Revolt arrived from Tower - Second batch?

[NissanGTR]

I had some problems with my Motley C from the start and wrote a rather critical review about a month ago.

Because Aquacraft had such great customer service I decided to give the Revolt a shot. (Knowing if something went wrong they would take care of me)

After reading about GR's concerns on their first batch of Revolts I decided to wait until the second batch came rolling in. Well..... It looks like I didn't get one from the new batch or they have not changed anything....?

They are still using the tape that leaves glue all over the hull from the factory. It took me 15 minutes to remove it with goo gone and it still looks hazy. :(
The receiver and speed control were both loose in the boat. They didn't have any Velcro on them... (I put that balloon you see in the pic over the receiver)

The battery tray looks to be the same flimsy thing. Can you guys let me know if the water pickup is correct or if I need to open it up more?

I'm going to remove the flex shaft and make sure nothing is binding. Add a crap load of GR grease and get it out on the water for it's maiden run today. Wish my stock flex shaft luck! ;)

EDIT: My first run was SHORT! The Flex Shaft Broke... weird since it didn't seem to be binding at all before the run. I lost everything to the blue waters of Lake Michigan.

8054580546

[longballlumber]

Based on the Tech Notice, I would pull the water pick-up further forward to the leading edge of the rudder...

http://manuals.hobbico.com/aqu/aqub24-25-tech.pdf

Later,
Mike

[NissanGTR]

That tech notice was not in my box.

[ron1950]

first off let me say id still get a revolt...but....u have to file out the water pick up? all the other things are minor and not a problem to fix.....

[NissanGTR]

So I opened up the water pickup, tightened the rudder screw and was off to the lake.

30 feet into it's maiden the flex shaft broke! NOT AGAIN! Arrrrg. Same thing happened to my MC. I'm out of commission again.... :\

[sturco]

Here's what i did to my new Revolt before it hit the water. After taking everyone's suggestions which were spot on I had a great week of vacation with it at the lake w/o any problems.
1. Per tech notice cleaned up tape & opened up the rudder's water cooling slot.
2. loctite on every pc. of hardware.
3. Epoxied the motor mounts, tube and servo mounts for insurance, no big deal.
4. Installed an OSE upgraded shaft, collet & thrust brg per Steve's suggestions.
5. Set trim tabs with a credtit card (thickness) to bottom of the boat.Left strut alone.
6. Used different velcro for ESC & reciever to mount on.
7. Used a balanced & sharpened 42X55 Grim prop
8. Using cheap Onyx 25C, 2S,5000MAH had a ball.
Hope this helps anyone out. Thanks to a bunch of forum guys and their suggestions, again, "spot on" !
Steve

[alvinm]

SO, instead of RTR, it should be called, RTU (ready to upgrade):tongue:

[Mike Caruso]

Here's what i did to my new Revolt before it hit the water. After taking everyone's suggestions which were spot on I had a great week of vacation with it at the lake w/o any problems.
1. Per tech notice cleaned up tape & opened up the rudder's water cooling slot.
2. loctite on every pc. of hardware.
3. Epoxied the motor mounts, tube and servo mounts for insurance, no big deal.
4. Installed an OSE upgraded shaft, collet & thrust brg per Steve's suggestions.
5. Set trim tabs with a credtit card (thickness) to bottom of the boat.Left strut alone.
6. Used different velcro for ESC & reciever to mount on.
7. Used a balanced & sharpened 42X55 Grim prop
8. Using cheap Onyx 25C, 2S,5000MAH had a ball.
Hope this helps anyone out. Thanks to a bunch of forum guys and their suggestions, again, "spot on" !
Steve

Steve
Good work you steps should help the new PERSON (S) getting into boats. It makes for a happier day at the water. My cable drive itself was made from very stiff wire. It held its shape of the stuffing box tube when removed HA. No suprise it snap's replacing with Hughey cable. Buy the latest and newest it is an unwritten rule you will have some issue's. Small price to pay to be FAST.
Mike
Unless your in the lead....the view never changes!

