Fast electrics - what's fast?

[Dunc]

Folks

Many years ago I played with fast glow stuff, 10cc with tuned pipes. They shifted quite nicely.

Now that my young son is after me to start boating again, I do have a number of flight packs eg 10cell 2400mAh packs which would make sense to use.
Can these be used in Electrics and how fast compared to the 10cc glow jobbies? Obviously not expecting them to be the same but has anyone else made the transition? Any recommendations on boat hulls and set ups?

Fast electric planes compare very well with ic planes and hoping that boats could do the same!!!

Best wishes
Duncan

[martin richards]

Depends how fast your glow was. but a German recently took an electric hydroplane over the 100 mph barrier. But for a more reasonable target you could have plenty of fun in the mid 20's, without breaking the bank. Try www.astecmodels.co.uk

[Neil McGrath]

Subsurface drive monohulls will turn the sharpest. ECO stlyle hulls can turn even tighter. Ideal for small lakes. Speed 400 powered boats can be quite nippy (around 15mph) and hot 540 powered boats should see speeds in the low 20s.

Surface drive monos are faster but do not turn as sharply. Not recommended if your local lake is less than 100ft in diameter. A 20 turn 540 on 6/7 cells and a 2:1 gearbox should give good performance. Even better is 12 cells powering a direct drive Graupner 700BB turbo. In both cases start with a 42mm prop (either carbon fibre or metal). Avoid steerable outdrives as they tend to be lossy and cause instability in the turns. You should see speeds in the mid to high 20s. Your 10 cell 2400s should work well with the 8.4v 700BB but 12 cells will give it a bit more welly.

Hydros are the fastest but can be a more difficult to set up properly. I have a 480 powered hydro using 7 CP1300 cells that is faster than my 12 cell mono. They are the fastest but can take forever to turn tidily. A well set up hydro should easily be capable of speeds in the mid 30s.

The above speed predictionsare based on a 5 minute run time.

Many of the kit boats around are not particularly fast straight out of the box but can often be breathed-on to improve their performance if you know a bit about motors and cells.

If you fancy racing, I suggest that you contact your local club and find out what classes of boat they run. It is a good idea to attend a race meeting before you visit the model shop to see which boats run the best.

Neil

[Dunc]

Thanks Neil
Great advice which you obviously took some time "writing".
Is there a boat association similar to the BMFA? Where can I get a list of clubs in the south Bucks area? I've heard there's one near Slough but would also like to see an IC one as well!
Thanks again
Dunc

[Neil McGrath]

The MPBA is the main UK organisation for all types of powerboat.

http://www.mpba.org.uk


The main FE club in the southeast is Electra, which meets at various venues during the summer months. You should be able to find some details for this club on the Astec site.

Neil

[Tim Higdon]

There is NAMBA also, North American Model Boat Association. Check out this sight it has the 102.9 mph run on it. Lots of others too! www.dcrwebservices.com/lasaw/default3.htm Go to pics and videos to see pictures and videos taken at the 2002 LA SAWS. Enjoy!


Tim Higdon

Team Alaska
Ragged Edge Racing

[MrTracy]

Neil, I see you mentioned a 2:1 gear box. Where can I get one of those?

[George Pfeifer]

Mr Tracey;

If it is for an .05 type motor, the Hughey Gearbox is the best around.

If it is for a 700 size motor then a Fine Design Gearbox is the one you want.

Both have multiple gear ratios available.

Your best bet is to contact Chris Fine @ finedesignrc.com He is the creator of the Fine Design unit, and I think he also sells the Hughey units. Your best bet is to call Chris on the phone, as he has an aversion to e-mail. Chris is one of the most knowledable people around, in F/E boating and a super nice guy.

George

[Neil McGrath]

Hughey are the best but are expensive. Graupner units are much cheaper and work reasonably well. You could probably order one of these from your local model shop.

Neil

[Malcolm]

Just visited the MPBA web site and noticed you have to join a local club in order to get the insurance cover. I am a member of the BMFA as I fly RC helicopters, and for a direct payment of just £23 pa I get the usual £5,000,000 public liability cover. I do not need to be a member of any club to be insured, which is just as well as one "local" club requires a one off payment of £100 and £150 pa membership fee !

We back on to Fairlands Valley, the lakes are used by the Stevenage club, who on the day we went to sail my boys interceptor 650 made us feel wellcome (well there were only two of the members present so we wern't in the way). The problem is at the time they were not looking at taking on any more members, which means we will be technically not be able to sail without insurance !

[Neil McGrath]

You could join the MPBA countrywide club, which has been set up for those people who are not members of a local club or organisation. I am not too sure of the cost or benefits but you could probably find out more from the MPBA web site.

Neil

[cactus]

My nephew has a Jet Stream 1000 with the GP Recoil Nitro motor that has spent more time trying to get it to run than time enjoying it. Has anyone seen a conversion to electric around and if so, what setup did they have? Duration, speed..etc...

I was thinking that a 550-600 speed motor with Esc and 7-8 cell cp2400-3000 mah packs would be easier to maintain at the cost of some topend speed and duration, but would run when he wants it to. Also, I would have to mount the electric motor and adapt to the output shaft for the GP hardware...

Mike

[Pagemaster]

Cactus Mike, a 700 size motor will be needed to get that boat moving. If you go for something like this you will need at least 12 cells. On 12 cells with a 700 motor something like a SS1 from Fine design, your talking about 20mph. If you move up to 14-16 cells 25mph. A single 550 is just too small to get that size boat moving fast.

Steven Vaccaro
www.OffshoreElectrics.com

[cactus]

Thanks for the reply and the suggestion. I think the choices are out of his budget, so I am going to have to try and get the Glow engine running for him.

Thanks again

Mike

[Pagemaster]

If you have batteries and a charger the conversion would be in the $60-$70 area

Steven Vaccaro
www.OffshoreElectrics.com

[Dick Crowe]

Here's the site for the 2002 LA NAMBA SAW's.
It's loaded with videos pictures and the records for the existing classes.

http://www.drcwebservices.com/lasaw

If you like 700 motors, check out Larry Larson's LSH Hydro running over 48 MPH with a SS1.

See ya,
Dick

[Pagemaster]

Good to see your still around Dick.

[Dick Crowe]

Thanks Steve,
I just need a little change of scenery. It's all good.

See ya,
Dick

[T.S.Davis]

Fast is such a relative term. Dicks boats are super fast.

The boat in this pic is zipping along pretty good.