication with Castle direct (moaning, I am good at that!) I got a good deal on the new model 120amp Hydra esc that was replacing the Barracuda, so all ends well on the esc front,. In an effort to protect it I have fitted a MAXI blade 50amp fuse , with a 100 amp blow rating, but can only do it to the battery side of the circuit, unless someone can advise accordingly, as a brushless motor is a 3 phase motor, 3 wires, you cant fit a fuse to the motor side of the esc?? You can see the difference between a standard blade fuse and a maxi one, got loads of amps to push through thisset up, even using 10 gauge wiring, don't want anything to overheat. The lipo packs cope with massive 5.5mm bullets, that takes some serious soldering to get a 5.5mm bullet on the other end!