Anyone Into Unlimited Hydros?

[Aros]

Pretty please let us see some (on waterpics) we have seen some great ones so far mayb that roostertail i thought flight was complicated(naa)

If I manage to get some you can be assured I will post them here! Keep an eye out!

[Aros]

I made it out to the races in Longview, WA today. It was a great time. Unfortunately I couldn't stick around as long as I would have liked due to taking my daughter to the train station to return home but I received invaluable advice from Brad and Brian. Two folks that like Clugh, know their stuff.

The quick synopsis is that they both think my CG is within limits to go ahead and test her out on the water. Brian gave me a 3-blade prop he thinks will be better suited for my maiden voyage versus the 2-blade speedster I have. Also, Brian thinks the motor should be moved well aft of its current position and that way I can put the ESC in the forward compartment and batteries forward for better CG.

I swapped out the 2-blade prop that it came with with the 3-blade prop Brian gave me. However, I am confused. All I did was remove that tubing in the aft section, remove the prop and put the new prop in and put the tubing back in place. Is that all there is to securing a prop? It seems like I am missing a step (photo below).

I was thrilled to hear by both of these gents that they felt it was ready to maiden "As Is", of course not going balls to the wall full throttle, but testing it out, getting a feel for her, and like Brian said, "if you feel her starting to lift in the front, ease back on the throttle." Simple but good advice.

Everyone was very kind and generous with their compliments. There were many fine boats there today but mine seems to have that extra "shine" to her, lol.

Here's a super quick video I took of Brad running one of his heats for the day. He's the lead boat.

[Clugh]

I made it out to the races in Longview, WA today. It was a great time. Unfortunately I couldn't stick around as long as I would have liked due to taking my daughter to the train station to return home but I received invaluable advice from Brad and Brian. Two folks that like Clugh, know their stuff.

The quick synopsis is that they both think my CG is within limits to go ahead and test her out on the water. Brian gave me a 3-blade prop he thinks will be better suited for my maiden voyage versus the 2-blade speedster I have. Also, Brian thinks the motor should be moved well aft of its current position and that way I can put the ESC in the forward compartment and batteries forward for better CG.

I swapped out the 2-blade prop that it came with with the 3-blade prop Brian gave me. However, I am confused. All I did was remove that tubing in the aft section, remove the prop and put the new prop in and put the tubing back in place. Is that all there is to securing a prop? It seems like I am missing a step (photo below).

I was thrilled to hear by both of these gents that they felt it was ready to maiden "As Is", of course not going balls to the wall full throttle, but testing it out, getting a feel for her, and like Brian said, "if you feel her starting to lift in the front, ease back on the throttle." Simple but good advice.

Everyone was very kind and generous with their compliments. There were many fine boats there today but mine seems to have that extra "shine" to her, lol.

Here's a super quick video I took of Brad running one of his heats for the day. He's the lead boat.

Interesting he told you to put that larger prop down and try the smaller 3 blade.

Reread my post https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc...329#post402329


.

Glad you enjoyed your self and got support from good boaters. I see you guys are running true scale.

LTO!


TTYS
Hubert

[Aros]

Tried to put her on the water yesterday for her test voyage to no avail. The closer I got to the lake, the more it started to rain. Plus, there was a race boat event there over the weekend I knew nothing about, lol. Good news, I drove back to town where there is a small pond for RC sailboats and I put her in the water to check for any leaks into the insides and she came out dry as a bone. I added silicon to some key areas and that obviously helped.

Weather looks good later this week so I will attempt again! Watch for a full report with video!

[Clugh]

Tried to put her on the water yesterday for her test voyage to no avail. The closer I got to the lake, the more it started to rain. Plus, there was a race boat event there over the weekend I knew nothing about, lol. Good news, I drove back to town where there is a small pond for RC sailboats and I put her in the water to check for any leaks into the insides and she came out dry as a bone. I added silicon to some key areas and that obviously helped.

Weather looks good later this week so I will attempt again! Watch for a full report with video!

Ill be here front and center for it. best of luck but i dont think you will need it. Brian is an FE boat Guru for real. And if you can get any help from Don Ferrette about scale boats get it. He is a 25 time world champion in them! We used to be tight till lake politics got in the way. However Id still pick his brain if you can.

Thanks again for showing us a nice scale boat.
Hubert

[Aros]

The test run was, well..."Eventful" or should I say, "water logged", lol. With all the time and expense I've put into this labor of love, I was admittedly too soft on the throttle which as you can plainly see in the video, caused it to porpoise and take in tons of water. I've had both Brad and Brian look at the video and one thing they noticed is that my boat should probably be hand tossed like a nitro boat and hit that throttle to get her immediately up on plane. There was a large dock next to the run area I was really afraid of, so I was trying to navigate her away from it slowly. Also, it appears to be "nose heavy" and the suggestion is to move the batteries back which is music to my ears because I have plenty of space for that.

Knowing what I know now, I would have someone toss it in the water at the end of the dock, I would immediately hit the throttle and I would have all that open space in front of me to work with and it would be scooting fast enough to keep it dry internally for the most part.

