Food for thought!!

[Brian Sorgente]

Looking good.

 

[Geraghty]

When you trim out that little top end hop you will pick up another couple of MPH and it will be running mid fifties soon. BAM Fuel is what we run too.

Carl,
Yea....the boat/prop/fuel combo isn't very happy yet....I really believe there is a fair amount left and I believe it will be pretty easy to find.......
I also believe I am beginning to understand now just how to achieve a great RPM motor set up with no "tuned" pipe.....
Car pipes are not really tuned pipes.....They actually are very well designed silencing chambers...I have cut several apart looking for a short exhaust for this outboard......This has really started me thinking in a different direction....
All car motors run very well on 15/20% fuel......David ran 50% because that is was what he had....lol
The out of the box stock motor timing numbers and compression in these motors do not require 50% , especially if you don't try to run too much prop and just let the motor unload........
These out of the box car motors just do not need 50% fuel to get great RPM.....
The muffler/silencer exhaust control that we are using is really working and very good motor RPM is being achieved.....
I believe we will also be offering a muffler.....
This approach has been in front of us for years.....just look at the way a stock O.S. runs with no pipe and just an exhaust chamber.....makes you think doesn't it.....
We will just see where this all goes.....
Rod

 

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Very good speed from what I see. Who cares if it is not a .21 motor? At lot of clubs run 'open tunnel'. I have seen good running .21 boats hold their own in that class. If someone wants to race it they can. A low cost giant slayer.

 

[Carl Van Houten]

I like the idea. By providing a start up class that is not so expensive regardless of its speed, will help bring new people into the sport of RC boat racing. We need young people in this sport and most young people can't fork up the $$$ for today's hot boats. After they get involved through this class they will surly move into other classes later on and hopefully the younger people will find that being out on the pond on a beautiful day beats sitting inside playing video games all day. If the engine never runs over 55 mph who cares? How many of us spent hundreds of hours at the pond having a blast running a K&B 3.5cc outboard that ran 43 to 47 mph and 47 was a really good one! I have seen many great races under 50mph. If it were me I would stick to the cheap car muffler and let the class be about driving and setup more than speed. A new guy will have plenty of fun at 50-55 mph.

I am going to support this idea and once you get the final configuration done, we will build one and take it to the pond just in case someone whats to drive it. It would be nice to have a buddy box setup but I haven't seen one of those in years.

But there also needs to be a mod class so that we can throw the tricks on it and see just how fast one of these can go!

Heck after this corona virus wrecks our economy we may all be running one of these LOL.

-Carl

 

[Bill Gibson]

I so agree with this entire statement! Some of the BEST times I ever had was running RTR hydros! At the time it was clearly the slowest class (when they were stock), but you had to DRIVE the boat......good lines going into and coming out of the turns ....consistent driving was the key......you were always running deck to deck with somebody WITH CONTROL!
The whole concept is a great idea! Let em get their feet wet with something that they can afford, that isn't ballistic, then, if they are interested, help them with the racing side of model boating! Everybody wins! And the boat in the video looked like it was running pretty good to me!

 

[Geraghty]

This whole exercise I suggested should be called the "affordable" learning curve to RC nitro boating.......
If people like it and chose to remain in the hobby......then......"racing" comes later.....

 

[LawlessMan]

This whole exercise I suggested should be called the "affordable" learning curve to RC nitro boating.......
If people like it and chose to remain in the hobby......then......"racing" comes later.....

I am wholeheartedly behind this approach. I don't say that because I see any sort of gold mine here for me, or most anyone else, for that matter, EXCEPT for the aspect of bringing in new people. A quick check of the demographics shows that IMPBA District One is both huge and under-represented. A quick tally of the areas in D1 shows a population of somewhere around 60 million. Sixty million, and maybe about a hundred active racers. Those are not exact numbers, so don't fault me on my math. But the sad thing is the very small number of boaters in that huge area. Out here in New York, we have about 3-4 active clubs within driving distance. In the case of the Elmira club, we have one or two racers coming down from Canada, a 6 hour drive and an overnight stay, as well as a few who come from "nearer" distances. We have one who sometimes comes from Vermont or Connecticut, I forget which. In one of the most populous states in the country, we don't seem to have enough racers available to put on a decent race. Many of the racers who have attended races for years are no longer coming for various reasons, one of which, paradoxically, is poor attendance. In the past 10 years or so, we have gone from well-attended 2-day races to often poorly attended one day races. Recruitment has been stagnant for years, especially as the cost of a race-ready boat has gone through the roof. This whole endeavor is aimed at filling that membership gap, a gap, which frankly threatens the whole hobby worse than any other influence.

