Talking me into an RC boat

[dhutch]

Well I got carried away and went and bought this.

Just need to work out what battery and esc I'm going to put in it...

...local club says keep the decaperm and stick in a 6v lead acid for ballast.

...my inner child says it would be fun to buy my first brushless motor and some LiPo.

[tr7v8]

Been talking about Decaperms on Model Boat Mayhem website. General consensus is deinstall it & fit a 8xx type motor & flog the Decaperm to a collector. They fetch big money.
Model Boat Mayhem is a good forum for model boats, a few old women on there but generally a good bunch.
No point going brushless on a tug, big brushed motor & a large SLA battery. Will give better speed control as well.

[dhutch]

tr7v8 said:

Been talking about Decaperms on Model Boat Mayhem website. General consensus is deinstall it & fit a 8xx type motor & flog the Decaperm to a collector. They fetch big money.
Model Boat Mayhem is a good forum for model boats, a few old women on there but generally a good bunch.
No point going brushless on a tug, big brushed motor & a large SLA battery. Will give better speed control as well.

Likewise, although 'Big money' only appears to be £30-50 which isnt much more than the cost of the alternative.

I have heard that brushless can struggle running particularly slowly, which seems slightly surprising. For that it appears you need a sensored brushless setup, which appears to exist in the rock crawler markets, but prices start at £200 for a motor and esc so maybe not for today!

So yeah, maybe a 5## or 8## motor is the way to go, as I don't really want to start the game off basing the boat around a vintage motor. It has not sentimental value for me, gearboxes appear to be the wrong way to go given modern motors and speed controllers, and it would be pain if it died on me too.

Because I wont be able to collect the model for a few weeks (annoyingly, just after rather than just before Easter) I have asked the seller to confirm what the current prop on it is. but from what I can see it appears to be a fairly large dir 4-5 blader fairly in keeping with what the real thing would have had.

It would be interesting to have a go in a boating lake doing a bit of tugging with it, but I think mainly it will get used when I am boat festivals to boat around on the canal/river, so I am not worried about achieving a correct 'scale speed' or anything, and while clearly its not a planning hull being able to run a reasonable turn of speed would be nice in the larger water. I dont know how the hull form will cope with running above hull speed.

Hull speed for a 3ft boat is around 2.7mph, 15 seconds to cover the length of a 60-70ft narrowboat.... Mmmm! We shall see.

[dhutch]

I don't really know how much space there will be inside, or likely more critically, how much 'ballast' it will want or need.

12v 3.7Ah NiMH £33 0.62kg 110x46x46mm
https://www.componentshop.co.uk/12v-3700mah-sc-nim...

12v 5Ah SLA £13.5 1.7kg 90x70x100mm
https://www.componentshop.co.uk/12v-5ah-sealed-lea...

12v 5Ah SLA £23 13.7kg 150x100x100mm
https://www.componentshop.co.uk/12v-12ah-sealed-le...

[dhutch]

I know I have just bought a boat...

...but I have also found this collection of used models, including some in near RTR condition. MMmmm.
https://howesmodels.co.uk/product-category/radio-c...

£175 Wooden Hull Fire Boat 88cm MTroniks 600 Size Brushless Motor, 50 Amp MTroniks ESC, Carson Standard Servo (now sold)
£120 River Cruiser Moonglow 91cm MTroniks 600 Size Brushed Motor, 40 Amp MTroniks ESC, Standard Servo.
£220 Wooden Hull Speed Boat 96cm Aquastar 600 1700KV W.Cooled, Turnigy 120 A Marine W.Cooled ESCl, 25KG MG Servo, Really nice rudder + trim tab setup.
£450 River Launch Stunning Model 130cm 600 Size Brushed Motor, Brass Prop, Standard Servo. Needs speed controller. Not suitable to courier.

[Max5476]

I blame this thread for 2 of these ending up on the slow boat from China to me,



WLToys WL917. Only £25 each, so quite a different proposition. Not sure where I will use them, possibly on the local canal and some ponds. If feeling brave might take them on the beach, even though they are tiny.

Having been looking at RC boats, I really want an RC surfer, particularly thanks to the beefs t.v. youtube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sQlBC9FFZI

[dhutch]

Well, if it helps, I have no bought a total of three boats....

[Max5476]

dhutch said:

Well, if it helps, I have no bought a total of three boats....

Excellent work, what are the other boats?

[dhutch]

Max5476 said:

Excellent work, what are the other boats?

I can post some other photos etc later.

But I bought this 30" plywood 'speed boat' for £40 (plus £50 for 2x NiMH batteries)
https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/...

And have also bought this 46" RAF 'Crash Tender' for £300 and four used 6s Lipos for £100.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134977580254

Plus a Flysky i6x and 10ch RX for £50 off amazon. Same day delivery, ordered at Midnight and arrived 7.30 the following morning.

[dhutch]

Just need a lipo charger.

Toss up between the SkyRC S100 neo for £45 and the SkyRC D100neo for £76.

The latter is twin output obviously, to former is half the price and claims to run down to 6v DC input so would run off my vintage car which adds some flexibility.


We shall see.

[Max5476]

That's a nice collection, have you been able to use any yet?

Mine has been confiscated by my wife, to be given back as my birthday present in May. To be fair, I'm terrible for giving her ideas, as I typically buy what I want already.

I have a SkyRC twin charger, only the t100 so can't do 6s batteries, but I really appreciate being able to do 2 batteries at the same time.

[FMOB]

Just curious but when it randomly stops in the middle of the pond or does an impression of a submarine what do you do?

