nitrorc89

ok i have a malibu rc boat like what you get at your local wal-mart. this boat is extremely slow. what do you expect its from wal-mart but anyways i was thinking about taking it all apart and just starting over with this hull and see how fast it could go or at least just try to get to get on plane.... anyways i was thinking brushless... has anyone used a brushless set up or modded these boats at all if so please let me know. video or picture would be great

rebuilder

I've modded two "toy" boats, one worked ok and the other was no good at all. You either have to deal with the stock drive setup/angle/prop, or weight issues, plus those hull are really made to "plow" through the water a slow speeds, i dont think they are engineered for true planing applications....................just my 2 cents. I am NOT saying it cant be done, and that a good try isnt worth it..............i tried it, i've tried lots of things that didnt work in my learning process, but i'll continue to think bigger and try new stuff.

What kind of drive does it have, submerged? Is the hull light ABS or that bendy thick plastic?

nitrorc89

its that bendy thick plastic and the drive is submerged.... what about this for weight i know this hull is not ment for much weight as in servos or anything but what about stripping it down and redoing everything to maybe i micro t brushless setup... how much power do you think they have my microt is not brushless i just run lipo with atomicc bb motor.... but what about lipo with full atomic mods microt brushless setup up.... considering this runs off 4 double a batterys and the motor is a whole lot bigger than that of a microt it seems to me that would be a weight loss of the over all boat.... lol i just got this idea while i was at work last night and it kept running through my head.... it might work and might not one thing about it if i get this brushless setup and cant make this boat work then i can make my microt brushless so its a win win situation.... but question is could a micro brushless setup have the power to plane one of these little boats stripped down they dont weigh much at all

rebuilder

You could try something along these lines,

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...hless_Boat_ESC

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...hless_Inrunner

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s..._20C_Lipo_Pack

I swear, now that i look at it, that is the same boat i got from the neighbor kid who was throwing it away that i tried modding!! I used a big heavy 540 and nimh cells..........it was HEAVY. It had a little weeny rubbery prop on it if i remember correctly, i changed it out for a 30mm plastic or something like that. If its the same and you dont mind spending the $$ you could try this setup..................i am only suggesting what i might try..........totally your call and your $$.

nitrorc89

you know that looks more on the lines of what i need as fas as esc and motor that lipo pack will be the heaviest thing i am things about stripping every possible thing out of this boat and even the plastic mounts taking a drimmel and shaving them down flush with the hull of the boat then start over fresh building servo mounts and everything out of something like balsa wood..... the boat you modded would it plane out or just "plow" water.... question steering servo... since you have tried modding this boat what was your idea on how to steer

rider313

LOL i bought this boat since i moved on to a lake, for giggles. than some local kids were catchong some small sunnies off shore, so i tied fishing line , bober and hook on the end. Started driving it around and what do ya know i get a 2lb+ small mouth bass,[:@] Bye bye boat, It capsized that little boat like there was no tommorow and it hasnt been seen since. the dumb bass took it out to see. but it was prolly the fastest it ever went. for $25 it was worth laughing our buts off.

rebuilder

LOL...................that was worth $25 i imagine.

Nitro..........The 4 AA batteries it came with weigh about 4 - 4.5 ounces...........the 3s lipo i suggested weighs 6.5, its smaller than you think.......it looks large in the pic. I have the same batt at home, i'll take a pic of it in my hand and post it.

When i ran my attempt it just went nose up and plowed bad.....................kinda depressing since i just spent all that time mounting the motor and servo etc.................. I mounted a standard futaba servo........a 3003 i believe, i would run a micro if i were you.

nitrorc89

yea i would say micro would be the best for less weight and try and keep most of parts like battery esc servo in front of boat and just the motor in back it will take time to just balance it out....



i would have like to seen a small mouth come grab ahold of it lol..... i fish alot and know a 2 lb smallmouth has some power would have been funy to see

rebuilder

Done anything?????????????????

santo11

Just found this thread about those Malibu boats. I like how they look, bought one from amazon, ripped all electronics off and tried to rebuild it using a Roxxy Inrunner from my Sea-Jet Evo, a Turnigy 30A ESC, the smallest prop I could find and some leds. At the moment, it's like I read here: it goes nose up and maximum at half throttle. Otherwise the torque is too high and the boats leans to the right. Today is the first run with the two additional leds - the one in the middle was nearly not visible. I'm trying to find a smaller prop or at least, I put a smaller motor in it.

zman5000

iv'e got one of those malibu's and after running it-slow, i was wondering what to do with it, now i have some ideas. the only thing i did so far was to rip the wake bar off the top and it makes it a little less top heavy.

nitrorc89

wow i have not seen this topic in a long time but i did the malibu and it did not turn out well at all lol... just couldnt get it right... i used electrics out of a mini desert truck just to see what i could do lol.... it did not turn out good at least better than it was though... i guess if i investigated props i might could find something