DragBoat Question

[ReddingGuy]

As I understand it, those of us building dragboats need to mount the strut through the bottom of the boat so that no part of the strut goes past the transom. Here's the question. Anybody have any thoughts on how to seal it. Until we can run them a few times and get the strut height right we'll need to be able to adjust them. I"m thinking using silicone at first so I can move it up and down and doing a permanent seal once the hardware it dialed in. Any thoughts??

ReddingGuy

[Dan Chase]

Hi Greg,

We just need to mount them the same way the electric 1/8 scale and al the nitro sport hydro classes mount them. If you do a search in the scale hydro section, you should come up with a few ideas. I have to run back to a job site, but I'll see what I can dig up tonight.

[Randy Naylor]

It is the one point that I dissagree with Dan on I feel that the motors with the High RPM and a lot of load on the strut will cause us a lot of leak problems. I am not for this type of set up. I think it should mounted on the transom just like the rest of the electric counter parts. I will continue to mount them on the back of the transom, it should be up for a vote of the DMWB club members and not have it ramed down our throats.

Sorry, Dan I disagree and untill you have proven that it can be done sucessfully I will continue my way.

[Dan Chase]

Originally posted by Randy Naylor
Sorry, Dan I disagree and untill you have proven that it can be done sucessfully I will continue my way.

Great, done, passed. Did you look at Brian's boat with the strut mounted underneath? Or any of the other boats he ran 13 years ago?

BTW Randy, we did have a meeting, the one thing we all agreed to was keeping the boats a scale class. Even when you mounted the strut off the back you said to me you were just doing it to get it on the water quicker.

[Randy Naylor]

No Dan I rember the meeting and it was a general disscussion and nothing about writing anything in stone. I agree they should look pretty scale but after building Brians boat I prefer bracket on the transom.
The point is do you want a scale play toy that sorta goes fast or a setup that id real speed and we can push the enevelope and go like a bat out of hell. It is way too hard to adjust for different props your way. There is not a lot of room. trust me it is a better way over the long run.

[ReddingGuy]

I don't know about you other guys but I've already cut the slot for the strut and made the brackets so I'm going with that. Plus, if we are going through all the effort to make it scale, including building a $20 scale hemi engine and mounting it, I'm thinking the strut should be under the boat to stay as scale as possilbe.

So....... now that there's a dispute over the rules that we haven't decided on for sure, maybe we better get it settled once and for all. As far as the "meeting", I wasn't able to attend but it would have been nice to have been asked afterwards. So if my vote counts, I say strut goes under.

Greg

[Randy Naylor]

I say no real rules untill we see how it works. when we run the boats we will see. I am cool with that.

[hydromaddicted]

Let's figure out the stronger,faster configuration and go with that
:D

[1/10 TFH]

I see good points being made from both sides. One thing to remember is Randy's boat has rear sponsons, so he can get away with alot less strut angle than boats without. I have run boats both ways, and ended up going with a fixed strut angle of about 7 degrees, with the x431 prop. When I was up there and tried the Y535 prop, i was getting too much lift and the boat wanted to submarine at speed. However I really liked the performance with the Y535 so I have now removed the stuffing tube fronm the hull and am contemplating how to set it back up. I'm considering a flex set up.

I'm not sure if there is a real performance advantage one way or the other once you have found the right combination.

Here's a thought. Dan, post a poll in the club forum about this and ask that only people who are currently building or are going to build respond. There are what, 20 to 25 boats out there? that should be enough people to vote as long as everyone knows about it.

Many times when Dan and I spoke we discussed this and agreed that the strut be below the hull. But I think in all fairness everyone involved should be able to have their voice heard.

[Dan Chase]

Originally posted by hydromaddicted
Let's figure out the stronger,faster configuration and go with that
:D

By that ration why would we want to run scale hemi's? Why not hang our sponsons out on booms? that would be faster, pretty soon we would have a lot of riggers lined up at the tree, we all know riggers would be faster. The nitro guys have been running their struts behind the transom from the start, it hasn't slowed them down any and there are 10-20 nitro boats for every electric.

