Jacob's 550 handling tricks/hacks

V

Vortex

Location
Southeast
Read an article somewhere that mentioned one of jacob's race 550s had the nose reinforced/filled with resin...does anyone have an idea how much was added and how they would have done that without the thing catching fire while it cured?!

Adding ballast weight is nothing new obviously but having it added in that way where the nose would become so dense just seems crazy! Any insight or history lessons are appreciated.
 
smokeysevin

smokeysevin

one man with a couch
Location
Houston
I think west systems calls out a max mix volume to keep it from causing fires/melting stuff but I don't remember what it is.

Sean
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
Vortex said:
Epoxy curing is an exothermic reaction and it's mass sensitive. More resin curing in one place=more heat
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Really? Jacob's raced for the largest race team at the time. Their budget was dam near unlimited.... they knew what they were doing. They would have applied multiple coats until they got what they needed. Keep in mind, he stayed on tje 550 when everyone else was on the 750's. And winning.
 
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Sanoman

Sanoman

AbouttoKrash
Location
NE Tenn
Vortex said:
Epoxy curing is an exothermic reaction and it's mass sensitive. More resin curing in one place=more heat
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Although you are correct in the chemical reaction,l’m going to differ with you on your statement.lf properly mixed and spread out you won’t get a fire or “hot spots”.ln bonding a hull and deck together on a build,you would want to mix up at least 5 liters of epoxy with cabasil.Spliting this in half (2.5 liters) with two batches.The only way to keep it from hot spots is to spread it out in a thin layer.And no fire.
 
V

Vortex

Location
Southeast
Oh I'm sure it wouldn't really catch fire, I'm aware had the budget and knew what they were doing. Was mainly interested in how they did it and the effect on handling of adding ballast with resin vs just using lead, etc with more typical bracket type attachment to the hull. Why go through all that trouble if just adding it with a simple bracket would achieve similar results?
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
Vortex said:
Oh I'm sure it wouldn't really catch fire, I'm aware had the budget and knew what they were doing. Was mainly interested in how they did it and the effect on handling of adding ballast with resin vs just using lead, etc with more typical bracket type attachment to the hull. Why go through all that trouble if just adding it with a simple bracket would achieve similar results?
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The Rayce weight system was not invented until around 1998 by Raymond Barre, He was a former Expert/Pro Racer. These were used in Superjets. Before that, many just used sheets of lead un under the gas tank. Hell, I picked up a hull once that had 2 - 10 lb weights glued to the bottom of the engine bay...... That general idea was to add more weight to the nose to get better handling.
 
fastgtfairlane

fastgtfairlane

Location
Charlotte, NC
Theres a thread on pwctoday where Jacob's chimes in on handling tricks he did. 2 that came to mind were adding something like 10lbs of lead to the nose under the gas tank. He also "trued" the bottom of the hull which was basically using 6" diameter pipe about 3-4ft long and wrapping it in 80 grit sandpaper. Then run it back and forth between the strakes which removes low areas and also helps the ski track straighter at speed. I can verify this as I did the same thing on my 550 and it improved top speed stability and handling dramatically. It is also quite time consuming. What made Jacob's such a great rider was just practice. And he was tall and skinny and was able to really move his weight around.
 
V

Vortex

Location
Southeast
Making the hull "true" does make an improvement, i can say that from experience. Seems like the article I read (have been trying to find it again, unsuccessfully) may have misworded the part about adding resin to the nose of the ski. That was probably done more for structural strength and the lead was placed under or near the tank for handling. makes sense to have the ballast removable, don't always want a ton of nose pressure depending on water conditions.
 
kevbo

kevbo

Location
dfw
On 550s, the front cover with the H-pole mount does not attach to the rest of the top deck. Plus the log jumps were hard on front ends. Adding some glass up front would help everything stay intact. No different than adding material to the insides of Superjets. Look at some old 440-550 race boats and its easy to see.
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
Vortex said:
Making the hull "true" does make an improvement, i can say that from experience. Seems like the article I read (have been trying to find it again, unsuccessfully) may have misworded the part about adding resin to the nose of the ski. That was probably done more for structural strength and the lead was placed under or near the tank for handling. makes sense to have the ballast removable, don't always want a ton of nose pressure depending on water conditions.
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A Trued hull does not make any improvement? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
@MTRHEAD
 
SexPanther

SexPanther

Location
Coeur d'Alene Idaho
I remember reading the thread that he popped into years back. He definitely spoke highly of the hull truing, I believe he also mentioned shimming the rear of his ride plate with washers to help trim the ski out.
 
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