Hi Shipmates,

After many years I finally found one at a good price £20 plus £10 p&p on good old Ebay.

I have a load of hardware sitting around, motors rudders etc. So I decided to play about with this boat.

Generally it is considered a waste of time and money to do anything with these boats.

So I don't expect any 'Likes' on this project, its a bit of a daft thing to do.

Information about 32in long twin stepped catamaran hull, beam 9.25 inches, thin ABS plastic.

First stage.
Unpack and check, strip out all of the hardware, generally unscrew components, most difficult thing was removing the propeller shafts.

Second stage wash hull with warm soapy water (in the Bath) and remove stickers.

Hi Shipmates,

After removing stickers and cleaning inside and out, foamed front of hull for strength and flotation.
I will need to trim the foam back once fully cured with a blade, may create a wooden former to tidy across the end of the foam.

Regards Roy

Hi Shipmates,

Later this evening I inverted the hull and used a hot glue gun to make a better seal of the two halves deck and hull.
Note. This glue will solidify quickly it will not run into the hull, later I hope to fill the joining tray with a liquid resin.

Regards
Roy

Hi Shipmates,

Cut away excess foam, (pic 1).
Then decided to foam the hatch, as this foam stuff doesn't last long in the tin once used for the first time.
As usual foam always expands more than you expect.
It looks like a Hover craft! (pic 3)

The catamaran type have a tendency to over lift at the bow, the faster you go air can lift it until it does a backward summersault landing upside down.

This happen to someone at the club and he lost his hatch for some reason! and the hatch lid sank to the bottom of the lake.

So hopefully mine will not do that.

PS These catamaran type racing boats are fair weather craft and can go fast , they are not the best in windy and choppy waters, they appear to skid round corners which is great in calm conditions, in rough water it could be exciting and disastrous at the same time.

Regards
Roy

Finished foaming the hatch, and the hatch still fits, once the foam distorted the plastic on another NDQ boat.

I then created a template of the transom, and cut out a forma to reinforce the stern and add the original plastic reinforcement as well via two screws in the stern.

Regards
Roy

Hi Shipmates,

And now for something completely different.

I had a brain wave and thought I would add water cooling to a couple of cheap brushless ESCs that have been in my bits and bobs box. along with some spares for my FT011.

In my computer box I had some heat transfer tape from a NVME SSD.
So my ESCs had an internal heat sink, that was covered with heat shrink (black rubber material) I cut a rectangle out of it to expose the internal heat sink, then cut the thermal tape / putty to size and added the water cooling unit.
Held them together with some pegs and used my hot glue gun to seal them together, and also the wire ends in an attempt to make the whole thing water resistant.

Need to fill the bolt holes in the heat sink with hot glue.

Regards Roy

Hi Shipmates,

Some bits of hardware old and new,

New 2 flexi shafts (CW & CCW) and rudders also a large servo arm.

Old motors (2860- 2730kv) and water cooling jackets and 20kg servo.

(The rudders from my bit box where a bit too short and only had one water outlet).

OMG I'm a compulsive hardware buyer (All because my parents didn't bye me mecchano, I had LEGO instead).

Regards
Roy

Hi Shipmates.

I have been on Holiday, when I return I found that the foam had distorted part of the bow and now I have a lot of work to sort it out.

Putting that out my mind I continued by fitting the motors with their mounts, then used epoxy resin to strengthen the join of the hull and deck.

Next cut away the rear to accommodate the twin rudders, and added pads to the transom to mount them.

Then covered the mounting screws for the motors mounts with 0.4 mm ply. This will give a flatter and squarer surface underneath when finished.

That's it so far!

Regards Roy

Hi Shipmates,

After nearly 4 weeks after foaming I drilled the distorted area, and liquid foam appeared. (shows what pressure it had created, warmed the hull and let excess escape).

Added prop shafts (epoxy) and rudders (4 bolts each).

More filling and sanding to square up the hulls underside, curved edges will slow the boat.

Regards Roy

Hi Shipmates,

Added some reinforcement to the sides (oak strip) and added cooling fins to motor water cooler jacket which is also glued to the oak strip.

Another reinforcement that cannot be seen is in the humps ether side of the hatch area, which where very flimsy.

Also added a carbon fibre battery tray.

Regards
Roy