Thank you Aqucraft for losing a brand new prop!

[wparsons]

Got about 45 seconds of running with my m445 before the flex let go. I had about half a dozen runs on the stock prop, plenty of grease (greased before every run so far!) and less than one run on the m445 before it let go. I pulled the flex before running with the new prop to make sure it still looked solid, guess it was a really bad solder joint. Looked good on the surface, but no bite at all inside the stub.

Now to wait for another prop to get here, as well as a reliable flex/stub.

Good news is the boat runs awesome with the m445 :D

[jjenkins]

I had the same problem with the stock shaft, now running the OSE shaft.


Ran mine yesterday with the m445, 45mph peak with consistent 42mph passes. Strut was set level with bottom of sponsons shooting a big rooster.

Today set the strut a little deeper , 46 mph peak with consistent 44mph passes with a little less rooster. Now going to put strut back to stock position and try again.

[dana]

Try it with that prop on 5s. With upgraded esc of course

[Stinger9D9]

Got about 45 seconds of running with my m445 before the flex let go. I had about half a dozen runs on the stock prop, plenty of grease (greased before every run so far!) and less than one run on the m445 before it let go. I pulled the flex before running with the new prop to make sure it still looked solid, guess it was a really bad solder joint. Looked good on the surface, but no bite at all inside the stub.

Now to wait for another prop to get here, as well as a reliable flex/stub.

Good news is the boat runs awesome with the m445 :D

Mine let go without warning after 8 runs (posted about it here a couple weeks ago). Too bad it happened to your m445 (those are hard to come by), I lost my Aquacraft 40x52/3 when mine let go - I should have known I was running on borrowed time with the stock flex.

I now have a great replacement flex (thanks Ray) and a couple Hughey's in the mail. I also have an m445 and just picked up an AQ 42x55 on the weekend - no time to run any of it, but I have all the stuff in place for when I do.

[wparsons]

Hopefully I'll have everything in by the weekend, but I'm not counting on it. I'm starting to hate my luck with boats this summer!

[ron1950]

just out of couriosity ..is aq giveing out new shafts? and are they giveing out the same crap?

[wparsons]

That's going to be my question when I call them today... I know they're aware of the issue, so I would hope they've ramped up production on better cables.

Mine had no solder at all inside the stub, it was just soldered to the flex at the very end of the stub.

[Fluid]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, I hope AQ takes care of you. Sadly, no matter how well-designed, every RTR has problems when it comes to the actual build in China. For example, the Miss Geico had flex cable troubles too - they shipped cables with the wrong lay! I guess we should be happy that we can buy decent RTRs, even with a few warts.



.

[wparsons]

^^ 100% agreed... I'm just pissy because it didn't happen with the stock cheap plastic prop, but with a prop I waited weeks for because of the postal strike and had just finished balancing that morning..

[Stinger9D9]

Hobby Services did awesome for me. I fried my motor on the first run (the water pickup was assembled in a way that pinched the water hose shut). I sent a detailed email listing what went wrong, what was damaged and included a scan of my original receipt (I also sent some photos of the water pickup). They replied the next day, got the new motor ready to ship (Canada Post was locked out at the time) and then they shipped out the motor as soon as the lockout was over (just got it today).

I didn't even need to send the fried motor back. I do have some particularly nasty photos of the innards I could send, but I didn't need to. I can only say good things about their service.

[wparsons]

Hobby services came through for me too! They're sending a new flex/drive dog/nut AND a grim 42x55 in place of the m445 I lost. I still want another m445, but it's a VERY nice thing to get a prop of roughly equal value back!

[burgerchow1]

Hobby services came through for me too! They're sending a new flex/drive dog/nut AND a grim 42x55 in place of the m445 I lost. I still want another m445, but it's a VERY nice thing to get a prop of roughly equal value back!

I called them yesterday too, and they're sending me a whole replacement shaft including new prop. When asked, they admitted that the shafts are faulty. I asked if they are sending me an improved version, but they said they are still working on fixing them. Was told the shafts are out of stock and they would send me one when they're back in stock.

[wparsons]

I was told pretty much the same thing. I didn't even ask for a replacement equivalent to the m445 (although in my email I did mention how frustrating it was to lose a brand new prop 45 seconds into the first run with it) but they offered up the Grim prop anyway.

I'm sure the reason they're out of stock is that they're investigating the problems and working on a fix before making any more.

[petej]

My prop shaft broke on the 4th run. I opened a support ticket request via email, explained all, attached a PDF of the purchase receipt. AquaCraft/Hobbico responded promptly and said the new shaft was ordered on my behalf. A week later, I received the new shaft and a new Titanium prop!

Pete

[wparsons]

As frustrating as it is, they're sure doing a great job of keeping customers happy! I still don't have my warranty shaft and prop yet, but I'm up in Canada and they told me it would be a while since parts were out of stock.

[Stinger9D9]

One of the reasons that it seems a disproportionate amount of Motley Crews are having the same problems may be that all the ones out there are from the initial production run. Arrival of the next batch has been pushed back a couple of times (as of now it's stated as late August) so nobody has seen what the next batch will look like/will the prop shafts hold up? etc.

After I replaced the motor (from the cooling pickup blockage) and replaced my broken flexshaft, the boat's been just about perfect. I know those first two things may have been deal breakers for someone else, but I've been waiting for AQ to make a cat for years and once you have one of these running nicely (which doesn't take much) they are just a blast. Fast, reliable, stable, and that cornering is something to see!

Between this and the UL-1, Grim can do no wrong - both those boats just give big grins all around. I can't wait to see what they come out with next.