which of the boats should i get?

[ihor14448]

Hi, i'm not a big boater like you guys, i am mosttly into rc planes. i was wondering through radisack and saw a couple of boats. i want to buy one, so i can swim it around the lake when my dad is fisshing. well they had those boats on sale.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2621746&cp=2032062.2032402.2032406&parentPage=family


http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2648643&cp=2032062.2032402.2032406&parentPage=family


http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2205149&cp=2032062.2032402.2032406&parentPage=family


the cateline 2 needs a spare battery, and i dont know which one is the best, have anyone tried these? i need the fastest and the best controllable boat, people in the reviews say that it is fast, but how fast. thanks.

[SDJ]

If I may be so bold as to suggest in this world you get what you pay for, The most expensive of any particular item is usualy a rip off, the cheapest of the same item is also a rip off and usually ends up costing more than the original purchase price, time and time again I have found the same item at the middle price range is the best value.
I am not saying don't buy one of these boats but think about what you have bought in the past and remember, was the cheapest the best??

[ihor14448]

If I may be so bold as to suggest in this world you get what you pay for, The most expensive of any particular item is usualy a rip off, the cheapest of the same item is also a rip off and usually ends up costing more than the original purchase price, time and time again I have found the same item at the middle price range is the best value.
I am not saying don't buy one of these boats but think about what you have bought in the past and remember, was the cheapest the best??

thanks, but i'm not going to extremes, i just want a normal not expensive bost to swim around the pond when fishing. do you know whick one is the best? the faster the better, and i'm thinking of upgrading it myself.

[ihor14448]

sea burner goes 500 fpm, do you know how fast it is in MPH. and do you know how fast the Caliente II RC Boat goes?

thanks

[toesup]

They are all good 'play' boats...

They are not fast compared to a 'real' RC boat... The controls are 'stop'..'go'.. 'left' and 'right'.. its not proportional..

You might consider a Reef Racer rather than those from Rad-shack.. ;)

http://www.towerhobbies.com/products/aquacraft/aqub14.html

By the way, as a fisherman (as your Father is) i wouldnt be very happy with a boat ripping up the pond while i was trying to fish.. :mad:
He does know your plans?...

[SDJ]

sea burner goes 500 fpm, do you know how fast it is in MPH. and do you know how fast the Caliente II RC Boat goes?

thats about just under 6 MPH according to google calculator, I really wish I could help you with which boat to buy, I have bben "stung" with buying a "bang" steering boat before and ended up gutting it an using the running gear to put in a boat I scratch built, it goes better now but wont work if someone is using a hobby grade boat nearby as the signal is to strong and stops my boat working. I am not trying to talk you out of buying one of these boats, just recounting my personal experiance,
The choice is yours

[ihor14448]

They are all good 'play' boats...

They are not fast compared to a 'real' RC boat... The controls are 'stop'..'go'.. 'left' and 'right'.. its not proportional..

You might consider a Reef Racer rather than those from Rad-shack.. ;)

http://www.towerhobbies.com/products/aquacraft/aqub14.html

By the way, as a fisherman (as your Father is) i wouldnt be very happy with a boat ripping up the pond while i was trying to fish.. :mad:
He does know your plans?...

very nice boats but the price is a little off for me, i dont want to spend alot of money for a boat, is there any other cheaper boat that is good. i just dont want to buy the expensive one because i go fishing like 1 time a wwek so it will be sitting there the almost the whole week.

[ihor14448]

i have 2 spare 260 motors. will that be good speed if i replace the motors in the radioshack boats? and i need a spare props.

[ihor14448]

how about these boats, are any of these good?

http://boomerangs.com/rcboats.html?gclid=CPLR092crIwCFR6AWAod0AHaRw

[ihor14448]

and i think those 2 boats are good, for me

http://boomerangs.com/s2.html

http://boomerangs.com/3821.html

how fast can the 360 motor go on water?