[stumblinh]

Here's what i did to my new Revolt before it hit the water. After taking everyone's suggestions which were spot on I had a great week of vacation with it at the lake w/o any problems.
1. Per tech notice cleaned up tape & opened up the rudder's water cooling slot.
2. loctite on every pc. of hardware.
3. Epoxied the motor mounts, tube and servo mounts for insurance, no big deal.
4. Installed an OSE upgraded shaft, collet & thrust brg per Steve's suggestions.
5. Set trim tabs with a credtit card (thickness) to bottom of the boat.Left strut alone.
6. Used different velcro for ESC & reciever to mount on.
7. Used a balanced & sharpened 42X55 Grim prop
8. Using cheap Onyx 25C, 2S,5000MAH had a ball.
Hope this helps anyone out. Thanks to a bunch of forum guys and their suggestions, again, "spot on" !
Steve

What were the part #'s on the OSE upgrade shaft, collet & thrust brg? Thanks!!! How was speed on the 42x55 would a 47/50 be faster?

thanks

[sturco]

Part numbers are here on OSE "part" under the Revolt.
Cable is, "ose-revolt-cbl"
Bearing is, "dh 53136"
I didn't have a GPS for speed checks and only used the 42X55. Also, if you do that cable and bearing do the upgraded collet OSE sells ,huge difference.

[NissanGTR]

Here is an update. NOT HAPPY

I still have not had a chance to run the Revolt more than 20 feet.

I waited a week and a half to receive parts from aquacraft but they didn't send me all that was needed even thought I was very thorough in my email regarding what parts were needed.

After I brought this to their attention they said the additional parts would go out "this week".

Sucks for me. It's been three weeks and I still haven not had a chance to run this thing. Now I have to possibly wait another two weeks before I can.

At the end of the summer I am selling it and going to move on the another manufacturer. I'm done with Aquacraft.

[arp1500]

this is way im leaning more towards proboat
i tried a aqua craft about 2 years ago and its first outing barrel rolled and crack the hull
call them they said operator error to fast of a roll in water i said its a brushed boat with a single 8 cell nimh how fast could have it been going

i cleaned it up and shipped it back to tower and got a full refund

[PatrickM]

81124My Revolt came with a seriously misaligned motor to stuffing tube issue. It took a lot of motor mount and tube tweaking to get the alignment even close. It's still off quite a bit but much better than the factory crap. I tossed the factory cable (unusable due to a kink where it was forced into the misaligned motor connector) and the out of round flex adapter, replacing them with Steve's cable and an Octura flex hex. Attached is a pic showing the severity of the misalignment.

[arp1500]

how can big company's let garbage like that even get to its customers
and if they tightened up quality control maybe people wouldn't have so many problems

[Grimracer]

81124My Revolt came with a seriously misaligned motor to stuffing tube issue. It took a lot of motor mount and tube tweaking to get the alignment even close. It's still off quite a bit but much better than the factory crap. I tossed the factory cable (unusable due to a kink where it was forced into the misaligned motor connector) and the out of round flex adapter, replacing them with Steve's cable and an Octura flex hex. Attached is a pic showing the severity of the misalignment.

I wanta better understand.

Kink in the cable? Do you have a pic of this. Help me understand what looks like a kinked cable to you? Not trying to be a smart azz here I really need to know to try to make our products better.

Next. For some reasion I just am not seeing the "seriously misaligned motor to stuffing tube" I know that can be hard to show in the pic but it is an "up and down" alignment issue?

Thanks

Grimracer

[PatrickM]

Mike-
The kink is about a 5 degree (maybe more, I didn't put protractor on it) bend in the cable where it exits the coupling. The up and down was not as drastically misaligned as the side to side issue. The pic view is looking directly down (90 degree) on the boat. Both the motor shaft and the stuffing tube are angled to right side of the hull forming a 5 degree or more angle between the motor and stuffing tube. It would appear that the motor was installed and then the stuffing tube rotated to the right in an attempt match the motor shaft position. I can send you the cable if you'd like, but I've put too much effort into the hull to return it at this point. Feel free to e-mail me at lightzpro@cox.net

[Grimracer]

what i am taking from this is the motor (mount) is mounted crooked in the hull and the MFG attempted to "bend"? or rotate the stuffing tube to align the parts.

The parts did not align so they forced the fit.

Do you feel if the MFG would have at least gotten the parts to align it would have worked OK regardless of the position of the motor mount?

Grim

[PatrickM]

81158
what i am taking from this is the motor (mount) is mounted crooked in the hull and the MFG attempted to "bend"? or rotate the stuffing tube to align the parts.

The parts did not align so they forced the fit.

