Bristol Bay re-do

[ou812]

stright from aquacraft she is nowhere near a seaworthy vessel.The prop is way too small,esc only offers about 20% reverse throttle which aint enough for a boat half its size.The transmitter is the biggest piece of Futaba made crap ever.Most of the electrical issues I had stock was from the Tx/Rx.As far as the cheesy deck planks(pencil marks)and poor rigging set up,its something that can be accepted due to the extremely high craftsmanship of the fiberglass hull,Vert tough and well finished.

So heres my mods so far
First was the deck planks,I wanted real staggered planks so I bought $12 of balsa 1/32"x1/4" planks and cut them in 6" planks and laid them down after removing all the cheesy deck equipment.
Next was to install a 50mm prop from my Boothbay Lobster Yatch and a modified Hpi GRU that I converted to 2:1 rather than the 7:1
Mounting a gru is a pain,the Bristol Bay has almost no hand room,Im willing to be aquacraft installs the deck last.
I replaced all the rope with Kite string,rolled up the sails and made use of the pulleys that serve as a function now.All my rigging will be replaced when work picks up.
Next was ballast and battery weight
Im running twin 6 volt 5 amp powerwheels batteries in series for 12 volts going thru an axial esc.I added about 6lbs of batteries and 2-3lbs of 1/4"x1"x6" steel flatbar.Adjusted the servo and rudder horns to get maxim steering plus added a Traxxas TQ tx/rx cause that radio will turn a servo a bit more than others will










more pics comming

[ou812]

Oh yea and shes way too fast stock and bobs arround like a toy and the smallest breeze will push her arround with sails up or down.With the new mods shes 3 times as heavy,just as fast as stock but better esc control and a huge power improvement.Plus the steering is better
I plan for a 3:1 reduction a 45mm 4 blade prop,correct rigging and staining and sealing the deck after I make winches for the sails

[Keith]

Cool project! I wanted one of these, just never got one... lol I've never really been into boats all that much, but there's just something about scale work boats that I like.

[ou812]

For the price the BB cant be beat,Id recommend a used one cause your gonna toss out all the electronics anyway,lol

[twyggi]

is it possible to take out the original deck? or did you just glue the balsawood on the original deck

[ou812]

Originally Posted by twyggi

is it possible to take out the original deck? or did you just glue the balsawood on the original deck

Man I just laid my decking ontop the original deck,Its thick and tough so I seen no reason to rip it out.

theres a couple guys on rcgroups forum that ripped the deck out and they say its a pain and its not reuseable once you rip it out

[igotit]

go over to rcgroups,in the boat section,in dock talk.....look at kmot's bristol bay conversion.....its pretty sick.

heres the link!
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1074914

[twyggi]

Originally Posted by ou812

Man I just laid my decking ontop the original deck,Its thick and tough so I seen no reason to rip it out.

theres a couple guys on rcgroups forum that ripped the deck out and they say its a pain and its not reuseable once you rip it out

i like what you did... im planing to rebuild mine since a swan sank it a week ago lol.. ill lay down a new deck get rid of the dinky deck equipment thro in a 500motor with gears possibly new cabin and possibly a smoke generator for effect.

[ou812]

Originally Posted by twyggi

i like what you did... im planing to rebuild mine since a swan sank it a week ago lol.. ill lay down a new deck get rid of the dinky deck equipment thro in a 500motor with gears possibly new cabin and possibly a smoke generator for effect.

I'm running a 2:7:1 modded hpi gear reduction unit and a 50mm 3 blade plastic prop,same stock speed but more low speed control and power,change that esc also it doesn't have enough reverse power
I also run twin 6 volt power wheels batteries for the weight,I added about 7-8 lbs of battery and steel

[twyggi]

Originally Posted by ou812

I'm running a 2:7:1 modded hpi gear reduction unit and a 50mm 3 blade plastic prop,same stock speed but more low speed control and power,change that esc also it doesn't have enough reverse power
I also run twin 6 volt power wheels batteries for the weight,I added about 7-8 lbs of battery and steel

thats a good idea ill take a look at that i have started the rebuild today since i got bored. i started with riping everything off and sanded down/chiseled off the wood deck right down to the fiberglass i took pics of it i'll load them up more into the project.

[Kmot]

ou812: Nice job on the conversion!

[knightcrwlr]

Bristolbay is a nice boat to modify
Im currently modifying my bb


Cut it outfor easy access and i plan on using 12v12ah gelcell battery

[igotit]

I have ou812s bb on my garage,im doing keel work for him.slowly reshaping to look like a 1900s steam tug.

Nice work on your bb too....i run 12v sla in my atlantic tug with a 3:1 50 mm 4 blade 55t motor.plenty power and speed.pulls a 500 lb payload 2 mph for 3 hours.

[duellym]

Originally Posted by igotit

I have ou812s bb on my garage,im doing keel work for him.slowly reshaping to look like a 1900s steam tug.

Nice work on your bb too....i run 12v sla in my atlantic tug with a 3:1 50 mm 4 blade 55t motor.plenty power and speed.pulls a 500 lb payload 2 mph for 3 hours.

I don't know boat talk but your talking a scale 500 lbs right?

[igotit]

Originally Posted by duellym

I don't know boat talk but your talking a scale 500 lbs right?

True 500 lbs.
My 8ft pelican bass raider,loaded with troll motor,80lb battery,my 200lb butt,and my 13 year old daughter comes to 496 lbs....roughly.