Hairballusmaximus

Hi guys, new to boats but not rc or gas.

My 1st boat has not yet arrived but i was at a local 'float fly' for airplanes and there were some guys at the other end running the gas boats. 2 blackjacks a couple of Crackerboxs and hydro's. Question: I noticed they always throw the boat to launch, why?

QD_McGraw

Boats that have no clutches must be launched with a bit of a throw to keep them from stalling when they first hit the water. The prop is spinning pretty fast at launch. It takes a bit of practice to launch them correctly.

martno1fan

a good fast idle works for me here.
[link]http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm248/martno1fan/?action=view&current=rocketthydro2_0001.flv[/link]

ps ill get told off for showing off my video again but it shows how to launch alone with no clutch so what the heck.

wagonman

Hey mart cool video!!! nice

G Doggett

Nice hydro Mart.
Love the look of a good roundnose on the water.
Noisy sucker tho, don't you guys have to run silencers?
All our boats have to be below 87 db.
Graham.

Paul M

I think it's more hydros and riggers that have to be thrown. The cats and monos that I have had I could drop them in with the engine idling a little high and have had no stalling issues.

gofast53

Hey Graham if you turn your hearing aid down its not so noisy after all!!

Hairballusmaximus

Thanx for the info. Other than the stalling problem does it also shock load the drivetrain, or is the high idle set-up that mart is using safe for the boats drivetrain.

G Doggett

Cheeky bugger !!!!
I'll whack you with my walking stick
Graham.

glennb2006

A good throw just gets the boat clear of the side faster, if you are racing might gain a place or two, gets the boat away from the person launching quicker - who hopefully stays drier and and should get the boat planing faster.



So a few reasons to do it,

Glenn

Dave ESPI

tossing does not work so well with open deck aircooled boats.......... they tend to torpedo the nose and get water inside um. LOL.

You can lay them in easily enough, plus less cahance of slapping the screw on the bottom, or worse, tagging your leg with the spinning blades.

I don't toss. A nice gentle push is all it takes once the nose is in the water and floating, you can set the rear down and go.

I however bought a boat with a clutch.

Hairballusmaximus

Sounds good. I'll try both ways and go with what works best for me. I got the RIO, it had decent reveiws here on RCU and couldnt beat the price. Well price mainly is why I chose the RIO, I just couldnt justify putting out 1200-1800 bucks for something that may only get run 8-10 times a year. A few of us are getting them and we will see how much use they get and if we get into racing, then maybe build one.

Glad to see you are still around Dave, and from your signature it sounds like you still have a Baja. I still tear mine up frequently.

martno1fan

Believe it or not Graham it does have a silencer off a hanson quiet pipe lol [X(]see pic its between the pipe and extension outlet pipe.Its not as noisy as you think its because the lake is surrounded by a bank all the way round and houses behind where i stand and it sort of echos round.On second thoughts it is a noisy sucker .That is only its second run since i finnished her its a zippkits Rockett,check out my build thread.
Mart
Ps as Glenn says tossing them in is for racing it gets the boat planing quicker asuming you have a pitman there to do it for you?. Notice how mine took a while to get up and going,for a sports boat its not needed and if you tend to be driving alone its safer to sit her in as i did radio at hand beside you.Boating totally alone however is very risky i allways have someone there with me even if she cant toss the boat in for me .

Dreamin Hemi

Heres how I launch mine....not too exciting video, but you get the idea in the 1'st few seconds!

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yz4Yhvvx_qs]Gas Boat Launch[/link]

MrMikeG

There is no "proper way" for every boat, what ever gets you going is the correct way. I throw mine, I make sure to get it in deep enough water not to damage props. No way am I going to let any boat get near my legs, clutch or not, it's not safe.

Hairballusmaximus

MrMike, good call on SAFETY first. No quicker way to ruin a day at the lake than to go for stitches!! A bud of mine and I have a pair of HPI Baja's and were jumping them about 35-40 feet about 10 feet off ground when my 4 1/2 year old son decided to get a better look at the launch ramp, which of course put them lifting off at head level. Needless to say, I 'took one for the team' to keep him from getting hurt or worse. I was pretty banged up and could hardly move or take more than 1/2 a breath with out severe pain for about a week, so rest assured, safety is definately a top priority!

martno1fan

Hey does that sign say SLOW

martno1fan

Allways run a failsafe in a gas boat and also make sure you set your throttle so you can shut the boat off with it when needed.
Mart
ps you might wanna do a search on the rio and a few issues and maybe address them before problems arrise

wayneuk01

I must say i have thrown my old boat in once & it landed the wrong side up but that was nothing new for the hull [:@] Glad no one was watching me ... ...i felt so stupid! i got myself a bigger model can just about carry it let alone chuck it inn

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

I just got used to tossing my boats as it helps when launching in shallow water and that's the way that I was taught. I feel that it's easier on the driveline also plus I don't have to deal with cavitation.
With one buddy I learned to toss them a long way as I'd get hosed down with a roostertail. My gas mono doesn't seem to need it like my nitro boats do.

Dave ESPI

Yeah Hairball, I'm still ripping around the 'ja and my FG truck, added a WHH enforcer with a 30 cc Homelite to my collection. Its yellow and ugly as sin, so I'm going to add some black vinyl graphis to it and call it "bumblebee" (and ofcourse I alredy slapped an autobot decal on it LOL) but for the price I got it for, I was more than happy. Am going camping on a lake this weekend. will get out with a bunch of Jetskiers and race um I think they will be floored when they see how fast tis boat is.

Hairballusmaximus

Oh yeah, definately going to run a failsafe. I will probably run the Diemaster pico failsafe kill switch, as it will kill the engine in the event of lost signal, low or dead batt, etc. The only real issues that i have found so far with the Rio is the cracking header and the cracking cylinder at the exhaust port, and then some had issues getting the boat to fire up the first time. Any other issues? I did the search for the Rio on RCU before I ordered it and the previous stuff is all I found and I can deal with that.

martno1fan

Im not sure if they solved the issues with the cracked headers jugs etc?,the fix is to put in a header and pipe that has some form of flexability.My pipes have o rings that allow some movement etc so vibration is cut down,no cracking or undue stress etc.There was some talk of fixing these problems but i dont know if they ever did maybe someone else can let us know.

mauian

Grim posted a fix for the stock stuff on the RIO somewhere in this forum. I would just change the pipe and header and be problem free untill ya put a Zen in her.

sickmodelpowerboats

My Feedback: (1)

throwing the boat is a waste of energy. just speed the idle up with the trim on your radio. i just set my boat in the water.