brand new to electric r/c boats and need lots of help!

[brianpeckham]

i bought one of those new bright boats from wal-mart some time ago. i know not up to par with you guys on here but gotta start in the hobby somewhere! What i need to know is how do i get it to go faster? it has the 19.2volt system in it! would it be easy to change to a different battery pack? how about the motor? the battery weighs a lot and I think that it is a surface drive already cause it pushes a lot of water up like a rooster tail about 3 to 4 inches above the water! I am trying to get more run time and faster. is this capable?

[retoabcr]

I know you have to start some where. I'd chalk this up to experience and buy a better unit, you won't be out much and some are rtr!

[brianpeckham]

would a deep vee be better for the ocean? i know most of the posts i read are of hydros but i am not really into that body style! i really like the baja or scarab look poker run boats! what would it take to make one versus buying some kit?

[retoabcr]

Go to different sites and do some research ,should net what your after!

[CG Bob]

Brian,

Go over to Lake Seminiole Park, Shelter #1 - that's where the Bay Area Electric Boaters (http://www.bayrcboaters.com/default1.htm) meet on the 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month. I used to belong to that club when Ilived in Palm Harbor.

CG Bob Gesking

[brianpeckham]

does anyone have a hull that they have started but am not gonna use? i would love the gas motor cause of run time between fill ups!

[CG Bob]

You'd be surprised at how long some electric powered boats can run, especially with the right battery/motor/prop combination. On several of my models, I get run times of over an hour on a single battery charge. I've had the TAMAROA model running in the water for as long as 5 hours on a single charge - the limiting factor was the radio batteries; I probably had another 1-2 hours left on the main motor battery. The TAMAROA has a lrage 12V battery in it and weighs about 30 pounds.

[brianpeckham]

do you have pics of this boat? how long is it? gotta be huge for that kinda weight! you may have changed my mind about electric then! what kinda speed can you get outta a boat that runs for an hour?

[CG Bob]

The TAMAROA model is 51" long and 9"wide. Unfortunately I don't have pictuires of the TAMAROA doing a full speed run, she wants to plane. My PT-188 is 30" long and gets a 30 minute run ona 3000 mAh NiMh 7.2V battery pack - powering two motors and counter rotatating props.

[brianpeckham]

do you have plans and specs on the pt-188? that looks awesome! well they both look awesome but the tamaroa looks like it would take me forever to make that one look that good! what makes them last so long on batteries?

[pompebled]

Oops.

[pompebled]

do you have plans and specs on the pt-188? that looks awesome! well they both look awesome but the tamaroa looks like it would take me forever to make that one look that good! what makes them last so long on batteries?

Hi Brian,

Long runtimes and high speed is always a compromise; as you can tell by the two examples from CG Bob, the large scale boat (normally) runs at scale speed, using a motor with a low ampdraw and a prop, suitable for the job, getting this combination right is the name of the game.
The PT boat has roughly half the battery capacity, just 1/10 of the runtime, but is much quicker (and much lighter).

I run an MTB with a stepped hull, 29 inches long, powered by a 1 : 2,3 geared down car motor, turning a 40mm X-prop.
On 7 cells (8,4V) this hull runs slightly above scale speed, nicely on the plane, for about 20 minutes (continously), running intermittend I can get 30-45 minutes out of a 3300mAh battery pack.
On 12 cells, the speed is ludicrous, the hull only runs on the edges of the steps, roughly 25 Mph, is hard to control, but great fun.

I'm getting dark looks from the scale faction, but the runtime is reduced to 6-8 minutes, so their precious models are not very long in danger...

(I have the (simple) plans for this hull on hard drive, so if you're interested...)

The website in the link shows the boat (and what you can make it look like)
http://www.scalespeed.com/jymy_en.htm

Regards, Jan.

