I would use foam or balsa inbetween the ribs. But you can leave that till last. I think you will be surprised how quickly the weight adds up once everything is inside.
But wouldn't that be adding extra buoyancy to the bottom of the ship, causing her to heel more? Whereas sealer would help heeling. Beaver
No, not necessarily. The center of gravity should already be low enough for it to not be an issue unless you are placing weight up high in the hull (heavy ss, solonoids mounted to the deck, batteries sitting high, etc). Adding weight to the hull to compensate isnt the right solution in ship that size imho.
" I'm wondering if I should use self leveling concrete sealer for in between the ribs." Way too heavy try, Poly Iso foam from Lowes or Home depot, easy to cut and glue with epoxy.
Wouldn't foam add extra buoyancy once the ship starts taking on water and begins to sink? I have always wondered this.
I'm still working on Suffren. I installed the strut for the middle shaft a few days ago. Now I'm wondering what all needs to be waterproofed other than the servos and the main motor ESC? I'm also wondering how to do it. Tuggy did a tutorial for the servos, but the ESC and anything else I'm clueless on what to do. Should I fill the ESC with epoxy? This is the ESC for the drive motor. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11742 Also, do I need to waterproof anything on my pump ESC? http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=6460 Thanks, Beaver
Coulda sworn that I did a tutorial on the drive ESC a while back... For it, you undo the four tiny screws that hold the plastic cover on, and pull it off (it comes off really easily). Sit the cover on a piece of wax paper, open side up. Fill it up about 75% full with West, then press the ESC down onto it. Some epoxy will goop out the sides. Replace the 4 tiny screws, and leave it sitting there overnight. It's done. For the pump esc, cut the black shrink tubing off of it, and paint the heck out of the thing with epoxy (also sitting on wax paper). Do it twice being as thorough as humanly possible both times. Done.
I searched, but couldn't find it. Will the epoxy that I have at the moment work? It's that stuff from auto stores. And should I put some sort of shrink wrap back on the pump ESC after it's waterproofed? And what about the receiver? I imagine that would need waterproofed, but how do I do it? Thanks, Beaver
It should work, for the car esc, there should be a rubber ring between the green plastic casing & the esc board. You can probably throw it out. I have the 60A version of that esc and I just potted it with epoxy per tugboats suggestion and it works fine, it just pushes the rubber ring out when the epoxy cures. So long as the auto store stuff is fairly thin & can flow inbetween all the parts it should be okay. You do not need to put shrink wrap back onto the pump esc after it has been waterproofed. As for the RX, not sure what kind you have, but the one I had, had a plastic case which I just popped off, and carefully painted the boards/components with epoxy, being VERY careful not to put any epoxy on the pins where the servo(s) or esc(s) plug into, then I put the case back on.
I don't have a RX yet. Just making plans for later. Probably be something like this. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8991__Turnigy_9X_9Ch_Transmitter_w_Module_8ch_Receiver_Mode_1_v2_Firmware_.html The epoxy from the auto store is pretty thin. It's about the consistency of warmish honey, so it should work. Beaver
Making some progress today. Waterproofed the drive ESC, and put the first coat of epoxy on the pump ESC. Glue is drying on the battery bracket I built. Also built two new rudders. I'm also checking everything over on the boat making sure she's legal everywhere. Beaver
Whew, got a lot done today, which is good because I'm getting a cold and am not feeling like doing anything. So I started out with water proofing the two ESC's that I have. It went pretty well. Took lots of photos, and am thinking of making a tutorial. In the midst of checking everything to make sure it was within the rules I noticed this. That is the subdeck/cap-rail where I cut the subdeck and glued it back together. The width is about a 1/16 over 3/8". Is this something I should worry about? Should I sand it down to required width? I also got to make a battery bracket that I hope should work. Should the bracket sit above the ribs to allow water flow to the WC? Beaver
Water should flow yes sand your repair job down in a beveled manner such that the outside edge is the 3/8" required
Ok, thanks, Nick. I was just wondering, do the little canister like thingys on the ESC's need to be waterproofed. (I'm not sure what they are, capacitors?) Beaver
Probably capacitors, probably just paint the electrical leads where they go into the cap so no shorting can likely occur.
Put the last coat of epoxy on the ESC's tonight. Also used the extra epoxy to glue the rudders together. Before I did this I had a little problem. I had no heated workspace except the house, and I can't do anything in there because the epoxy stinks. So I came up with an idea that would allow me to leave the stuff in the house to cure. Solution, plastic bag. I put the epoxy on, stuffed everything into the bag, sealed it, and everything goes into the house to cure. Reminds me of that saying, "necessity is the mother of invention."
Photo of the curing "bag". I have a piece of wax paper on the bottom of the bag. In the back I have two clamps holding the two rudders together as the dry. The ESC the the one clamp looks to be leaning on is the pump ESC. The other one is the drive ESC being held up-side-down up by a pair of pliers.