GrimPrecisely!.....
Did some quick measurements (kinda tough to do with any precision with everything installed) and it appears that the stuffing tube is intentionally offset to the right about 6mm from the hull centerline. The aft inside corners of the wood motor mount blocks are also offset to the right but their centerline is closer to about 8mm from the hull center and at a very slight angle. This misalignment with the stuffing tube probably forced the assembler to skew the stuffing tube by rotating the up-angled forward end around the prop shaft axis to bring it closer to the vertical center line of the coupler.... the assumption here being that the stuffing tube is potted in place with the motor, coupler and cable in place.

Not sure what you mean by "regardless of the position of the motor mount"..... if the motor mount (motor shaft axis) is not positioned somewhat in line with the centerline of the stuffing tube, it won't be possible to align the goodies.... flex cable and rubber grommets won't be much help. Maybe the assemblers need some sort of fixture to position these components in relation to each other during the bonding and installation process.... but then you already know all this stuff...:wink:

Attached is a pic of the kink in the cable...

[joker rc]

Removed by Steven V. not usefull to the solution.

[Doby]

:olleyes::olleyes::olleyes:

[stumblinh]

Here is an update. NOT HAPPY

I still have not had a chance to run the Revolt more than 20 feet.

I waited a week and a half to receive parts from aquacraft but they didn't send me all the parts needed even thought I was very thorough in my email regarding what parts were needed.

After I brought this to their attention they said the additional parts would go out "this week".

Sucks for me. It's been three weeks and I still haven not had a chance to run this thing. Now I have to possibly wait another two weeks before I can.

At the end of the summer I am selling it and going to move on the another manufacturer. I'm done with Aquacraft.

Wow granted revisions may have been made in production, my unit so far is great. The Revolt 30 was a recommend from a few friends who have them, did some reading in the forums and figured it was a good choice. Really sound build, upon arrival I just did a few things..

1) used some shoegoo to add some strength (awesome stuff) around the motor mount blocks.
2) installed a traxxas tqi 5channel rx and waterproof box (used clear rtv sealer to hold it in place (also awesome)
3) Took the aweful deans off and did bullets to direct plug into my lipo's (way less issues and resistance)
4) Used some of the packing foam parts to make battery spacers (taped packing tape around to add some life)
5) Checked all screws for tightness, did not remove and thread lock.
6) Did not clean the glue, lol, did not widen the intake

Thoughts.. sweet out of the box boat, I need to dial in my controller a little and adjust the location of my lipo's, she was a little "wiggly" up at top speed even when holding a line. The nano-tech 6600mAH 2s race packs I used held up great, pretty warm but they should do the job nice. I have a couple larger props on order and this thing is BEGGING for a bigger prop.. motor was cold to the touch after running hard after both the first set of packs and the second set. Actually ESC and Motor were cold.. only thing remotely warm were the lipo's. I was going to go crazy w/ 6s lipo's and other upgrades but I'm pretty darn happy. I did order the ose upgrade parts, but those will be installed at a later date, stock parts seem to be pretty good, luckly everything lines up nice and seems of good quality.

After the first run; things still all look good on the hardware.. the prop nut was backing off and the grub pin was a little loose too.. so warning to all, use some thread locker on BOTH :) I had no damage and caught it all in time. Worked up an audiance and they all loved the boat and the water kick up ;P


mass produced junk you want a good boat build it yourself

That is only true if you have some skills :P You can end up with a door stop if you don't know what you are doing! I've had a good experience so far and would recommend... I think most folks buying these boats are newbs or don't have the skill sets for building.. or maybe don't have the time to invest in custom builds. I've been in racing for a long time but 1/8 buggy/truggy and pro4 are my main area of expertice,, so this is a great step into this side of the hobby ;) Not to mention we will be running this boat in a local class in the near future.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w12/stumblinh/boat.jpghttp://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w12/stumblinh/boat2.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w12/stumblinh/boat3.jpghttp://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w12/stumblinh/boat4.jpg

[wavekatcher]

81124My Revolt came with a seriously misaligned motor to stuffing tube issue. It took a lot of motor mount and tube tweaking to get the alignment even close. It's still off quite a bit but much better than the factory crap. I tossed the factory cable (unusable due to a kink where it was forced into the misaligned motor connector) and the out of round flex adapter, replacing them with Steve's cable and an Octura flex hex. Attached is a pic showing the severity of the misalignment.

