Great deal on 30"- 31" cats on Ebay

[ray schrauwen]

I didn't know where to post this as it's just a little hint and not really an advertisement.

I was just doing an occassional search on ebay in the RC hobbies section under "catamaran" and found some pretty nice Chinese hulls that never took off or got into mainstream sales.

The 2 cats are very different from each other in hull bottom & top.

One is or almost has to be a Skunkworks 31" cat and the other a 30" sprintcat knock off.

I asked the seller the empty weight of these hulls and finally after 3 or 4 days he replied to my pleasure that they were 1Kg hulls, very nice weight for LSO.

The second cat looks as I said like a sprintcat, I pushed the button on one of those.

Price is awesome @72' ish Cdn but, a nasty $55 in shipping still only brings you to $128 or so. He said the box is very strong at 4.6kg shipping weight.

The paint work looks very nice but, that is to be seen soon. I'll let you know.

I'm hoping I haven't broke any rules or stepped on any toes. After all, the only other empty hulls in this size & weight catagory are not available (at this time) from OSE or, FCR. Yes Aeromarine sells the original but, not for $75 or so...

Just trying to pass on a good deal, thats all.

http://stores.ebay.ca/S-A-Hobby-Center?_trksid=p4340.l2563

[srislash]

Those both look allright.I'll look forward to hearing how they are.Still looking for a rough water boat.The Skunkworks one looks good with the fancy paint.I still say it's wrong to put flames on a boat,but that may just be me.
But that's a past experience that left an impression.

[ray schrauwen]

The sprintcat version (as I call it) will eat up chop allot more but, again until I see how sharp the edges are, I'm speculating some although the transom profile is a dead ringer.

[srislash]

:popcorn2:

[Drax21]

I also saw these boats. They don't look too bad. Would love to purchase one but the customs fee would kill me even at that cost.

[ray schrauwen]

Yeah, thats pretty sad. I wonder if I will get dinged at the door for any customs. I have never had to doll out anything that has come from China yet.

[Drax21]

Yeah, thats pretty sad. I wonder if I will get dinged at the door for any customs. I have never had to doll out anything that has come from China yet.

I forgot to put the costs down on a order from Hobby King once. Order was only worth $40 but my customs and handling fee was $45!.

[srislash]

I forgot to put the costs down on a order from Hobby King once. Order was only worth $40 but my customs and handling fee was $45!.The only problem I've had was brokerage fees thru UPS.Had the Used Miss Bud show up with an additional $65 bill.We'll see when I get my Ice 240 as Castle sent it UPS.

[ray schrauwen]

Thats usually hit or miss depending how they "valued" it.

[srislash]

Thats usually hit or miss depending how they "valued" it.
The Ice was warranty item.We'll find out Thursday.

[Drax21]

Worst I probably been hit is when I bought my Cyber Storm Hull with Hardware off Ray Fuller. I paid $275 with shipping
Ray put $300 insurance on it and It took ages to get here as customs was playing with it and then I received the bill for £56 or $88 in your money
Really wasn't worth me buying it after that.... I even sold my Pursuit to cover the rest of the Cyber Storm build.

[battlefury]

Has anyone bought that sprint cat knock off?
Does the bottom ride pads and tunnel looks similar to the AM sprint cat?
I am having doubts about these bootleg versions prices are too good to be true

[ray schrauwen]

I'll let you know shortly.

[srislash]

The Ice was warranty item.We'll find out Thursday.I got my Ice 240 back today!!! YAYY No hassles,bils or anything.They even sent me my parallel connectors back.

[battlefury]

I'll let you know shortly.

Sure thing boss,I am so tempted to pull the trigger will be counting on you to give a review on the hull. Looks roomy for twin configuration

[ray schrauwen]

The black one with flames is selling well now, interesting...

Should have it in a couple days now. It's in customs :noidea::w00t:

[ice_spy]

Dont think he will run out in a hurry...
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[ray schrauwen]

No, partly because they are of an unknown source & design sort of.

My hull came in yesterday and I'm very happy. Quality is very good. It is more solid and about 3oz heavier than my empty Mrs Geico hull (I mean dead empty, I pulled all wood out of it. So If I had left the wood in Miss G it would have been nearly the same weight.
Packed like it was fine china and got here in about 4 business days.
No need to re-inforce this hull, it is solid with no flex at all. Ride pads are nice & flat compared to Mrs G. and are as rounded or maybe slightly sharper than mrsG. Paint looks and feels great, minimum decals. Hatch has a lip that fits on the inside of the front camopy area so to lock it in very nicely.
The canopy rear is open, my only bug on this hull. I will cut off the fake turbine rear and put a flat piece of CF back there to make it a "fastback" style.
Definately worth the $126 Canadian to my door.
Light enough for LSO :lol:. The OAL is actually 29" (can you say 29" AML Sprint cat copy? I can), the turbine makes it longer which is going shortly.

Pictures later today, I had a late night....

Oh yeah, tons of room for twins in there just your hands might not have as good access to sponsons as MrsG has.

I only compare it to Mrs.G because I have one here, also my Geico has one of Ben's heavier FG canopies on it.

Later....

