New to boats
 

Hey everyone. I am looking at getting a boat or two for my wife and myself for when we are out camping at the lakes around. I am not new to the whole RC thing, but have been focused on drifter cars, and heli's and offroad 2-wheel drive trucks. I would like to get into the whole boat category, but wasn't sure which brands were more popular, and better supported in the stores and online. Also I was thinking about boats that were more speed oriented. Any suggestions (I'm sure there are a lot...) on what to look at, and for first? Thanks for any help, and everyone have a great rest of your day.

RE: New to boats
 

I guess step one is to determine what size boat your thinking about and/or what fuel power you are more agreeable with. Gas, Nitro, or Electric. Having a boat that has a power plant your familiar with may make the transition to boats even easier.

RE: New to boats
 

I would say that electric would be the best in my opinion. I run that already, and already have an understanding of the concept of electric RC. Size-wise, I am not toally sure. I don't know what the standard sizes are. I don't want to get something that is really small, but absolutely enormous is not really what I want either. Maybe boats in the 30' range. I don't have all that much knowledge in that field yet. That's part of what I am looking at. I measured out 30' and that looked like an acceptable range. plus or minus...

RE: New to boats
 

you can look at this one:

http://www.aquacraftmodels.com/boats/aqub17-main.html

or this one:

http://www.aquacraftmodels.com/boats...-ep/index.html

or this one if you feel a little bit more on the speed crazy and more challenging:

http://www.aquacraftmodels.com/boats...ior/index.html

Dan.

RE: New to boats
 

Are most boats self righting? Or is that something that I should be looking at specifically?

RE: New to boats
 

Where you camp at is going to make a difference also. If you're out in the boonies then you could get away with nitro or gas power. If you stay in a state or commercial campground they may not like the noise of a fuel burner.
Dan gave you some great options. If you think that you may need something self-righting they're aren't too many boats in the US that do that but 2 of them are inexpensive and really fun for the price, the Aquacraft Reef Racer or Pro Boat's Zig-Zag Racer. Either of those are around $80.00 apiece and really need nothing to hit the water. Top speed of these is only around 12 MPH but are still a blast to mess with. Which one would bepend on what features that would work best for you.

RE: New to boats
 

I suppose that I really don't "need" self-righting, I had just seen a couple that claimed that and didn't know if that was something that I would run into quite a bit as a beginner. I would prefer to get something that will let me grow into it a bit. Not get the very basic boat that I will outgrow after a week and then need to buy something bigger and better to keep it fun. I am going to see about picking up one of the Rio EP's. They look like they are about what I want. If I do get one, how durable are they? And if/when I break something, how much support do they have in the stores with hopup parts? Thanks for all of the great information.

RE: New to boats
 

Parts are easy to get a most hobby shops can have them for you in a few days. The hulls will take a beating and not a lot of maintenance needed which is nice when you're out camping.
There's not a lot in the way of hop-up parts. A good metal prop is a plus and good battery packs. Even extra packs are nice so that you don't have to wait while only one pack charges.
Before buying, you can always check out the electric boat forum then do a search if you need to for that or any other electric boat that you're checking out.

RE: New to boats
 

So, just a couple more quick questions here. First: Is the ABS plastic very durable, or is it just lightweight and easily broken? Second: What type of battery connections do these use stock? I have multiple 6 cell rocketpack 4500's, and wondered if it would be possible to use the same battery packs that I use in the trucks. That would save some cash there.

RE: New to boats
 

Hi B192734,

Most hulls in the 30" range are not selfrighting, you'll have to add a floodchamber to them.
An exeption (a.O.) is the MHZ Thick Flash; with 12-14 NiMH sub-C and a clever weight distribution, this hull will selfright after a flip.
Running on Lipo's you'll need to add weight to get it to flip back.

If your boat is fast enough, you will flip it sooner or later.

Having a tennisball on a fishpole will help retreiving it (or flip it back up) otherwise you'll need a rescue boat.
Unless you can stand in the water, don't swim after a flipped boat, we don't need more stories of boaters drowning while trying...

I added some pictures of our 25" boats running on smooth water, even in this conditions, they will flip, if you're fast enough...

Regards, Jan.

RE: New to boats
 

I have the new revolt 30 . it is one bad little boat.. also my first..............