 

[Geraghty]

Prototype Zippkits 30" tunnel......This is a very nice boat.....Mike Walker built the boat to specifications......
Anti-spin pads....[stumble blocks , recovery pads are yet to be fabricated and installed.....I will do that and boat rigging.....
Joe Petro is still designing the method of W.O.F. construction keeping the KISS principle fully in mind...lolol
Progress is still moving forward without any hiccups.....so far...lol. ..... we are getting there.....
PS: I have built a prototype exhaust silencer that will be going to David Hall in Alabama for testing....
This muffler should be very effective.....We are also working on rotary carb installation adapters.....
More to follow as we proceed.......

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Nice looking boat Rod. I see you have adopted the radial deck design for this model. Good choice! How much do you think this kit will retail for?
-Carl

 

[Geraghty]

Nice looking boat Rod. I see you have adopted the radial deck design for this model. Good choice! How much do you think this kit will retail for?
-Carl

I have no clue what Joe has in mind......

 

[Kris Flynn]

That is a VERY nice look boat design, I really like the lines. As they say, if it looks good it must run good

Great to see all the positives steps form the team behind this, great work!

Cheers
Kris

 

[Vince Fantauzzi]

Never owned a tunnel hull...this could very well be my first one. Looks awesome! Good work.

 

[Wally Marsh]

Great progress to Rod and everyone involved making this happen!

 

[Geraghty]

Well I'll bet most of you thought this subject was long gone forever....lol.....but nothing could have been farther from the truth...

As you well know I have been in the middle of trying to develop a tunnel that would have a price point that would encourage a newbie RC boater to try a Nitro car motor with an adapter on a outboard lower unit without it costing an arm and a leg to try it....
I reiterate , THIS IS NOT AIMED AT THE RACER"......Hopefully this boat will be a bait and switch effort to encourage RC nitro boating to endure....If it does end up being accepted by the racer it must have meet some racers specific needs....
The motor/adapter development was very successful....With the help of Fred Howe at Lawless we took a dead stock .28 car motor with a rotostart on a O.S. lower unit and it pushed a 3.5 Lynx at 50 MPH on 15% fuel.....That was impressive....
The following video isn't the best but you will have to live with it...Rotate your monitor to watch it if necessary....
The prototype boat has finally been tested and run .....We finally found a pond that was open to testing without covid 19 getting in the way....
This video is a heat against a Lynx 3.5 and the Zipp prototype.......
Zippkits has also experienced a lot of difficulties hiring personal which also has hampered the development of the boat.....When people can make more money on government stimulus checks rather than working.....needless to say.... people willing to work are hard to find...enough on that subject...
The boat from Zipp , we believe , will be well worth the wait...It will be WOF construction and very easy to build....
Here is the best part of the effort....Zipp believes the price point will be well under $100.....This will include a wire foam cutting tool and shipping .......
My part in this effort is essentially completed.....
The completion of this effort is going to depend on Covid 19 and Zipps ability to finish its construction techniques dealing with all the present circumstances beyond their control....
Be patient ....... I believe RC nitro Boating community will benefit....
Thanks for your time.....Rod Geraghty

P.S. Brian Buass said this will make a hell of a good FE tunnel....lolol... He was calling for Mark Anderson during the making of this video....



This test was run in very nasty water [look at the wind in the grass] ....Mark intentionally ran the boat into the wakes and rollers to see if it would and could survive with no indication of stuffing or blowing off.....
The prototype boat ran several laps at very competitive speeds [51 -52 mph according to Mark] and it came back to the beach .....can't do much better than that ....boat was run with a NAMBA stock .21 O.S. outboard......I am very pleased....

