Looking for a rc boat. What would you recommend

[WideOpen]

I’ll respond with what little I know - leaving the houseboat in Branson, MO in a little bit - where we’ve been running our RC Boat

 

[Greywolf74]

So I also was looking to getting into this and asked the question of Cats vs Deep-V. I already have some Traxxas cars and also of Traxxas LiPo's so the question I have would be between the Blast or the Spartan. Reading the site the Blast is totally NiMH, and the Spartan is LiPo. I like the Blast for it size. I like the Spartan for the batteries. Would the Spartan drivetrain fit in the Blast body?

I'm all about the LiPo. NiXX packs are relics of a bygone era imho

 

[LibertyMKiii]

So I also was looking to getting into this and asked the question of Cats vs Deep-V. I already have some Traxxas cars and also of Traxxas LiPo's so the question I have would be between the Blast or the Spartan. Reading the site the Blast is totally NiMH, and the Spartan is LiPo. I like the Blast for it size. I like the Spartan for the batteries. Would the Spartan drivetrain fit in the Blast body?

Brushed motors and brushless motors of the same size have the same bolt pattern spacing so you can always convert them to brushless from brushed. We do this all the time with RC cars with no issues.

You could purchase the Spartan electronics and swap them over. The question is would it all fit when talking about the battery and wiring etc.
This is very cramped. Also looking at parts support it appears the Spartan has better support. In my opinion if you wanted to stick with Traxxas you should get the spartan instead.

Blast cramped space (check out the space around the motor to battery. There isn't much free space anywhere:

 

[hans1128dog]

Thanks for this. I was also looking at the cramped space and that is what started the question. So now I guess that it comes down to which hull type to get (Cat vs Mono) and then brand (ProBoat vs Traxxas). Although I live in the Seattle, WA area I don't know of any racing groups or even where to start to look for them. So this boat would be straight for the bashing and fun of chasing my daughter's future boat around a lake.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

Thanks for this. I was also looking at the cramped space and that is what started the question. So now I guess that it comes down to which hull type to get (Cat vs Mono) and then brand (ProBoat vs Traxxas). Although I live in the Seattle, WA area I don't know of any racing groups or even where to start to look for them. So this boat would be straight for the bashing and fun of chasing my daughter's future boat around a lake.

Self-righting is a really nice feature, and I believe that is only available on Mono hull designs. Unless you have a kayak or something like that. You should never swim to retrieve a boat (heard about a drowning recently to retrieve what is ultimately a toy)

ProBoat is all I hear about lately and has a great aftermarket. Traxxas sort of fell off the map in the boating world.

Mono hulls turn great left and right where cats don't turn really great or only well turning right if setup with a turn fin for racing. In general Cats have less drag and are considered more efficient. The best cat setups have dual motors and this means double the price for everything like motors, prop changes, and batteries....

Mono hulls are in my opinion one of the best options for starting out in the hobby or even the seasoned pro. I think a lot of times we get caught up in the looks of them. I have a 44" hydroplane that I am torn about getting rid of just because it looks so darn cool.

 

[WideOpen]

We have a Horizon Stealthwake - we went with it for two reasons 1) big enough for a lake, and 2) small enough for our pond.

So far it has been pretty good, as far as the boat is concerned - when we turn it on, most of the times it is fine; occasionally, it runs slow and turns poorly, when that happens we bring it in, shut it down, and restart it and it seems to fix the problem. It uses a 6 cell, 7.5 NiMH batteries, it came with a 2400 and we bought a 3000 for the back up. With a truck we can run the batteries dead and not worry about getting it. With the boat we tend to bring to to shore before complete dead and don't want to just sit and run it since it is supposed to have water running across the motor to cool it. In short time the batteries developed a pitiful memory. I am going to be asking about LiPo vs NiMH on another thread.

 

[Greywolf74]

We have a Horizon Stealthwake - we went with it for two reasons 1) big enough for a lake, and 2) small enough for our pond.

So far it has been pretty good, as far as the boat is concerned - when we turn it on, most of the times it is fine; occasionally, it runs slow and turns poorly, when that happens we bring it in, shut it down, and restart it and it seems to fix the problem. It uses a 6 cell, 7.5 NiMH batteries, it came with a 2400 and we bought a 3000 for the back up. With a truck we can run the batteries dead and not worry about getting it. With the boat we tend to bring to to shore before complete dead and don't want to just sit and run it since it is supposed to have water running across the motor to cool it. In short time the batteries developed a pitiful memory. I am going to be asking about LiPo vs NiMH on another thread.

NiMH dont really suffer from memory issues. More than likely the are suffering from "Voltage Depletion" or being discharged to deeply. This damages the cells as does overcharging but I'm assuming you are using a smart charger of some kind so I'm guessing voltage depletion. You should not deplete a NiMH or any NiXX cell down past about .9V per cell. You start damaging them at .8V/C.

Technically NiCDs dont develop memory either btw, They just dont bounce back as well from voltage depletion as well as NiMH do.

LiPo is great but your ESC has to be able to handle it and have some sort of low voltage cut-off built in so you dont deplete them down past 3.2V/C. Plus it takes a special charger to charge them and there are more safety issues to take in to account. LiPo will give you much longer run times and more power throughout the discharge curve than NiXX packs will.

 

[WideOpen]

So you’re saying not to run the NiHM batteries low??? Utt-oh. We do that to out Stampede as well.

 

[Greywolf74]

So you’re saying not to run the NiHM batteries low??? Utt-oh. We do that to out Stampede as well.

If you want to prolong the life of the batteries then you dont want to run them below .85-.9V per cell.

 

[WideOpen]

oops......

 

[Ron Olson]

Self-righting is a really nice feature, and I believe that is only available on Mono hull designs. Unless you have a kayak or something like that. You should never swim to retrieve a boat (heard about a drowning recently to retrieve what is ultimately a toy)

ProBoat is all I hear about lately and has a great aftermarket. Traxxas sort of fell off the map in the boating world.

Mono hulls turn great left and right where cats don't turn really great or only well turning right if setup with a turn fin for racing. In general Cats have less drag and are considered more efficient. The best cat setups have dual motors and this means double the price for everything like motors, prop changes, and batteries....

Mono hulls are in my opinion one of the best options for starting out in the hobby or even the seasoned pro. I think a lot of times we get caught up in the looks of them. I have a 44" hydroplane that I am torn about getting rid of just because it looks so darn cool.

Cat's don't need turn fins or for that matter, trim tabs like what the Traxxas M-41 has as if they do they're only Band-Aid fixes for something that the manufacturers didn't want to deal with.