New Outrigger

[BCS71]

My Dumas Hawk 3.5 came in to the shop today. Can't wait to get it and start building it. I already know what I'm putting in it and designing the paint job for it. What tools do I need or what would you recommend for building it? I have tons of wrenches, nut drivers, and other tools still from when racing RC cars but I know I'll need some tools for working with wood. Any special tips or tricks to building the boat? Also read on here that some of the wood will probably be split so what type of wood would you guys recommend replacing it with? I'm all excited to start building.

On another note, I just picked up a used boat on ebay to tinker with and work on. (primarily to get out there and run with the guys at the lake) It looked like too good a deal to pass up. What do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...y0%3D%26fvi%3D1

 

[boaterbill]

My Dumas Hawk 3.5 came in to the shop today. Can't wait to get it and start building it. I already know what I'm putting in it and designing the paint job for it. What tools do I need or what would you recommend for building it? I have tons of wrenches, nut drivers, and other tools still from when racing RC cars but I know I'll need some tools for working with wood. Any special tips or tricks to building the boat? Also read on here that some of the wood will probably be split so what type of wood would you guys recommend replacing it with? I'm all excited to start building.

On another note, I just picked up a used boat on ebay to tinker with and work on. (primarily to get out there and run with the guys at the lake) It looked like too good a deal to pass up. What do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...y0%3D%26fvi%3D1

If you didn't buy the kit from Gary @ G & M Models call him 630-279-2451 and he will mail you changes made to the instructions on building it. Also on the front hatch cover the wood grain is running lenghtwise, make new one and run the grain crosswise or the hatch will buckle over time if you don't change it.

Bill

 

[TomMoorehouse]

My Dumas Hawk 3.5 came in to the shop today. Can't wait to get it and start building it. I already know what I'm putting in it and designing the paint job for it. What tools do I need or what would you recommend for building it? I have tons of wrenches, nut drivers, and other tools still from when racing RC cars but I know I'll need some tools for working with wood. Any special tips or tricks to building the boat? Also read on here that some of the wood will probably be split so what type of wood would you guys recommend replacing it with? I'm all excited to start building.

On another note, I just picked up a used boat on ebay to tinker with and work on. (primarily to get out there and run with the guys at the lake) It looked like too good a deal to pass up. What do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...y0%3D%26fvi%3D1

If you didn't buy the kit from Gary @ G & M Models call him 630-279-2451 and he will mail you changes made to the instructions on building it. Also on the front hatch cover the wood grain is running lenghtwise, make new one and run the grain crosswise or the hatch will buckle over time if you don't change it.

Bill

throw out the boom tubes, turn fin and turn fin spar and get some from gary also.

I threw out almost all the wood for mine and just used them as templates

 

[Ron Olson]

You showed a link of a finished boat but if you are building a kit, get yourself a lot of clamps, all kinds of shapes and sizes.

If any wood looks iffy, make a new piece up. If it has the balsa sponson tops, replace those with lite ply.

A call to Gary is always worth the long-distance phone charges as every time that I've talked to him, I always hang up learning a lot of new things.

 

[Speed Jr.]

The Key to building the Hawk is big sanding blocks! Get some good sanding blocks or make your own. Make sure the angles are square and sharp. Gee, Ive built 4 Hawks from the kit and 2 from the templates. Do not glue the boom tubes into the sponsons like the directions tell you too. Use brass tubes in the sponsons for the Carbon Boom tubes to slide into and fasten with clamps(left sponson you can just use tape). So now you can use one tube strait through the hull to the sponson. Yeah, call Gary, we will hook you up with the carbon turn fin spar, and a C&D turn fin. Its well worth it. My advice: Do not mount the motor where it tells you too in the kit. Move the motormount as far forward as you can. The backplate of the motor should be as close to the rear boom mount as possible(within reason) This will move the CG forward. Yes, use cross-grain wood for top, bottom and latches. Not sure how serious of a racer you want to be with this, but Its worth Narrowing the center section to 3" to the inside walls(just cut all bulkheads, boom mounts, top and bottom will need to be cut too. Its worth it, but not needed. Other than that, just built as light as possible. Hope this helps and doesnt mean you have to do this stuff to it. Moving the motor further forward is a must and the brass tubes in the sponsons is too. Good luck, its a very fun build!!!

Larry Gempp Jr.

 

[Mark Stein]

Yep call Gary, He's the man

Mark

 

[BCS71]

Thanks for all the info guys. It's great to be able to have this great wealth of info in one place. I looked at the kit, and from what it apears that all the wood looks great and cut clean. (maybe new cutting dyes) I'll get a better look at it when I bring it home tomorrow. As for the boat I linked to, that is one I bought to get me going while I build this one. I do plan to race eventually once I get some practice and knowledge under my belt. Thanks again for all the info. BTW if anyone has some pictures of the mods they would be greatly appreciated. Esspecially of the sponsons.

