StarscreamF22

Hi all, I'm new to this.

Basically I like to visit beautiful scenic places and they usually have some really nice lakes so I thought I would like to get a RC electric boat, preferably a fast one and one that is of decent size (not small). I live in the UK so whichever boat you recommend I will see if it's available here.

Things I'm looking for: -

1.Decent speed. (I'm not sure what good speed is for these products)
2.Good range/distance (I don't know whats a good range/distance for these products)
3.RTR - Ready To Run
4.Price no more then £100/$163
5.Good battery life (I don't know whats good battery life for these products)
6.Good value for money.
7.Reliable, good to take out every now and then just for fun.

Thanks in advance.

hugho

Hello Japparn,
Thanks for your message. I've been looking for some time the pound to dollar conversion.

StarscreamF22

Can you help me?

ROMA-F1

YOU CAN BUY FROM THIS COMPANY.. WWW.TOWERHOBBIE.COM.. IS MAI N-1 COMPANY IN [ U.S.A], YOU HAVE TOO SE

deslok113

Or try Horizon Hobby.  They have proboat boats.  For $163 dollars I'd suggest the Apache.  Or try the Cen racing site.  The Grey thunder with the 775 motor is fast.  Almost as fast as some of the slower brushless motors I've seen.  If you want super Speed you will have to go brushless.  Of course they will cost you more.

pompebled

Hi Jabbran,

Welcome to the wet side!

You may have to rethink your budget, because unless you find a second hand boat that comes RTR, all you can get for €163,00 is a toy.

Something that can be made into a good boat would be this:
http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...5142&indexURL=
See if you can find a local shop to save on the shipping.

BUT, this is a very small hull, on the water of a decent size lake, it will be out of sight in no time (as it's quite fast for it's size) and it will run only on calm water, once it flips, it will not turn back up.

A decent size would be something like this:
http://r2hobbies.com/proddetail.php?...6011a090bc9a2a
You'll need a radio set, servo, ESC, battery pack (NiMH or Lipo) a charger with power supply to get it running, making a total of about € 300,00+

To the wishlist:

1) The larger the hull, the higher the speedpotential, how fast it goes depends on the motor and battery selected.
2) The larger the boat, the better the visability, modern radio's have more range than you can see the boat at...
3) There's no such thing as RTR, the boats are assembled at best, and usually not very good, you have to check every bolt and secure it with loctite, check for leaks and repair them, lubricate the shaft and check the overall set-up.
Best is to have an experienced boater prepare the boat for you to avoid nasty surprises such as a flipped boat sinking on it's maiden trip, because you were not told to tape the hatch shut prior to running the boat... (no, the clever rubber surround and the one touch button to close the hatch doesn't mean it's watertight, not by a longshot...)
4) see above.
5) more capacity (mAh) usually means more runtime, more runtime means more heat in all components, more heat requires a working watercooling on ESC and motor. Stock 'RTR"have 6-10 minutes runtime, depending on how you handle it.
6) Speed costs, size costs, battery capacity costs, so a commercial 'RTR'is a compromise.
7) Reliability is, next to good components, mostly a matter of maintenance and sensible handling

Regards, Jan.

LENYLOW

Hi jabbran.
Great to see another boater from the uk on here, the good news is you have deffinatly come to the right place
to ask for info on these things these guys realy no there stuff and have helped me a lot. The bad news is i agree
with the fact that you will not get anything fun in the uk for that moeny.
Every boat and part i have bought i have had imported from the states, a supervee 27 for example is twice the
price over here thats even if you can find a model shop that stocks it....
I would say your best bet is to search on ebay for a second hand boat from the usa something like a sv27 for
example, of course the seller must be prepared to ship to the uk, but i have seen a lot go for around the 90 to 100
pound mark on there second hand.
failing that the cheapest newbrushless rtr that i no of in the uk is available from a website called, PMB model boats
all ready to go for £199.

pompebled

Which looks suspiciously similar to this one:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25-deep-vee-ARTR-with-motor-and-ESC-racing-spec-white_W0QQitemZ290323053764QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRadi o_Control_Vehicles?hash=item43989a3cc4&_trksid=p46 34.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A3 0

Regards, Jan.

