Before I start, I just want to say that I am a perfectionist. I also play a “devils advocate” at work, so remember, Ill be commenting on EVERYTHING I see. Thus the lengthy post…

I have never had a gas boat, but I have had many high-performance glow boats including vees and riggers.

With that said, let’s go…

While normally, I like to do things myself, I needed a new radio, so I ordered my Super G complete, including the NiCad upgrade, and MPI failsafe.

The boat shipped 6 days late, and it took another full 5 days to arrive. No big deal, as I have a lot patience, and was in no big hurry. I would also like to mention that the WH staff was polite and knowledgeable. Great customer service.

The boat was packed very well, and first impressions were great. The boat is very well built with its hand-laid fiberglass, and good gel coat. The hull seems very strong and ridged.

Included were the boat manual, catalog (with parts list), Zenoah manual, and radio manual. The MPI failsafe manual was not packaged, but I downloaded the PDF from the web no sweat.

I noticed they missed a little color on the starboard gunwale, but it can barely be seen in direct sun light…again, no big deal.

I also noticed the engine is mounted high in the boat. It appears that the engine could have been mounted lower…allowing a lower CG and a less of angle for the prop shaft. My engine was also fitted with a slight “tilt” to the left.

The ¼” laminated stringers are nice, but mine have an extra hole in each one between the motor mounts and gas tank. I don’t think this would affect anything, but figured I mention it.

The radio box is well made, but I don’t like the fact that it needs to be taped to seal. I will probably hinge it later, and put some sort of o-ring on the lid, and use some sort of thumbscrew to secure it, but that’s down the road.

The XP drive is VERY well made and solid. The rudder come with a water pick up built in…a nice touch.

While it appeared WH adjusted all the radio settings, many were off. I completely reset and centered everything up, which I would think any user would do anyway.

I also think the rudder linkage could have been done differently. Right now, WH actuates the rudder from the outside of the servo, requiring a large z-bend before connecting to the rudder. Methinks it would have been better to run a straight piece of linkage, from the inside of the servo.

Okay, batteries are all charged up, now off to the water…

I took it to our 13 acre private ski lake. Given the temperature of 65, there are no boats out. The wind is out of the west at about 8 mph, with gusts about 12-14. This is a good thing, because the west side of the lake has very high banks, and thick trees. This made the water like glass on the west end, slowly changing to about 2-3 chop maximum by the middle of the lake, giving me a nice mix of different water conditions.

I like to run a little thick on the oil during break-in time, so I used 5 oz of Amsoil synthetic 2-stroke oil, per gallon of 92 octane gas, and filled the tank fully. I also richened the high side about an 1/8 turn. The Zenoah came to life on the second pull after 3 primes, and half choke. After about 20 seconds, it would idle with no choke, and I let her warm up for about a minute, and it seemed to idle very well and stable.

In the water, I started slow, checking radio operations and setting trims. Coming up to speed, I found the steering somewhat sensitive. I brought her back, and moved the rudder linkage out one hole…readjusted the trim and EPAs…and then it felt fine.

Coming up on plane in the glass water, I noticed a little porpusing. Not a big deal, it was only slight, and didn’t affect control whatsoever.

I was very surprised on the handling of this boat. For a 46” hull, it turned precisely and predictably at speed…a very nice surprise. It was also very forgiving when being aggressive…the boat would “spin out” when turning to sharply, or trying to gun it out of a turn. Never was I afraid the boat was going to flip over, but of course, I wasn’t trying THAT hard.

Moving into the light chop, the boat did VERY well. The boat still tracked straight and true, and still turned predictably. I did notice a little chine walk, but only enough to mention.

After some more running around, I was down to about a half inch of fuel in the tank. I noticed that the chine walk and porpusing had disappeared. This obviously means the weight of a full tank of fuel affects the CG and handling a little bit, but again, it is not enough to hardly notice. I ran for 35 minutes straight on 7/8 tank of fuel. Given I was running rich, that is sweet!

After refueling, I headed for the 3’ chop. The boat acted just like a full scale off-shore racer, coming well out of the water, but it never cavitated…again, sweet. It still steered precisely, and could corner very aggressively…I was impressed! It looks like it would take at least 5” of chop before it would effect operation, but I will report on true rough water operation when the boats get out on the water.

I have to mention the clutch…the wonderful clutch. Having always had DD models, this was a wonderful surprise! I can now manipulate the boat around shores and docks with great ease. I was even able to run it into our boathouse, and turn her around in the 25’ x 8’ slip! Id like to see a DD do that!

The clutch operation itself is a little harsh. It engages hard with a thud, but I presume that is the nature of centrifugal clutches. I also would like to see the engagement at a little lower RPM, as I think it would reduce the “thud”. I will look into some lighter shoes for it. I will also acknowledge that purist may not like the clutch, as it adds overall weight, and spinning mass as well, but for a sport run about…sweet.

Now back to the water…

I had about an inch of fuel left in the second tank full, so I decided to lean it out a little, and make a speed run. I taped my Garmin eTrex to the top of the radio box, and made a couple passes in front of the dock. I brought her in to check the head temp with my IR gun, and it was a cool 165 degrees. I lean her out a couple more clicks, until the head temp was 185, and decided to make my pass. I went over the glass water, and had to trim up the steering a little bit to be set at full throttle, but this is normal for boat. I made 4 full throttle runs, and the GPS had a top speed of 42.3 MPH. Not bad for air-cooled, canister muffled boat! Im guessing I could get some more out of her if I spend more time with the temp gun, but I want to get her fully broke in before going down that road, but still, 40 + out of the box is great!

In closing, I can say that I am VERY happy. The engine never faulted once, it is smooth and powerful and I found myself enjoying the boat more, not having to worry about the engine…I certainly cant say that about the sometimes temperamental and tedious glow engines. I also enjoyed the lack of stuff I had to take to the dock. No bulky batteries or starter motors, that are required of glow engines. The same can be said about air cooling on the RC230...while it may limit the level of upgradeable performance in the long run, it is another aspect (water cooling) you don’t have to worry about.

I strongly recommend this boat for its fun value, and would buy another one in a minute. If you’re a high-speed, high -performance purist, you might want to look elsewhere, but that is not what this boat was intended for anyway. With all the high-performance and complex R/C stuff I have now, this boat was a welcome change…I actually caught myself smiling like I did 20 years ago when I got my first electric buggy.

Kudos to Tony and WH…well done.