 

[Mark Anderson]

This boat handles very well. Working with Brian and Eric on Saturday, we got the set up and prop pretty much dialed. I was burping the throttle entering the corners due to the wind chop as I would any boat. This is not necessary, the boat handles it great. Being a new boat, I was feeling it out. As you see at the start, my motor takes a couple of seconds to clear it's throat before it stages up. I am tickled with the way the boat runs and to have the chance to help in it's development. I can't wait to get a production boat.

 

[Carl Van Houten]

If you guys can get that kit out there for that price it will help get people into our sport. Great Job

 

[Kris Flynn]

Damm...for under 100bucks you have a great boat coming to the market!!

 

[LawlessMan]

Let the "lowest-cost/fastest time" competition begin! I stand by what Rod and Joe are trying to do with this setup..... make a boat/motor combo that costs about the same as a weeks worth of latte's (if you're into that), or a good sit-down dinner in a restaurant (remember them?). I am contributing with the necessary adapter and driver at a barebone price. I am also offering a special discount on everything else I sell, to any active member of any recognized organization (i.e. NAMBA, IMPBA,NAVIGA, etc.) who recommends a new customer to me, and to the new customer as well. I think that there are several ways to get new members into the sport, but the absolute best one is to recruit a friend, family member, or co-worker, or get a lapsed member to re-up. I challenge anyone in the hobby business to offer the same discount - call it the "Bring a Friend To (or Back To) Boating" discount. We have all suffered lost business from the effects of COVID 19 - in one way or another. I can sympathize with Joe at ZIPP for his personnel problems and any other small business, like mine, that has had to cut back on hours, reduce overhead and yet, go on paying electric, gas, water, tax, shipping (and the list goes on) bills while trying to stay afloat. Simply put, we need a new business model that strongly encourages new business built on established customers' recommendations of our products and services. We cannot just continue with the "If I offer it for sale, they will come" approach. Every company has something unique to offer - specialty items or services that no one else makes or offers. This is what we need to capitalize on to get the hobby back to a sustainable level. Meanwhile, it will do us all some good to take a look at what we are offering and see what, if anything we can do a little better. Constant back-and-forth arguments about small differences between this or that only work against everyone involved. If you think you can make a better mousetrap, I say, go ahead and make one. If you can't do that, find one you love and tell everyone about it. A lot of businesses who were formerly "bitter rivals" have found ways to work together during this ongoing situation, and those that have will emerge better off for it after the dust settles. Think about it. "Food for thought", as Rod says.

 

[Eric Bourlet]

I'm excited by the new boat. It was fun running with Mark driving the prototype and me my Lynx to see what a brand new boat had. We were both running NAMBA legal Stock OPC OS .21xm motors. My understanding is that the cowl of the prototype will most likely be changed. The prototype was able to run in both race water as well as chop and wind just as well as my Lynx. I like the way the Prototype transitions similar to the Lynx as it allows the motor to stage , as well as run in windy conditions. Great Job Rod ,but would expect no less as long as you have been involved in designing boats especially Tunnel hulls. It's fun to see a different approach to hull design accomplish similar results in ride stability at race speed and conditions. I hope this will get more boats to the races.

 

[Geraghty]

Thanks guys......all is going well......
I believe we are down to picking the fly crap out of the pepper concerning this design.....
Yes the cowl is going to be changed.....The cowl on the prototype is a Dumas 3.5 cowl.....
I used that cowl because it was inexpensive , readily available and it covered the hole and covered all the junk in the center of the boat....
That cowl was just a way to get the boat on the water and run to see what we had.....It did its job...lolol
But shazaam.....that cowl spot lighted a couple of aero problems that when addressed the boat will run much better....
If it hadn't been for that particular cowl we never would have seen the cowl aero problems and are rectifying them......
We also learned something about cowls and how much they disturb the boats aero package.....I never knew how much it disturbed the aero...
We are still testing but everything continues to be lookin' good......
Hopefully Covid will settle down and Zipp can dedicate more time to the production boats construction program requirements.......
These are challenging times , to say the least......