you guys really sucked me in!!

[Daveo]

I keep reading the articles, and seeing the pictures of the these awesome RC boats and I think i must have one!!! The question i have is, how hard are these things to drive? I am absolutely terrified of losing my boat in the lake. What should I expect my first time out to be like? I have done some research and found that there is really no lake around me that allows Nitro boats, so I am looking a the aquacraft supervee brushless boat. Will this be too much for a noob? How do you retrieve a capsized boat from the water? As you can see i have many questions, but no answers so any help would be appreciated.:eek:

[Pyrotechnic]

im not much of an electric guy but from what i heard the super v is an excalent boat. with the right set up you can run close to 40mph if not faster. what kind of lake or pond are you running at. is it big?? are there other boaters, as in full scale boats?? if the lake/pond/river, or wherever you are running is big enough (prolly at least the sive of a football feild) the super v will be a good choice. also check out the new BL boat from proboat. its a catamaran and will be much more stable in the flats, but it wont handle waves as good as the super v. retrieving a boat can be easy and hard. if there is a lot of boaters, your not gunna want to swim for it, so maybe a little raft would do the trick. if there isnt that many ppl and you dont mind getting wet, just a blow up tube will work fine. also, for a noob, i wouldnt go nitro. if you have ever delt with trucks then you know what a pain they can be. if your lake is big enough and you want to spend the money, a gasser would be awesome. but its up to you.

[DavidB]

Electric is definitely a better way for a first boat. When the batteries show signs of running low it's time to bring it to shore.

I have a smaller pond where I take my boats. I had a nitro boat die in the middle. I simply waited until it drifted closer to shore and used my heavy bass fishing rod with a large floating Rapala on the end of the line. I took a few casts but I eventually snagged the boat. Others have used a tennis ball tied to the end. It's heavy enough to give it distance and the ball floats. Just cast it over the boat and hope it catches on the prop or rudder.

If you plan to run it at a much larger lake with no means of retrieval, then make sure your name and contact information is inside somewhere. That way when someone finds it they can either get it back to you or send you a thank you note for their new boat... and to ask you to please forward the transmitter.

[Daveo]

... That way when someone finds it they can either get it back to you or send you a thank you note for their new boat... and to ask you to please forward the transmitter.


See this is the kind of stuff I worry about!!!!

[DavidB]

one of those cheap little inflatable canoes is handy.

or THIS (http://gallery.offshoreelectrics.com/displayimage.php?album=4&pos=4)

[Daveo]

one of those cheap little inflatable canoes is handy.

or THIS (http://gallery.offshoreelectrics.com/displayimage.php?album=4&pos=4)



unfortunatly I weigh 8,000,000 lbs so i would need a barge to support me. I do like the link you posted though. It gives a nice excuse to get another boat!!!!!

[Pyrotechnic]

that is a great idea for retiriving a boat, and if i get my boat im planning on making a retieval boat before getting a blow up conoe. how big is the lake your going to be running at??

[Daveo]

I have a friend that has a boat in the lake Michigan marina so i was going to run there, and there is a park a couple blocks from my house that has a lagoon that is around 10 acres. I think the pond and the lake are big enough to handle the boat, I just am not sure of my driving abilities!!

[Pyrotechnic]

haha. well the only thing you have to remember when dirving a boat is that the dont have brakes!!! so give youself some room when going near obstacles. other than that they arent to bad when it comes to control. rougher water can become a handful, but its a lot more fun, IMO.

also, if your gunna be running in the great lakes, i would definalty recommend a deep v over a cat, because im sure it gets rough there.

[Daveo]

Are there issues with weeds to watch out for? Lake Michiagn should not be an issue but the lagoon could be.

[Pyrotechnic]

umm, im not too sure, it really depending on how thick the weeds are. i had a cheapo nikko boat awhile ago that went 5mph and it got tangled on the smalles stuff but the prop always spun enough for me to bring it back. then i put a BL in it and it didnt snag up as much but thicker weeds like lilly pads would always get cought (if you hit them right). but it shouldnt be to much of a problem i dont think. and if you do get cought, im sure the prop wont stop completely unless you frove yourself into a big area of them.

