Building my first 1/8 scale . 2008 U1 Miss Elam Plus

[Samuel Hagan JR]

What Don said. Your rear tabs are fine and use Nylon Screws. I get my Nylon screws from McMastercarr. I get the glass filled nylon screws.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Guys, I never said the tabs were an issue, they look fine to me as well. I was just warning him the inserts he installed may not allow the tails to fit without cutting the inserts back. That is something he will have to look at when he installs the tails. I can see the tails on my Elam probably won't fit over that rear insert, the taper of the tails makes them too narrow and that is what I'm was referring to.

 

[Paul Cooper]

What Don said. Your rear tabs are fine and use Nylon Screws. I get my Nylon screws from McMastercarr. I get the glass filled nylon screws.

I was looking at them on the McMaster site. The one thing I worry about is they say they may swell if they get wet . I was just planning on geting the plastic 4-40 screws.

 

[Paul Cooper]

Guys, I never said the tabs were an issue, they look fine to me as well. I was just warning him the inserts he installed may not allow the tails to fit without cutting the inserts back. That is something he will have to look at when he installs the tails. I can see the tails on my Elam probably won't fit over that rear insert, the taper of the tails makes them too narrow and that is what I'm was referring to.

After I saw your post about the pem lengths I figured I better go with shorter ones . I pulled the ones out in the picture and installed some 1/8 long ones and applied some 5 min epoxy to them for a little added strength.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Cool, those should work great. That said, I have to agree with Don and Sam on using nylon screws to hold the tails on. You will want the screws to shear off in the event of a blow over. If you use any sort of metal screws, the screws won't shear off and the tails/wing can be destroyed by hitting the water. My boat's been upside down a few times and nylon screws have definitely saved the tails and wing on my boat from being destroyed. One other thing, be sure to install some diagonal braces between the upper part of the tails and the center of the transom. It will save your tails from coming off when you're running. You can see them installed between the tails in the picture of my Elam on page one

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

The Nylon won’t swell. You’ll be fine.

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

Before you paint I would Blue print the bottom. Make sure all the riding surfaces good and edges sharp.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Agreed, nothing worse that trying to dial in a boat with a bottom that isn't flat

 

[Paul Cooper]

You guys beat me to the question. I was eventually going to ask about blue printing the bottom . All the surfaces should be flat. So on the sponsons they should have nice sharp edges to them. The port side sponson has the point in it (sorry I don't no any of the tecnihcal terms) I would assume a dremel or jewler file to get in that area . What would be good tools for this. I picked up bondo with fiberglass in it when I had to fix the holes I drilled in the transom so I have that covered alone with finishing putty.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Yes, you want sharp edges on any point that has an angle change. The reason for this is that rounded corners tend to attract water and it actually sucks the boat down, costing a not insignificant loss of speed. As for the "point" you were referring to, is that at the sponson inside at the rear of the "V" in the lower picture? That looks like it's intentional, possibly to help get the boat up on plane. Before grinding it off, I'd check with the manufacturer as it's very hard to add material to a FG & CF hull, and get it to stay(for me anyway)

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

The way I did mine was I put a straight edge on the corners and checked them. I then added some Epoxy with Filler and build it up. Then sanded to make the edges sharp. That’s how I did mine. Fiberglass hulls don’t come out perfect.

 

[Paul Cooper]

Yes, you want sharp edges on any point that has an angle change. The reason for this is that rounded corners tend to attract water and it actually sucks the boat down, costing a not insignificant loss of speed. As for the "point" you were referring to, is that at the sponson inside at the rear of the "V" in the lower picture? That looks like it's intentional, possibly to help get the boat up on plane. Before grinding it off, I'd check with the manufacturer as it's very hard to add material to a FG & CF hull, and get it to stay(for me anyway)

No No . I don't want to grind it off. I was asking how to get the edges sharp in the "V" in the lower pic.

 

[Paul Cooper]

The way I did mine was I put a straight edge on the corners and checked them. I then added some Epoxy with Filler and build it up. Then sanded to make the edges sharp. That’s how I did mine. Fiberglass hulls don’t come out perfect.

Thanks.

Yup they are kind of rounded so they release from the molds easier.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

No No . I don't want to grind it off. I was asking how to get the edges sharp in the "V" in the lower pic.

AH, I thought you wanted to remove that point, hence my post. My bad. To go along with Sam's last post, which I do the same thing, I tend to use Great Planes sanders to make sure everything is flat. Here's a link to a 22" long one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-Plan...220175?hash=item2f4384810f:g:LZwAAOSwBSFexC2rThere are also these from Fibreglast:
https://images-fibreglast-com.s3.amazonaws.com/pio-resized/300/Perma-Grit Sanding Blocks-2.jpg

 

[Paul Cooper]

AH, I thought you wanted to remove that point, hence my post. My bad. To go along with Sam's last post, which I do the same thing, I tend to use Great Planes sanders to make sure everything is flat. Here's a link to a 22" long one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-Plan...220175?hash=item2f4384810f:g:LZwAAOSwBSFexC2rThere are also these from Fibreglast:
https://images-fibreglast-com.s3.amazonaws.com/pio-resized/300/Perma-Grit Sanding Blocks-2.jpg

Very cool thinks for the links.

 

[Paul Cooper]

I know this is a little after the fact . I've already picked up a steering servo for my boat after doing a lot of reading and now I feel like I need to make sure it's going to be strong enough for the job. I'm partial to Savox servos. I've had good luck with them in my 1/5 scale Baja. So I figured I'd go for it on the Hydro. I picked up a Savox SW-0231-mg digital water proof servo. Here are the specs for it.

Specifications:
Dimensions (mm): 41.8x20.2x42.9
Weight (g): 66
Speed @6.0V: .17 sec/60
Torque @6.0V: 208 oz-in
Gear: Metal
Bearing: 2BB
Case: Plastic
Output Shaft: 25 Tooth Spline

Do you guys think it will be strong enough?

Also I received the decals/vinyl graphics for the boat today from Proline Media . They look great. Thanks Mike.

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

That’s Plenty. Just make sure it’s digital. It holds straight better.

 

[Paul Cooper]

Radio box tape works well, I use it to cover the drains on my 2000 Elam.
Just a heads up. When you're ready for paint, the 2000 boat has PPG Coca Cola White and House of Color Fluorescent Orange, yours will probably be the same. BTW, did you order the wing, canard and tails? They weren't in your picture so I was curious
View attachment 280480

LOL sorry I missed your last question in this post. Yes I got the wings and Canards when I bought the hull.

 

[brad nichols]

A small set of files will help with your sanding and can be wrapped with sandpaper.

Brad

 

[Paul Cooper]

So, you guys can correct me. I don't know that these little winglets are called unless that's what they are called. LOL But **** they were/are a pain in the arse. Their molding wasn't the best sadly. But I did some drilling and filing and got them mounted today. I've got some serious body work to do on them with bondo. But they are mounted and next will be the front canard. Hoping that has better fitment.