martno1fan

Tweety i taught i taw a puddycat ,sorry couldnt resist!!.Serriously though can you take a pic of your transom both a side view and back view?.Seems odd your only getting 47mph with this hull as most ive spoke to are in the low to high 50s,Don Ferrette and Jim Geiger to name two ,im sure a bit of tweaking here and there will make all the difference.Also from what ive heard and read the zippkits boats are probably one of if not the fastest of all the thunderboats not that i want to be controversial .Remember shes only small compaired to some so id say she has to be faster it stands to reason.

Maybe i was lucky mine ran awesome from day one or maybe im just better at building than you JOKING!!,how about those pics also a pic of the angle of attack your talking about.By the way i didnt need to do much filling on mine just sanded it sealed it and painted it,trick is to scrape most of the epoxy back off when you seal the boat using an old credit card this way you get a very smooth finnish.

Looking at your pics again i dont see any air inlets in the front of your cowl? you then need an air dam to push the air down round your motor so it can breath and keeps things cooler too,i do see those small holes near the carb but i dont see those doing much good where they are as two of the holes are behind the bulkhead?.Cut some holes in the front of the cowl as everyone else has ,this could explain why shes not revving out i know someone else had this issue on his hydro (NOT A ZIPPKITS)i just followed Joes manual which i have to say is superb.I do like your hinged hatch idea im going to use that as im forever forgetting to put mine back before installing the cowl and tape makes a mess of the paintwork goes all sticky .
Mart

jimmy 1987

why is the rudders on the left and not the right

martno1fan

Why not ,makes no diff to be honest plenty have tried both ways and they all run the same so ive been told by a cpl of guys who have tried both ways.I thought been on the left it would counter any prop walk etc but the guys who installed it on the right said she tracked just the same which is dead straight .
Mart

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

For me, the rudder on the left does 2 things:

(1) right turns are a pull, not a push. When racing (always clockwise here), the LONG pushrod is in tension while turning. If it were on the right side of the boat, it would be in compression and would flex giving incosistent cornering. I know the instructions call for a nicer rod setup than I'm using, and it would eliminate that issue, but for my "flimsy" 4-40 rod setup, it works great.

(2) it counters the drag of the turn fin, helping to balance the boat.

Joe Petro

My Feedback: (1)

100% correct on both counts.

Joe

Proboat 772

Another option if concerned about a long "push" for right turn with right mount rudder is to install a toggle arm near the transom. Use a pull to the toggle arm and a push from the opposite arm for the short distance to the rudder. This effectively splits the distance between two rods.

Dick T.

dicko

A ruddder on the left can get caught in prop wash in turns & upset turning charachteristics if the rudder is set too close to the prop, or too far back. If not there's little difference on a hydro.

grant118

My Feedback: (26)

Whow Mart, that really came out nice. I like the paint job!
Chris

martno1fan

Cheers mate,hoping for some calm dry weather now so i can have a propper day of tuning and see what she can really do(fat chance) fingers crossed but guess what its raining and windy again baaah .
Mart

jimmy 1987

i still can not under stand people say left and right

martno1fan

PORT and STARBOARD FOR and AFT ,STEM and STERN .avasst ye swabs .Feel better now lol ?
Mart

rcboateric

some boats are facing a tracking straight problem and found no way to resolve, this is the way to prevent it to happen but I know it can't make a smooth right turn as a rudder blade mounted on right side does.

martno1fan

Have to disagree it makes no diff what side the rudder is on on a rockett hydro ,they turn as good wether rudders on left or right.Def no problems with my hydro turning right with the rudder on the left thats for sure it turns awesome.I might add that i know of 2 people who have the rudder installed on the right of a rockett and they say it made no differnece to the handling at all,at least one of those people had tried both ways just to see what happened.
Mart

rcboateric

it did make very little diff but we can ignore that, but this way may be not for a V bottom boat.

