I have three straight mags and one coil. It looks like they will fit well if I just take off a little height.
I installed the guns (roughly) and everything seems to fit! What is the best way to install the water channeling? I bought two tubes of concrete sealer that say they are self leveling, and made a triangular channel 1/8" deep for the pump to sit in. Do I just pour the sealer in with a caulk gun and let it level itself?
This is the underside of the after deck. I created a magazine holder that uses a rubberband, but other than that I havent built anything to keep the guns on target. I might have to use one of those blocks that hold the barrels to the deck (ugh) Here is the triangle I made for the water channeling. I plan on putting a screen over the triangle and filling the outboard edges with concrete sealer at a slight angle. The batteries sit on either side of the channel and forward of the pump. I might be able to fit the regulator of the CO2 bottle in between the batteries, with the bottle running up into the bow. Here are all the guns roughed in. They kind of flop around alot now, but once the turrets are attached to their hinges and the stern guns are actually affixed to something, I think they will be pretty solid! I don't know if I'll be able to get her on the water any time soon though, it snowed almost two feet on Wednesday!
You water channel should be a little wider then the pump where the pump sits. With a slight tapper up to A turett. At A it should be 1.25" wide. In the stern end it right at the gear boxes under the motors. For a "pretty" gun mount at your sterns make something right at the edge of the turret that site on the barbet. You secure your guns at two points under the deck. one at the up feed right under the breach and one at the back of the mag like you have now. Rubber bands will not last. Zip ties is the way to go. Bring your stern sidemount to 80 deg off center line. get 20 deg of down angle in it. The mid turret sidemount should be 65-75 deg off center line. It does not look like you sealed the underside of the deck. Make sure a do that. Also put something on you gun barrels and mags to prtect them from bbs.
For your water-channeling. Just install it with a caulking gun. And it will level itself out. A few things to keep in mind. This stuff is nasty if it gets on your clothes, so have plenty of paper-towels handy. This stuff will go where it can, so make sure that you have boundaries set up, to keep it where you want it. Cut a little more off the tip of the caulking tube than you normally would think, as the stuff comes out kinda thick, and if the hole is too small, it will a lot of work to get it to come out fast enough. If any does get outside the boundaries, just let it dry, and it can be cut away afterwards. Don't try to clean it up while it is still wet. It will level itself, but it takes time. So don't fill the cavities to the top of the boundaries at first. Apply the stuff till it gets close to the level that you want, and then let it settle for a little while. Perhaps 15-20 minutes. As you can add more when you can see where you are at with it. I generally do not let it get more than 1/4" thick, as it will take longer to set-up. When you are happy with the results, you will probably need to let it dry for a couple days, to make sure that the surface is not just cured, and the stuff at the bottom is still soft. Did I mention that this stuff is not to be gotten on your clothes? If it gets on anything else. Just let it cure, and remove it later, as it can be peeled off, or cut away with a flat bladed knife. You might need to apply the stuff inside somewhere. I am not sure how the cold weather would affect it's drying time. And last (but not least). Make sure that you have plenty of time on your hands to accomplish the task. If you try to hurry through the process, it will probably cause you some frustration. Mikey
Wanted to add in that the leveler stuff will seep under any gaps in your boundry pieces. Try using some spackling compound along the bottom of the boundries to seal those gaps to prevent the seep.
I'm not sure how the guns are mounted inside the barbett, but dont forget that you need to be able to take the barrels completely off to service the guns if you get an oval BB stuck at the breech. Also, you'll need to adjust the nut at the barrel to tweak the guns. Mounting the cannons o the deck in at least two places will make them secure enough so that the barrel doesn't have to take any mounting (except to keep the barrel pointed in the same place for the duals, they can shift a little from bumpin'). Seal every wood surface since water can touch everything in the boat. Don't want to have a little rotten cannon mount come loose at a critical time I'd also cut out all the windows before you go too much further since they have to be done anyway and you can see inside the hull to make sure you've got internal clearance before hard-mounting something. Other than that, just keep chugging away. You're to the "parts go inside the boat" phase, which is definate progress.
OK I'm back! I haven't had much time to work this summer because I was in Germany on an exchange trip (I didn't see any axis ships though!) Anyway I did my water channelling and I think I'm ready to order the TD boards. Is it best to order just the 5 amp ones for the guns? (4x) I'm thinking of running my pump remotely from another TD switch-but I don't think the 24A switch is powerful enough... How much will a Titan 12t draw? Any other suggestions on running the pump from a remote switch? Also... My friend is building an NC and we were planning on bulk- ordering solinoids together. What is the best type to buy? Is the $50 one on BC the only option?
My Titan pulled 24-25 amps. I like BC solenoids best. Careful with your water channeling, the concrete stuff will make the ship too heavy, she needs to come in pretty light. Try putting foam in then filling over the top and sides with sealer.
You can run your pump from a hefty-amp rated switch if its on its own channel to save some cash on the deltas since you need a grande one to handle the load from a pump that size. The regular TD boards work just fine for the guns though. Invest in the pre-wired connectors, totally worth the money. The Kips seem to be pretty much standard equipment these days, I like them a lot and they're easy to service if you do have a problem. My boat spent a lot of time on the bottom this Nats and everything worked great.
Oh OK I have only about 1/4" max water channeling depth. Would that be too heavy? What about Clippard valves?
The clippard solenoids (MME-2PDS-W012) work well. I used them in my scratch built VDT without any problems. Only thing you really need to be mindful of with them is that they are rated for 12V not 6V like the Kips. I routinely use them with 7.2V NiMh battery packs and have never had any problems with them. A fully charged 6V gel cell will fire them just fine to but by the second sortie the voltage on the pack has dropped enough that you often have trouble getting them to fire. If you want to go with gel cells you can always just run the solenoids off a seperate battery, its not that big a deal really. At $20 each I consider them a rather good alternative to Kips if you dont mind the 12V rating and having to use adapters to get the 1/8" NPT port to the size we use (10-32), I guess you could alway use larger hoses as well.