A) wade out and retrieve it?
B) go diving to retrieve it?
C) claim on the insurance?

[Simpo Two]

FMOB said:

Just curious but when it randomly stops in the middle of the pond or does an impression of a submarine what do you do?

A) wade out and retrieve it?
B) go diving to retrieve it?
C) claim on the insurance?

D) Fit it with a steel band round the outside, then have another RC boat with a magnet on it...

[dhutch]

Max5476 said:

That's a nice collection, have you been able to use any yet?

Mine has been confiscated by my wife, to be given back as my birthday present in May. To be fair, I'm terrible for giving her ideas, as I typically buy what I want already.

I have a SkyRC twin charger, only the t100 so can't do 6s batteries, but I really appreciate being able to do 2 batteries at the same time.

Yeah I've had the red one out a fair bit, goes better on a 12v drill battery than the 9.6v cells but is that a bit bow heavy! It also has a weird thing where the ESU errors out and looses drive randomly for an indeterminate but short period of time which I haven't been able to get to the bottom of yet.

Collecting the TID tomorrow morning (it is in Scotland so had to wait till a weekend in Edinburgh with friends) and have yet to collect the Crash Tender but hopefully will shortly as I think it will go well. The red one can then be the loaner and or bash about boat.

If only being able to charge one at a time is a pain I'm only £15 worse of buying a second single unit, but hopefully one will be ok for now as I'm already at a point where I've spent way more than planned!

[dhutch]

Simpo Two said:

FMOB said:

Just curious but when it randomly stops in the middle of the pond or does an impression of a submarine what do you do?

A) wade out and retrieve it?
B) go diving to retrieve it?
C) claim on the insurance?

D) Fit it with a steel band round the outside, then have another RC boat with a magnet on it...

A lot are mainly used in dedicated boating lakes, which are compatible with waders, but also often used at club/informal gatherings. People have 'rescue boats' or a flat fender type setup so you can use another boat to push it back!

Plus in all my years with RC cars I don't think I've ever had one die on me, usually you just get it stuck on a obstacle. So with care it shouldn't be too much of an issue. When using it solo it will typically be a boat/canal festival so can always take one of the full size boats to it!

But yeah, I'll let you know in more detail in a year or so.

[tr7v8]

FMOB said:

Just curious but when it randomly stops in the middle of the pond or does an impression of a submarine what do you do?

A) wade out and retrieve it?
B) go diving to retrieve it?
C) claim on the insurance?

A lot of ponds are no waders these days only rescue boats because of elf n safety. Ours at Medway was. Recovery is either by model rescue boat or full size row boat.

[tr7v8]

dhutch said:

Max5476 said:

That's a nice collection, have you been able to use any yet?

Mine has been confiscated by my wife, to be given back as my birthday present in May. To be fair, I'm terrible for giving her ideas, as I typically buy what I want already.

I have a SkyRC twin charger, only the t100 so can't do 6s batteries, but I really appreciate being able to do 2 batteries at the same time.

Yeah I've had the red one out a fair bit, goes better on a 12v drill battery than the 9.6v cells but is that a bit bow heavy! It also has a weird thing where the ESU errors out and looses drive randomly for an indeterminate but short period of time which I haven't been able to get to the bottom of yet.

Collecting the TID tomorrow morning (it is in Scotland so had to wait till a weekend in Edinburgh with friends) and have yet to collect the Crash Tender but hopefully will shortly as I think it will go well. The red one can then be the loaner and or bash about boat.

If only being able to charge one at a time is a pain I'm only £15 worse of buying a second single unit, but hopefully one will be ok for now as I'm already at a point where I've spent way more than planned!

Sounds like either you're pulling too much current & the ESC is going into current limit mode OR and following from that, it's going over temp & switching off as part of saving itself.

[Simpo Two]

dhutch said:

A lot are mainly used in dedicated boating lakes, which are compatible with waders, but also often used at club/informal gatherings. People have 'rescue boats' or a flat fender type setup so you can use another boat to push it back!

Plus in all my years with RC cars I don't think I've ever had one die on me, usually you just get it stuck on a obstacle. So with care it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

My MTB came to a halt on its first outing because I hadn't tightened the prop up fully, and so when I reversed it unscrewed and fell off...!

The water was only knee deep so I could walk out to it, but I never found the propeller.

[dhutch]

tr7v8 said:

Sounds like either you're pulling too much current & the ESC is going into current limit mode OR and following from that, it's going over temp & switching off as part of saving itself.

Yeah, it sort of feels like that. But it's a MTroniks Viper 20 and I'm measuring 7A current draw max on a 10s 12v NiMH pack. 6A at 6.9v. The ESC is cold to the touch even after half an hour, and the fault occurs from the off.

I get same fault using an MTroniks Eco27 car ESU too.

I have also tried reducing the end points on the Tx to 75% and recalibrating and no change.

[FMOB]

dhutch said:

tr7v8 said:

Sounds like either you're pulling too much current & the ESC is going into current limit mode OR and following from that, it's going over temp & switching off as part of saving itself.

Yeah, it sort of feels like that. But it's a MTroniks Viper 20 and I'm measuring 7A current draw max on a 10s 12v NiMH pack. 6A at 6.9v. The ESC is cold to the touch even after half an hour, and the fault occurs from the off.

I get same fault using an MTroniks Eco27 car ESU too.

I have also tried reducing the end points on the Tx to 75% and recalibrating and no change.

How many turns does the motor have as the speed controllers have limits, lower turns = more current.