Trial #3 Today was a real treat. My wife discovered some swimming beaches up at Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier is the closest large lake near Atlanta. We planned a whole day of picnicking and swimming and of course, RC boating. |  |
| This is the first time I had the chance to run my Triton in a lake in which I did not have to slow down to prevent hitting the opposite bank. I am trying a X445 Octura prop this time. In the last trial, I was using a X645 but the motor was getting kind of warm. I also lowered the strut about 3/16 of an inch. |  |
| Wow Wow WOW! This boat flies, literally. Take a close look at the picture, the boat is about 6" above the water. |  |
| I adjusted the duel rate steering down to approximately 50% of normal. This allowed me to turn the boat without spinning out most of the time. I still have to be cautious near the end points but at least it is controllable. I need to add turn fins. |  |
| The next 3 pictures is a sequence shot of the boat moving our at about 75% throttle. The water was smooth and the hull stayed planted in the water. |  |
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| At 100% throttle, the boat tended to lift out of the water. I don't have any good pictures of it since I was too busy having fun. |  |
| From a dead stop, the boat took off pretty well and planed within 2 seconds of launch. |  |
| After the first battery pack went flat, I brought the boat in and let it cooled down. The motor was warm but not scalding. Still, I think a smaller diameter prop would be better for my needs. After the motor cooled, I put the boat out again with fresh batteries. This time around I did not bother taking any pictures but should have. The water conditions had changed and now was much more choppy. I caught a lot of air and at times had to run the boat at part throttle to avoid a flip. The boat was definitely too loose for the new conditions |  |
| The lower pitch prop and deeper prop depth did not affect the prop walking problem. This pictures shows the angle the rudder is at when going straight at speed. I decided not to worry about it since the boat is fast enough for me. |  |
| For the third battery pack, I changed the propeller from an Octura X445 to a stainless Prather 220. The prop specifications are very similar so I did not expect much of a change. |  |
| I found that the boat turned the same of maybe just slightly worse then with the Octura X445. |  |
| The top speed of the boat was just a little slower but it handled the chop much better. |  |
| I was able to maintain 100% throttle without too much drama. I think the Prather prop generated more lift then the Octura. This caused the rear of the boat to rise, lowering the front of the boat. For the choppy conditions, this prop was a better choice. |  |
| When running diagonal to the chop, the boat would occasionally take a bounce sideways but always landed in a straight line and remained controllable. |  |
| On the straights, the boat tended to fly perfectly level, just above the chop. |  |
| The rooster tail this round of testing was smaller then the previous trial. I am not sure if this is due to the deeper strut or the smaller prop. |  |
| The next two pictures shows the boat hitting a larger chop. It launched cleanly.... |  |
| ...and landed equally well. |  |
| The next two pictures shows the boat going into a hook. I gave the boat a hard right rudder at speed... |  |
| ...It looks like the front of the boat is diving down and the rear is lifting up. I wonder if shifting the batteries rearward would help. Of course this would mess up the straight line running. |  |
| Zoom! While running the boat, I had a couple come by in a real speed boat to take a close look. They were impressed and had me run my boat around theirs so they could get a better look. |  |
| Everyone liked the roost tail the boat left behind. |  |
| I was getting some decent run times but it is hard to tell how long because I was stopping every so often to get the camera ready. |  |
I wish I had an Octura X642 prop to try. I am interested in seeing what a smaller diameter prop will do. | 
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he boat handled the chop pretty well. It was not as good as my Super Hawaii but it is a whole lot faster. I wonder how well his boat will do in rough water like the ocean. | 
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| After running most of the third battery pack down, the boat suddenly stopped dead. After retrieving it, I discovered that the radio battery was completely dead. I will have to keep an eye on that in the future! |  |
Trial #3 Conclusion I'm really happy with the progress of this boat. It's faster then I thought it would be and delivers a pretty good run time out of a set of 3000mah batteries. If I use restraint, I am able to turn it without a problem. I plan on adding turn fins to improve the ride and maybe try a X642 prop just to see how it will do. I also am going to experiment with the cooling of the motor. Right now, the water cooling coils are covering the vent holes for the internal fan. I plan on sliding the coils back a bit to open up he vent. | 
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