Help for a Newbie

[Grengar]

Hello I hope I'm in the right place.

I am thinking of starting a new hobby with my father. He recently purchased a cabin on a nice lake that will allow us to use boats pretty much when ever we want. Its very calm and clear with limited boat traffic.

I have quite a bit of RC experiance in planes and Cars but no building as everything I have ever used has been RTR or RTF. My father has no rc experiance at all.

I would like to buy a kit we can build together. As an old Navy man he is into military type ships but I am not set on that as a first time builder. I would like some suggestions on what kind of kit to buy? I have looked on tower hobbies and hobby lobby but I have no idea what kits are good. Also since I have no building experiance I would like to buy from a site that will allow us to purchase everything I will need for the boat at one time.

The only limitations on what I'm looking for is that I do not want a speed boat I would like something bigger and I want to stick with eletric power.

Any suggestions?

[Rex R]

one could look at www.vac-u-boat.com

[patmat2350]

I think you need to invite us all up to that lake so we can make the most appropriate determination.
The Vac-u-boat is a wonderful little complete model which goes together easily, and can be further detailed as you like.
Tugs in general are amongst the most popular RC boat models- they can be relatively simple, they're solid, and not covered with a gazillion fragile details like most military models.
For a higher degree of difficulty, consider models from Dumas, Model Slipways, Caldercraft and others... peruse the items at www.loyalhannadockyard.com, www.harbormodels.com, and http://www.mackproductsrc.com/index.htm amongst others.
Get a feel for what YOU like, then come back for further comments from the peanut gallery!

Welcome to the wetter side,
Pat M

[MILLERTIME]

"I think you need to invite us all up to that lake so we can make the most appropriate determination."

Me too, I can only stay 3 or 4 weeks.

[mfr02]

Graupners Lotse is a nice launch for a beginner, simple build, and the hull is useful for conversions. I saw a patrol/rescue boat in Cyprus whose hull was amazingly similar - new superstructure and flag and a layer of grey paint...

[Grengar]

Thanks everyone. As soon as I get a boat up and floating we will have a big party. :)

Can I use spectrom radios? I have one in one of my cars and would just as soon use that for boats at least to start.

[patmat2350]

Yes!
Only shortcoming seems to be for submarines (2.4 Gig doesn't penetrate water).

[windwarrior6682]

If your looking for a sail boat suggest the Voyager. It is RTS. It 1 meter in lenght which is a nice size to see from the shore line. The cost is about $150 from tower hobbies. There is a group of voyager owner trying to get 20 registur boar to form a AMYA sention class. But also look to see that other in you area are sailing. Here are a few photo to peek your intresst.