Finally sucsess

[chargerrc]

I built my first rigger about 6 moths ago based off of the keps rigger plans. But I could never get the thing to run, I was begining to think the wood came from some burial ground and was cursed. I tried 3 different engines different pipes, different fuel tanks, different hardware, props, everything. I would toss it in the water it would go a few feet and die, the classic to lean situation, except the needle, engine changes or tank changes would not fix it. I finally changed the radio, and go figure instant sucess, the throttle servo was glitching closed right after launch, but would work perfectly on land at any range. I don't race, I just play around in a local pond, this was the first rigger I have ever seen in person and did not know what to expect. I am not sure how fast it was going, but my knees were shaking when I brought it in. It ate up my little pond in no time and was just to scary to try and tune it in that area. I will bring it to a larger pond this weekend and try some different props, and pipe length.It now has a Go 3 port .28 in it turning an H-5 prop. After all the fighting, I was amazed that on the first sucessfull run it actually performed and did not seem to be to far out of whack. So thank you people at Intlwaters, I could not have done it without you. I just wish I would have found a thread about a bad reciever.

 

[Chris Wood]

congrats.. there is nothing better than a rigger.

now.. learn to work on props.. more and more props props props..

they are 80% of the boat.. motor and boat is the other 20%

if you have a good prop and motor program you can make a 2 x 4 fast..

you will have alot of screw up's BUT once you get one that is right. you feel great about it and you know what you did to it yourself

keep us posted

chris

 

[Niklas Edlund]

I built my first rigger about 6 moths ago based off of the keps rigger plans. But I could never get the thing to run, I was begining to think the wood came from some burial ground and was cursed. I tried 3 different engines different pipes, different fuel tanks, different hardware, props, everything. I would toss it in the water it would go a few feet and die, the classic to lean situation, except the needle, engine changes or tank changes would not fix it. I finally changed the radio, and go figure instant sucess, the throttle servo was glitching closed right after launch, but would work perfectly on land at any range. I don't race, I just play around in a local pond, this was the first rigger I have ever seen in person and did not know what to expect. I am not sure how fast it was going, but my knees were shaking when I brought it in. It ate up my little pond in no time and was just to scary to try and tune it in that area. I will bring it to a larger pond this weekend and try some different props, and pipe length.It now has a Go 3 port .28 in it turning an H-5 prop. After all the fighting, I was amazed that on the first sucessfull run it actually performed and did not seem to be to far out of whack. So thank you people at Intlwaters, I could not have done it without you. I just wish I would have found a thread about a bad reciever.

I agree with Chris, there's few things as exiting to drive as a performing rigger...

Nice to hear you got you KEP's running! Me like.

Those type of issues are very difficult to solve - most people would just put it on the shelves I think if that would happen but Im happy you didnt!

Start to drive it a lot and then some more and also under different conditions and take it step by step further forward... Is it a stock H5? Then there is a lot more in it if you tuned it well but I have no experience of the Go engines so no help there...

BTW, may I ask what radiosystem it was that "glitched"!?

Keep us noted about your progress!

/Niklas

 

[chargerrc]

It's a stock H5. The controller was a Futaba 3PM FM, the reciever was a new Hitec HFS-03. The same reciever and controller work fine in either my 1/8th buggy and 10'th scale truck it just would not work close to the water. I think it was the reciever because it is fairly cheap. I just bought a new Futaba 3PKS with 3 R603FF recievers to convert most of my stuff to 2.4 GHZ. The radio that worked in it was a buddies old JR FM radio and reciever. I have quite a few props to try, a stock H-6 a zippkits 1450 mod a stock 1445 and 4 differnt Prather props. I will probably end up making a new tub because I didn't know what I was doing and put the rudder linkage holes in the wrong places, I had to end up putting a bend in my steering linkage to get full movment out of the rudder. I also made a few extra holes for engine mounts for an OPS .40 that I tried in it. Niklas thanks for the plans they were very clear and easy to understand, I doubt it is exactly like you designed it, but it is close. I am working on a cowl now, I built a Lexan vacuum molding rig to try.

 

[chargerrc]

I joined the Voodoo Boat club in Louisiana today, where I ran the Keps and myself around bouy's for the first time. Man those bouy's jump in front of you fast. The boat ran great, it was fast in the straights, and turns, everybody said it was running between 65 and 70 mph and handeling great. I'm still running a stock H5 sharpend and balanced. I think I will leave the prop alone for now, I need to concentrate on making it around the bouy's without hitting them. I can't say enough about the hospitality I recieved from the people at the Voodoo boat club, I had one of the best times I can remember in long time. The club is mostly gas but they welcomed me and my little nitro boat.