Big weedeater R/C Boats (anybody run them?)

[Doubledog]

As a possible Christmas present to myself:D I'm thinking about purchasing one of those boats. Looking for a V-hull in the 46 in. or larger with a 25-30cc engine. Being since I'm not going anywhere for the next 3 more years due to marriage:) this will be about the closest to a real boat I can get besides cyberspace everyday.

Do any of you run these rigs or have owned/ know a buddy that does?

I'd like to talk about the in's and outs of owning one, such as whether a clutch is good, go with a watercooled head, drives etc.
I've owned a few model boats in the past, 90 Picco outrigger (65+mph), 7.5cc Prather tunnel & a Prather 7.5 V-hull outboard. Glow engines are great, but this would be less hassle with the mixing of oil/gas and pullstart, I hope.

I'm serriously thinking about buying used on Ebay but can't decide which one I want and I don't want to spend my inheritance to own one.

Double

[vector mike]

I run a 40" 30cc Mac fiberglass V-hull that I built from a bare hull. I should be able to help you out with whatever you need to know about RC boats. I personally don't run a clutch because of weight and more spinning mass. They are nice for the weekend boater though. I also have a 36" Fiberglass hydro with a .65 Picco. And I have a 24" plastic V-hull with a .21 K&B and an electric 18" tunnel for my retreiver boat. I built all of my boats from the bare hull except the electric one, so I have some pretty good knowledge on how to set these things up. Let me know if you need any help with them. I love to talk RC boats because I don't get a chance to that often. I'll post some pics of them when I get home this afternoon. :)

[Doubledog]

Thanks Mike.

One of my biggest regrets was not buying a camera and taking photo's of the hard work I'd put into the planes and boats. I was 15-19 years old, living at home, making $200 a week mowing and raking yards and all I wanted to do was tinker on the toys. My father hated it. He said I was throwing my money away and it became a problem for us to the point that he wouldn't come watch me race or even go to the club and watch fly much less take photos a few photos with his silly camera.

That is one subject that still burns me considering I stayed out of trouble. Heck, I was always up in the loft listening to the radio, drinking a cold coke (beer when the folks were gone;) and had my wax paper layed out with my jigs over it, but no photos, just some good memories.

I'll email you, but please post the photos.

[vector mike]

I have an RC plane too but have never flown it. It is just one of those cheep .050 cox motors that runs wide open untill the fuel runs out. I usually go to the RC air shows they have here every year to see the RC jets and the large scale planes fly. I would love to have one of those jets but I have too many toys now. I will post those pics later today of all my RC boats. There is a place here in Florida that I get all my hardware from for the gas boats. I run a dual rudder setup with a surface drive on my gas boat. Seems to work really well. I had a hard time getting it to turn one way with the single ruder (don't remember which way) when I went to the big prop that I am running now. The biggest thing is to get the weight right just like in my Hydrostream's. It makes all the difference in the world on how it handles. If I can remember that far back, I think you need to have your balance point at 29% of the boats total length. When I built it, I didn't have the dual rudder setup on it and now it needs a full tank of gas all the time to balance right when jumping waves. Otherwise it is stern heavy and drops in on the stern first. I guess that is better than bow heavy and stuffing it. Enough for now, see how I get carried away when talking RC boats. E-mail me if you need to know anything about them or just to BS.

[vector mike]

Here is a pic of my 40" 30cc gas V-Hull.

[vector mike]

Here is a couple of my 36" Picco hydro

[vector mike]

One more

[vector mike]

These are my 24" .21 nitro Viper and my electric tunnel.

[vector mike]

These are my other RC toys.

[hydrostreamvulture1]

sweet hulls u got there...i got a nitro vee made by traxxas...man this boat rocks...its only got a .15 but i hopped it up..got stainless dual exhaust,SS prop and a bunch of other crap...i had it sitting for about a year before i first started to use it...this thing is pretty quick...with the stock prop tho it sucked...when u punched it...it would scream for bout 3-4 seconds then get off plane once i switched the prop to SS and adjusated the trim angle once u heard it scream it jumped off plane and jus flew...i dont know what traxxas was thinking tho when they made this boat but they only put one rudder on the right side of the boat i currently have another one in on order but on left and turn it ALWAYS slides out i dont understand y they did this??? it always gets attention when i bring it to lakes tho my friends with there nikko barracuda and radioshack stinger(i own one also) go on the lake also there nothing really to have fun with but i like blowing past them...i jus got done airbrushing a 44inch deep vee in school that i got graded on...it looks pretty sick...its all yellow but on the top deck it has black checkers going throughout the whole top part of the boat...on the sides it has the progression triangles that progression puts on there hulls but i put flames in them and outlined them in black its a real eye catcher but i dont know what to use for power...i always thought 3 7.5's would look sick on the back of it tho lolol but i think a weedwhacker engine would look more approiate gimme ur thoughts on this what should i rig it with right now its jus a bare hull