[CG Bob]

Brian,

The PT 188 is scratch built from plans I purchased from the Floating Drydock (http://floatingdrydock.com/). The PT 188 is powered by a pair of MACK Products (http://www.mackproductsrc.com/mack_power.htm) #3150 motors running off a Futaba MC210 ESC. The PT was built from a plywood keel and frames planked with balsa wood. The balsa wood was sealed with fiberglass cloth and epoxy finishing resin. There was a PT-109 discussion thread (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282105) which has some detailed photos of my PT 188. I elected to use counter rotating Octura X4xx series props for speed.

what makes them last so long on batteries? A battery with a large Amp rating, motors with a low Amp draw, and efficient ESC's. In PT 188, the motors are connected directly to the prop shafts. In TAMAROA, there are two motors geared 3:1 to a single prop shaft. TAMAROA has a MACK Products #2500-253 motor/gearbox unit, and a Vantec 411 ESC. Since TAMAROA needed to weigh about 30 pounds when finished, I elected to buy the largest (heaviest) readily available battery I could find. If you have a boat that is expected to weigh over 15 or so pounds, you want that weight to be doing something for the model - like providing power. I originally bought a 12V 7.5 AHr battery from the Batteries Plus store on HWY 19 in Palm Harbor in 1998 or 1999. I had to finally replace that battery about two years ago.

[retoabcr]

CGBOB, those 2 boats of yours are very sharp and you sound proud of which you should be, nice work!

[Andrew Gilchrist]

Brian

The current hull is not one to try hotting up

CEN do hull which was loosely modelled on a BAJA and an Ocke Manerfeldt (V24 One Design Class). DPI used to do a Schiada. Graupner and Robbe do good fast scale boats

For the ocean stick to boats with solid stainlessshafts and carbon fibre props.

Not only is speed a compromise with runtime its a compromise with your wallet. An electric 700 powered hull will beat any of the ready to run nitro boats I have seen on speed and time.

[brianpeckham]

where would be a good hobby shop to go to to answer some questions about building a hull for an electric motor? Or any web site to go to to make a hull out of wood or fiberglass?

[CG Bob]

Some of the Bay Area Electric Boaters (http://www.bayrcboaters.com/default1.htm) get supplies from Phil's Hobbies on Seminole Blvd. You can also try the House of Hobbies. The best thing is to go to Shelter #1 at Lake Seminole Park this Sunday and talk to Larry Green, Don Igel, Marcus Krest, Bob Allison, Ron Glass, or any of the other club members. Larry has a great model of the PT 109. The pictures were taken at their regatta last April.

[Andrew Gilchrist]

Brain do you want fastelectric or scale or fast scale

[brianpeckham]

fast electric or fast scale! i'm really starting to dig the pt boats! so authentic looking!

[olibr]

Hi there,

I bought a used Futaba MC210 ESc and it came without the manual so I would like to ask you guys if you nknow where I could download one?

Thanks,

Brian,

The PT 188 is scratch built from plans I purchased from the Floating Drydock (http://floatingdrydock.com/). The PT 188 is powered by a pair of MACK Products (http://www.mackproductsrc.com/mack_power.htm) #3150 motors running off a Futaba MC210 ESC. The PT was built from a plywood keel and frames planked with balsa wood. The balsa wood was sealed with fiberglass cloth and epoxy finishing resin. There was a PT-109 discussion thread (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282105) which has some detailed photos of my PT 188. I elected to use counter rotating Octura X4xx series props for speed.

A battery with a large Amp rating, motors with a low Amp draw, and efficient ESC's. In PT 188, the motors are connected directly to the prop shafts. In TAMAROA, there are two motors geared 3:1 to a single prop shaft. TAMAROA has a MACK Products #2500-253 motor/gearbox unit, and a Vantec 411 ESC. Since TAMAROA needed to weigh about 30 pounds when finished, I elected to buy the largest (heaviest) readily available battery I could find. If you have a boat that is expected to weigh over 15 or so pounds, you want that weight to be doing something for the model - like providing power. I originally bought a 12V 7.5 AHr battery from the Batteries Plus store on HWY 19 in Palm Harbor in 1998 or 1999. I had to finally replace that battery about two years ago.

[CG Bob]

Futaba discontinued the MC210, MC210B, & MC210CB ESC a few years ago. Their website has the manual for the MC210CB (http://manuals.hobbico.com/fut/futm0921-manual.pdf) as a download.