I had two RunCams on it. One on the tail and one on the front. The front one was lost due to water damage. The one on the tail was fine and I have that footage I will add to an edited video later today. When I brought her out of the water, there was about 1/2" of water in the compartment, but worse, what sounded like about 2" or more of water sloshing fore and aft in the hull itself. How that much water breached the hull I am not sure.

Having no choice, and texting Brad, it was decided my only option was to drill a hole to let the water drain. GULP!!!!!

So, EXTREMELY regrettably, I ended up drilling two holes underneath the boat (photo below). The first hole wasn't draining that well. So I had to drill a second hole which really opened it up and the water successfully drained from the hull. So trying to make lemonade from lemons, I have decided to use the holes to my advantage. These boats should come with drain plugs for these very events. So I need to reach out to anyone that is smarter than me (shouldn't be too hard, lol) to see what they would suggest to use as drain plugs. I'm thinking something recessed so there's no drag in the water but can be unscrewed or removed somehow if/when water breaches the hull again for easy draining. I don't want to have to keep re-drilling. So if anyone has ideas please let me know!

There's only one very brief moment where I got her on plane and "hit the gas" so-to-speak...And she really MOVED and made that great hydro sound...It's between the 1:12 and 1:17 mark of the Part 2 raw video below. It was very brief but sweet and gave me the passion to get her back out there and do her right next time. Brad is going to meet up with me on Saturday, June 29th so I fully expect a much more successful outing.

As Brad put it last night:

"Your day was a success. The boat is not at the bottom of a lake and you didn't bring it home in a sack." 😆

Raw footage Part 1

Raw footage Part 2

[Elbee]

Aros great boat. I will be tracking this thread more. Your boat brings back some good memories from my Hobby Shop days. My boss/store-owner was into Unlimiteds big time. Had a buddy with him at Meets who was also the prop guy, engine guy, and helper. Won stuff all the time, really major league. None of his were electric in those days. Anyway, good to see the PAY-n-PAK livery again. Best, LB

[Aros]

Aros great boat. I will be tracking this thread more. Your boat brings back some good memories from my Hobby Shop days. My boss/store-owner was into Unlimiteds big time. Had a buddy with him at Meets who was also the prop guy, engine guy, and helper. Won stuff all the time, really major league. None of his were electric in those days. Anyway, good to see the PAY-n-PAK livery again. Best, LB

Thank you my friend! I grew up mere miles from Seafair every August which was a combination of unlimited hydros and the Blue Angels over Lake Washington by Seattle, WA. To this day I can still hear the beautiful notes of those glorious piston engines bouncing off the lake to my home. The sound got a bit quieter when the unlimiteds transferred to turbine in the 80s.

My favorite boat was the Pak. Just something about that shiny white base with the orange and black lettering and graphics just worked for me. Now if I could have just done something about that pesky Atlas Van Lines and Miss Budweiser.

🤨

[Elbee]

Aros

I had forgotten about those other boats, so long ago.

I do remember Jim building the Dumas Pay-n-Pak kit with Octura (?) hardware, OS Max .61 ABC, tuned pipe, Amazingly fast.

He bought a several of the 'glass hulls' those were more generic, as I recall.

I don't remember the brass props he used, but those guys were always tuning 'em; cupping, balancing, sharpening, quite the art.

I think I still have some Hughey Blue Flex-Shaft Grease somewhere. Seriously.

In those days, I was the Airplane and Car guy, Jim did all the Boat, Sailplane, and Gun stuff.

It was a grand time for me to be a 20 something man/child. Of course then I got married and the rest is as they say history.

Have fun, Aros, for the both of us.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Ah the dumas kit…A bit of a sore spot for me as my dad bought it for me and never got around to completing it.

😑

And of course you have some shaft grease left over. I would expect nothing less!

Here’s an almost criminally short video with onboard footage…

[Elbee]

Ah the dumas kit…A bit of a sore spot for me as my dad bought it for me and never got around to completing it.

😑

And of course you have some shaft grease left over. I would expect nothing less!

Here’s an almost criminally short video with onboard footage…

Aros,

Never really got up on the step, did it. A tosser for sure. Still one great looking boat, my friend.

For the record, I had a large Revell USS Constitution kit given me by my Mom, I begged for that ship, but never finished it.

No regrets, but I will always think about that one and hope she is looking down now understandingly.

Best, LB

[Clugh]

Aros

I had forgotten about those other boats, so long ago.

I do remember Jim building the Dumas Pay-n-Pak kit with Octura (?) hardware, OS Max .61 ABC, tuned pipe, Amazingly fast.

He bought a several of the 'glass hulls' those were more generic, as I recall.

I don't remember the brass props he used, but those guys were always tuning 'em; cupping, balancing, sharpening, quite the art.

I think I still have some Hughey Blue Flex-Shaft Grease somewhere. Seriously.

In those days, I was the Airplane and Car guy, Jim did all the Boat, Sailplane, and Gun stuff.

It was a grand time for me to be a 20 something man/child. Of course then I got married and the rest is as they say history.

