Got in the new Aquacraft SV27

[PropNut]

I don't have one, but seems like you are expecting alot from a RTR. I know Mike had some to do with it, but Geez it's a RTR.

All the best.

Ray

 

[Pagemaster]

Being that the strut is described as an "adjustable strut", I don't think its too much asking that its adjustable.

I will be running two of them tomorrow as long as weather and football permits. I will post some video.

 

[scott7772]

It's not a matter of expecting too much, if a boat is advertised as having an adjustable strut than it should have an adjustable strut regardless of whether it's RTR or custom.

 

[scott7772]

I don't have one, but seems like you are expecting alot from a RTR. I know Mike had some to do with it, but Geez it's a RTR.

All the best.

Ray

Believe me, I don't mean to be critical. I like the boat. I think is a great idea and a wonderful concept and hopefully fixing the issue is as easy as moving the cells forward in the hull, but if not it will require doing something to make the strut adjustable. IMO as it is it is extremely unstable and when mixing a brushless motor, that needs to be driven at full throttle most of the time to avoid overheating mishaps, with a boat that is unstable at 30+ MPH bad things are going to happen. Like I said before I think it is a great concept, a quality hull with custom aluminum hardware and a brushless motor that stock will do 30+ MPH. What more could you ask for.

 

[Pagemaster]

We removed two pieces of the battery tray. And added a long 2" piece of velcro so we can play and tweak the cog.

 

[Grimracer]

Racers,

Are you saying that you can not move the strut up and down vertically? if so no you can not. Also Doug, can you let me know if when the bolts are removed that you can adjust (tweak) the strut up and down.. Is it the bolts that might be in the way? I have many hours on this setup and mine to this point have given me at least 1/32" up or down (tilt).

Also.. it not this strut but rather the strut/stuffing tube system that we use in nitro boating. Any good hydro strut and the stuffing tube set as it is in the SV24. Hope you understand.

Keep me posted

Grim

...

 

[Raydee]

I think the boat looks great for the money and I am planning on picking one up for my girlfriend to play around with soon.

 

[drobie]

I don't have one, but seems like you are expecting alot from a RTR. I know Mike had some to do with it, but Geez it's a RTR.

The praise outweighs the constructive feedback by about 20-1.

This boat is so far ahead of any other RTR on the market that its laughable. Hopefully, Grim has heard that message from us.

However, I hope feedback will continue.

Grim, to be more specific....

The strut adjustments that the manual shows in the right column of page 5 cannot be done without bending the brass stuffing tube. Bending a brass tube that hasn't been annealized takes quite a bit of force, more than I care to exert on the strut.

 

[drobie]

Just got back from the pond.

These are observations, not criticisms.

First of all, the water was a bit rough (for Lake Marion)...as rough as it gets here. Winds in mid-teens out of the NE (11:00 from the driver's stand for those that have been here).

33.6 on the GPS. Might have gone higher, but I had to back off at the end of the straights because the boat got so squirrelly. It wanted to fly off the water and was rocking side to side. Behaving like it was over propped or overpowered.

It turns well in both directions, obviously better to the right than left but no trouble negotiating the "M" Course middle buoy.

I wanted some way to settle the nose down. Nothing I could do pondside except move the batts forward. That made it worse.

Again, the strut couldn't be angled down at all to drop the nose. The bottom of the front end of it out-of-the-box fits tight against the transom. There is nowhere to go. A file or belt sander fixes that. Just trim the 1/16" extension on the front of the barrel part of the strut.

I was wishing for trim tabs that are more adjustable. The stock stainless ones are rock solid, but in trying to bend them, I got worried I was going to rip a hole in the transom the size of the inside mounting plate. I was also wondering if they were wide enough.

I'm going to make some trim tabs that are adjustable with a screw and wider (but use the same mounting holes) to see if that helps the stability.

So Grim, what do you do to get it to run flat out around an 1/8th mile oval?

 

[Pagemaster]

We ran ours yesterday also. I didnt get a gps run, but it was faster than another boat I ran yesterday that went 28 on gps. Our two boats exhibited the same minor tuning problems. Moving the batteries about 1/2 forward and bending the tabs did help. When bending the tabs two pliers will help. One to hold the tab closest to the transom and the other to bend the tab down. This will help take the pressure off the transom. We will be replacing the stock tabs with screw adjustable tabs. I also got to test a 2 blade carbon prop. I didnt have the size thats equivalent to a 440, so the boat was a tab slower than stock, but shot up on plane and handled better. I will test again his Wednesday.