[ray schrauwen]

Dont think he will run out in a hurry...
71585

Could I get a full size pic of your avatar please? I like that paint sceme as orange is my race boats colour. Looks nice!

Actually the stock of these cats are what you see on his site. If you read the add they were from a project that never took off as RTR so they are selling off the last of these hulls. If I have the coin, I'd grab the pther black one with flames... hmmm, maybe sell mrsG? Naaa...

[srislash]

So is the tunnel alot deeper?And how is the intake part of the tunnel?I feel the MG is a little steep which is why it has a tendency to lift.
I very recently acquired a T600 1400kv.Might go good in this.7s?

[ice_spy]

Ray, my avatar pic is a finished boat from the maker himself, from 'Phuket Hobby Model' in Thailand.
He hand makes these hulls to order. And now makes a nice F1 tunnel also.
I have the hull myself, in orange too, however im still in the build process to make my cat a twin.
You can get all the pics from his website. The hulls are called 'C1-twister' :wink:

[ray schrauwen]

Nice, thanks Ice.

[ray schrauwen]

Some pictures will answer some questions.

the tunnel on the new cat has compression of approx. 1/4" front to back, meaning the tunnel gets more narrow towards the rear, opposite to a MissG. The missG doesn't have as much variance as the new cat but, obviusly these are very far far apart in design. Not that I thought there was much similarity to a MG but, more so with a AM Sprint cat.

I put a ruler allong the bottom of all 3 steps of each sponson and no cups, warps, just flat. The bottom of the sponsons are not totally flat, they have a very minor deadrise but, less the MG.

As you can see Igot dremel happy last night. :w00t:

[ray schrauwen]

more.

Sorry, I'll get front pics soon to answer that main question but, it is not as steep. The upper deck has a steepangle to it instead that I guess can create down force....

[srislash]

Thanks Ray.Is that a T600 your thinking of putting in there?

[ray schrauwen]

Nope, well, not yet. I want to try it in LSO class with a PB or AQ motor first.

[Doby]

Excellent...another Cat to play with...Chris is putting together a Mean Machine as well.

[ray schrauwen]

Yes, thats good. Maybe a specific class? who knows? The bottom of the black one is almost a dead knock off of the Mean Machine.

[ray schrauwen]

Update of rear hatch coming soon...

[properchopper]

Good stuff - looks like the Sprintcat knockoff will make a nice P-Ltd Cat sprint racer; [as of this morning we've just announced a P-Ltd Cat 6-lap sprint race class for the 2012 FE Nat's :thumbup:]. I rigged a cheapo water-damaged MM for P-Ltd Offshore at WWVIII last month. Did OK but the monos rounded the offshore pins quicker. The sprint oval should be a great fun race with wider radius turns.

Seems the MM bottom differs from the SprintCat-always thought they were exactly the same, but :noidea:

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Rigged for P-Ltd with a UL-1 2030. Dual cooling for the 4.5 min offshore. T-180 is overkill but had a spare laying around at the time; will step down to a FCR 140 or something.

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Ex-Wife gave me sticker for birthday; not sure why :unsure:

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[ray schrauwen]

Look at the transom on the Skunk cat on post#7 http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/showthread.php?21059-Skunkworks-29-Build-Start-To-Finish&highlight=skunkworks

The China cat on ebay is the same as skunk Gen1 cat and very similar hull bottom to a MM. Wouldn't you say?

[properchopper]

Look at the transom on the Skunk cat on post#7 http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/showthread.php?21059-Skunkworks-29-Build-Start-To-Finish&highlight=skunkworks

The China cat on ebay is the same as skunk Gen1 cat and very similar hull bottom to a MM. Wouldn't you say?

Looks pretty close. I believe the most important dimention in making cats able to turn/race is the length/width ratio. The MM is kind of like a "widebody" compared to the more scale appearing cats in popular use that go zoom-zoom but corner like King Henry VIII. I got my MM on the way-cheap & built it on a whim, 'tho I'm really liking it. I hope it becomes a Geico killer, although I've seen the Motley run and it's gonna' be hard to beat.

[ray schrauwen]

Yeah, the MM is a great running cat.

This one is for the really rough water LSO or if we adopt it like you said, P-cat Lmtd sprint, 6 lapper. That would be fun.

I'm doing the sponsons on a MG right now, what a lot of work. Thats allot of dips...

The china cat above has nice flat true sponsons. Not too sharp but, not really bad either.

[Fluid]

Seems the MM bottom differs from the SprintCat-always thought they were exactly the same...Odd, Remy told me the bottoms of both hulls were identical, just the decks differ...


.

[ray schrauwen]

No way! Look at aeromarines website or even in the for sale section you can see a Sprintcat is a different animal all together compared to a MM.

[ray schrauwen]

No way! Look at aeromarines website or even in the for sale section you can see a Sprintcat is a different animal all together compared to a MM.

Whoops, I may be wrong....

Just looked at the for sale thread and you're right. Bottom is the same.

I guess the chinese cat is a downsized version of a SC 34 or 36???

We will see...

[ray schrauwen]

I thought the 29" SC was the same as the 36" bottom.

This is a 36" SC. as you see, the design is similar to the chinese cat and also similar to a Systems cat too.

Can wait to get the strut and build it up.

New Skegged strut coming!!!:drool: