I Guess I Blew It - Looking For Some Guidance Please

[searay skipper]

"But I guess you could try it.It should still give power. "

Yeah....I have the charger or it and it still produces power. I just want to be sure it won't screw something else while I'm experimenting with putting other components in this boat. If I can get away with using it temporarily for bench testing components....and maybe an initial water test....that's all I'm after for now.

Who knows....if it works and satisfies the Grandson....maybe I'll just leave it in there until it poops out....and then move on to something else. "shrug"

[srislash]

"But I guess you could try it.It should still give power. "

Yeah....I have the charger or it and it still produces power. I just want to be sure it won't screw something else while I'm experimenting with putting other components in this boat. If I can get away with using it temporarily for bench testing components....and maybe an initial water test....that's all I'm after for now.

Who knows....if it works and satisfies the Grandson....maybe I'll just leave it in there until it poops out....and then move on to something else. "shrug"

Good plan,Save the $$ for the next boat.Hehe,there will be a next boat.

[Prop-a-Gator]

Unless he ends up the same as the rest of us.

Week 1. Buy cheap boat that breaks in first 5 min.
Week 2. Rebuild cheap boat to run faster.
Week 3. Buy rtr
Week 6. Rebuild rtr to do 60mph
Week 9. Build first boat
week 10. build 2nd,3rd,and 4th boat
Week 11. turn first built boat in to a s.a.w speed demon. buy large 60 inch cat,fill it with goodies try and get 100mph out of it.

So looking at my chart skipper has about 10 weeks before he is totally screwed lol

Awe That's where I screwed up. I jumped from Week 1 to Week 9 - haven't even completed it and can't stop thinking about Week 10 and 11!! I may have to give my credit cards to the wife and have her change my paypal password...

[srislash]

Awe That's where I screwed up. I jumped from Week 1 to Week 9 - haven't even completed it and can't stop thinking about Week 10 and 11!! I may have to give my credit cards to the wife and have her change my paypal password...

Haha,LOL.

[1945dave]

Skipper,

I have been following your thread from the beginning. I was not sure I should get involved in this discussion but perhaps this might help. First the basic concept you and your buddies tried to achieve was to set up a small competitive fun thing to do at the harbor with a few beers as the reward. There is a reason the most popular classes of all racing sports involves restrictions on the equipment to erase any advantage someone might have with unlimited resources (money). Without these restrictions the New York Yankees would win every year, and I think you get the idea. NASCAR does the same thing and they represent perhaps the most successful racing venue in all of professional racing. So my point is this. You could borrow for free one of the very expensive high powered and fully adjusted and tweaked racing boats owned by someone on this forum, Jim Markum for example. You would then race your buddies and blow them away, and win those free beers. Your buddies would then proceed to buy, rent or steal a more competitive boat for the next time and the real competition begins. Who will spend the most money? At some point one of your buddies says this is too expensive for my blood and drops out. Next thing the whole buddie thing is over and there are hurt feelings and no beers.

So think again if you really want to spend a chunk of money to make your 45 inch triple a little faster. Just for your information I am very familiar with this boat. I have the good fortune of living very close to a public park that has a lot of fast electric boaters on a regular basis. Not a week will go by that some new guy, (kid?) will show up with a ready to run toy grade boat only to get his feet wet and want something better and something faster. Your 45 inch triple shows up fairly often and it is what it is. A large colorful boat that can handle rougher water than most. The total cost that I have heard several times is $159.00 from some mail order outfit but not Banana Hobbies. I would bet serious money I could easily double the speed of that boat by putting a better motor in place of the center 540 motor and just take off the props of the two outer motors, leaving then in place but disconnected. In truth this is not as simple as it sounds but I could do it. It would require a water cooled speed control, a new radio, a rudder servo, lipo battery and a little craftsmanship. But it could be done. Worth the trouble, probably not.

I belong to a model racing club and a few years ago we had a club project. To build from scratch a electric race boat with all new readily available components from regular sources…… for under $100.00 including radio. After it was all said and done we had 27 boats and had a blast. None of these boats were what I would call high performance “FAST” electrics but they were not slow either, in the 30 mph range. Sadly your 45 inch boat is not anywhere near that fast, no matter what the advertisement says. A clue that your boat is not expected to be a high speed performer is that the radio range stated on the box is 300 feet. Long range? Not exactly. Using one of our very typical fast electrics that the majority of the members of this forum run it would be one Mississippi turn, one Mississippi turn. One Mississippi turn again or be out of range. Perhaps a small exaggeration but I think you get the idea. The real high performance electrics need space and secure radio range to keep them under safe control.

My last bit of advice. Check out on this forum for something used to buy. For less money than you could buy something as good new you should be able to buy something that will bring a smile to your face and win you a few beers.

Dave

[puttekula]

Spot on Dave.
Or let someone recommend a quality RTR kit for all to buy. Ive been into RC cars since 1986 and tried every combo excisted on planet earth.
And if I want to just play around with friends that arent into this 100% as I am I just recommend a quality RTR kit to just play around
with. And let it be the same kit for everybody....

Another alternative, not quite a RTR kit but its a pretty good boat for the money...

[searay skipper]

Guys...please don't get me wrong here.....I really do appreciate all the input. As I said....had I even known this forum existed a few weeks ago.....I would have been asking questions here BEFORE buying anything at all. However....I didn't....and my buddy and I bought a couple of things that were advertised to perform about the same...thus making them somewhat "equal"....all for the sake of a couple of laughs over a beer or two. Nothing more.

I can assure you...no friendships are going to go down the toilet over this. Guaranteed. We both have real boats. We go out boating on weekends.....drop anchor somewhere....BBQ on board...have a few tasty adult refreshments....and we figured having a couple of "toys" to mess around with might be a way to kill a little time while out on the water parked somewhere and have a few laughs.