Have fun, Aros, for the both of us.

Best, LB

Did you ever run with the boys from OKC?

[Clugh]

The test run was, well..."Eventful" or should I say, "water logged", lol. With all the time and expense I've put into this labor of love, I was admittedly too soft on the throttle which as you can plainly see in the video, caused it to porpoise and take in tons of water. I've had both Brad and Brian look at the video and one thing they noticed is that my boat should probably be hand tossed like a nitro boat and hit that throttle to get her immediately up on plane. There was a large dock next to the run area I was really afraid of, so I was trying to navigate her away from it slowly. Also, it appears to be "nose heavy" and the suggestion is to move the batteries back which is music to my ears because I have plenty of space for that.

Knowing what I know now, I would have someone toss it in the water at the end of the dock, I would immediately hit the throttle and I would have all that open space in front of me to work with and it would be scooting fast enough to keep it dry internally for the most part.

I had two RunCams on it. One on the tail and one on the front. The front one was lost due to water damage. The one on the tail was fine and I have that footage I will add to an edited video later today. When I brought her out of the water, there was about 1/2" of water in the compartment, but worse, what sounded like about 2" or more of water sloshing fore and aft in the hull itself. How that much water breached the hull I am not sure.

Having no choice, and texting Brad, it was decided my only option was to drill a hole to let the water drain. GULP!!!!!

So, EXTREMELY regrettably, I ended up drilling two holes underneath the boat (photo below). The first hole wasn't draining that well. So I had to drill a second hole which really opened it up and the water successfully drained from the hull. So trying to make lemonade from lemons, I have decided to use the holes to my advantage. These boats should come with drain plugs for these very events. So I need to reach out to anyone that is smarter than me (shouldn't be too hard, lol) to see what they would suggest to use as drain plugs. I'm thinking something recessed so there's no drag in the water but can be unscrewed or removed somehow if/when water breaches the hull again for easy draining. I don't want to have to keep re-drilling. So if anyone has ideas please let me know!

There's only one very brief moment where I got her on plane and "hit the gas" so-to-speak...And she really MOVED and made that great hydro sound...It's between the 1:12 and 1:17 mark of the Part 2 raw video below. It was very brief but sweet and gave me the passion to get her back out there and do her right next time. Brad is going to meet up with me on Saturday, June 29th so I fully expect a much more successful outing.

As Brad put it last night:

"Your day was a success. The boat is not at the bottom of a lake and you didn't bring it home in a sack." 😆

Raw footage Part 1

Raw footage Part 2

Beautiful!

Have you looked at an auto bailer or small sump pump on the boat? Where is the water getting in at? Do you know. Is it the strut area? The little pump available on OSE will move over a liter a minute.

[Elbee]

Did you ever run with the boys from OKC?

Clugh, I could not say for certain, but that would not surprise me, he went to at lot of regional meets.

JIm did his club racing locally at the Sedgwick County Park Lake on the Westside of ICT.

I think they might still run boats there. I will have to check that out.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Aros,

Never really got up on the step, did it. A tosser for sure.

Nope, never did, LOL...Outside of that short burst, I was inadvertently flooding the boat with my pump action trigger finger. Haha, live and learn!

[Aros]

Beautiful!

Have you looked at an auto bailer or small sump pump on the boat? Where is the water getting in at? Do you know. Is it the strut area? The little pump available on OSE will move over a liter a minute.

No I haven't thought of that? I really could never figure out precisely where all that water was getting in from. The hull seems sealed to me. I sealed up all the obvious little gaps before the test run. The cowling however has tons of gaps that I thought I taped up enough but clearly I need to tape more next time. My friend Elbee came up with an ingenious and what could be a simple solution I am going to explore after a trip to the hardware store. Here's some photos from the renderings he was so kind to whip up for me...

[Aros]

This sure seems intriguing??

https://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80402

[Elbee]

This sure seems intriguing??

https://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pr...prod=ose-80402

Yeppers, that will do it.

Again, as I recall, the unlimited class boats had either just a hole that was plugged or was always open.

I find these boats fascinating, but anything that has moving parts and goes fast fascinates me.

I am a simple man.

First step for me would be to find the leak, then proceed with a permanent fix.

Best, LB

[Clugh]

Nope, never did, LOL...Outside of that short burst, I was inadvertently flooding the boat with my pump action trigger finger. Haha, live and learn!

If you give it some throttle it will get on step! Motorboating the throttle only stressed the electronics . Get it on step in the oval and keep it on step is how it should be driven.

And have you logged any data? You know your inverter does all that. In a fast electric boat please become intimate with data logging first and foremost.

[Aros]

If you give it some throttle it will get on step! Motorboating the throttle only stressed the electronics . Get it on step in the oval and keep it on step is how it should be driven.

And have you logged any data? You know your inverter does all that. In a fast electric boat please become intimate with data logging first and foremost.

No data logging, only water logging, LOL!

I know I should have just punched the throttle but I was so tentative, afraid of it flipping or crashing...If this was a $300 boat you better believe I would have chucked it and full throttle monty the entire time, lol...I'll be better the next time out.