I picked up this Swamp Dawg to keep on hand as a rescue boat when I am flying seaplanes.

Put it together using a Spektrum 4 ch RX and spare 25 amp ESC I had in the parts box.

Wasn't thrilled with the included prop, but didn't see any easy way to check the balance, so put it on and hoped for the best.

Took it out to a small lake behind the house and about three minutes into running the boat the motor came loose from the up right motor mounts, due, I assume, to vibrations from the prop. I had even used some blue thread lock on the screws.

Now the boat is about 20 feet out, with no propulsion.

Fortunately, my Flyzone Tidewater seaplane was sitting in the basement, I put a battery in it and used the seaplane to rescue the rescue boat;-)

I have reassembled the motor, using more blue lock-tite. I purchased an APC 6X4.5 prop at my LHS and trimmed it down to about 5 1/2 inches, smoothed the ends and balanced it. I mounted it to the motor using an e-flight 2.3mm collet type prop adaptor.

I put it back on the lake and I am happy to report the boat is now much quicker and very smooth sounding.

It seems to ride a little tail heavy, the front third is rarely in the water, I'm not a boat guy, so not sure if this is normal or if I should add a little weight to the front.

I may end up building a push bar and mounting it to the front, which would probably solve the nose weight issue.

Anyway, now that I have some of the bugs worked out of it, it is a fun little boat to play with. Scoots along pretty fast and will skid, do donuts and turn on a dime.


Jim

Trying out a new RC airboat (3 min 19 sec)

Well anywho, Chi here on rcgroups has an airboat like yours where he did some dremel work to make the lipo lay in the very bottom. This makes for a low CG and to make the airboat rest better in the water without rear dragging its behind. Mine ride not quite flat and glide real nice. Chi did the same thing. Mine were done a few years ago and never looked back. Yes, I did prop changing too which have the center of each blade is wider to give me better push. I run only 2 blade props. I also use low pitch props. I have some Windsor props which I shortened and balanced and work out well. Maybe I don't make sense as I just sit down and build them. I watched your video and the nose cone sure wobbles like the motor shaft bearings are bad. I must be lucky as mine don't. Oops. Keep my mouth shut.

Originally Posted by Dennis Manning

Well anywho, Chi here on rcgroups has an airboat like yours where he did some dremel work to make the lipo lay in the very bottom. This makes for a low CG and to make the airboat rest better in the water without rear dragging its behind. Mine ride not quite flat and glide real nice. Chi did the same thing. Mine were done a few years ago and never looked back. Yes, I did prop changing too which have the center of each blade is wider to give me better push. I run only 2 blade props. I also use low pitch props. I have some Windsor props which I shortened and balanced and work out well. Maybe I don't make sense as I just sit down and build them. I watched your video and the nose cone sure wobbles like the motor shaft bearings are bad. I must be lucky as mine don't. Oops. Keep my mouth shut.

Dennis, can you post some pics of how you cut out the Swamp Dawg to fit the lipo down inside the hull? Thinking of doing the same to mine. Also does everyone run reversable ESCs on their boats? Thinking of doing this to mine as the number of times I managed to nose it into the reeds and it gets stuck, warrants me being able to reverse it!

Generally my hands a so dirty and I'd really like to live inside when temp. are 20 degrees below zero. Last time I took pictures was in the Army 55 years ago. Anywho, just dremel out an area big enough for lipo and place the lipo towards the front of dawg but inside, lol. I took 1/32 ply and laid it in to stiffen the bottom more so. The dawg is to heavy at the rear ( transom ), so place as much toward the front. I made my equipment box ( lipo,rx, servo and etc ) higher on the sides so I could stack on top of lipo of which are movable if need be. The rx, esc can lay on top of lipo that is laying flat. I put Velcro on lipo for rx and esc so they wouldn't fly all over. That is why my sides are higher. That's about it in a nutshell. The videos show the nose way to high and should be almost level but not quite. Have a good day. Reverse esc, you bet!

Originally Posted by Dennis Manning

Well anywho, Chi here on rcgroups has an airboat like yours where he did some dremel work to make the lipo lay in the very bottom. This makes for a low CG and to make the airboat rest better in the water without rear dragging its behind. Mine ride not quite flat and glide real nice. Chi did the same thing. Mine were done a few years ago and never looked back. Yes, I did prop changing too which have the center of each blade is wider to give me better push. I run only 2 blade props. I also use low pitch props. I have some Windsor props which I shortened and balanced and work out well. Maybe I don't make sense as I just sit down and build them. I watched your video and the nose cone sure wobbles like the motor shaft bearings are bad. I must be lucky as mine don't. Oops. Keep my mouth shut.

The spinner isn't really untrue as much as the video would make it seem. The prop is still just slightly out of balance and the video picks that up as a wavy effect that makes the spinner look like it is wobbling badly. It is actually pretty true and the motor and prop are smooth sounding.

I realize the boat needs to be balanced a little more forward, but as it is, with the front sticking up out of the water, it is a hoot to drive. It will skid sideways, do donuts and turn on a dime. The only down side is it will not go straight, you are constantly having to correct it one way or the other.

I assume once I balance the boat so it sits level it will track better, but likely won't be as much fun in turns;-)

Jim

Originally Posted by WVrailfan

The spinner isn't really untrue as much as the video would make it seem. The prop is still just slightly out of balance and the video picks that up as a wavy effect that makes the spinner look like it is wobbling badly. It is actually pretty true and the motor and prop are smooth sounding.

I realize the boat needs to be balanced a little more forward, but as it is, with the front sticking up out of the water, it is a hoot to drive. It will skid sideways, do donuts and turn on a dime. The only down side is it will not go straight, you are constantly having to correct it one way or the other.

I assume once I balance the boat so it sits level it will track better, but likely won't be as much fun in turns;-)

Agreed. even real life airboats tend to stick up at the front a bit. If you have the boat to flat on the water you increase the underside surface area contact, which makes sharp turns a lot harder. Maybe it should have hydro foils added so it rises up and hardly touches!

Jim

Agreed. even real life airboats tend to stick up at the front a bit. If you have the boat to flat on the water you increase the underside surface area contact, which makes sharp turns a lot harder. Maybe it should have hydro foils added so it rises up and hardly touches!

I put some dead AA batteries taped together on the bow to keep the front down. Worked well enough.

Delete!

Photo from the HK Facebook feed (on their web site home page)

delete!!!!!!

Looks cool but I'll bet low speed handling is greatly affected. Probably slower too.

Originally Posted by shahram72

Looks cool but I'll bet low speed handling is greatly affected. Probably slower too.

Umm.. No...

HobbyKing Live - Channel Update - June Shenanigans (4 min 36 sec)

Looks like they had some fun, but I couldn't stop thinking about the waste of money. Water and electronics aren't a good combo when treated like that. I guess that is the sort if thing you can do when you either don't have to pay for the equipment yourself, or have plenty of excess funds...

Originally Posted by Aus

Looks like they had some fun, but I couldn't stop thinking about the waste of money. Water and electronics aren't a good combo when treated like that. I guess that is the sort if thing you can do when you either don't have to pay for the equipment yourself, or have plenty of excess funds...

If you water proof the esc, rx, and servo you are good to go. The lipo and motor are fine. We do it in our rock crawlers all the time. Its pretty easy too.