LENYLOW

Sure does, plus its racing spec and cheaper......well spoted.

pompebled

Just as the UK version (most likely from the same manufacturer): point 3) most definately applies!

Regards, Jan.

LENYLOW

Oh yes definatly, the usa version does seem to be very reasonably priced though, it seems
like your getting quite a lot of boat for the moeny.
Do you no of anyone that runs this hull pompebled?

Frankinsten

Hi Jabbran

I live in the uk, down in the south west too.


Try looking on the sites(One of them should sell rtr)

http://www.astecmodels.co.uk/
<script type="text/javascript">titleAndStar(27,100,0,false,"","")</script>
http://www.howesmodels.co.uk/RadioControl/index.php(good prices)

http://www.nimrifmodels.co.uk/ (the shop is in plymouth)

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/



On the other hand, for £100 you could build a very fun, good sizeboat.

Tom

Edit_ what up with the code

StarscreamF22

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I have a question or two now.

First question is, some of you are asking me to consider buy from the US, I was always under the impression the frequencies for RC cars/boats/plane/helictopers is different to that of us in the UK?

What is a decent remote control I can buy for my boat as I am a beginner and don't want to spend a lot of money on one, can it also be used if in the future I was to buy more boats?

Pompebled I really like this boat you linked me to: http://r2hobbies.com/proddetail.php?...6011a090bc9a2a - From the video it looks like everything I would want, decent size, very good speed, but my questions are how long does the battery last on it and what is the range  on that thing? Also why doesn't the website mention what I would need to make it run?

I would also like to know what is a ESC?

Thanks everyone.

StarscreamF22

I just wanted to say my budget now is probably around £200.

LENYLOW

The boat in the link looks like quite a good boat, but it needs radio gear and an esc (speed control is what esc stands for)
so you would have to allow for that plus batterys and charger.
yes the frequency is diffrent in the uk but as long as your not racing it doesnt matter you just need to make sure the transmitter, x'tals and receiver are all matched to the same frequency.
As for run time that all depends on the quality of the packs and how much your willing to spend on them. Without dought lipo power
is the way to go for run time and power.

StarscreamF22

Hey, do any of you guys have MSN Messenger where I can talk properly about boats?

pompebled

Personally I know one boater that runs this hull in competition, I'm struggling to keep up...

Other than that I wouldn't know, check here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7713767/tm.htm
Promise me to read it all...

Regards, Jan.

pompebled

Hi Jabbran,

1) If you buy this remote (or something similar):
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8338&Product_Name=Hobby_ King_2.4Ghz_4Ch_Tx_&_Rx_(Mode_2
You don't have to worry about frequencies.

2) The runtime depends on a number of things, propsize, battery capacity, and drivestyle and can be anything between 4 and 15 minutes.
- the larger the prop, the faster the boat (there is a limit of course, when the prop becomes too large for the motor to spin, it will be bogged down and things will overheat and shut down, or worse, catch fire), the shorter the runtime, as a larger prop will require more juice to be turned by the motor.
- the larger the capacity of your battery, the longer the runtime
- if you keep the boat on the plane and run wide turns, the runtime will be considerably longer than if you make short runs, stop the boat and restart, stop the boat and restart, stop the boat and restart, stop the boat and restart, as the getting out of the hole, takes the most energy.

The website assumes that if you buy a bare hull with just hardware and a motor installed, you either, have the other components to make it run, at hand, or you have your own ideas to what should be purchased to make the boat ready to run.

If you want me to make you a list with suggestions what to get in order to make the boat ready to run, let me know.

Regards, Jan.

StarscreamF22

Thanks for the info Pompebled. I would like to know your thoughts on these two boats and also what will I need to make them RTR and if the price is any good for them? Do you have something similar in mind for me and better for value? http://www.astecmodels.co.uk/catalog...roducts_id/714 and http://www.astecmodels.co.uk/catalog...roducts_id/789 Do you know how fast they would be and how long the batteries will last on them roughly? Another question I have about battery is that say it runs out, can you put in another charged up battery pack on the spot and continue having fun? Also that link you provided to the radio controller, It looks a little on the cheap side to me? Thanks.

pompebled

Hi Jabbran,

Both boats are made in China and are sold by shops all over the world, the shops have to make a profit too, so the boats will be a bit more expensive, getting one directly in China is cheaper, but you don't have support from sellers, like you would have from Astec.