 

[Darin Jordan]

We ran ours yesterday also. I didnt get a gps run, but it was faster than another boat I ran yesterday that went 28 on gps. Our two boats exhibited the same minor tuning problems. Moving the batteries about 1/2 forward and bending the tabs did help. When bending the tabs two pliers will help. One to hold the tab closest to the transom and the other to bend the tab down. This will help take the pressure off the transom. We will be replacing the stock tabs with screw adjustable tabs. I also got to test a 2 blade carbon prop. I didnt have the size thats equivalent to a 440, so the boat was a tab slower than stock, but shot up on plane and handled better. I will test again his Wednesday.

Excellent feedback you guys... We seem to be on the track to building a nice list of updates for SV27 II...

Or at the very least... a good list of "allowable modifications" for the new "spec"... (quickly spiraling away from "out of the box"... isn't it? :huh: ) class...

 

[Pagemaster]

But all the core items are all there Darin.

By the way the prop on the Supervee is almost identical to a x440 Octura metal prop. Not sure what the supervee prop is made from, but its pretty stiff. Would be a nice test prop, especially for the price.

 

[Darin Jordan]

OK guys... I got mine today, and because of how I am... it'a almost completely disassembled on my workbench before even hitting the water...

Overall... VERY nice place to start...

I do, however, think it needs some tinkering to make it a RELIABLE race boat... Just a few things, mostly in the driveline, that would result in a failure sooner or later...

I'm taking pictures EVERY step of the way, and will put together a "tip sheet" with photos of exactly what I think should be tweaked in order for this to be a viable FE race boat that will operate relatively trouble free, perform well, and be FUN! I don't think it will be a major cost at all to upgrade, just require a few tweaks here and there to make it "right"...

Having taken appart the strut, I see now what people are talking about... The stuffing tube IS The support for the sleeve bearing... You could run the boat without the blue outer strut piece on there at all...

Looking at it, I think what I'm going to do is to trim the stuffing tube off about 1/4" out of the hull, then take the leftover piece and trim another 1/4" or so off the end of it... Then I'm going to secure it into the strut housing and make it part of that piece... That will be more along the lines of a Speedmaster or similiar "stinger" style strut... The sleeve bearing will still fit in as it came, but the supporting brass will no longer be attached to the hull...

Then, I'm going to run a new piece of teflon the ENTIRE length of the assembly up to the motor... There should then be ample flexability to adjust at the transom...

HOWEVER... you'll note that the strut will only angle down so far, because it hits the transom..... I would appear that the strut assembly was built with a FLAT, perfectly VERTICAL transom in mind... This hull, however, has a slightly angled transom, extending slightly further back at the base than at the top... I think this is taking up some of the travel that would otherwise be there...

A quick clearancing in a sander at the base of the strut should take care of this...

Now, we have to be careful, because I think the brass would act as some additional, and considerable, lateral rigidity to the strut... The mount seems pretty solid, so I think it will be alright...

I have more to say and to do, but I'll have to get back to it later... Trim tabs and a new flex shaft and coupler are also definately in order, and I'm not sure that the turn fin placement is quite right... Isn't out at the chine like I would prefer it be... Might be alright on this hull, but it's something to consider...

Please note... this is a VERY nice hull... it's TRUE, solid, and well made... Oh, and the wood in mine does appear to have been water proofed... It's a nice package...

I just think it's going to take some tweaking to make it "right"... Perhaps Grim can take some notes and, maybe suggest the changes we discuss for the second round of this hull... SuperVee 27 II...

More to come... and pics...

__________________

 

[Darin Jordan]

Hey Guys... and Grim... just thought I'd post a quick update...

I opened up the holes in the stock trim tabs to 11/64", added some washers to the stock screws, and that was enough to get them to slide up to just above the bottom of the transom... Also found that they would adjust fine with careful, steady, and slowly applied force when gripped tightly in a set of pliers... Do NOT go by the transom when it comes to determining "neutral" or as a reference point... It's NOT perpendicular to the keel-line... I used a straight-edge along the bottom and set the tabs to neutral, which makes them look pretty bent down...

For the strut, as promised, I left the brass in tact. I clearanced the strut housing where it meets the transom, leaving about a 3/16" or so gap between the housing and the transom. I replaced the metric strut bolts with some 6-32 stainless socket-head cap screws and nyloc nuts with washers... These are slightly smaller than the stock metric stuff, but allow easier adjustment with my normal wrenches... Additionally, the slightly smaller diameter allows a little more adjustment.