I just unboxed my new Revolt 30 and it unfortunately looks like it has the exact same issue as your boat Patrick. :thumbdown: Its fine if I look at it with my eyes crossed

[ron1950]

:popcorn2::popcorn2::popcorn2:

[PatrickM]

I just unboxed my new Revolt 30 and it unfortunately looks like it has the exact same issue as your boat Patrick. :thumbdown: Its fine if I look at it with my eyes crossedAt this point , my advice would be to return the boat before putting any time or effort into it, and hope that the replacement is correct, or at least less misaligned. Grim is the best one to consult on this option.

[wavekatcher]

At this point , my advice would be to return the boat before putting any time or effort into it, and hope that the replacement is correct, or at least less misaligned. Grim is the best one to consult on this option.

Thanks for the reply. I had a look at the picture of the alignment of the flex and motor on the website for Aquacraft and mine is nowhere near where it should be. Terrible QC. I think I will heed your advice and just box it back up and hopefully the replacement boat will not be as bad. I will not be happy if I have to pay to ship it back tho.

[PatrickM]

If Mike Z. doesn't respond with another option, you'll have to deal with Tower customer service. IMO, you shouldn't have to pay for return shipping on a defective item... but then who in hell do I think I am.... LOL!

[arp1500]

when i had a aquacrap and the first run with in 5 mins it barrel rolled and split the hull i had to pay to ship it back to tower even thou it was a defect i said i dont want this piece of junk they said either call aquacrap and have them replace the hull or ship it back as a return

so i had to pay shipping

that is the whole reason why i have a bad taste in my mouth about aquacrap

[ray schrauwen]

Here is an update. NOT HAPPY

I still have not had a chance to run the Revolt more than 20 feet.

I waited a week and a half to receive parts from aquacraft but they didn't send me all the parts needed even thought I was very thorough in my email regarding what parts were needed.

After I brought this to their attention they said the additional parts would go out "this week".

Sucks for me. It's been three weeks and I still haven not had a chance to run this thing. Now I have to possibly wait another two weeks before I can.

At the end of the summer I am selling it and going to move on the another manufacturer. I'm done with Aquacraft.

Let me know, I might be interested.

[kobiwan73]

I just ordered one of these, should be here the 25th. But after reading this thread I tried to cancel the order before it shipped. This will/would have been my first boat. I quit racing touring car and wanted something that I could just buy throw in the water and have some fun with. But this thread has put a bad taste in my mouth. I know nothing about boats and don't need the hassle of getting a brand new one and have it not be built right from the factory and to replace stuff or have to go through it glueing stuff and what not. Kind of dissapointed really.

[longballlumber]

I just ordered one of these, should be here the 25th. But after reading this thread I tried to cancel the order before it shipped. This will/would have been my first boat. I quit racing touring car and wanted something that I could just buy throw in the water and have some fun with. But this thread has put a bad taste in my mouth. I know nothing about boats and don't need the hassle of getting a brand new one and have it not be built right from the factory and to replace stuff or have to go through it glueing stuff and what not. Kind of dissapointed really.

I am just curious... How many "pre-built" touring cars would you take out of the box and go race with out tearing it completely down to make sure you would be getting top perfomance out of the chassis...

In my eyes RTR boats fall under the same catagory. You need to go thru everthing to make sure it's right before throwing it on "the track".

Just my $.02

later,
Mike

[Darin Jordan]

You need to go thru everthing to make sure it's right before throwing it on "the track".

Just my $.02

later,
Mike

DING-DING-DING... I'm with you, Mike...

[kobiwan73]

I am just curious... How many "pre-built" touring cars would you take out of the box and go race with out tearing it completely down to make sure you would be getting top perfomance out of the chassis...

In my eyes RTR boats fall under the same catagory. You need to go thru everthing to make sure it's right before throwing it on "the track".

Just my $.02

later,
Mike


If I wanted top performance I wouldn't be buying a RTR. I would have bought a kit and pieced it together with the radio, esc, motor, drive line, etc. of my choice. I didn't buy it to race it. From reading this thread it seems people are getting kits that are built wrong from the factory and that is unacceptable. The people at the factory need to check before it leaves and make sure it is right.A little quality assurance goes a long way, specially for your reputation. I don't mind checking to see if everything is secure, but shouldn't have to return it because of QA issues. I just want to get it, check it over, charge my batteries and go. I shouldn't have to worry about whether or not it's going to work right from the factory. And maybe it will, but like I said I don't need the hassle or the headache just in case it does happen. I just wanted it to have some fun, and that wouldn't be fun to put in in the water fir the first run and have it break. Maybe I'm hitting the panic button a little early,but just the thought of me getting it and something not being right from the factory is discouraging.

