What to build for my first boat?

[Ham Sammiches]

Hi, I am new to the forums but I have been reading up about stuff for a while. I have never owned an RC boat and so I am interested in building one. I scratch build foam planes and I have become pretty good at it so I want to try a boat. My question is what type of boat would be best for a beginner - V hull, cat, or a sponson type boat? I want something that will be fun and simply to zip around a pond with, that won't tip easy etc. I don't expect to build a competition racer, just something in the 40-50mph range. I would be up for putting together a kit or completely scratchbuilding it

I admit I really don't know much about rc boats and I am kind of diving in head first, but I love looking at build logs on the forums and it looks like a blast. I enjoy building more than I do flying my planes so I thought a boat would be a good challenge. I'm sure I'll make mistakes along the way but that's how you learn!

Thank you for any help you may offer!

[kfxguy]

Cheetah or mean machine if you want to zip around and be able to turn nicely. I personally find a cat is easier you build because no turn fins or stinger to mess with (no stinger applies to a single). It might even be a better idea to pick up a Rtr and have fun with it for a little while then rip our it's innards (they will start coming out anyway after several flips). Personally I'd go with the Motley crew. If you want a mono, the impulse 31 is an awesome boat too. If you want a mono bare bull then get something like a delta force 29 or 33. Just my .02

[Ham Sammiches]

Thank you, I'd love building a cat, that's probably what I'm most interested in as long as it is suitable for a beginner. Also I would like if I could spend around $100 on the electronics and innards if possible. About what size of boat would be best and would I be able to reach 40-50mph speeds with that budget?

[madmikepags]

a titan 29 or 40 are great 1st boats, both can handle rough water and dont tip very easily, they were my 1st and second boats,

[Ham Sammiches]

I did some looking at the titan 29 and I think that'd be a great boat. But are there plans or templates anywhere for it? I'm looking to build from scratch

[madmikepags]

there is no exact way to do it? you gotta pick out ur parts and kinda wing it??? but I'm sure theres build threads out there if not for the titan there's plenty of mono build threads and they are all "relatively" similar. PM me if you want and I could give u a list of parts needed to build one.

[madmikepags]

there is no exact way to do it? you gotta pick out ur parts and kinda wing it??? but I'm sure theres build threads out there if not for the titan there's plenty of mono build threads and they are all "relatively" similar. PM me if you want and I could give u a list of parts needed to build one.

[Ham Sammiches]

I'm looking to build a hull from scratch, using wood, foam, and fiberglass, etc. like this. I see what you mean as far as the electronics and everything, I definitely need to do some looking as to how that all goes together! But first I need a hull

[siberianhusky]

Look for a set of plans for a boat called the WildThing, plywood build monohull, these hulls run great, currently doing one 33.5" long and have one 25" long I run a .12 nitro motor in.
I believe MLboatworks now does a laser cut kit but I don't know the length.
Very easy to build correctly as long as you have a flat straight building board.
Changing the deck design on my current build to use the hatch from a Delta Force 29 since I have a spare one.
None of the online cat plans I've seen hold interest for me because of the hull design, long skinny scale style hulls. Great in a straight line not so good in the turns.
Any of the boats from Proboat or Aquacraft would be a highly suggested first boat. Need to learn about setup and driving, much harder to do if you are fighting with an unproven hull design/build. Boats are not like any other rc vehicle and beginners have 90% of the problems with failed equipment. If you don't know what you are doing, think it runs fine with prop X decide to try out prop Y - 2 minutes later there is smoke pouring out of the hatch and the boat is stranded in the middle of the pond. It happens to everybody, don't feel bad when it happens to you. None of us really knew what we were doing when we started out.

[Ham Sammiches]

Thanks siberianhusky, I like the wildthing because it is pretty simple to build. However I can't find plans for this thing! I scoured this 51 page thread about it and there is lots of good info but no plans. You said you're building one, could I get the plans from you or find out where to get plans? Thanks!

You're right about starting with a boat hull that has been proven, but I am stubborn, cheap, and I just want to BUILD :) If I really enjoy rc boats then I'll probably try some other boats.

[Skullcracken]

A cheetah hull is the best handling cat hands down. If you want a more realistic looking boat I'd buy a fightercat rivercat, still handles pretty good. These are down to $72 for a fiberglass hull.