I sincerely believe that adjustment of any degree is simply NOT going to be possible with the factory flex cable... the stub extends almost into the hull and is RIGHT in the areas of the brass tubing that would need to bend/flex inorder for any movement in the strut to occur... I made a new .150 flex cable with a standard Octura 3/16" stub shaft, and with it installed, there seems to be fairly free adjustability... not sure why they decided to use such a LONG stub shaft.

I also replaced the stock coupler with an Octura unit, which necessitated extending the flat in the output shaft some. I also took about 1/8" or so from the end of the output shaft, which gave me a comfortable amount of clearance between the coupler (stock or otherwise) and the stuffing tube... That part should be good to go now...

Using the boxed end of an Open-end/boxed-end wrench of an appropriate size, I was able to carefully leverage the strut down a good distance... Using a straight edge along the keel again, I have a slight downward angle on it now. This is going to be as far as it can go in stock trim... It looks, on the onset, like it should be more than enough, but we'll see...

I'll have it all back together tonight and ready to go... So basically, it looks like it will be completely stock with the exception of the flex shaft, coupler, and RX... Everything else will be as delivered, though slightly optimized...

Saturday should be a good test of how this will perform in nearly RTR trim...

If this is all it takes to make this a viable race boat... then it's well worth the time and money! If it weren't for the LONG stub shaft on the stock flex cable, one wouldn't need to change a THING to get this in the show... Just slightly tweak a couple of key components to fit better and you are good to go... Maybe Grim can get the Aquacraft people to open the clearances up in the trim tab holes to 11/64" or so, and then they could be alighned without any mods at all...

I'll report more after Saturdays race...

Thanks again Grim for getting this thing to market!

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

Ran my SV 27 for the first time this afternoon. I didn't do anything to the boat. I just charged the batteries and ran it. It ran really well. Run time was about 7 minutes. Only had one set of batteries so I didn't have an opportunity to try some of my other 3 bladed props.

I did blow the water cooling line off the rudder. I'd recommend using a small wire tie to clamp the tube to the fitting on the rudder.

JD

 

[Andrewg]

Darin

Just a thought - on crackerbox they used to run a shaft with the stub going all the way to the motor. Could the lack of adjustment here be why a 3-blader is recommended. Is the hull responsive to prop work or do you figure a spec prop would be good - graupner do cf 3 bladers...

Also in C/box hook induced in the bottom of the hull and little fillets of ca etc on the trailing edge of the hull were used to manage ride issues and get the performance up....

 

[Darin Jordan]

Darin

Just a thought - on crackerbox they used to run a shaft with the stub going all the way to the motor. Could the lack of adjustment here be why a 3-blader is recommended. Is the hull responsive to prop work or do you figure a spec prop would be good - graupner do cf 3 bladers...

Andrew... From the reports Steve V. (Pagemaster) has posted... it sounds like the hull is responsive to prop changes... Without much ability to adjust the strut... he got 36MPH out of it with an X642 prop and older batteries...

All reports are that it gets REALLY loose at speed... Sounds like my DH Mono... but I win a lot of races with it!

Honestly, this is an amazing package overall... I think the stub shaft is a design flaw or mis-communication of manufacturers, because it interferes with allowing the brass to bend as designed... The stub simply interferes with any movement...

Basically, the only real thing that I modified on mine is to replace the flex shaft and to clearance the strut housing to allow it to be moved down through it's designed range... Fired it up on the bench this evening and it's SMOOOTH as silk!

Racing it Saturday in P-Mono, so we'll see how I do... I'm very optimistic that this combo will make a GREAT entry level race boat... Someone comes to your club race, get's interested... Send them to the hobby shop and tell them to go pick one up... they have 1/2 hour before the race starts!

 

[drobie]

Trim tabs at neutral takes out the looseness. But it's difficult to adjust them unless they are off the boat in a vice.

Yes, another prop would probably have an impact but IMO, that kind of tweaking is why we have No Step's, Dark Horses, EV's and Delta Force's.

The more I run this boat stock, the better I like it stock.

I understand there is some issue with flex cables. Mine is OK but a clubmate has one that's soldered out of alignment by several degrees (like Darin's).

I hope that is addressed.

 

[Darin Jordan]

Bottom line for me is this...

GREAT spec boat (with the exception of the flex cable design, and the interference of the strut housing at the transom making it impossible to adjust downward) that can easily be upgraded with a few bolt ons to make it a decent P-Mono or P-Offshore boat...

Here is the post I put on the RR forum, including a video link that shows the boat in action:

I'll see if I can highlight everything I found... but here's my overall impression: FUN, FUN, FUN! GO BUY ONE OF THESE!!