[Grimracer]

Kobiwan 73

The internet is quite the information house isn’t it!..

You have information without a boat.

When you get the boat.. I see you are new to this.. Make your OWN opinion and then let us know. Its going to be hard to do now that you have "read all this stuff" but..

Keep us posted and remember to "use Product Services" listed in the manual for any questions FIRST!.. then the experts here.

Grim

[wavekatcher]

I'm sending mine back to tower. Hopefully the motor and flex alignment looks better on the next one I called Hobbico and the tech guy says it is ok to run it this way as long as the flex isn't rubbing the brass stuffing tube. I disagree.81290

[wavekatcher]

If I wanted top performance I wouldn't be buying a RTR. I would have bought a kit and pieced it together with the radio, esc, motor, drive line, etc. of my choice. I didn't buy it to race it. From reading this thread it seems people are getting kits that are built wrong from the factory and that is unacceptable. The people at the factory need to check before it leaves and make sure it is right.A little quality assurance goes a long way, specially for your reputation. I don't mind checking to see if everything is secure, but shouldn't have to return it because of QA issues. I just want to get it, check it over, charge my batteries and go. I shouldn't have to worry about whether or not it's going to work right from the factory. And maybe it will, but like I said I don't need the hassle or the headache just in case it does happen. I just wanted it to have some fun, and that wouldn't be fun to put in in the water fir the first run and have it break. Maybe I'm hitting the panic button a little early,but just the thought of me getting it and something not being right from the factory is discouraging.

RTR means Ready to Repair.:thumbup:

[kobiwan73]

Kobiwan 73

The internet is quite the information house isn’t it!..

You have information without a boat.

When you get the boat.. I see you are new to this.. Make your OWN opinion and then let us know. Its going to be hard to do now that you have "read all this stuff" but..

Keep us posted and remember to "use Product Services" listed in the manual for any questions FIRST!.. then the experts here.

Grim

Grim
Thanks for the post. I probably wouldn't be so worried if this wasn't my very first boat, or if I new someone that ran them, but I don't. As you probably have read, I got out of touring car. I was totally into it. had one of, if not the top car(xray T3) and all the best gear, radio esc etc. I got burned out with all it takes to maintain a top race machine, that and my job prevnts me from racing as much as i would like. So thats why I got a RTR. Something I thought I should just be able to unbox it charge and go have fun. I don't have a problem doing routine maintenance or replaceing the occasional worn or broken part. But, I do expect it to be built right from the factory. I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was the whole idea of a RTR. It's for those who aren't interested in serious racing and just want to have fun and/or get their feet wet into the hobby with out having to build it and pay to buy seperate electronics and all that. They expect it to work out of the box, period. so yeah, I have to admit I am scared to even attempt to run it. Can you garantee me it will work prperly out of the box. Becasue I feel you should be able to. If not you need to address who is building them. Becasue reading some of the other posts, you seem to have someone that is giving up on the Aquacraft brand. Not good. allot of companies get there business from word of mouth.
Thanks again for the post, I still have a couple of days to change my mind.

[sturco]

kobiwan 73
I also was in your situation last year. I wanted a Motley Crew but after reading all the upgrades and tweaking I gave up. This year I decided on the Revolt after years of zenoah powered offshores 50-60" oal. See my earlier post on what I did to my new Revolt here. I saved $50.00 using my Tower H. codes and trust me all my upgrades didn't cost that $50. I did not have a flex issue and probably would feel the same, sucks but happens. That being said my (upgraded) Revolt is way more fun than my zenoah boats were. This is just my opinion, I hope you stay into the boats.
Steve

[kobiwan73]

kobiwan 73
I also was in your situation last year. I wanted a Motley Crew but after reading all the upgrades and tweaking I gave up. This year I decided on the Revolt after years of zenoah powered offshores 50-60" oal. See my earlier post on what I did to my new Revolt here. I saved $50.00 using my Tower H. codes and trust me all my upgrades didn't cost that $50. I did not have a flex issue and probably would feel the same, sucks but happens. That being said my (upgraded) Revolt is way more fun than my zenoah boats were. This is just my opinion, I hope you stay into the boats.
Steve

sturco
Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. I do like to go fast, so what I wanted to do with the boat was put the necesary hops on it to get me to about 45-50mph, or as faster than stock as I can get it without having to beef up the drive line. Thats why I didn't get the Traxxas Spartan. Once you put the 6S in it it ruins stuff. The most common was to go to a 180 amp seaking, go to 5S lipo and an after market prop. Or I heard just going to a better prop is all I need. If I could do that, that would be better. Less money.

