d-lo

hey folks, after some browsing of videos in the boat design thread, (man, some of those boats are amazing in the speed and handling department......) i have seriously put some thought into a rigger, as i have some spare parts around, (.18 motors, radios, struts, etc...) for a winter project. here's the deal: i have never built a boat from scratch. so really, i am looking for suggestions on a good path for a first timer with building an .18 powered rigger.

i don't know much about what's out there yet, if there are sub assembled kits, full from scratch, etc. so, any and all information on a direction for me would be greatly appreciated, thanks again for all your help......

davey

michaelbarnes

hey d-lo, I have been looking into the same thing as you.

The boat I am leaning towards is the Firefighter boats, the plans are well priced and seem fairly straight forward to build.

TCHedOff

For what it is worth, if you are willing to wait 2 weeks (maybe less), I may have a set of plans to share for free of the "Japanese style" riggers. I will call tommorrow to confirm this is gonna happen and that I will be allowed to share them.

furn1593

I've got the eagle eye on this thread, I too am looking to build something this winter. Got a os .18tz on the shelf looking for a home. It's air cooled, are they any concerns with this? Also what kind of speed are we looking at for a .18 rigger? 60 or 70 would be awsome!!!

TCHedOff

I watched a .12 rigger run by Ron Zaker Jr tonight that was doing 60MPH (it was a modded .12 - I'm guessing Novarossi). Understand Ron is a PRO racer and does the Internats every year so I think we common folk should think smaller (40-50's with .12).

If that .18 is a stock car engine, you will want to send it to an expert to be tweaked - car/truck/buggy engines are designed to have low end power.... boats use almost no low end (cept to launch) and are all about achieving hi RPMs. But if it is tweaked correctly, 60's could be realistic for us common folk.

TCHedOff

I watched a video of a .12 rigger run by Ron Zaker Jr tonight that was doing 60MPH (it was a modded .12 - I'm guessing Novarossi). Understand Ron is a PRO racer and does the Internats every year so I think we common folk should think smaller (40-50's with .12).

If that .18 is a stock car engine, you will want to send it to an expert to be tweaked - car/truck/buggy engines are designed to have low end power.... boats use almost no low end (cept to launch) and are all about achieving hi RPMs (this isn my words - I am paraphrasing Rod again - understand I just got my 1st .21 rigger this summer. But if it is tweaked correctly, it would seem 60's could be realistic for us common folk.

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

60 or 70 is awesome for a .21 'rigger in race form so don't set your sights too high.
I've seen Gary Preusse's .12 'rigger run 74 MPH in the SAW record trials but he and Ron Jr. know what they're doing from every little 1/2 degree tweak.
Some .18's from the 4-wheeler crowd will run very well in a boat, you just have to find the right one I know this as I wasted a lot of money on the wrong ones. An OS would be at the top of my list for an .18 either air or water-cooled.

Big Roy

My Feedback: (13)

I know Firefighter boats are not selling kits right now

sorry.... no kits available at this time..... posted by Tom Moorehouse on itlwaters earlier tonight.

Big Roy

My Feedback: (13)

you might try a Dumas Hawk, really nice kits

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

Talk to Gary. He designed a smaller version of his Hawk but Dumas wasn't interested as they thought that there wouldn't be a market for them!

TomMoorehouse

I can get cheese boats cut, but I would not call it a "kit" yet as the building instructions are not done yet.....

furn1593

So your saying I might be better off with my rb x12 because it might have higher rpm than the os 18tz?

TCHedOff

IF you are asking mr furn1593??? I have no idea about your .12 vs your .18 - I dont know their "specs" (exhaust/intake timing/carb design etc etc) and wouldnt understand them if I did. I'm NOT knowledgeable about engines or much of anything - I was just relating that I was told by someone who DOES know engines and he explained that car engines (generally) are designed for low end torque whereas our boats (generally) require RPMs. This means the mfrs have designed their "specs" with how they expected the engine to be used. A OSTX .18 designed for a car wont work as well as a OSTX .18 that has specs with boats in mind. I'm sorry I cant tell you HOW the "specs" between the two applications would be different because I dont know enough about engines - I just know that (in general) they would be different - and the boat engine would be optimized to achieve as many RPMs as is reliably possible.

Big Roy

My Feedback: (13)

Tom, good for the cheese boats being cut. I hope you find a new cutter soon. I would love to pick up a .40 boat to run a older nib 6.5 exhaust throttle in just for grins and giggles, I think it should move nicely.

wetherbeec

Go with the OS 18TZ, Thats what I run in my rigger. This weekend I ran with a 21 rigger, he could pull me in the straightaway but had to slow down in the corners, he couldn't shake me, the last time my rigger was clocked it did 68mph and that's with a stock 18 running 50% Oddonell, the only thing dun to the engine, it's water cooled and I run the 18CVR button NO TURBO PLUG!!!!!!!

TCHedOff

This was a mis-statement - it was Martin Truex's boat that I saw video of - sorry.

michaelbarnes

whats the update on this?

TCHedOff

MichaelBarnes: The answer was "yes" by Rod.... it wont have detailed directions like the FireFighter (and they DESERVE to get paid - they did ALOT of work to develop and test 'em) but they'll be workedable. BUt when I get them they will posted in the "Food for Thought Thread" in this forum... I dont want to double post the info. If you havent I'd suggest you check it out to see what you can expect in this coming set of plans.

todd