Morning practice: I put the SV into the water stock, with a set of last years GP3300 race batteries... Pretty much did what everyone elses does... cavitates for about 5-10 feet, then pops up and goes... Felt like driving an LSH... fairly stable until the end of the straights, but mine was flying nicely out of the water... (running loose) most of the way down the straights... My strut is set to just a TAD below neutral and the trim tabs are flat...

Bring it in, swith out the stock prop for another stock prop that I had detounged a fair amount. I think the stock prop has an issue in that it's leading edges are FLAT (don't curve gently into the hub) and BLUNT (NOT sharp in the least... about a 1/32" or so flat wall hitting the water...)...

With the detounged stock prop, the boat got on a plane much quicker and was visibly faster in the straights... to the point where it would start to do the chine-walking motion about 2/3rds down the straight... Calmed it down a tad in the turns, but because of the extra speed, the turn fin seemed to be letting go at the slightest lump in the water...

SO, racing begins...

Heat 1 - P-Mono: This is shown in the video below. I put in a set of good IP3800 cells and sent it out with the detounged stock prop. Otherwise, it's stock, with the exception of the driveshaft replacement that I've already talked about. As you can see in the video, batteries make a BIG difference! Woke right up...

You'll notice that this motor makes a WIERD sound... almost tubine like or like a gear drive... Kind of cool actually....

I had no trouble running with the group... and was cleanly in second place, behind Scott Bickford no less... The boat at speed had a strong tendancy to want to roll about the keel, walking from chine-to-chine... Determined to see what it was going to do... I NEVER lifted... just kept it throttle down and hung on... The boat gets out of shape pretty badly in the turns... I'll tell you why in a moment... Otherwise, it's PLENTY fast and has a kool ride attitude... As you see in the video, it will keep you in the hunt in P-Mono, at a club level anyhow, pretty much out of the box...

The fun lasted for about 1 1/2 laps, when the hull rolling got the best of it and I gained some style points before ending up upside down...

P-Mono, Heat two: Sorry, but I didn't get this on video, but here's what happend...

In trying to keep changes minimal, the ONLY thing I did this time round was to replace the stock turn fin with a Fullers Carbon Fiber fin (Available from Fullers, Offshoreelectrics.com, etc.). Everything else was the same...

This time, it would set right down in the turns, only rolling every now and then in the heavier wakes, etc... It even corrected the straight line rolling a tad... I got a good start, and finished second to Scott in a 5-boat heat... clearly out in front of the rest of the boats... Keep in mind that the REALLY fast P-boats (like Scotts) are clearly faster, but I was able to stay on the lead lap with some clean driving...

P-Mono, Heat Three: The water got rougher, but I wanted to see if I could find some limits. The ONLY change this time was to replace the modified stock prop with a Prather 220. I knew that Steve had tried the X642, but mine's at the bottom of the lake in Monroe, so this was a good alternate.

Here's what I'll say about this change.... HOLY COW! Even Brian came over and said, with enthusiasm, "that boat looks pretty fast", or something to that effect. Also, this REALLY calmed down the torque rolling, almost to the point that it wasn't there... I was ROCKETING in second place behind Scott, but MUCH closer this time to the point where I was challenging him for the lead...

This lasted about 2-laps, then the back of the boat popped out of the water sharply and forced the nose in for about a 4-second submarine trip, winding up with me upside down in turn 2...

I got the boat back and ran it around for 2-more laps, then brough it in... Temps were REALLY good... The motor NEVER came in over 116-degrees, and the batteries felt like they were just off the charger... about 110 at the most...

After the races, I decided to take it for one more run... This time, with an X645 Prop! The batteries this time were some GP3700s from last season... They were a little flat... Still, the boat was much faster than with the stock prop, and didn't have the chine roll exibitied previously. I ran it around for 5-laps, brought it in and checked the temps... Motor: 116, Batteries: 106, ESC: 88... WOW...

There you go.

The prop on this hull makes it a rocker and roller. The turn fin on this hull is simply TOO SMALL... The hull is too long and the turn fin let's go in the turns...

Otherwise, this is an AWESOME package... Go guy one!!

Here's the video (STOCK boat, with the exception of a detounged stock prop): SuperVee 27 in P-Mono, First Heat

 

[drobie]

The prop on this hull makes it a rocker and roller. The turn fin on this hull is simply TOO SMALL... The hull is too long and the turn fin let's go in the turns...

Otherwise, this is an AWESOME package... Go guy one!!

I no longer have an issue with the stock prop. Trim tabs in neutral take out the rock and roll.

Mine turns on a dime with the stock turn fin and I haven't given changing it a thought.