 

[Bob Howard]

Here is a web site on the mods for the hawk, http://home.earthlink.net/~jpreusse/hawk/

Bob

 

[BCS71]

I've been buying today all the tools and hardware to start building the boat and it says to use 2- 4oz Sullivan FSS-4 tanks. My question is if I narrow the hull to 3" on the inside, the 2 tanks will not fit. What fuels tanks are you guys using? I've also been tosing around the idea of tapering the front of the boat down to about 2 inches or even smaller since I'm narrowing the hull anyways.

 

[Speed Jr.]

I've been buying today all the tools and hardware to start building the boat and it says to use 2- 4oz Sullivan FSS-4 tanks. My question is if I narrow the hull to 3" on the inside, the 2 tanks will not fit. What fuels tanks are you guys using? I've also been tosing around the idea of tapering the front of the boat down to about 2 inches or even smaller since I'm narrowing the hull anyways.

Powersurge made the perfect tank for 3" wide hawk. It was actually made for the Ninja but fits perfect in the hawk. Grim Racer (Mike Z.) makes um, there perfect. I wouldnt bother tapering the front, doesnt really do much in my mind except decrease lift maybe a tad.

Larry

 

[Krusty 181]

Hi , remember too when your building and painting think light, less is more .. its only a 3.5

dont go bezerk with the epoxy or filler

 

[BCS71]

I started building it and so far so good. What hardware are you guys using if you are narrowing the center hull? Obviously the engine mount will not fit. Looks like the hardware out back will not fit either without hitting.

 

[Speed Jr.]

I started building it and so far so good. What hardware are you guys using if you are narrowing the center hull? Obviously the engine mount will not fit. Looks like the hardware out back will not fit either without hitting.

Speedmaster small rubber isolated engine mount, speedmaster small hydro strut, speedmaster hydro mini rudder. Actually the recommended motormount for the hawk shoud be 3" wide, cause the kit gives you bulky spacers for it. Get the rubber wall mount, its lighter. You can get them with wholes tapped already for your engine.

Larry

 

[BCS71]

Thanks guys for all the information. Sorry for asking tons of questions. Just want to do it right the first time.

 

[BCS71]

Been building the hull and drilled the holes for the front sponsons and motor mount as the instructions said (drill at punch marks on the sides not the doublers). Well the motor mount holes line up perfectly but the sponsons hole do not at all. Is it suppose to be that way?

 

[Speed Jr.]

Been building the hull and drilled the holes for the front sponsons and motor mount as the instructions said (drill at punch marks on the sides not the doublers). Well the motor mount holes line up perfectly but the sponsons hole do not at all. Is it suppose to be that way?

AHHHH, Move the engine forward!!!! Leaving it where the kit tells you moves the COG too far back. Boat will never handle to its potential with the engine so far back, especially in the turns. How do the sponson holes not line up???

 

[BCS71]

I haven;t drill out the motor mount hole yet. Been waiting on the motor mount and engine to come in and then mock them up in the boat so I can get them placed right in the boat. The hole on the left side are closer together than the ones on the right and the left front hole is closer to the top.

 

[Speed Jr.]

I haven;t drill out the motor mount hole yet. Been waiting on the motor mount and engine to come in and then mock them up in the boat so I can get them placed right in the boat. The hole on the left side are closer together than the ones on the right and the left front hole is closer to the top.

Yeah, Somethings not right there. The holes should match up, they are going to be drilled out(up and down) anyways to allow for them to be adjusted. When you mount the boom clamps flat to the boom blocks, make sure the holes on the side are clear for them to penetrate. Then take a dremel and round out holes upward about 1/4" in front and 3/8" in rear. This will allow for all the travel youll ever need with the booms. Ad long as the tub is strait and the boom blocks are flat, go off of them, not the dimples on the side of wood.

Larry Jr.

 

[Krusty 181]

Make sure you have the tub sides in the right orientation , from memory its easy to have one upside down, then the sponson holes will not match up , you may have to check the parts list they give you , it should tell you which is the bottom of the tub side

make sure you check this now , dont just elongate the sponson holes , if you have one side piece up the wrong way it will all go horribly wrong when you start to put the tops and bottoms on

hope that makes sense

 

[BCS71]

The punch marks on the center hull sides were off cuz I drilled them exactly where they were marked and how the directions said and everything else lines up perfectly but the boom holes. The hull sides must have slipped in the machine that makes the punch marks for the sponson booms. It's a little late now since I drilled them. I assumed that they would be right and they were very close (which didn't throw up a red flag since they didn't look obviously off) but you know what they say when you assume. should have gone with my first instinct and clamped the two together and drill through both of them. I just have to make sure the holes in the sponsons line up. Besides the carbon fiber rod that came with the kit is much smaller than the holes they told you to drill so it prolly wouldn't matter if I elongate the holes. It's not by a whole lot. On a lighter note the rest of the build is going great and I'm having lots of fun. Whole lot better than just turning a few screws on a car and calling it done.