New Miss Geico 24" owner - Hello!

[yogix]

Hi all

I'm a proud owner of a new Miss Geico 24". I am a newbie so have been searching google for tips on using the boat, charging battery, etc. I have just got some marine grease to do the flex shaft.

I just had a quick look inside and noticed that nothing was stuck down. There are sticky pads to fix it all down. Is this normal. I have attached a pic of the inside.

Maybe in the future I would like to upgrade the motor and other bits but in the UK prices seem to be quite high. Does anybody have any recommendations!

Thanks

[J.W. Pepper]

...I just had a quick look inside and noticed that nothing was stuck down. There are sticky pads to fix it all down. Is this normal...
Not at all unusal for ESC's to come loose in transit. Replace the "sticky pads" with heavy duty velcro, that's what I use to hold mine down and they stay put.

I've been looking into getting one of these boats lately because I want a cat. My upgrade plans are to replace the stock motor & ESC with a PB 1500Kv motor & ESC from a MG 29 version-1 because I already have the parts on hand.

These guys have the best prices on Dynamite & PB motors... http://www.advantagehobby.com/215909/DYNM3835/ -- and -- http://www.advantagehobby.com/84784/PRB3310/?cat=277 - PB ESC's are way overpriced. This a better alternative... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=17441 wait for a few minutes and a box will pop up with a "one time offer" of about $41.00(aus).

Batteries: Run it on 3S LiPo's, there's plenty of room for them, manual says to move the batts fore-n-aft to balance the boat.

Props: Stock prop is the same as Octura y534, so with BL I'm going to try y535 or Octura m435/3 and go from there.

Good luck & welcome to the forum.



Hi all

I'm a proud owner of a new Miss Geico 24". I am a newbie so have been searching google for tips on using the boat, charging battery, etc. I have just got some marine grease to do the flex shaft.

I just had a quick look inside and noticed that nothing was stuck down. There are sticky pads to fix it all down. Is this normal. I have attached a pic of the inside.

Maybe in the future I would like to upgrade the motor and other bits but in the UK prices seem to be quite high. Does anybody have any recommendations!

Thanks

[yogix]

...I just had a quick look inside and noticed that nothing was stuck down. There are sticky pads to fix it all down. Is this normal...
Not at all unusal for ESC's to come loose in transit. Replace the "sticky pads" with heavy duty velcro, that's what I use to hold mine down and they stay put.

I've been looking into getting one of these boats lately because I want a cat. My upgrade plans are to replace the stock motor & ESC with a PB 1500Kv motor & ESC from a MG 29 version-1 because I already have the parts on hand.

These guys have the best prices on Dynamite & PB motors... http://www.advantagehobby.com/215909/DYNM3835/ -- and -- http://www.advantagehobby.com/84784/PRB3310/?cat=277 - PB ESC's are way overpriced. This a better alternative... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=17441 wait for a few minutes and a box will pop up with a "one time offer" of about $41.00(aus).

Batteries: Run it on 3S LiPo's, there's plenty of room for them, manual says to move the batts fore-n-aft to balance the boat.

Props: Stock prop is the same as Octura y534, so with BL I'm going to try y535 or Octura m435/3 and go from there.

Good luck & welcome to the forum.


Thanks J.W.Pepper for the advice and links. Will take a look and get some more Velcro!

[J.W. Pepper]

Your welcome & BTW I just realized that my battery advise was misleading, sorry:doh:

What I meant to say was: to run 3S LiPo's with the brushless setup I recommended, sorry for the confusion, hopefully you catch my mistake in time.

Just checked the manual (got the PDF from PB website), do not run your boat on LiPo's with the stock ESC (it doesn't have low voltage detection / cutoff), the manual says 8.4v (7-cell) NiMH hump packs max. -- Once again, my apologies.

Please let us know what your impressions are once you get to run her. I'm curious to know if they bounce as much as seen in the PB promo video. Manual says to move the battery forward for better balance, hopefully that also means less bounce.

I just discovered that I have a few extra $$ this month, here in the states the MG 24's are $159.99(USD) with free shipping:biggrin:


Thanks & happy boating - hope your weather is a bit cooler than my area, 41+(Celsius) past several days with no end in sight:crying:



Thanks J.W.Pepper for the advice and links. Will take a look and get some more Velcro!

[yogix]

Hi again

Finally got to take her out on her maiden voyage. Being a newbie I kept the throttle low until I figured out the controls. Unfortunately the boat pond near us is in a terrible state and it got stuck in some algae and after a few attempts trying to free the boat I had to wade in. Fortunately it's only about a foot deep! Have sent an email to the council. I hope they clean it.

Once I cleaned the propeller she was back in and I opened her up and she goes pretty quick. Not sure how fast but a good speed as I zipped around the mess in the pond. The front of the boat raised out of the water but I didn't really notice much bouncing.

After a few minutes the speed of the boat went down so I decided to call it a day. I assume the battery needs to be conditioned.

One thing I will do next time is tape up the cover to stop water getting in. There wasn't much but a couple of times I reversed the boat and water went over the top.

I didn't take any shots or video but hopefully will do next time.

I greased the flex shaft before taking the boat out. I found the instructions really hard to follow. It says to loosen setscrew D from the u-joint E but I could not find anything to unscrew D and it didn't really look like a screw. It was easier to remove the whole rudder.

All in all a successful first try apart from getting my feet wet.

[yogix]

...[I]Batteries: Run it on 3S LiPo's, there's plenty of room for them, manual says to move the batts fore-n-aft to balance the boat.

So what are the benefits of LiPo's over Ni-MH and if I replaced the batteries and the ESC would I see a benefit?

[mattdt83]

I'm in the same boat as Yogix and thats some top advice there J.W. Pepper, thanks!

Had a similar experience to Yogix on first voyage, bit of bouncing after I placed the battery in the middle. Is it possible to run two batteries at the same time (so one down either side of the bow)? I had positioned the battery in the right handside as thats how it came, but this meant it leaned right in the water. One the other side would give me a better run time hopefully and balance things out.