Josh101

I'm new to nitro and R/C boats in general. I have been racing 1/10 electric touring cars for quite a while, but I thought I'd put some of my spare equipment to use and build a boat. My question is, should I use a marine specific engine in my boat, or will car and possibly plane engines work also? Is anything different required to make them work? Obviously if I were to build a boat with an outboard, I'd have to use an outboard marine engine, but do I need to use a marine engine if I build an inboard boat?

Thanks,
Josh

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

If you are going to use a .12-.18 motor you certainly can! I have 2 monos and 2 outrigger hydros that are running car motors. You need to use the fully threaded crank and a rotary carb for best results. An SG crank can be used but it's a hassle, you have to cut off the non-threaded part and then find a flex cable collet that will work. A slide carb has the problem of hooking up the linkage.
Plane motors don't get it in boats unless it's an airboat. Low RPM and HP plus the timing don't make them a good choice not to mention that they're hard to cool.

Josh101

The boat I'm building requires a .21, do I need to stick with marine engines?

Thanks,
Josh

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

I haven't seen any .21 car motors in boats yet but as long as you can get air to the head, go for it! I do know of one person that dumped a .26 truck motor in a 'rigger and has had that pupppy up in the 94 MPH range and thinks that he can see the magic 100 with some tweaking. A good .21 car motor ought to be able to see the high 40's to low 50's in a mono hull.