[Daveo]

Ok I got the boat yester day and put on the decals and greased up the prop shaft. I took it out to the harbor and there was a pretty stiff wind and some good sized chop on the water. I did not get a lot of speed but it was fun luanching the baot off of the waves:D :D . One thing I noticed was the boat riding with the nose high. What do I do to fix that? I thought maybe I needed to bend the trim tabs, but I thought I was going to break the hull when I tried to bend it. How do you go about bending the trim tabs.

Thanks for all the help, this thing is a hoot!!!!:cool:

[Pyrotechnic]

what boat did you get?? super v?? the trim tabs need to be down a little more. im not sure really how to do that cuz ive never seen the super v in person (if thats what you got). post some pics.

[Daveo]

Yeah I got the supervee. the trim tabs are the stainless steel pieces on the bottom of the hull. I tried to bend them with my fingers but thought i was going to break the hull. They are very strong. Do I use a vice? are the angles supposed to be precise with this adjustment or will a ball park be good enough. also, is there supposed to be water coming from the fitting on the side of the boat? Cause mine has no water squirting out.

[Pyrotechnic]

like i said before, ive never really seen a super v up close so i couldnt tell you how to bend them. are you sure they arnt adjustable by using a screw driver or allen wrench or something like that?? and yes there should be, at least i think, water coming from there. it should be the water cooling outlet. is the motor hot when you get done running it??

[Daveo]

The trim tabs are just bent stainless steel so to adjust them I had to take the tabs off the hull and bend them in a vice. Then tradgedy struck, I put the boat in the lake by my house and started ripping up the weeds. The baot was flying. I was having the time of my life. I noticed it was slowing down so i was going to bring it in when it just stopped. I could see the rudder move left and right but no power to the motor. I had to let it drif into shore, and when I got it out of the water it seemed to have just stopped working. There was a little water in the hull but nothing to write home about. So the boat is at the hobby shop for repair, they already replaced the speed control, but it is doing the same thing with a new speed control. Now there is a new motor on order. Sheesh!!! I have never had these kind of problems with my car

[Daveo]

OK, I got the boat back from the shop, they say that the problem was that my batteries were dead, but I am not sure I believe them. The ESC does not have a voltage cutoff from what I can tell so why would it just stop dead and disarm the esc? Anyway it was a good enought excuse to get 2 new 4600MAH batteries! So this weekend I am off to the lake again. WOOHOO!

[Losi Motor Man]

Dammm yguys I need another boat now . See I am gonna blame it all on you guys when my wife finds the money missing from he account, I am gonna tell her you guys black mailed me and taunted me into getting a new one . I have a Super hawaiian but reading these post I am gonna have to get another one . OOOOOO :eek: YOu guys are in troubleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I Am telling on allof you that you guysare bad influences and that ishould not play with you guys anymore LOL :D

[Daveo]

Oh no, i am not taking any responsibility for this one. I got sucked into from the reviews in the magazine. it is all BobH's fault. he is the bad influence. anyway after my last post i found out that the ESC has a voltage cutoff that is based in the initial voltage that the battery has. It then will shut down when you reach 40% of that initial voltage. Once it shuts down, it is done until it is unplugged and plugged back in. i really need to learn how to retrieve a dead boat. hey Bob, how about a video of how to get a dead boat. my wife still won't go for the retrieval boat.

[rshooch]

issue 49 jan 08 tie a ball to a string and another boat drive a few circles around dead boat and the string and ball should catch the rotor ect.. and toe it back to shore... and thanks rc driver for putting that in ur mag I feel alittle more confident in buying and running boats..

