My Rivercat sank :(

[T.S.Davis]

I'm not really a fan of inflatable boats.

Me too but I found one that had the tubes rapped in cloth and it had a stiff foam floor insert. Worked pretty well.

For the record, I didn't see in this thread where Travis had lost touch with the fact that he lost a toy and that this is just a hobby. There's plenty of perspective inducing reality out there for us all.

[kfxguy]

Me too but I found one that had the tubes rapped in cloth and it had a stiff foam floor insert. Worked pretty well.

For the record, I didn't see in this thread where Travis had lost touch with the fact that he lost a toy and that this is just a hobby. There's plenty of perspective inducing reality out there for us all.

What kayak was it? I've been reading some reviews and haven't found a good one yet.

Your right, upsetting as it is....it's still a toy. This forum possibly saved my life. I want to share my thought process when this was going down.

1st I'm thinking.....almost $500 motor. I'm gonna lose it. Ugh. It's just right there. I can get it. Then I think....how deep is it? I was told 40ft in some spots. Then I remember this forum. The posts people have made about this kinds of stuff. Then remembered when I swam out maybe 20-25ft to get my shockwave 26 when I first got into this. I said to myself then that is never do that again. But then here's a boat sitting out there, lots of money and time into it. Then my last thought was drowning over it and then I thought about my wife and kids looking down on me in a casket. Over a toy boat. Nope. Just not worth it. I'll get over it.

[Luck as a Constant]

Don't worry about reviews man. Those people are using them for recreation or sport.
You're just going out to get your boat... You need not worry about the nit picky crap people complain about online. So what if yours doesn't track perfectly straight or whatever.
Just pick a cheap one that floats and be done with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CornelP]

You might consider one from this range:

http://www.bicsportboats.com/products/sportyak-213,3,49/sportyak-213-orange-white,589.html

http://www.bicsportboats.com/products/sportyak-245,3,69/sportyak-245-explorer-green-beige,638.html

Very light, foam filled and compact enough for a roof rack.

[Jamey]

$500 motor ouch! Take a life jacket maybe.

[kfxguy]

After much contemplating and procrastinating I decided to buy this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vexilar-SP10...item4aded762d0

I ordered it this morning. Plan is to hook it to my mono and pull it around slowly (on 4s) and see if I can locate it. When or if I do I'll get in the raft and fish it out somehow. Guess I'll cross that ditch when I get there but I'll have a few things handy. worth a try.

[shua]

After much contemplating and procrastinating I decided to buy this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vexilar-SP10...item4aded762d0

I ordered it this morning. Plan is to hook it to my mono and pull it around slowly (on 4s) and see if I can locate it. When or if I do I'll get in the raft and fish it out somehow. Guess I'll cross that ditch when I get there but I'll have a few things handy. worth a try.

That looks very niffty. I hope it works!! If I lived nearby I would stop by to help & check out that sonar scanner!

[T.S.Davis]

That is cool! I could see me using one like that to find mine too.

I'll have to dig that old raft out from under my boat stand to see what the heck it is. We now have a Jon boat that we leave on site for retrieval at our local puddle so my old raft gets zero use. The jon boat with a an electric motor works well but if you can't leave it there it's a pain.

[Local Boy]

[QUOTE=Luck as a Constant;630589]Don't worry about reviews man. Those people are using them for recreation or sport.
You're just going out to get your boat... You need not worry about the nit picky crap people complain about online. So what if yours doesn't track perfectly straight or whatever.
Just pick a cheap one that floats and be done with it.

Luck hit it on the nail.... That was exactly my thoughts when I bought this... I did not want to lug it on top of my car...and I always run by myself in the open ocean...

I totally do not like inflatables... But, for the low cost, high safety, specific job (retrieve my boat) this fits the bill... http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Quikpa...flatable+kayak

A bonus is the kids love it, when I'm not running my boats...

Aloha

[kfxguy]

That is cool! I could see me using one like that to find mine too.

I'll have to dig that old raft out from under my boat stand to see what the heck it is. We now have a Jon boat that we leave on site for retrieval at our local puddle so my old raft gets zero use. The jon boat with a an electric motor works well but if you can't leave it there it's a pain.

I'll send this one to you when I'm done with it if it works out. I'll probably just loan it out to people on here because that would be the only use it'll get. I'll let you know (well everyone really lol) how it goes.

[Meniscus]

Going back to the magnet idea, I've used this before. What I used was a roofing magnet. It is surprising the pull strength and I'm certain that it will attach to something.

Also, for anyone that may lose a boat, even with a life jacket, swimming isn't the best idea and you should never do it. The primary risk beyond one's ability is the possibility of getting tangled up with fishing line or similar. Many folks don't realize that even away from shore, there may be a fallen tree, or a sunken Christmas tree that fishermen use for cover. If that is the case, then there can be a lot of fishing line to get tangled in.

Best practice is to get the best location possible on the boat. This means memorizing/writing down the position on the shore where you stand and the opposite shore. Then, get two more sight marks on either side, preferably walking at least 25' away from the original location where you were standing. This can significantly narrow the search area.

If you haven't already tried the magnet, please try it. You may find that you are pleasantly surprised.

