looking good overall, I like the pirate flag. My Maru has machine screws coming up from the subdeck out the deck and wingnuts used to hold down the deck. This works well, but I'm always dropping the wingnuts and losing them. On my Derf I installed t-nuts in the underside of my subdeck, and made a poor-mans thumbscrew out of a wingnut, a washer and an appropriately sized machine screw. I get some hassle from other folk in my club about not being able to pull my deck off in 15 seconds, but it doesn't take all that long to undo and I have the tightest deck seal in the club that doesnt use blue-tape to achieve. I can remove the wing-nut-screws faster of the derf faster than i can reliably remove the wingnuts and not lose them from the maru. Also since I use a machine screw at the heart of it, a cordless screwdriver with a phillips head bit could be used to quickly unscrew and screw them.
I would move the pump outlet up to the main deck. On the sub deck it will occasionally get submerged. They do not work as well submerged. I have mine on the centerline now so it does not contribute to any list when it is going full stream. I have never had any luck with velcro underwater either. The adhesive always seems to let go. Nice looking ship! Ron Hunt
I have a hard pipe coming out of the pump housing that pokes through a hole at an edge between two removable decks, it is not really appropriate for your construction method with the flexible tubing. Mine allows removing the entire pump assembly including the outlet by just disconnecting the power leads, but I don't really like it. I would mount yours in a hole through the cross brace on the sub deck and pop a hole through the deck and superstructure above it. It should not impede deck removal that way. Ron Hunt
shake down sea trials, cool. a few things I use goop on my gear set screws. tighten them down and it should keep them from vibrating loose or getting lost. Make sure you have a flat spot on the shafts. I usually goop over the set screw, you can pick it out if needed and it keeps it from getting rusted servo in otter box, should have scotch coated board. If no scotch coat, maybe pack it with vasoline and tool dip it or something. Most boxes leak so expect it. Install blow hose so you can blow into it to see if it is sealed, seal with goop deck hold downs... I have 10/32nd (I think) brass machine screws coming up through the sub deck/deck and use the brass knurled nuts from Lowes to hold the deck down. Looks kind of nautical. magnets might work if gooped to deck, I goop them in the bottom of the ship's hull in the water channel to capture loose bb's nice job!
For my deck holddowns I use the little tabs that secure mirrors and window screens. You can get various types and sizes but they are extremely easy to install and work flawlessly. They can be adjusted to really clamp down or keep it just tight enough but not that you have to use all of your strength. They only take a minute to install. You don' t lose the screws or tabs as they arel always on deck. Their flat enough that bbs don't dislodge them. You can paint them to match the color of deck or background structure. They allow for rapid access to the internals.
You could leave the pump outlet in the same location you have it and just push it up through the hull some more. Putting 1/2" out of the deck should be more than enough if the water's that high you're sunk already. Just make sure and put some pump hose around the brass so it does not get dented by bbs.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll stop by the hardware store today and see what I find. I think I might go with what Ron recommended in moving the pump outlet to the cross brace because I noticed that the whole ship listed when it was pumping hard. I also did some testing to see where the otter box was leaking, and it was coming through the holes for the wires. I gooped a bunch of vaseline around the lid and holes for the wires. I filled up my work sink and left the box in for about ten minutes and it didn't leak at all.
How did you seal the wires into the box? The lid should be self sealing with the little gasket in it. Vasaline will get warm and melt durring the summer, no more water protection. You should have sealed the wire with the two part marine epoxy. Make sure it's not just over the wires but is into the plastic of the box too. Do the inside and out side. If that leaks drip some thin CA in there too. Some wire is too smooth to get glued in place, rough it up with sand paper first.
E-6000 adhesive works very well for sealing wires into lids of otter/pelican boxes. The stuff sticks to everything and is thin enough to fill in any gaps or cavities around the wires. E-6000 is available in the craft section of Walmart or in any arts and crafts store like Michaels.
That was the plan until the pool was filled with a bunch of bb holes. Don't ask. As for the dry box, I think what the problem is I didn't get the glue worked in the holes for the wires good enough. That and there are a few extra holes that I put in the wrong spot, and instead of using thick epoxy to seal them, I used some epoxy/putty. How should I run the servo wires into the box? Do I run them through the lid? Or do I have to make some holes like the other wires?
You have to make a hole for it if you are using and Otter box. I typicaly put a 8"-12" extention into the box for the rudder servo. A 2nd one is needed if you are using an ESC. Put the wire in and seal it like the others. Good idea to sand around the hole then glue from both sides. Make sure it gets into the the plastic between the wire and the box. seal your "spare" holes the same way.
Has anyone ever used the Hakko FX-888 soldering station before? I bought a soldering gun to replace the cheapo soldering iron I had, and it's just to big and bulky, and I end up with crappy joints. It could just be that I still don't have the hang of soldering just yet, but I think a lot of it has to do with the gun itself. I did a little bit of research online and most people recommend using the Hakko FX-888 when it comes to rc. It's kinda expensive, but with how much soldering takes place on these ships, I think it's worth it. What would you guys recommend?
i've got a portable butane iron by Weller that I absolutely love, and a 60W plugin iron, also by weller, that I like. For anything those two cant handle I have a butane torch and a propane torch. Soldering is also one of those things that takes a good amount of practice.
11 years on and I still count my soldering as "average trending to crappy" most of the time. The key is to get enough heat and use good quality solder. It doesn't have to be pretty, just has to be strong. Also, using consistant wire helps. Try and find a good 14, 16, and 18 gauge wire and buy a big spool of it at the same time so you're not trying to solder all kinds of different types together. May make things slightly easier. Or its just my OCD acting up again...
Mike turned me on to E6000 at the Treaty conference. I highly recommend it. The light weight shelf liner blast shield on the Le Terrible wouldn't stick to anything, except E6000. On the Velcro adhesive not sticking: I used CA on the Kiroshima's blast shield attachments to good effect.