The monohull Is capable of 85 km/h (50 m/ph+), (depending on the battery selected, stock, on 3S it will do about 25-30 mp/h.
Runtime with say 5000mAh Lipo; 8-12 minutes full throttle, depending on set-up and drivestyle.

The Apartition Cat has a larger hull and can be made to run at least as quick as the monohull (50 mp/h), stock it will be as fast as the monohull.

On both boats there are large threads on this and other forums, do a search and you'll be reading for day's...

To make both hulls ready for the water you'll additionally need:
- transmitter/receiver set
- servo
- battery
- charger + power supply
- 4mm goldplated connectors, as most Lipo's come without
- electric tape to tape shut the hatch

Let me know when you've selected a boat, than I can get more specific and provide links.

There are a number of suitable hull in this price segment, I gave you the Arowana, you may want to dig some more yourself.

Sure, if your battery is empty (or the low voltage cut of on the ESC steps into action) you can replace the battry with a fully charger one.
Do check the temperature of the motor and ESC, as prolonged runs can cause a heat build up, if so, allow the components to cool down to ambient temperature before starting another run.

The transmitter in the link is the cheapest 2,4GHz available, read the buyers comments and get an idea of the quality offered for yourself.
I have one shipped to me, it hasn't arrived yet, so I can't tell you if it not only looks cheap, but feels cheap too...

Regards, Jan.

StarscreamF22

I do like the Arowana hull as it's the sort of shape and design I'm looking for. Does the Arowana come with the same things as those other 2 models I posted a link to?(Sorry I cannot tell even after reading). Also what would the speed be like with the Arowana? The website doesn't seem to have much information on there about it. If it just needs the same things you stated as the other boats to make it run then I could choose this boat because its £50 cheaper.

Also can you tell me what sort of:

- servo
- battery
- charger + power supply
- 4mm goldplated connectors, as most Lipo's come without
- electric tape to tape shut the hatch

would I need to that Arowana hull if I choose it and the price for these things please?

Thank you very much.

LENYLOW

Thanks for the link pompebledmay take some reading.I am seriously considering getting one of these, i have noticed
its available in 32" aswell as 25" basicly the same spec, would the 32" be the better one to go for?

StarscreamF22

I was just looking in to the 25" model because the price is good and it's out of stock

pompebled

Hi Jabbran,

Right, here we go:

You have the choice between a bare hull, or one with the motor and hardware installed:
- http://r2hobbies.com/proddetail.php?...68857275ee3cd1
- Transmitterset: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8338&Product_Name=Hobby_ King_2.4Ghz_4Ch_Tx_&_Rx_(Mode_2)
- Servo: http://www.swanghobby.com/Tower-pro-...ervo-p-51.html
- ESC: http://www.swanghobby.com/Flyermate-...ller-p-72.html
This ESC doesn't come with watercooling, but that can be added easily, an ESC with watercooling costs more:
For example: http://www.swanghobby.com/hobbywing-...1-pr-1676.html
-Lipo: Your choice:
For docile boating: http://www.swanghobby.com/Flyermate-...ry-p-1602.html
For speeding: http://www.swanghobby.com/flyermate-...p-1-pr-16.html
- Charger: http://www.swanghobby.com/GT-Power-A...er-p-1565.html
Powersupply: http://www.swanghobby.com/SWANGHOBBY...tor-p-438.html

The main reason for selecting one supplier (Swanghobby) is the quality (I run their stuff myself) and the fact, that the shipping is free.

Keep us posted if and what you choose.

Regards, Jan.

pompebled

As far as I know, the 25"Prince is discontinued by this seller.

If you want one, you'd have to go here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25-deep-vee-ARTR-with-motor-and-ESC-racing-spec-white_W0QQitemZ290323053764QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRadi o_Control_Vehicles?hash=item43989a3cc4&_trksid=p46 34.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A3 0
Not the same price, but a better motor and some serious pointless bling bling at the transom...

@ Lenylow:

The 32" is not just bigger, its also more expensive to get the same speed as the smaller 25"one.
You'll need a bigger motor, bigger battery, bigger ESC...

Regards, Jan.