Advice on what boat I should get
04-18-2018, 09:22 PM
#1
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Advice on what boat I should get
Hey All,
Quick background, flying RC for over 20 years, mostly nitro,with a couple of electrics thrown in, moving to gas. RC cars both nitro and electric for about 15 years. Had an Aquacraft V24 One Design, gas powered for about a year,loved it. Looking to get another boat. Must be at least 32 inches long, must have the capability to at least be upgraded to reach a minimum of 40mph. Not planning on competeing, just to have fun with, so I don't nred a speed demon, 50 -55mph top speed would be fine for me. Have any battery management system I would need for charging, can do Ni-Cad, Li-ion and charge and balance LIPOs. Only issue with FE is the short run times. Gas offers me linger run times plus they usually are are little heavier so they can handel chop a little better. Have read about the issues with Exceed RC and how you can't make them competitive for racing, but don't want to compete. Other option I'm looking at for gas is the Aquacraft RioZ. Only issue I might have with that is what's going to happen now that Hobbico has been bought by Horizon who is a Proboat dealer/distributer. For FEs I have been looking at the DCB M41 and the TFL Genesis. Let me know what you think even if you think I'm way off base. Thanks!
Oz
Quick background, flying RC for over 20 years, mostly nitro,with a couple of electrics thrown in, moving to gas. RC cars both nitro and electric for about 15 years. Had an Aquacraft V24 One Design, gas powered for about a year,loved it. Looking to get another boat. Must be at least 32 inches long, must have the capability to at least be upgraded to reach a minimum of 40mph. Not planning on competeing, just to have fun with, so I don't nred a speed demon, 50 -55mph top speed would be fine for me. Have any battery management system I would need for charging, can do Ni-Cad, Li-ion and charge and balance LIPOs. Only issue with FE is the short run times. Gas offers me linger run times plus they usually are are little heavier so they can handel chop a little better. Have read about the issues with Exceed RC and how you can't make them competitive for racing, but don't want to compete. Other option I'm looking at for gas is the Aquacraft RioZ. Only issue I might have with that is what's going to happen now that Hobbico has been bought by Horizon who is a Proboat dealer/distributer. For FEs I have been looking at the DCB M41 and the TFL Genesis. Let me know what you think even if you think I'm way off base. Thanks!
Oz
Last edited by Ozzy37; 04-18-2018 at 10:23 PM. Reason: not finished did not save updates
04-19-2018, 03:57 PM
#2
You must have been the one that liked the V-24! It was a terrible boat for many others with the awful Fuji 28 and separation problems between the deck and hull.
OK, that said let's get down to your questions.
I'll let you know up-front that I went from nitro to gas
You're looking at the Exceed boats. It's a case of you get what you pay for using the cheapest parts they can get. Some are really bad but some are so-so.
You're sending at least me mixed signals here as you want a play boat but then want something for possibly racing down the road.
Most of my time is spent dialing in boats for speed, handling and reliability yet I also race. That last word is where it gets expensive as you'd be running against others that may have well over $1,000.00 invested even in the "low-cost" classes.
The Traxxas M-41 is a heavy boat and made of vacuum-formed plastic. Trim tabs on it tell me that they were a quick fix as a Band-Aid for other problems. The Genesis is fast but not really a wide-open throttle turning boat. for an electric Cat I'd give the Pro Marine Cat's a good look. It'll cost you a little more but the over-all quality is there. You want something that if you need replacement parts down the road you can easily get them in days, not weeks.
OK, that said let's get down to your questions.
I'll let you know up-front that I went from nitro to gas
You're looking at the Exceed boats. It's a case of you get what you pay for using the cheapest parts they can get. Some are really bad but some are so-so.
You're sending at least me mixed signals here as you want a play boat but then want something for possibly racing down the road.
Most of my time is spent dialing in boats for speed, handling and reliability yet I also race. That last word is where it gets expensive as you'd be running against others that may have well over $1,000.00 invested even in the "low-cost" classes.