[nick_75au]

The first boat in your last post isnt too bad for a toy grade boat, my cousin has one, I havent seen any of the others except the hydro(useless). Although as soon as I saw it run then saw what was inside I wanted to take it off his hands and replace every thing with hobby grade electronics. Buy the way doing this will probably endup costing more than the reef racer to begin with.
It is a good fun boat and will satify you I think (until you see some properly set up hobby boats anyway). from the radio shack site the Caliente II does 1000 ftpm or 11 mph
"because i go fishing like 1 time a week so it will be sitting there the almost the whole week"
some of my boats sit for several months in between runs and a lot more money invested :D
I along with most of the people on this forum will agree that your money is better invested in the reef racer or other hobby grade boat.
Regards
Nick

[Velocity-8]

Get a Reef Racer 2. Cheap and fun plus it's hobby grade. They are great for pond running.

[ihor14448]

i saw a video on the http://boomerangs.com/s2.html and it went great, in the description it said that it goes up to 25mph. i thin i will get one.

[LtDoc]

I have a feeling that 25 mph is only possible when it's thrown off of a very tall building.
- 'Doc

[ihor14448]

http://www.wowzzers.com/28blazinglyfastvictoryepracingrcboat-p-99.html

it says it there in the description, also look at the video, and its not 25mph its 20mph, (sorry, my bad)

[tigerbay]

Another option is to buy a bait boat.

You can help your dad by placiing bait. This requires a bit of skill and having a purpose makes things a bit more interesting.

The rest of the time you can just play.


As for most boats you should Be aware, most of these boats only run for about 10-20 minutes.

However a sail boat will run for much longer, I get about 8 hours from four duracell AA batteries.

[billyz7718]

25 mph is 36 feet per second. That might be a little high. I could belive 10mph, 14 FPS, but thats fast for an RC boat at that price range. If it does go that fast, Awesome!
I would go with the reef racer.

[pompebled]

If you like that boat, than get one.

It may even last a whole week, when you allow the motors to cool down between runs.

The pictures show some real fast electrics...

Regards, Jan.

[ihor14448]

OMG those boats are not even on the water. how fast do they go?

[LtDoc]

The bottom line is to get a boat that you like the looks of. Just remember that unless you put a lot of time and effort into it, it's going to be a "toy", and not something you can expect to last 'for years', or hold your attention for that long. If you like it, then who cares.
The warning about letting the thing cool down between runs tells me that it's operating at the 'edge' of it's abilities, really being 'pushed'. Nothing all that wrong about that, but it does require attention to the timing of things.
With the 49 Mhz 'hobby' frequency of the controler, don't expect a lot of range. Do expect problems, cuz a LOT of things use that band (interference which you can do nothing about).
In very general terms, meaning there are always exceptions, anything that 'inexpensive' is not going to live up to your expectations.
- 'Doc

(and if the boat in the video is doing anything close to 20-25 mph, I'll eat it... got the salt handy too!)

[pompebled]

OMG those boats are not even on the water. how fast do they go?

On smooth water 28 Mph, on light chop 30 Mph.

The day these pictures were taken, the water was extremely rough, average speed will not have exceeded 22-25 Mph.

These boats are a standard class, restricted motor, number of cells, maximum propsize. Without restrictions these hull easily reach 40 Mph, but this would make them undrivable around a 30 x 30 x 30 M triangular course.

Regards, Jan.

[ihor14448]

how fast does the reef racer 2 go?

[ihor14448]

i heard about zig zag racer (2). is it better the the reef racer 2?

[Velocity-8]

i heard about zig zag racer (2). is it better the the reef racer 2?


I HATE the Zig Zag. One piece rx/esc, cheesy body and poor overall constuction. The Reef Racer has hobby grade components.

The RR2 goes about 15mph. It's pleny fast for a pool or small pond.

[ihor14448]

for how long does the reef racer run on single charge?

