once again the post man has let me down, no connectors today saturday post is flakey at the best of times

here's how its looking so far, its a very tight squeeze! thanks for the advice on the motor Bill, looks the part at least. boats upto 650 grams now so i've given up on weighing it!

got a bad case of mission creep while I wait for parts, i'm already thinking about the next boat! i really want to go the whole hog and design a hull from scratch so i've dusted down the drawing board (which i haven't used for about 20 years!) and hacked away at some depron. I'm looking at this material for a future build as it seems to be used extensively for the aero modelling, is really cheap and super light weight and should be strong once its been glassed. I also like how easy it is to cut!

however this thing didn't fit together very well so i have a lot to learn, especially working out how to get the curves in the panels correct. I know its something to do with lofting so its time for more research!

Maybe try templates off of the actual frame, typically you get the keel line to fit best and then sand to fit the sheers. Regardless it looks well put together and quite solid to me, nice work.

finally stuck my boat in the water however it didn't go particularly well! the boat goes really well forwards but not so well backwards. I must have something set up wrong because it seems almost random whether the motor started forwards or backwards?! also when i was trying to advance the throttle suddenly it would blip into reserve. this went on for a few mins and then the flexishaft came loose

has anybody got any idea whats going wrong? i've got a spektrum dx5e and the receiver that came with it, the throttle stick rests at the bottom and i was hoping to push it upwards and that would make it go?! but it was starting forwards (sometimes backwards) and then when i pushed it a bit more it went backwards or carried on forwards. i.e completely random. is the speed controller knackered perhaps?

anyway i did get a couple of nice pictures, not a bad spot for a first float

i've just had a another go with it sat in the bench, the throttle is all over the place, there is no correlation between which direction i push the stick and the direction that the motor spins. somethings not right!

ok so i've worked out the speed controller needs programming, i've tracked down a manual of sorts but its written in terrible engrish, has anybody got a guide for progamming a HobbyKing 50A Boat ESC 3A UBEC

right now its just making loads of mad beeping sounds!

Go to HK site and your esc file. Next go to files and copy the 10 pages on copier. They say the files manual is wrong and go to www.link,,,,,,,????????

think i've worked it out, i had to teach it the full range of stick movement, like a complete novice i had no idea about this! time for another go and this time i have a fishing rod

I did some hunting. Hook up lipo ; the last thing you do. Also HK has a program card; Turnigy works with HK super simple escs and card must be a besc card by Turnigy.

5th go and finally after destroying a flexifsahft + coupling, embarrassing myself in front of a mate (excitedly put the boat in the water convinced it was going to shoot off forwards and it just submarined backwards and unravelled the flexishaft with a load crack! ) and using the fishing rod retrieval method a few too many times i've finally got it working. i've only managed to use about half throttle so far, conditions haven't been ideal. today was a bit too windy and the boat was all over the place. flipped it over a couple of times so i'm going to wait for flat calm, flat water before running again.

the speed is quite incredible by the way! thanks for everyones advice who chipped in

Now it's time to start making adjustments.Make one adj. at a time .Good luck with it .

Any chance of some video on your next outing?

unfortunately i've only got some blurred footage of my last outing, all you can see i wake and hear it zipping about, i propped my phone up on the bank and it chose to focus on a bit of grass which was really really annoying however you can get an idea of the glorious 10 mins i had before the infernal thing broke again!! i'll leave in the moment of disaster so you can hear my pain.

l think the set up is just too powerful, i hardly got it above half throttle and the thing was screaming about however any kind of weakness like the plasticy coupling (which was the only one i could find to fit the motor and the odd sized micro flexishaft) is just not up to the task. soon i tried pushing the throttle a bit it snapped. i've also flipped it more than once and drowned a rudder servo.

anyway i'm now looking for a slightly bigger boat to build! i think the motor, speed controller and batteries i have would be ok powering something a lot bigger than 16inch and what i'd really like is a nice laser cut wood kit for a tunnel hull, a cat or even a mono, something about 25-30 inch in size. I'm struggling to find anything suitable, it doesn't help being in the UK but i'd consider buying from overseas. if anyone has any ideas or can point me in the right direction i'd be grateful. failing that i'm on the hunt for plans!

pacific dictator (3 min 26 sec)

i'm gutted you can't see the boat or even hear it properly. must try harder next time!

Tim Uk- just get a smaller motor for your 16" balsa unit is all. Now from what i see; it moving back and forth, it has good speed for that size. All that work, don't give up, you learned alot which is great.

i'm not giving up on this endeavour i'm just having a rethink and drawing up a new boat about 1.5 times the size. the kit that i bought was never intended for radio so sealing it up has been difficult, all the gear had to be crammed in and the components just haven't been strong enough. i'm therefore going to fit a sensible sized flexifshaft and a solid metal coupling this time. its currently costing me about £10 every time i run and i can probably build a new hull for not much more than that with the stuff i have already so i'm biting the bullet.

i've started drawing a new boat in photoshop, its not exactly suited to the task but i'm only roughing out ideas at the moment. i've taken a few measurements from the existing hull and scaled them up to try and keep things vaguely in proportion. at the moment i can't seem to get the rocker line right, so i need to do more research and perving at boat pron oh and i'm going it call it 'Bigger Shaft' for a giggle

I'm still on the hunt for a decent laser cut kit as well, seems to be very few options out there, especially in the uk I have developed a penchant for these tunnel hulls so if anyone out there knows of a kit or even a decent tunnel plan I would be eternally grateful.