[Mike Caruso]

Kobiwan,
I know where you are at I tried cars Onroad and it takes too much time working on them. I want to drive it not work on it all the time be it a car, boat, air plane or Chopper.
I have had my Re Volt for a few days in time working with it. Get the boat then go over ever bolt and nut. File rudder water pickup slot and sharpen. Balance prop and sharpen the prop. I was not happy with the cable that came in mine so I bought a new Hughey cable. K.I.S.S. is the rule all the info and help you will find here these guys are really great. Because I am not wasting my time I stepped up and added V4 EagleTree Data Logger to my boat so I can verify what is faster or slower NO BS! I will pass along what does and does not work for me. I will also post pictures of my install I hope within the week. Heck it's 100°F in Chicago I won't be at the pond anyway HA.
There is someone else who has already posted his EagleTree info here so look around.
Good Luck,
MC

[kobiwan73]

Kobiwan,
I know where you are at I tried cars Onroad and it takes too much time working on them. I want to drive it not work on it all the time be it a car, boat, air plane or Chopper.
I have had my Re Volt for a few days in time working with it. Get the boat then go over ever bolt and nut. File rudder water pickup slot and sharpen. Balance prop and sharpen the prop. I was not happy with the cable that came in mine so I bought a new Hughey cable. K.I.S.S. is the rule all the info and help you will find here these guys are really great. Because I am not wasting my time I stepped up and added V4 EagleTree Data Logger to my boat so I can verify what is faster or slower NO BS! I will pass along what does and does not work for me. I will also post pictures of my install I hope within the week. Heck it's 100°F in Chicago I won't be at the pond anyway HA.
There is someone else who has already posted his EagleTree info here so look around.
Good Luck,
MC

Mike,
Thanks for the info. So far everyone on here has been a big help. where do I find the Hughey Cable? I assume that is a better drive line? (new to boats) What does one cost?

[NissanGTR]

You need to go thru everything to make sure it's right before throwing it on "the track".


This is a RTR boat. probably 98% of the people that buy these have NO knowledge of this web forum or even have the time to do ANY research on how to properly "fix" these boats that are supposed to be RTR.

Most people buy the boat and plop in battery’s and head for the lake. When the flex shaft breaks and everything goes to the bottom in the first 10 feet of running the boat what are they to do? Call support and wait two weeks for the replacements. By that time their vacation is over and the whole family is disappointed.

After spending $50+ on my Motley Crew and 2+ hours of work on it I was able to make it reliable and fun to operate. Too bad I hit the dock. :(

Maybe Brushless/Lipo powered boats weren’t meant for the "daily" masses. With this type of power and speed the boats need to be perfect or problems will arise almost immediately. This is what we are seeing.


Built in China SUCKS!

The fix is to have people from our own country build these boats! USA!

I would be willing to pay more if I saw a 100% built in the USA sticker on the box!

[Doby]

So you would pay 100% more for the boat built in USA?? No you wouldn't.

[sturco]

Doby.......you are right once more ! I have a "custom built" FC Cheetah being built and it's a whole lot more than a couple of Revolts.

Steve

[Grimracer]

Grim
Thanks for the post. I probably wouldn't be so worried if this wasn't my very first boat, or if I new someone that ran them, but I don't. As you probably have read, I got out of touring car. I was totally into it. had one of, if not the top car(xray T3) and all the best gear, radio esc etc. I got burned out with all it takes to maintain a top race machine, that and my job prevnts me from racing as much as i would like. So thats why I got a RTR. Something I thought I should just be able to unbox it charge and go have fun. I don't have a problem doing routine maintenance or replaceing the occasional worn or broken part. But, I do expect it to be built right from the factory. I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was the whole idea of a RTR. It's for those who aren't interested in serious racing and just want to have fun and/or get their feet wet into the hobby with out having to build it and pay to buy seperate electronics and all that. They expect it to work out of the box, period. so yeah, I have to admit I am scared to even attempt to run it. Can you garantee me it will work prperly out of the box. Becasue I feel you should be able to. If not you need to address who is building them. Becasue reading some of the other posts, you seem to have someone that is giving up on the Aquacraft brand. Not good. allot of companies get there business from word of mouth.
Thanks again for the post, I still have a couple of days to change my mind.

ko,

I understand your concern.