The Traxxas M-41 is a heavy boat and made of vacuum-formed plastic. Trim tabs on it tell me that they were a quick fix as a Band-Aid for other problems. The Genesis is fast but not really a wide-open throttle turning boat. for an electric Cat I'd give the Pro Marine Cat's a good look. It'll cost you a little more but the over-all quality is there. You want something that if you need replacement parts down the road you can easily get them in days, not weeks.
04-19-2018, 04:45 PM
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Ron,
Thanks for the info. I must admit I didn't have any problems with my V24, that being said I only ran it a few times as flying is what I enjoy most, but due to the cost of glow fuel (went through 17 gals in one year but was only paying $15 a gal) I'm moving to mostly gas. Electric aircraft would be used as park flyers when I don't have time to make it to the field.
I guess you could say I'm a hobby junky or someone who has never grown up! Really not interested in competing, only competition I did flying was just a funfly at a club picnic. I really enjoy teaching people to fly, was club instructor at my last club.
Have followed a few threads where the Aquacraft RioZ seems to have more than a few problems with the stock exhaust. The Exceed I'm looking at is the IMAX Saga cat, one of there newer offers. Whatever boat I get would be to have fun with my nephews and my grandson if he ever gets back from being stationed in Europe. Good thing is I'm retired and still relatively young comparatively, but I am on a somewhat limited budget. So I have a lot of time on my hands to tinker. Checked out your recommendation and here's my biggest issue, get say a 7 minute run, bring it in then wait for the motor and esc to cool down before putting more battery packs in for another run. Hard to keep a youngin occupied during that time. Anyway, still open to more suggestions or tell me I'm just stupid.
Oz
Thanks for the info. I must admit I didn't have any problems with my V24, that being said I only ran it a few times as flying is what I enjoy most, but due to the cost of glow fuel (went through 17 gals in one year but was only paying $15 a gal) I'm moving to mostly gas. Electric aircraft would be used as park flyers when I don't have time to make it to the field.
I guess you could say I'm a hobby junky or someone who has never grown up! Really not interested in competing, only competition I did flying was just a funfly at a club picnic. I really enjoy teaching people to fly, was club instructor at my last club.
Have followed a few threads where the Aquacraft RioZ seems to have more than a few problems with the stock exhaust. The Exceed I'm looking at is the IMAX Saga cat, one of there newer offers. Whatever boat I get would be to have fun with my nephews and my grandson if he ever gets back from being stationed in Europe. Good thing is I'm retired and still relatively young comparatively, but I am on a somewhat limited budget. So I have a lot of time on my hands to tinker. Checked out your recommendation and here's my biggest issue, get say a 7 minute run, bring it in then wait for the motor and esc to cool down before putting more battery packs in for another run. Hard to keep a youngin occupied during that time. Anyway, still open to more suggestions or tell me I'm just stupid.
Oz
04-19-2018, 06:46 PM
#4
OK, you're not stupid as you're smart to ask before investing in a boat.
The canister mufflers do have a nasty habit of the bolts holding them on come loose a lot no matter how they're attached even with Loc-Tite. The sanctioning bodies knew of this problem as the boat was designed for the IMPBA's Super Stock class and decided to let racers use tuned pipes. They were also over the 92 dB noise limit that's in place at most venues. The driveline is a little weird on them also, made so that when (and I mean not if but when, a shortfall of the design) you won't lose a prop.
Most Ready-To-Run boats have some kind of issue so you want one with as few as possible.
All right, now onto the Saga Cat. My son drove one a few years ago if it's like the Venom and said that the handling was really bad. By son I mean that he's also driven everything I own at one time or another and he was about 26 at the time, starting racing boats at 12. The Venom had a problem with things cracking or falling off almost fresh out of the box.
I know this isn't getting any easier now so welcome to the wonderful world of RC boats. Every RC boater goes through this every time we think about adding to our fleet from the first to the 30th.
My 4 year-old grandson loves RC boats so Grandpa has already gotten him a couple, a cheap one to get the hang of. He loves going to the races and hanging out with me when I'm in the trailer tinkering.