There's not going to be any "keeping up with the Joneses....or one-upmanship going on here. No "serious" racing. There aren't even any other rc boats around here that I've seen anywhere...and I'm out on or around the water EVERY weekend throughout the whole summer.

Now having said that....I'm not going to kiss goodbye the $258.00 I have sunk into this thing already...and go out and buy something else right now. All I want to do is get this thing running as cheaply as I can. I'm not trying to get it to go 100 mph......nor 70..or 60..or even 50 What it ends up doing is what it does. I'm just looking to get it working and my Grandson will likely inherit it shortly there after.

I've already got an esc and radio basically donated to this thing from someones "surplus" box. So my costs have already been decreased and it appears that all I may need to get now is a servo and I think I'll be ready to get this thing doing something. I've always been prepared to go out and buy what I needed....I didn't come here to scrounge anything.......but someone just happened to come along saying "here..you can have this..I don't need it". So it appears I may have this thing running soon without investing a whole lot more into it.

You guys have all been around this stuff for years and years...and likely know more about these things than I may EVER know. I have no idea right now how serious I may get about these things. All I was looking for coming here was a few tips and suggestions as to how I could get this big green thing working.......not winning any national competitions....nor setting world speed records.

This is not one of my hobbies.....YET. Will it become my hobby down the road? Maybe. Maybe not. If my interest grows....well....maybe I will start going out and getting bigger and better things. But if I do....it certainly won't be for the sake of getting a beer off my buddy. Hell....we drink enough of each others beers already without having to spend a bunch of money trying to outdo each other.

I must say that in my brief time here....I've been impressed all to hell with what all of you guys have been building. I've never even looked at this hobby before. Most of the boats I've been seeing here are impressive as hell....and so is the time and effort and knowledge involved....and expense to make them that way. Will I ever get there? Will my interest ever grow enough for me to want to get there? Time will tell. For now....all I'm doing is tinkering with something at the lowest most basic level possible...and thanks to many here...I've received some good tips and even a few surplus components to help me along the way.

Thanks to all here who have provided some good info and help. IF.....I ever decide to move up.....I'll remember all of the better quality RTR boats that have been suggested to me.

[1945dave]

Sorry Skipper,

I didn't mean to take this in a direction you had no interest in. You sound like you have it all in perspective. Please keep us informed as to how successful you are in improving this boat. Oh, just for your knowledge the other hobby outfit that sells this boat is in this link. http://www.hobbytron.com/45InchDarte...SpeedBoat.html

Dave

[ejimbo4]

Searay skipper....you are all ready hooked just like the rest of us or this thread wouldn't have went three pages! It's the curiosity of what if.......what if I do this or what if I change that.....Ya come on! I also enjoy the water every weekend and now i find myself easing out at lunch time to run a couple packs when no one is looking! I agree with a post above......my cards and paypal account should probably have some adult supervision at least and I am 42!!! As long as your having fun,enjoying your tinkering and being safe.......that is all that matters!

[searay skipper]

That's out of stock there too. No one anywhere seems to have any of these things left.....not that I want another one.

Guess I'm not the only who got sucked into these things. And where I bought from was even $30.00 more.

Oh well......BH has come good and are sending me 2 more boats so there will be lots to play with here.

No prob Dave.

I just keep getting these suggestions over and over to scrap it and buy a better one....and I'm just not ready to do that yet. Maybe one day...but for now....I'm just amusing myself.

"Searay skipper....you are all ready hooked just like the rest of us or this thread wouldn't have went three pages!"

HA HA....not quite yet there jimbo LOL LOL

Maybe down the road.....when I get bored with this thing.....IF/when I actually get it to do something more than take up space on my workbench in my shop. I at least want to see these props turn again....and the damn rudder steer this thing so I can get it back to me. LOL

Hmmmmm......just thought about that rescue boat suggestion again.......I've already got one....a 30' SeaRay complete with head, galley, and fridge full of cold refreshments. What more do I need?

"As long as your having fun,enjoying your tinkering and being safe.......that is all that matters! "

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[searay skipper]

Quick update for those who asked earlier about Banana Hobby. I got 2 replacement boats plus an extra battery from them yesterday to make up for the problems I had with this big green thing I bought from them originally. Since they don't want the first boat back I've now got it gutted and taking my first shot at making it work with better quality new components.

Read many horror stories about BH and was a bit concerned but it appears they may have improved their customer service. I can't complain with the efforts they made to satisfy me.

[1945dave]

You have us curious.what kind of replacement boats did you get.?

And we will pass on a favorable response if ever asked about Banana Hobbies.

Let us know if you do improve the gutted green machine.

Dave

[searay skipper]

I got 2 of these things.....plus a spare battery

http://www.bananahobby.com/1689.html

I realize they are NOTHING like what you guys all do around here......well...very little anyway. But then I'm not into this hobby the way you guys are. YET! LOL

I don't know if I just got lucky with BH.....or if they've taken notice of the negative reviews they've gotten from some and are trying to improve their customer service image. I hope anyone else who deals with them gets the same kind of service I got.

As for this big green thing I have here....just waiting for some parts that should be here soon,,,then we'll see if I can make it work better than it did when I first got it.

[de-pro]

Hey skipper. Which part of Ontario do you live? If you ever find your way into east end of GTA, we can help you out as much as possible. There is 4-5 of us with this FE boating addiction and this number is growing rapidly

[searay skipper]

Kingston

Thanks for the offer. If the bug bites I may take you up on it. So far it hasn't really bitten yet since I don't have anything in the water yet that runs. Not even my big boat. That's next saturday....but I did start it today and the good news is it fired right up and sounded great.