[CG Bob]

The Reef Racer comes with an 1100 MAh battery pack. Generally 100 MAh = 1 minute of run time (& 1 minute of charge time with a quick charger @ 3-4 Amps). At full throttle, about 10-11 minutes.

Some other factors that affect run time are: prop diameter and pitch; direct drive or gear drive prop; stock or modified motor; hull design; and hull length to beam ratio. I have three different boats with direct drive props, and use a 1500 MAh batery in all three. Boat #1 is a scratchbuilt 1:10 scale Crackerbox with an Octuas X430 prop gets about 7-8 minutes at full speed before the battery dumps. Boat #2 is a scratchbuilt 1:32 scale Elco 80' PT boat (PT 1880 with two Octura X427 counter rotating props amd MACK Motors; gets about a 15 minute full speed run. Boat #3 is the Aquacraft KINGS RANSOM pirate ship, runs almost an hour on the same 1500 MAh battery.

[ihor14448]

but isnt 15 mph a little slow for a reef racer2, i seen a video on the reef recer 2 and the zig zags and the zig zags went faster. and can you please post pictures of your scratch built boats, if you can.

[ihor14448]

i dont know, i have 2 260 motors on my rc car. maybe i will try to build a double motor boat. will those 2 260 motors do any good for an rc boat? will it go fast? and what do you use for the material, is styrofoam good for it, because i got alot of it.

[was up88]

you might want this boat since this is when your dad fishes
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMPF2**&P=0
watch the video

[ihor14448]

you might want this boat since this is when your dad fishes
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMPF2**&P=0
watch the video

thanks, nice scale boat, but i want a sporty speed boat

[CG Bob]

i dont know, i have 2 260 motors on my rc car. maybe i will try to build a double motor boat. will those 2 260 motors do any good for an rc boat? will it go fast? and what do you use for the material, is styrofoam good for it, because i got alot of it.
The 260 size motors will work, the smallest speed props I know of are Octura X427's. With that size motor, you're limited to a hull about 12-15" long. The completed model will have to weigh less than 2 pounds, including battery and radio gear. You'll probably want a Deep-vee hull design, or maybe an outrigger hydro. Top speed might be around 10-15 mph. Another boat to look at is the ProBoat Mini-Vee (http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PRB3000), about $100 for the boat, radio, battery & charger. The Mini-Vee runs close to 20 mph for 15-20 minutes.

[ihor14448]

The Reef Racer comes with an 1100 MAh battery pack. Generally 100 MAh = 1 minute of run time (& 1 minute of charge time with a quick charger @ 3-4 Amps). At full throttle, about 10-11 minutes.

Some other factors that affect run time are: prop diameter and pitch; direct drive or gear drive prop; stock or modified motor; hull design; and hull length to beam ratio. I have three different boats with direct drive props, and use a 1500 MAh batery in all three. Boat #1 is a scratchbuilt 1:10 scale Crackerbox with an Octuas X430 prop gets about 7-8 minutes at full speed before the battery dumps. Boat #2 is a scratchbuilt 1:32 scale Elco 80' PT boat (PT 1880 with two Octura X427 counter rotating props amd MACK Motors; gets about a 15 minute full speed run. Boat #3 is the Aquacraft KINGS RANSOM pirate ship, runs almost an hour on the same 1500 MAh battery.

you are master at building boats. nice detail. i dont know how to make a round hull. how do you do that?

[bajarocks]

for the 20 MPH is that scale MPH or is it actually that fast?

[CG Bob]

That's an actual 17 knots - not scale mph. I've had my Crackerbox clocked at 23 mph by a radar gun, and the Mini-Vee is almost as fast.

[ihor14448]

ok, i took my rc car apart, the guts weigh less than a half of a pound. that includes:
2 260 motors, reciever and a battery. i think its good. can i use styrofoam for the body of the boat or what else can i use? and i dont know the measurments to make the boat, is there any plans or anything. ans also i need 2 spare propellers.