I raced RC cars for over 20 years. But for me it was my eyes sight that got me out of it. I raced all kinds but really liked 1/8 Scale on and off road racing. great times..

Im not 100 convinced RTR means 100 percent perfect and or that comes with a Guarantee" as such. We know this so we offer a Warranty that Hobby Services takes care of. There are "Boat" guys at Hobby Services so your in good hands.
As for the business end of things its FAR MORE complicated then a few simple words. The VERY best we can do and are more than willing to do is "listen", “Understand" and communicate. If that’s not working for you I will be the VERY FIRST too tell you there are some VERY GOOD other MFGs in the RC boat market and maybe that fits you better. As much as we want you running AquaCraft we understand our products might not be for everybody. (I think it says that in the manual too) You know that silly old saying.. Can’t please everybody. As much as I hate that it’s just a simple fact.


Kind Regards

Grimracer

[siberianhusky]

The thing I'd like to know is why on earth have the last two boats AQ has released had the same problem with flex shafts?
http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/showthread.php?26949-Thank-you-Aqucraft-for-losing-a-brand-new-prop!
You figure that after the Motley Crew issues they would have made sure this wasn't an issue on the next release.
It's really too bad Grims great designs are being hampered by Chinese quality control. Mike needs to go over there with a stout chunk of Hickory and "explain" quality control for a couple hours (or until it sinks in!) He's takin' the heat and doing a damn fine job of it for these simple and cheap to fix issues!

[Doug Smock]

I wonder sometimes if these products wouldn't be better as ARTRs. It would at the very least get guys back to building some, and I like to think they would be happier with the end result.
Just thinkin out load.
Doug

[Grimracer]

Siber.. that is the AquaCraft 800 pound gorilla. And that SOB is putting up one hell of a fight..

I wish I could fill everybody in on the gory details but truth be told some things we just are not willing to talk about. WHEN.. and im committed to getting it right.. get this hammered out its going to be BEER 30 for me!

You will all know its been completely dealt with when people start :bash: something else..:lol:

take care.. and again we are working hard at all the stuff the guys have been talking about.

Grimracer

[Grimracer]

Doug,

Hi Ho my friend.. The numbers just dont support ARTR. Its up to the people and there purchacing habbits. untill the, what did ko say, "Something I thought I should just be able to unbox it charge and go have fun" changes its a tough call.

Play with out the "pay". I think we are in for the long haul and truth is I dont see it getting any better anytime soon.

I will say this however. AquaCraft does have something on the work bench that "WILL" shake up the way things are done in our market. Its going to be a "risk" on our part but we/Im a boater and also want to see this.. change.. or is it added... eather way.

Take care

Grimracer

[Steven Vaccaro]

Problems arise. its how we solve them that makes it interesting.

[Doug Smock]

Hello sir,
I understand Grim, and you WOULD know that better than me.
I was just thinking that some of these mistakes seem basic and MAYBE the end user would do a better job. Less of a hurry or whatever.
Certainly not meant as a bash, "just typing to hear the keys click" I guess lol.

Steven you are so right.
D.

[NissanGTR]

Looks like Jang is also having trouble with the Revolt straight out of the box.

"Yeah I just ran mine for the second time this morning. Got 3 minutes worth of video before noticing pretty much all the hardware failed. Center strut hanging on by half a bolt, cable slipped out of the collet, rudder ready to fall out. This thing sure does submerge with the quickness if it dips the nose down, too. Out of the box the thing was a master leakmeister, but I at least got that fixed before the first disastrous maiden a few weeks back (hit a bag floating in the water, popped the whole cable out, flooded interior with seawater). I look forward to a day when I can drive this thing a lot "

http://www.ultimaterc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155837&page=2

[stumblinh]

Looks like Jang is also having trouble with the Revolt straight out of the box.

