dragon 33''

[john v]

been running my kris flynn 33 dragon tunnel for a full season now and have it dialed in pretty well , it has a nova rossi 21 with brian sorgente mods done to it, carl carbon fiber pipe, lawless lower and a john otto 442 prop. ran the best it ever did yesterday at our last dist race in maine . i like the extra length of the hull for our usually rough water conditions. great hull, thanks kris

 

[Wasted wages]

any pics???

 

[Brian Sorgente]

Here's a pic before he put the carbon pipe on.

 

[john v]

thats when i first built that hull, had a cmb .335 bore carb and the silver bullit pipe, brian took that motor apart and made it into an animal!. i thought with the hull being 5'' longer than the competition it would be slow, not the case, runs with the top boats in our dist. in our dist mod 21 tunnel is a popular class and everyone has a top level boat, not a slouch in the fleet. great boat kris and big power from brian

 

[Brian Sorgente]

Sometimes helping your friends make their stuff run good is just as much fun as making your own stuff run good. Though, I do remember a day where both you and Zach passed me, then I realized I had to step up my own game.

 

[Kris Flynn]

Sometimes helping your friends make their stuff run good is just as much fun as making your own stuff run good. Though, I do remember a day where both you and Zach passed me, then I realized I had to step up my own game.

This is what it is all about...making your competitors better/faster only improves your own stuff!

One of my main goals/aims is to provide as much information and help to whoever will listen. But the age old saying of "you can lead ahorse to water........." lol

Thanks for the Kudos John, boat looks great!!

 

[LibertyFrancis]

This is what it is all about...making your competitors better/faster only improves your own stuff!

One of my main goals/aims is to provide as much information and help to whoever will listen. But the age old saying of "you can lead a horse to water........." lol

Thanks for the Kudos John, boat looks great!!

I appreciate that attitude/perspective! I am new to the boat hobby, but I think there are 2 main things hurting the RC Boat side of the hobby.

1. People in this hobby are mostly highly competitive racers and don't want to share info/help others.
2. The true hobby grade stuff is the fiberglass/CF hulls, which are not sold at hobby stores.

I'll add a #3 that as we get older we need to check our selves and our language to make sure we don't come across as cranky/rude.

I have been doing RC cars for years and think the boat side of the hobby is great. I cant help but feel like it is slowly dying and lots of great knowledge will be lost when older generations pass on.

 

[Wasted wages]

About #2

This has been one of the things I have dealt with in the model boat hobby,, and after seeing the process involved first hand,, I can understand why.

One of the guys in our club built boats in his garage,, making the molds for 3 size hulls, then production of hulls for sale all while holding down a regular job,, it became a labor of love for him.
He worked hard to build boats and get them out on time. Just the cost of materials was staggering... I'm sure he didn't get rich selling boats. But he produced some of the best hulls in the country.

No way is any really big company going to go into production building the quality of hulls that's required for heat racing .. there are a few grassroot builders out there that do a fine job and build some great hulls.... but it's still a here today, gone tomorrow proposition...

 

[LibertyFrancis]

About #2

This has been one of the things I have dealt with in the model boat hobby,, and after seeing the process involved first hand,, I can understand why.

One of the guys in our club built boats in his garage,, making the molds for 3 size hulls, then production of hulls for sale all while holding down a regular job,, it became a labor of love for him.
He worked hard to build boats and get them out on time. Just the cost of materials was staggering... I'm sure he didn't get rich selling boats. But he produced some of the best hulls in the country.

No way is any really big company going to go into production building the quality of hulls that's required for heat racing .. there are a few grassroot builders out there that do a fine job and build some great hulls.... but it's still a here today, gone tomorrow proposition...

I didn't know at the time how good it was that I got some old fiberglass boats from an estate sale. I was under the impression new stuff was better, but they are actually pretty good boats.

I make carbon fiber streamliner bodies for RC cars. When I make 3 of them I am lucky to walk away with 10% profits after all the little things like boxes, packing material, tools, and consumables for the body itself. I have found it is just not worth it anymore. The other determining factor is that I recently got sensitized to epoxy resin and cannot be around it without extreme caution and quality protective equipment use. Beyond that I have 3 kids and a wife that want my time.... Family 1st!

 

[Wasted wages]

#1 and #3 do kind of run together...
We are a competitive group,, and we do protect some of our secrets, as all racers do.

But I bet you won't find a better group of people that are willing to help others and are more than happy to share the knowledge base.
But it's up to the person that inquires about that knowledge to apply it. There are many people that will give you part of the answer, because they want you to think hard about what the full answer is...

That is part of the teaching/learning process..
If someone is always giving you answers, are you really learning ?
If you have enough information to move forward and think about getting to the bottom of a problem, you have to apply yourself, and come up with an answer...that's how you learn.

And yes, a lot of us are not approachable...
I think that is the nature of people today,, we are sceptical of people outside of our group, because of lakes being lost due to noise, and a host of other reasons. But once you talk to them a little bit and get past the "how fast do they go and how much do they cost" part of the conversation, you can usually gauge how serious they are about model boating.

 

[LibertyFrancis]

I found for the RC car side of the hobby when people would try "speed running" (similar to boat SAW runs) they would get discouraged by large crashes or make many wrong choices on parts purchases working towards their goal.

I focused on helping others reach their goals and resulted in two things.... Some great new friends and helped keep people in the hobby instead of frustration/quitting.

Hopefully the RC boat hobby can continue on strong. I have found it is very fun and rewarding.
Still lots of learning to do before I can help others, but I do know brushless FE systems very well.

 

[john v]

This is what it is all about...making your competitors better/faster only improves your own stuff!

One of my main goals/aims is to provide as much information and help to whoever will listen. But the age old saying of "you can lead ahorse to water........." lol

Thanks for the Kudos John, boat looks great!!

thanks kris, great boat you designed , mod tunnel is very competitive here in dist 11 and your hull ran very well

 

[Grimracer]

The other determining factor is that I recently got sensitized to epoxy resin and cannot be around it without extreme caution and quality protective equipment use.

SO SORRY TO HEAR THIS.. this is a HUGE PAIN.. I know..

Grim

 

[Brian Sorgente]

This was a fun way to end the season. A little video of John and I ripping around at the end of the day.

 

[Wasted wages]

Looked fun !!

 

[Brandon Atwell]

Looks like two great running B modifieds! Need to get you guys down to the tunnel champs

 

[Brian Sorgente]

Looks like two great running B modifieds! Need to get you guys down to the tunnel champs

Thanks Brandon! They run a little better in some chop. We’re not used to flat calm water up like that lol.. The tunnel champs are definitely on our radar. Would love to join you guys out there.

 

[Alan Elzer]

About what speeds you running or do you know

 

[Brian Sorgente]

Not quite sure, it's been a while since we pulled the gun out, but we've seen mid 50's in the past.

 

[john v]

it was a little dark on the front straight but my boat was the one with the yellow cowl, brians boat with the orange cowl is a woodstuff 32, both are sorgente nova rossi 21s with lawless lowers, depends on the day who passes who but both boats run very well, brian has said when i pass him ''thats what you get when you build motors for someone else'', all good fun tho, i am lucky, brian builds a great motor