Polyurethane and polyester resin is a bad mix, the urithane prevents the resin from hardening, keep in mind. West System is more expensive but does not STINK, polyester stinks and the vapors stick to any synthetic fabric in the area and will stink for quite a while (the wife will know you used it). I use West System and it holds up very well, worth the added cost. One issue with it is that the hardener tends to darken with age but that doesn't effect the strength or cure.
This is my current plan for my rib setup. I plan to keep the enemy to the stern at all times, so very little is penetratrable looking from the stern forwards. I am using 3/8" ribs. This is not complete yet, as I have to track down a 45 degree angle.
I would suggest spacing the ribs out more evenly. Having them that close together won't help. The only time you will take damage is if you let somebody get up alongside you.
You have to make them a minimum distance apart, IMO way too many in the stern. Your bow is way more vunerable to serious damage, I would space them out a bit. 1/4" gives you more ribs to make the curves of the balsa easier, jjust a thought.
I decided that I definitely had too many ribs in the stern, even for how I plan to use it. This is how it is now. Also, when I checked the IRCWCC rules, they said that ribs only need to be 1" away from the center of one rib to the next. I still plan to remeasure the stern ribs though.
I recommend restarting with even spacing over the whole length, and then consider putting more ribs in the bow as was mentioned before. Boats rarely take significant damage in the stern no matter how they are driven. Also, as a rookie, the 'enemy' will likely choose where he wants to be, though driving the ship like a cruiser will help. If you need a 45 degree angle, you can use an index card or a piece of a cardboard box, then measure an equal distance from one corner along two edges and make a mark. Draw a line connecting the marks, cut along the line, and now you have an easy and adaptable 45 degree angle.
Why should I be worried about bow damage when most of the time I will be hopefully pointing my stern at the enemy? I don't really know much about strategy in this hobby, but to me it makes sense to have more ribs in the stern because that's where my guns are.
Defense, not offense. Most will be shooting at your bow, shooting at your stern is a waste of shots. Probably you are thinking of a 1 on 1 scenario, truth is you will be facing multiple boats and those others will be going for the most surface area which happens to be your bow. Build it however you want and how you think it will turn out on the water, I will say the ones giving you advice have multiple seasons of battling and they really just want to see you do well and not get discouraged. You can never go wrong in evenly spaced ribs...
Most of this stuff is hard to type out, so hopefully some of this makes sense Reasons why boats get less damage in the stern than in the bow: 1) There is less freeboard (distance from the water to the deck) in the stern. This means that there is less penetrable area to shoot at, so if someone does shoot at the stern, they are more likely to hit the deck rim. This discourages people to shoot at the stern since it would be a wasted shot 2) The stern is more maneuverable than the bow. Based on the way ships move in the water, if you put the rudder over to one side, the stern will traverse side to side while the bow generally stays in the same place initially. Because of this, if someone is shooting at your stern, you can quickly move the stern away so you don't get hit, while if someone shoots the bow it is harder to get away. 3) Your boat won't have a stern sidemount, so you likely wont get into a 'stern on stern' engagement (when two boat approach each other stern first, then try to out jockey each other to get their stern sidemount along the side of the other boat). Reasons why bow damage is bad: 1) When you run away, the boat has a bow wave that puts water up higher on the sides. Also the force of the bow separating the water around the boat cause water to go into the holes at a faster rate. This is commonly results in 'driving the boat under.' This is one reason why heavily damaged boats generally stay stationary to try to stay afloat (also moving can shift water around inside) It's good that you are putting thought into your build, and posting about what you intend to do before you do it. In the big picture however, rib spacing doesn't really matter and wont determine how successful you are/how much fun you have. In my opinion, the things you should focus on for the first boat are: 1) Have a working pump, that you can turn on and off consistently. 2) Have a working propulsion system that is reliable 3) Have reliable electronics / good waterproofing (mainly the receiver, pump control, rudder, drive control, must be able to survive multiple sinks) Once 1-3 are complete, then try to have guns that shoot. Without any one of the three things above, guns don't matter I recommend watching some youtube videos of fast gun national battles to get a better idea about how things go on the water. Unfortunately not all advice you get will be 'good,' and it can be hard to sort out the good from the bad. Rookie retention is very important for the sustainability of this hobby, so most advice you get is worth taking. It's your boat, and as long as it's legal you can build it however you want.
As a final note, I took a picture of one of my boats after 1 weekend of battling. Notice the location of the patches, and that the boat took zero holes in the back 8 inches.
I now have two sets of these pieces. Could somebody tell me in what order all of these get assembled?
I'm pretty sure the top tube is the pump outlet. The bottom might be a smaller shaft for the non powered shafts? Do you have 2 long tubes, 2 short tubes, and one very short tube that has machining inside of it?
I already have the pump assembled, so I don't think that is the pump outlet. I do have the two short tubes, the two long tubes, and 4 very short, thicker tubes that might have been machined. I also have 2 very short tubes that fit over everything. The pieces interlock as shown here
This is how I think it fits together. The other tubes are for dummy props I think. Also, does somebody know what sort of tank I want to fill out of for CO2?