In the meantime, feel free to send me a message and I'm certain that I can make some recommendations to reach the speeds you want to achieve in an inexpensive fashion. I may even be able to make some suggestions you've never considered previously. Safe boating!

[kfxguy]

Going back to the magnet idea, I've used this before. What I used was a roofing magnet. It is surprising the pull strength and I'm certain that it will attach to something.

Also, for anyone that may lose a boat, even with a life jacket, swimming isn't the best idea and you should never do it. The primary risk beyond one's ability is the possibility of getting tangled up with fishing line or similar. Many folks don't realize that even away from shore, there may be a fallen tree, or a sunken Christmas tree that fishermen use for cover. If that is the case, then there can be a lot of fishing line to get tangled in.

Best practice is to get the best location possible on the boat. This means memorizing/writing down the position on the shore where you stand and the opposite shore. Then, get two more sight marks on either side, preferably walking at least 25' away from the original location where you were standing. This can significantly narrow the search area.

If you haven't already tried the magnet, please try it. You may find that you are pleasantly surprised.

In the meantime, feel free to send me a message and I'm certain that I can make some recommendations to reach the speeds you want to achieve in an inexpensive fashion. I may even be able to make some suggestions you've never considered previously. Safe boating!

Thx, I'll send you a pm shortly. On a side note, I have an identical boat I built for a customer in my shop and there's nothing in the boat a magnet would stick to except the flex. I don't think it's going to grab it......

[Peter A]

After much contemplating and procrastinating I decided to buy this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vexilar-SP10...item4aded762d0

I ordered it this morning. Plan is to hook it to my mono and pull it around slowly (on 4s) and see if I can locate it. When or if I do I'll get in the raft and fish it out somehow. Guess I'll cross that ditch when I get there but I'll have a few things handy. worth a try.

Hey Trav, why not put it on your rescue rig?

[Meniscus]

Thx, I'll send you a pm shortly. On a side note, I have an identical boat I built for a customer in my shop and there's nothing in the boat a magnet would stick to except the flex. I don't think it's going to grab it......

If the hull is indeed broken in half, there are several things that a strong magnet can attach to which includes wires, bullet connectors, the motor itself, the rotor, set screws, the flex, bolts, the ESC itself, etc. That is why a large roofing magnet is effective. Also keep in mind that although there may not be much to attach to, or the pull isn't significant, the boat itself won't have much weight while suspended in the water.

The biggest issue is if the boat has neutral buoyancy at a given depth because of floatation. Unfortunately, this means that the boat may not completely sink which means that it can drift in the water a large distance over a long period of time. This is complicated by the fact that even using closed foam, the foam will lose buoyancy over time and eventually settle to the bottom. Besides the initial effort to quickly recover electronics to attempt to run again, you mentioned the hardware you spent so much time preparing. If it is worth your time, the various sonar methods you have been exploring may be more effective if you expand your search area and approach from different angles.

Why Hulls Sometimes Sink:
There is another reason why hulls sometimes become more susceptible to high speed impact. Taking into consideration that our electric hulls are taped up very well with very little leakage except for the drive line, as the electronics inside heat up, the air inside begins to expand. This is why sometimes when you cook something and there's no smoke, the tape will have be compromised. This increased pressure pressing outward from the inside of the hull means that during a high impact, no matter how severe, the hull if flexed the opposite direction. The area that is under the most stress is further compromised by the pressure inside, leading to failure. That is why many of us reinforce as much of the inside of the hull as possible. Now, this is more detail than is needed, but the point is that anything you can do to help strengthen the hull overall certainly can't hurt. It also means that despite best efforts, even a seemingly insignificant crash at higher speed can lead to failure regardless of what you do. The typical scenario is when the model re-enters the water, its first point of impact is the nose or sponson tips which cause them to rip away or fracture down the length of the hull.

So what is the best practice to reinforce a hull you may ask? The most important areas to focus on are anywhere that there is mass that can shift during a crash. This includes the motor mount, around the motor, transom, around the ESC, around lipos (top and bottom), etc. etc. In addition, trying to reinforce the bow in any way you can is helpful. Keep in mind that if the motor mount comes loose, it may impact the hatch. You can reinforce, but keep in mind that it can only sustain as much as the tape can hold in most cases.

This doesn't help for the past, but it can help to contribute to avoidance of a complete loss in the future. As a final note, many of use weigh our electronics, insert floatation/weights to the equivalent and submerge to determine how much buoyancy the model really has. You don't necessarily have to do this with the hull, but you may find that you may only be slightly buoyant so any loss of floatation due to catastrophic failure may lead to sinking. As much positive buoyancy you can provide will help in almost all scenarios. I hope this helps you and others for the future.

[kfxguy]

Made another attempt. We'll sort of. Lol. I made a "hitch" for my mono and put an x450 on it with 4s. It worked but kept dropping signal because it was hard to pull slow enough to where the t pod wouldn't bob under the water. I think I may try a square piece of foam shaped like a boat hull to set the t pod into. That will keep it floating and I'll put as keg on it to keep it straight. I may need to use my mgm Esc so I can control it better, the sf300 won't allow low enough Rpms. All this crap for a toy boat. Haha. The lake was over 20ft deep in one area.....I think if I can get this to stay connected I might find it.


My hitch lol