It probably adds about 30-60 minutes of building time to put the strut behind the transom rather then hanging it off the back. Adjustments may take a minute or 2 longer provided the top wasn't already taped down.

[Dan Chase]

Originally posted by Randy Naylor
I say no real rules untill we see how it works. when we run the boats we will see. I am cool with that.

The problem with that is guys in the club are building boats now, moving the strut isn't an easy change AFTER the boat has been built. We need to figure this out now. Motors, cells, etc., can easily be changed later.

[Dan Chase]

I moved this over to our club section, Brian, Pat and others that are interested in Drag Boats feel free to jump in!

[1/10 TFH]

Originally posted by Dan Chase
The problem with that is guys in the club are building boats now, moving the strut isn't an easy change AFTER the boat has been built. We need to figure this out now. Motors, cells, etc., can easily be changed later.

Agreed!

Most forums I frequent have the option to post a poll, but I didn't see it here. Can it be done?

If not, I would suggest a list of everyone who has purchased a hull from Randy and either an PM or e-mail to them and ask their opinion.

[Randy Naylor]

Well there is only 10 or 11 hulls out there that I made (been waiting to see one run before I make changes in the mold).

Dennis Costa brought up a good point that in real drag racing they use what ever works the best to go fast is what they do. and no rules on what is in the water. So in keeping with the spirit of drag racing on the hardware running what is the fastest would prevail.

[1/10 TFH]

Originally posted by Randy Naylor
So in keeping with the spirit of drag racing on the hardware running what is the fastest would prevail.

So I take that as option 3 in the other thread right?

I think you are correct in that if a 1:1 boat was to put a strut off the transom it would be allowed but I don't have a current IHBA rulebook so I can't say for sure. Mabey I have an old one laying around.

As much as I know Dan doesn't want to hear it, I am leaning toward option 3 also. It would give alot more adjustability and still remain scale looking.

Remember guys there are full on outriggers running in TFH this year.

But I will not change my opinion on the need for a scale engine, driver, and or capsule.

[Patrick M]

To add to Brians comment.... riggers are being run in TFH this year. Here's a pic of the Toxic Rocket boat.

IMO, for the sake of tuning simplicity, a transom mounted strut should be allowed. Props are an experimental factor at this stage in the development of the boats and each prop change will require a different strut setting. This will be a particularly critical setup adjustment if we are to adhere to the scale hull/motor/ appearance specification, though we should limit the prop distance from the transom. It seems a small sacrifice to make in order to accelerate the development of the genre.... ;)

BTW, the 1 to1 boats all seem to have the props forward or even with the transom.

[Patrick M]

Here's a pic of the Toxic Rocket's transom..... if you look closely you can see the twin stuffing tubes.

[Randy Naylor]

Wow that sponson looks a lot like the rear sponsons that Brian built on the Just My Luck. Hmmmmmm......

[1/10 TFH]

Originally posted by Randy Naylor
Wow that sponson looks a lot like the rear sponsons that Brian built on the Just My Luck. Hmmmmmm......

Yup these new boats this year are what I had envisioned years ago. Just my luck was to be a working prototype.;) There was also a full scale mock up I did.8)

[Andrewg]

great baot it looks like we have been tank testing for those guys for some years - it looks like an old fashioned rigger

[bear-it]

Hi. Dennis here; I have been in the real world of bragboat racing for many years and the idea of restricting the shaft placement on he boat should not be in question. the only thing is the above the water line appearance the the boat. Make the boat as fast as possiable and stable is the real concern. As far as I know there are no rules and regulations on drive attachments having to be under the boat. The Bear

[Andrewg]

I also have pics here of hydros which use strut brackets which look like those we use in a model - definitely not RC boats tho...... grist for the mill?