[Losi Motor Man]

you can also use a Off shore fishing pole a long one that you do not have to kill yourself trying to cast far. I have one with a hook that has 3 seperate tri hoos and it looks like a fish. with a 2 lb wt. so that you can cast real far. Try to cast over the dead boat when you are over the boat just real it in slow ad pne of the tri hooks will catch onto something and you can real it right in . Just what I do . hope this can help you

[tearemupanfixem]

I have the aquacraft nitro hammer and my uncle has the aquacraft brushless. The brushless will outrun mine but if the water is choppy at all he can't run his much without capsizing. The hammer is pretty stable, I've been able to keep it right side up so far. The other guys have pretty much covered getting a dead boat in. We usually have a boat handy, but sometimes we swim out to get them if its not too far out, and thats why we usually run in warm weather. I also have 2 cheaper boats that have twin 380 motors, they are not quite as fast but still alot of fun. I have ran these boats in some very rough water and have'nt turned either over yet.

[Daveo]

I am now dying for it to get warm so i can run my boat again!!!!! The suspense is killing me!!!!!

[hpiguy]

10 acres is more than enough to have fun with an R/C boat.

Likely you won't have many issues but if you do, you usually just have to wait for the wind to blow the boat back to shore.

A great boat for beginers that's quick and fun is the Tower Turbo Vee. Very inexpensive, upgradeable and will teach you the basics.

It is also very durable.

Here's mine with a mild modified motor.

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/hpiguy/?action=view&current=TurboVeeVideo4-2005.flv

I've been in R/C for 20 years and even I find this boat to be tons of fun.

[Daveo]

So we are 4 inches away from the record snowfall totals for one year. I am so sick of the cold it is killing me. I need to run my boat!!!!!!! ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

[Daveo]

frist day of Spring and there ia a winter storm warning for tonight and tomorrow. WHEN WILL IT END!!!!!

[LSD-LST2]

I should have my brushless Super Vee today !

Traded it for a Velineon VXL3s system from my Slash 4x4 . I am hoping this will give me something too do when the track is too wet to run on .

[Fiero_Man_121]

thats awsome, ive been eyeing the sv27 for a while myself. think i may get one for summer :D

pics are a must!

[Ron Olson]

I had the nitro version of the SV 27. One of its first times out I ran it against the BL version, speeds were almost identical.
I use a 2-man inflatable boat for retrieval duties, I got mine at Wal-mart for $20.00, a pair of oars for around $8.00, and a 12-volt inflator for another $10.00.
A piece of advice and I can't stress this enough, DON'T SWIM AFTER A DEAD BOAT!!!!!!! We lose at least one person a year to those who think that they can.
Here's a video of my son getting crazy with mine........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW03KDJT67Y&playnext_from=TL&videos=GAsXFCJyOHE
This video runs twice, I didn't shoot it. This video is mine on its first tankfuls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72SUWa8hyqA

[LSD-LST2]

Got my SV27 Brushless and it has been running great , but I want some more speed so I have bought an Ammo 3650 2600Kv motor , Hobbywing 180 amp ESC , Grim Racer 42x55 prop for it and its a real screamer now ! I am totally satisfied now and it still handles pretty good at speed and planes out almost instantly :D Looks too be doing at least 40 mph or better but I dont have a GPS or radar too verify .

BTW , the boat melted a loose solder joint at the battery connectors and cut out about 15 feet from the shore of this man made pond I was running at , so I went wading in and before I knew it I was in water that was over my head ! Water temp was probably in the high 40 degree range and within 10-15 seconds of going in my muscles began involantry spasming :eek: I grabbed the boat and began kicking back too shore and got out of the water . LESSON LEARNED ! I will not ever attempt that again ! Deffinitely going too get a raft or a pole too retreive the boat next time .

I was thinking of getting one of those cheap Nikko or other brand boat and modding it to be a rescue boat , anybody here done that ?

[Ron Olson]

Nah, do what I advised earlier. A retireval boat won't do you any good if the boat is upside down, doing its imitation of an iceberg or hung up in weeds.