Crazyrcer

Are there any good electric catamarans out there. I really like the way the look. Is the MRC Triton a good one?

hellomynameisdookie

It has the potential to be a good one. It's rather slow (slow enough to be boring) out of the box. With upgrades it can be a bit faster, but that requires spending more money. If you're looking for a RTR cat is that quick out of the box, I'd go with another one.

I've been looking around for you for another cat at a low price,but I can't find anything RTR even close to that.

retaobcr

Triton boat! Get the Radio Control boat modeler magazine; August 05, page 20 and this will help you like nobodies business . Ok, i will be fried, i know, but the Villian is like the Triton. They gutted the triton or revamped it. The best thing to do is revamp by putting a Grauper 700-8.4 and 12-3300 cells and a rc-hydros 60 amp esc in and run a 442 octura prop. you can't go wrong. Reason i say 700-8.4 is for very low maintenance as to twin motors which require motors to be synchronized with prop 1 running clockwise and prop 2 running counterclockwise. These props must be high pitched so the force from each like a 1.6 pitch will go toward the rear more so than a 1.4 pitch which tends to go outward instead of rearward. Now for a 700-8.4, a 640 prop will do fine. Above i mentioned a 442 prop which will increase runtime and a 640 will give you more speed and less runtime, trade off! Ok, for you guys who have 22" boats or so a Mayhem with 7 -3300 cells , go direct drive ( surface ) and run a 438 prop. Mayhem is torquey but Tower doesn't carry them any more. I called and Kyohso said that they won't let Tower carry them but you can order thru Kyohso and price will be a good $40.00 to purchase!

retaobcr

Catamarans,RTR, like the guy said are hard to find unless wallet is bulging with greenbacks. What would you say if i told you hobby-lobby has a boat called an El-Vee at 31" in lenght and can hit 29mph with a 8.4 Grauper on 12-3300 cells and a rc-hydros esc at 60 amps. Go to site in Minneapolis, Minn. www.emyc.org. Also you can go to www.finedesignrc.com where a gentleman from Canada has a play by play description of how he did his. I have one and it does move but i cut a 642 prop down to a 639 which gave me more pitch and thrust rearward! Just remember, bigger your toys, bigger your wallet and empties FAST!

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

Aeromarine has the Mean Machine 18 in an electric version that Chris Fine is selling at Fine Design. It's gutted so you don't get anything but the hull and canopy so there is no nitro stuff in the way. That hull is being made at Aeromarine from a mold that Remy kept here in the States as the nitro version is foreign made.

Fluid

The Triton uses a single prop, with the twin motors powering it through a gearbox. There are problems with a dual gear drive, mostly parts wear and high motor maintenance if you hop it up. The RCBM article gives good ideas to gain some speed, but the boat's CG needs to be moved back to give it better performance regardless of the power used. Going to a 700/8.4v motor and 12 cells is a great hop-up, but it requires quite a bit of fabrication to pull it off.

This isn't really true. If we assume props of the same overall design like the x440 and the x640, the latter has a higher pitch and will result in higher speeds if the rpm stays the same. Both are non-lifting props, meaning that the thrust cones are narrow and pointed back for maximum thrust. Lifting props like the 1640 have wider thrust cones which do result in some lifting of the transom. This is desireable on some hulls, but usually not on cats.

pompebled

Hi crazyracer,

In order to get a serious hole in your wallet, check out www.mhzusa.com , beautiful hulls, but just that, you'll need to get all that goes in it seperately.

Be seated when looking at the prices...

Regards, Jan.

tdonily

Here's a few you can look at also.

MHZ Micro Iceberg
http://www.mhzusa.com/xtdoc/Details....uctCode=m-1705

Hopf Mini Cat (just needs radio gear and batteries)
http://206.206.85.209/xtdoc/Details....S1&store=xtdoc

BBY Scat Cat 21 (various options available, needs radio gear)
http://www.bbyracing.com/electunnelsandcats.asp

Yes, a little more on the pricey side, but the first two are also gel-coated fiberglass as opposed to the abs plastic that the Triton is. MHZ even has a video on their site of the Iceberg running on brushless motors for those so inclined. Just my two bits...

pompebled

The micro Iceberg is a semi scale hull, rather narrow and not very good in chop.

A friend runs this boat in the mini hydro competition and to my knowledge he still has to finish a race, the damned thing always manages to flip...

The brushless set-up is blistering fast, but needs to be run with great caution.

The Hopf cat is much wider and will handle more chop and is equally fast.

Regards, Jan.