I'm excited to share my latest project—a scratch-built Outrigger designed from my own custom plans. It's been a rewarding process taking this from raw balsa to a fiberglassed hull, and the build is now very close to completion.
Here is a quick breakdown of the construction and setup:

1. Hull Construction & Structural Details
Material: Primary structure is built using Balsa wood, which was then completely fiberglassed for rigidity, strength, and waterproofing.

Sponsons: Before sealing the sponsons shut, I packed the internal cavities with high-density foam. This ensures reserve buoyancy and keeps the hull afloat in case of flip-overs or water ingress.
Cross Support Boom: Used lightweight aluminium pipes/tubing as cross-supports. They keep the alignment solid while providing excellent structural strength without adding unnecessary weight.

Some more build pictures. For the Sponsons I got some Polycarbonate bushes so that the rods pass through these safely and do not eat into the balsa. Initially had planned to make the sponsoms detachable.. But dropped the plan since the waterproofing of the removable sponsons started becoming an issue.

Once fibreglassed, I used Wood filler to fillup the irregularities. Then sanded it multiple time... Then used Primer before brush painting the hull.(I know I need to get better at this part.)

Hardware & Drivetrain Setup
Most of the running hardware is sourced from Offshore Electrics (OSE):

Drive Shaft: 3/16" flex drive shaft running inside a custom copper stuffing tube with a Teflon inner liner for low-friction, smooth operation.

Motor Mount: Fully adjustable motor mount to help dial in the alignment and center of gravity (CG).

Propeller: Octura 40mm prop (balancing and sharpening are next on the to-do list).

Cooling: Utilizing an integrated rudder water pickup system for active cooling on the water.

Electronics & Power System
Motor: Watercooled Brushless Inrunner (3600Kv)

ESC: 120A Birdie ESC (An absolute workhorse that has served me reliably over many builds!)

Battery : 4S Lipo 120C 2000Mah or 4S 4000 MAH with 60C

Current Status & Remaining Work
The build is around 90% complete. Here is what's left on the workbench before maiden:

Finishing and painting the top hatch.

Installing the turn fin on the right sponson.

Propeller balancing and final shaft lubrication.

Setting up electronics, linkages, and fine-tuning CG.

Will be completing the hatch painting as well this weekend.

@Rooster,

Good to see that at least a few members are still doing original scratch building projects. Your Ol' Grumpy and his rowboat were great.
Looking forward to videos of this outrigger in action.

Quote from: K K Iyer on August 11, 2026, 02:34:33 PM@Rooster,

Good to see that at least a few members are still doing original scratch building projects. Your Ol' Grumpy and his rowboat were great.
Looking forward to videos of this outrigger in action.

Thank you Iyer Sir. Trying to complete this one this week, The last leg always seems very long.

Maidened this boat last Sunday! Sharing a video from the first run.

I was a little too impatient and didn't wait to install the turn fin before taking it out. It made a significant difference—the boat tends to drift quite a bit on the water without it, as you can see in the video.

I'll be installing the turn fin before the next run. Overall, I'm really happy with the speed and performance. I was running it on 4S and barely had to go beyond 40% throttle.

Looking forward to seeing how it performs once the turn fin is in place!
https://youtu.be/JJ57Wvkfch8