"Yeah I just ran mine for the second time this morning. Got 3 minutes worth of video before noticing pretty much all the hardware failed. Center strut hanging on by half a bolt, cable slipped out of the collet, rudder ready to fall out. This thing sure does submerge with the quickness if it dips the nose down, too. Out of the box the thing was a master leakmeister, but I at least got that fixed before the first disastrous maiden a few weeks back (hit a bag floating in the water, popped the whole cable out, flooded interior with seawater). I look forward to a day when I can drive this thing a lot "

http://www.ultimaterc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155837&page=2

I know several folks with these, and none have had issues as described. Granted most everyone read the directions and used some thread locker and hit most of the parts.. or at least verified they were secure. I didn't do thread locker at first, I checked them before every run. As I find anything that loosens I do use locker. I did however not lube my flex shaft and ended up needing to replace it... but that was my fault. One guy who ran his for the first time the other night checked before running and his was all but dry.. so we lub'ed him up good. Zero issues :) Must be a lemon or you didnt read directions.. good luck either way though :)

[wavekatcher]

I'm sending mine back to tower. Hopefully the motor and flex alignment looks better on the next one I called Hobbico and the tech guy says it is ok to run it this way as long as the flex isn't rubbing the brass stuffing tube. I disagree.81290


I finally received my replacement boat. The motor and flex alignment is better than the 1st boat, but not perfect.

Now to get her ready to run. Lots to do so the maiden voyage is fun:wink:

[joker rc]

Hmm mine isn't fraying it just pulled straight out. Doesn't even make sense... thrust should push it into the adapter if anything. *shrug* < thats shows you how much jang knows about boats . lol ,

[Jeff Wohlt]

All I know is when these RTRs come out with these poorly built and mis aligned cables I end up making more than I care to. Love the business but the spartan shaft takes machining down from 5mm. I think I have almost replaced every spartan cable out there...LOL. Communicating with mfg to fix something is certainly a handful but it takes good specs so they can understand and then they do it right. Mounting a motor wrong certainly is not hard to do but given you are dealing with some assemblers that do not get it means you have to have very well drawn specs to meet mfg tolerances.

I have almost thought of getting out of parts and building good RTR boats...that way I get to build since all I seem to do is build parts. At least I can be assured they would be true RTR and they would have hours of testing on them...I like bullet proof out of the box. You get what you get for these prices. Seems tweaking a motor mount would not be a big issue but sometimes it is.

[Mike Caruso]

Re Volt ....guy's try a simply fix because the stuffing box tube to motor alingment if off. Just try and twisting the tube until it lines up like it should. As in my boat it was loose, so I pulled it both ways in and out and used 80 grit paper on a popsicle stick. This makes the tube able to hold onto epoxy or Shoe Goo. Once all lined you are good to go. No you should not have to do this to RTR boat but it also rains after I wash the car SO keep moving forward. I just wish that they installed our boating standard .250 O.D. tube size. I 'll change my over the winter when the water is hard In Chicago LOL
Mike

[ray schrauwen]

Harsh man... harsh.

[Doby]

No one cares about your Geico on a AQ Revolt thread......

[Mike Caruso]

Harsh man... harsh.

Hi Ray,

You know what I mean just fix it, run it to death and fix it again.

Treat it like you hate it thats when they run the best right before you see the smoke jump out of the wires!!!!

Dang, I have not yet figured out how to put the smoke back in those wires but I will let you know if I figured it out.

Mike

[Doby]

Harsh man... harsh.

:tt2:

[Mike Caruso]

Ha
Guys,
I have added more Re Volt pictures to my album. I am learning to read use the graphs and looks like the 45 x 68 pulls a lot of amps. I will sharpen it up some more. Also doing the smaller prop that came with the boat. I want to average three runs and see what I find on this boats power system.

[gyrotron]

Hello Mike,

How much run time do you get with the dual battery setup you show on the pictures of your Revolt?

Thank you,

[Mike Caruso]

Hello Mike,

How much run time do you get with the dual battery setup you show on the pictures of your Revolt?

Thank you,

It made 6 mins with 45 x68 prop but it was not WOT all the time I have one 4s battery. I will do more testing I will pay more attention to run time as I was only looking at RPM / MPH / WATTS. I just ran the stock prop this morning no data logging but speed seems same and I hear higher rpm. Install 5 mm battery connectors.

[Jeff Wohlt]

She certainly has a good water line. I like it. Minor fixes are easy for the price.