[vector mike]

Do you have any pics of those boats? The gas engine is the way to go for weekend fun. You just give it a pull and go. No $25 a gallon fuel, battery and starter, glow starter and it is alot quiter. My hydro really flys but it will take your ear drums out when you are behind it. The gas V-hull is the one I use the most because it is so easy to use and it doesn't piss off the people around the lakes. I run a stainless prop on all my nitro boats and a bronze one on my gas boat. I think it is a 275. It is the biggest prop they had. It really is alot of fun and draws a croud were ever I go. :D

[Doubledog]

Mike, it seems you and I would get along just fine as neighbors! (though I think we'd both stay in trouble:rolleyes: )

I started first with the tunnel boat and then the V-outboard. Loved them.

Nothing like watch a tunnel boat turn on a dime and give you nine cents change back while at almost full throttle:D :D

The V was a different story, I had a lot of trouble with the setup and wasn't near as fast, but I liked it just the same. I wanted to keep the engines the same just in case of parts swap or anything.Then I bought the rigger and with a .90 and tuned pipe. A little too much boat for me but had a SWEET sound when it came up on the pipe.

After about a year, I found a club that raced so I joined up with them and wasn't very competitive (in stock) but it was fun and only costs a few bucks per heat. I remember my first race I won by default,--- the other boats either flipped or engines shut., so I was the only one left!

That got me ready to start flying and built a .40 trainer and then moved to the Ugly Stick and built a few others, but my favorite was a simi scale BearCat (WWII fighter) with a .90 ThunderTiger, retracts and flaps. Took forever and thought I'd never finish it. Took it to the field for the first flight and let my former instructor have at it. We balanced it out a bit and then he took the sticks. Nervous as heck, but it did well and quickly became my favorite.

I loved that plane so much because it was great to go out there an wring the heck out of. Fast, knife edge, and had the power to pull out of a stall! It would rock as long as you had the throws set to max. but put them at mild settings and it would fly just as graceful as anything. A lot of the older guys didn't like me when I flew it because it would run pretty much wide open till she ran out, and dead sticks were no joke, she dropped like a rock.


I want a rig like what you have. It seems like fun and after visiting a few websites, seems like my problems are going to be shipping and costs. Damn, there expensive.!

[Doubledog]

Mike (or anyone else on the board), please keep your eye out for a rig like the ones here. I'd prefere a 40+ in. rig with gas motor.

After reading some of the stories about Ebay, I'm scared, but they've got some good deals going on. Phastboat would be getting a call from me if I got screwed and it lives up to the reality that we can't really trust anyone these days.

Thanks and please email me if you want to get rid of your R/C rig.

Double

[vector mike]

Like you said, they are not cheep. I don't even want to think how much money I have tied up in my boats. If you buy a RTR gas boat in the 40" or bigger size you can expect to pay close to $1000. The way to go is to get a used one that is together but needs work. Then you can make it how you want. There is a shop in Orlando Florida that has a pretty good selection of boats new and used. If you can get one off of E Bay, that would probably be your best bet. Let me know if I can help you out in any way. :)

[Doubledog]

Does that place in Orlando have a website? That would be great!

Thanks Mike!

[vector mike]

I don't think so. It is a local run shop that catters to the local crowd. Their biggest things are planes. They must have 2000 planes in there that hang from the ceiling and a small room in the back with the boats in it. The name of the place is Graves Hobbies. I'll see if I can get you a phone number for the place. It has been a couple of years since I bought my hydro there. :)

[Doubledog]

Once again, thanks. I'm surfing now. You never know what might pop up.

By the way, what speeds you seeing with your boat? Are they really fast enough to make them entertaining? I've never seen them run and all I have to compare them to are the ones I had, & they were quick.

[vector mike]

I have run my gas boat in a lake along the edge of the road with cars going by at 40 mph and it was going faster than they were. I guess my hydro runs about 60 and the little Viper goes about 20. The electric tunnel will be lucky if it goes 5 but that is just for pushing my other boats back when they stall out. It is nice because it can stop and back up. I'm trying to find someone here at work with an Orlando phone book, so when I do I will let you know what the number is. :)

[vector mike]

Have you ever checked out Tower Hobbies? That is where I got my first boat. I paid $250 for a complete kit of the Viper. I was just looking there and found this Scarrab that is 55". Check it out.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?Q=1&I=LL2177&P=1

[Doubledog]

I'd seen it before, and thought I read it pretty good, but as it seems I didn't.