martno1fan

Lol but were not talking about vees , hydros dont lean in the turn like a vee does so sure a vee turns better to the side that the rudder is on.
Mart

martno1fan

Hi i thought id just update this thread a bit,as some of you know i took her out for a run the other day.Weather was yet again a bit blustery and wet but i managed a few fast laps after running for about 10 mins my son decided to video the boat as she was going really well although i had to slow down a tad into the wind for fear of a blow over.Anyway as you will see from the short video she suddenly dies on me im at a loss as to why any ideas?.It doesnt seem to be a fuel delivery problem ,yes the tank is vented also.
Anyway the wind kept her drifting the full length of the lake just out of reach of my fishing rod [:@] and as she was drifting the water was getting rougher as usual at the other end of the lake then it started raining just for good measure.She took about 15 mins to drift close enough for me to cast to her and i noticed the transom was under the water by this time,wasnt scared she would sink as i have floatation in there but i was concerned about my radio box.I neednt have worried as she was bone dry and no water got into the motor despite the exhaust been submerged,i was carefull to pick her up nose first to drain any water out then i started her up to double check.By this time the rain was pouring so we packed up,anyway if you guys have any ideas what caused her to stop feel free to give me your ideas.
ps just remembered the small carb hatch cover did come loose and fell into the boat could spray have got in causing her to stop?.
video on its way in a few mins
[link]http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Mestz2AtgzE[/link]

thevirginian

Yes, Mart. Most likely it was a spray of water she sucked in. I have a small vent facing forward on my Miss Bud. In a race I have to tape it shut. Otherwise a spray of water from another boat will make her die instantly.

martno1fan

Cheers mate i thought that could be it,as i removed the velocity stack its easy for water to get in if the hatch is open i supose and it was quite choppy.Ive given up hope of any calm water this year [].
Mart

brodjack

Looks good Mart,seems your getting more bottle for faster turns now[8D]

Time to give our stuff a race me thinks..If it ever stops raining.

Could have been a glitch failsafe maybe,2.4 still isnt 100% secure yet.I have had one on my Apache,unknown reason,quite close too.
Had afew on my helis with 2.4 too,to then suddenly jump back to life and ableing to do an auto and land ok. scary stuff.[X(]

think its that carb though,what you really need is a 257,,LOL

Brod..

martno1fan

I dont think it was a glitch mate but now you got me worried [X(],i still think it was the spray or just one of those things that happens when your having fun .Weathers so unpredictable its difficult to make any plans its doing my head in.Glad you liked the short vid pitty he didnt get the first few laps on video i think she was running better than ever ,and yea i am getting more used to that lake at speed.Takes nerves or should i say b***s of steel to keep going full speed into the turns knowing the sides are concrete .Ill stick with the 644 for now,might try a wyk 33 at some point maybe.
Mart

w3bby

Hi Martin, nice vid despite the cutout, your cameraman is getting better.
You are getting used to holding the throttle open now Just check everything, try it at home and see what happens. Let's assume it's nothing horribly complicated or expensive[X(]

martno1fan

Hi Ian where you been hiding ,ive checked things over and i cant find anything wrong to be honest so its either the water spray idea or else it must be a fuel issue or lack of,but the carbs fine i stripped it down .Tanks vented fine, fuel is flowing to the carb as it should,i have no filter between tank and motor maybe it was dirt.Ill run her again weather permitting and see how she goes,i still havent even tried adjusting the strut depth or altering the carb settings much either since day one.If ive had half an hr at the lake at a time im lucky with this loveley summer were having.Ill tell Sam hes getting better with the camera,its a new camera and its gota great zoom on it but he gesta bit carried away with it at times [X(].
Mart
ps dont mention that E word i get an alergic reaction

rcboateric

2.4 ghz radio works perfect in my cat, no glitch at all, better control distance and easy to setup, I love this radio more than other radios I have ever owned.

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

I found the best way to diagnose when failsafe kicks in is to program the rudder to full left as well. If you lose power and hook left, then you know it's radio related. If you lose power and it keeps tracking in the same direction, then it wasn't the failsafe kicking in.

martno1fan

Sounds ok in pricipal but what happens if your close in when it happens and your boat smashes into the concrete wall [X(].
Mart