What was the failure mode for your float? Extra buoyancy is rarely the solution, but it sounds like you're making a few other changes as well.
You have a leak. It's also possible that your 'back feed' is clogged. Check and make sure the gas is flowing freely. Flowing water doesn't like sudden 90 degree turns. -Also- Get better switches: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/CK/8121SYW4GE?qs=%2BxTWGDfWz01GxLBPs5u9GQ== Note: Not trying to be critical, trying to help, in a hurry, need to sleep soon.
I need to better clearance the hole that the float comes up and out of as I believe it's getting hung up slightly. The foam used in the float didn't expand quite right anyway, I must've messed up the mixture or something, hence the do-over in that dept. Pretty sure the stern gun issue is it's big tube feed into the cannon and big tube up to the back of the breach but Small tube feeding the back of the magazine. Need to either downsize the breach feed to Small tube as well or upsize the mag feed to Big tube as well. The pumps in the test buckets in the garage performed as follows: Iron Duke pump, basically same as Bart but no 90: 16s gallon. Bart pump, with 90: 18s gallon. Carl Rodney pump: 16s gallon I think that a lot of the performance loss is in the boat. I'm going to be doing some in-boat testing today after I patch the holes.
Not one to waste time, spent all today testing pumps and rethinking the internal layout of the boat. Broke out most of the water channeling from the drive motors all the way forward to the front deck step. This allowed me to rearrange the internal components in a way that: Gets the pumps to the lowest physical spot in the boat. Originally I had poured filler into the boat to try and get the pumps as far apart as possible starboard and port. This arrangement proved to be less than satisfactory. The pumps are now on the center line one of them just aft of the drive motors and the other 6 in farther forward. Be able to access the batteries and the bottles without removing the front deck. I probably will need to rethink where the spool for the float is mounted as well now that the internals have so drastically changed. But I think this new configuration will be much more easily serviced between sorties.
Just as a "proof of life", I am not dead or missing. I have been a bit busy with life since about April. This Bart was actually a build for someone else, which was delivered in April. After that, I found myself helping a local kid rebuild the engine in his truck which turned my garage/boat workshop into a massive mess until very recently. I wasn't able to prep anything for NATs, I haven't been able to seriously build or devote any time to boats. Now that the garage is emptied out from the Ford 4.0 V6 that had exploded in it, I can start *thinking* about doing boats again. Since the Bart pictured in this thread was for someone else, I figured it's time to pull the curtain back on my Bart 2.0: This is where she sits as of now. This picture is actually back from May. It's actually minimally farther along. I've glassed all the exterior surfaces and cut out the deck hatches, but may re-cut the decks out of ABS sheet for the meme quality of the 100% plastic boat. Yes, the hull is 3d printed. Do not adjust your television set. You aren't seeing things. You heard that right. No idea how she's actually going to work in service. Might break in half the first time it gets rammed.
Big boats need big batteries. This is a custom built 14.8v 31AH pack. A "normal" 8ah 11.1v zippy lipo is shown for comparison. The first pack was built with an XT90 connector which I quickly realized wasn't going to cut it. That pack was rebuilt, and all further packs will be built with QS8 connectors. Considering these batteries are only for the largest dual pump ships in my fleet (Bart and maybe a future 1920 SoDak) I'm not concerned with their unique connectors. Balance plugs are automotive Deutsch connectors, which in my experience are extremely durable, weather resistant, and easy to build/rebuild if necessary. Yes I need to clean my workbenches.
View: https://youtu.be/UsuYxFBHsiQ?t=111 I kid, sort of. Lipos, especially in that quantity scare me. Don't let Tom Tanner get his hands on them...
Oh, well that's all right then. My massive brick of LifePO4's agrees. Love those things. Edit: Why not add a picture of my own fire hazard...