Looks sweet and I'm going to email them to see if they'll handle US Postal Service to here. UPS would kill me @ international rate.

Now if we can find an engine and running hardware kit/ radio, I'd be set.

TY:)

[vector mike]

They have the hardware kit that comes with it for $113 more. They recomend the .81 OS motor to go with it. That is a really nice motor. I don't know if you want the nitro motor though. You can get a cheep weedeater motor and make it fit like I did. :)

[vector mike]

If you go with the gas motor, try and get a Homelite because they make all kinds of high performance parts for them. I have a McCullogh (I think that is how you spell it) only because I got it so cheep. When I bought new lawn equipment I got everything Homelite so I'll have some motors for hot rodding if I need them. :D

[Jeff "Yammer"]

Here is a picture of the one Gas boat I had ( sold it 6 mnths ago )
It had a strut drive w/a rudder and a 30cc Homelite w/water cooled head and a tuned pipe . Top speed was around 32 mph !!
I also still have a 56" Apache w/drivers . It runs a replica Merc #6
drive and an OS 81 VRM Race motor . This boat was fun to rigg but a bitch to drive . It's top speed (gps) so-far was 67.8 mph :eek: . It is too light for that motor !! So now a Zen. 4hp gas motor instead ......... or I might sell it all or just the OS 81 . Not sure ????

Jeff .

[Doubledog]

Sweet baby there Yammer. I remember you talking about selling it a few months back and was interested buuuuutttttt.

Tower will not ship regular mail here, so I'm SOL. No problem, I'll just keep on shopping and besides, I want a flat screen! PRIORITIES:(

But keep your eye out for one and let me know, maybe we can work something out.

[FCnLa]

Here is mine......44" if I remember right. .80 Picco. Ran 70+!:)

[vector mike]

Have you ever had gas boat? How did you know fast it went? I'm getting one of those ETREX GPS's that holds the max speed on a recall feature so I can check to see how fast all of mine go. I figured I could put it in a plastic water proof bag (just in case of the dreaded flip over) and mount it in there so it won't fly out from bumps or rolling it over. :)

[FCnLa]

catching a little air....

[FCnLa]

catching a little too much air:eek:

[FCnLa]

we had a member of our little group (disolved now) that had a radar gun.

This one is gas and is for sale.

[vector mike]

I wish I had a picture when I hit the bank on the opposite side of the lake when mine was running wide open. It survived it pretty well with only a couple of chips out of the paint. :eek:

[FCnLa]

front view....

[vector mike]

You need to e-mail Double Dog with that picture incase he doesn't see it on here. Sounds like just what he is looking for.

[FCnLa]

rear shot.....

[vector mike]

I see you only have a single rudder on it. I couldn't get mine to turn left (I think, its been a while since I changed it) so I had to go to dual rudders. Do you have that problem?

[FCnLa]

I can also get a bare hull. It started out as a twin .90 boat. If you notice in the front view, you can see all the molds. I think there are 5 or 6 different sizes. .21, .45, 61-80, 90, and twin .90 / weed wacker. In some sizes you have the choice of a V or a padded V.

I use to work for Youngblood and am still friends with him. I sure I can fix you up. Just let me know what size and I can get a price!

I also have a .45 mono that I have to get off my ass and finish!

[FCnLa]

Acutally this boat has never been wet. It was built turn key for a customer and he never came and got it.:mad:

The turn fin made it turn good. It has one on the side and one on the bottom of the strut (like a skeg).

Yours has a turn fin right?

[vector mike]

But none of my V-hulls do. Just the rudder. The hydro has it on one sponson for turning a fast right.

[Doubledog]

WOW. That rascal looks VERY good but I'm almost afraid to ask how much are we talking about? Like I said in the begining, don't want to spend the inheritance.:)

Looks like you have just what I'm wanting. I like what I've seen so far now drop the dime on some details;

Engine- what is it? size?
& I see it has a tuned pipe:)

Hull- how long/material? Do you think it would handle rough water pretty good? (rough as in your normal small pond when the wind kicks up, no Gulf crap:rolleyes: )

Prop-Strut assembly?

and a guesstimation on speed--- though not a real factor, it helps to know.


Please email me with cost and 'possible' payment options.

Thanks and thanks Mike for keeping an eye out for me.

Oh and please check your email.

Double

[Doubledog]

Please check your email (hope it went through):) :) Thanks Double

[FCnLa]

Yep, I got it.:) I'll get you some prices just as soon as I talk to him......Sunday or Monday.:D