Diamondia

Hey guys in the boating arena. I am re-visiting RC boats after almost a 20 year lapse. The only boating experience I have had was with a Prather Deep V from back in the early 90's, and enjoying running boats my mates had. I have been into RC for going on 30 years, but mostly in the Plane/Car arena. I am looking to get back into boats so that my 15 year old son can enjoy not only the Air/Land RC experience but the water as well. That being said, lets move on to present day!

I would like to start off with 2 boats so that we can enjoy the experience together. we have allot of Lipo 2s, 5000 mah, 40c Gen Ace battery packs that I would like to put to use.

Wants:

-Fast Electric RTR or BNF
-At least 60 amp ESC
-Reliable
-Parts availability
-Runnable in calm to medium chop conditions
-Under 500$ each
-Must use dual, 2s lipo (Prefer option to upgrade later to 3s, but not a necessity)
-Open to all hull types at this point


*Currently I have looked at the Traxxas Spartan, but after researching I saw quite a few problems associated with overheating. I am sure there are mods that would make this a viable option, but I would prefer to not have a high maintenance entry boat.

The other 2 boats that I have been leaning towards are the Aquacraft Motley Crew http://www.aquacraftmodels.com/boats...rew/index.html
and the Aquacraft UL!-Superior http://www.aquacraftmodels.com/boats...ior/index.html
Is there anyone familiar with these 2 boats that would have an opinion over which is the more suitable choice if we went with one of these? I am guessing the Motley would handle better in rougher waters which would keep you at the lake on questionable conditions? I am open here to any and all feedback on helping with our new boat purchases.

Thanks for any help with this!

Mike and son

siberianhusky

Can't go wrong with either really, you are correct in that the Crew will handle water conditions that will flip the UL-1, the UL is also set up to turn right only!
One of the guys I run with has a Revolt and it runs very well also, there are SV-27's UL-1, Motley Crews, Revolts and Stilettos in our group plus a number of full on race boats.
Keep in mind all of the RTR boats are built to a price point so don't expect any of them to be "perfect". When run as intended on the recommended power the will run reliably for a long time at a pretty reasonable speed.
I have a Crew and am happy with what it does, it's reliable and stable, but I know if I attempt to power it as some of my others the hull will not survive very many crashes, all of the RTR boats are a pretty thin fiberglass layup and tend to develop stress cracks in the same locations.
To put it in perspective a full on 4s race boat is about 1000$, what we have are about 400$!
They are a great way to get started in the hobby and learn the ropes of electric boat setup, then most people start rolling their own from bare hulls.

Diamondia

Thank you siberianhusky for the great feedback. I didn't keep in mind about the right hand turns only for the UL-1 which kind of rules that out for a first boat imo.


Thanks,

Mike

Diamondia

I also have noted that King of shaves looks like a great boat, but I see that Tower hobbies is showing it Discontinued on all models. Is this company going out of business? Actually I might of answered my own question, because I see that Atomik now is the new name. It seems they have a large scale 58" electric coming out late Nov that might be of interest as a large scale boat option for a 2nd boat. How do there boats compare with the Aquacraft and spartan offerings?



Thanks,
Mike

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

I would look into a Pursuit boat.

www.kintecracing.com or www.ose.us is selling them reasonable.

Diamondia

I appreciate the options Basstronics, but I am not sure I want to put that much effort in a first boat x2 for us at this time. I can see a 2nd or 3rd build being a ground up build tho!


Thanks,

Mike and son