when does a boat become FE

[ozzie-crawl]

okay i maybe a little bored
but what makes a boat fe? is it speed related? if so at what speed is it considered fast 40mph 50mph 70mph.
i know it wasnt long ago before brushless and lipo were commen that 40 mph was fairly fast,now rtr,s are doing that speed.
just worried maybe my boats are a little slow and i will get kicked of the forum and have to go join a slow electrics group

[tiqueman]

If you see it go, and go Holy S#$&$T... then its FE

Seriously though, good question. Curious to see the answers on this. I would think anything above mid 30s?

Seems to me the norm though for FE is about 40

[ozzie-crawl]

were i run i often hear "holy s**T look at that" from people does that count
i think fe is more a general term but interested to see what people think

[tiqueman]

yup, it counts.

[Jeepers]

this is what makes an FE boat an FE boat,

"is that gas?"

"nope its electric"

"that SOB is FAST"

[Simon.O.]

A couple of years ago I saw a SV on Ni cells with a good metal prop and thought "fawk me that is mad fast" It was actually under 65kmh or 40ish mph.

Now that speed is normal.

I would say that anything over 50kmh / 30 mph is good for FE.

[m4a1usr]

First off speed is subjective. You probably would need to do a poll of what is considered "Fast". To one person its "X" amount to another its going to be "Y".

Second with the proliferation of Utube videos where posters make ridiculous speed claims for a certain size hulls/ setups that now seem to flood the internet you need to take a step back and ask yourself does that hull really look like its going that fast?

If viewing other setups running has you questioning your ability to build and the equipment you choose then spend some time with a group of racers. They tend to be more relaxed, honest and more importantly, knowledgeable, experienced.

You have to laugh when you look at a guys video who claims 60mph and the guy cant even drive in a straight line for 50yrds. Hes hooking or S turning every 25 yrds, circles in an irregular pattern. Comes back in with a GPS reading and boasts something that common sense tells you different.

Remember a small hull looks fast at 35mph, a big hull doing 35 looks slow, yet they are both doing 35. Get my point? Dont take anything away from your talents just because you begin to doubt due to failures. Its all part of the sport.

Now back to the subject. Just how fast is fast? I'd say 30 mph for the novice.


John

[Xzessperated]

okay i maybe a little bored
but what makes a boat fe? is it speed related? if so at what speed is it considered fast 40mph 50mph 70mph.
i know it wasnt long ago before brushless and lipo were commen that 40 mph was fairly fast,now rtr,s are doing that speed.
just worried maybe my boats are a little slow and i will get kicked of the forum and have to go join a slow electrics group

Ozzie speed is just a perception. 20 mph can look fast if it is small and it is in a small pond.
Having said that when I first got my Xzess2 from Andrewg it had a brushed motor and was probably doing something like 65 to 70 kph. At that time I was amazed at how fast it was. Then through RRR forum I heard about brushless motors and got the Neu 1515 1.5y (or is it) motor that is now in my DF 33. I was soon doing over 60 mph and that was frightening to me back then. Now the same motor does 70 mph in my DF 33 and that is exciting. My BBY rigger is doing 75 mph and that is the new frightening for me. Feel free to interpret frightening as fast if you wish. My point is that 60 to 65 mph is just an average speed for me now and below 55 mph has become slow.
Do I think people that have boats slower than 55 mph should leave the forum? No way. Most of those people are doing amazing speeds with what they are using. Do a little reading on some of Bill Oxidean's posts and you will see what I mean.
This is a hobby and should be fun. We are not racing for sheep stations (New Zealanders exempted) or cattle ranches. Fast is in the eye of the beer holder so don't let others tell you what is fast

[ozzie-crawl]

well i have had boats doing over 60mph but reliabilaty was an issue as they were not intended for that speed.
now i would rather buy a decent hull capable of 60-70mph and run it at 50,if i had deep pockets my boats would be a hell of a lot faster,but good hulls and cheap motor/esc/batts is were it is for me.
but this is not the point of my thread.

[ozzie-crawl]

one thing i did see awhile ago was some brushless electric cars on a race track and i thought boy are they fast, yet when they were radar gunned they were slower than my boats,but this thread was more a retorical question than if my boats are fast.
paddy one thing i noticed when going from say 65mph down to 50mph is yes it seems boring,but you notice the hulls attitude more and if things start to go wrong its like in slow motion and you seem to have all the time in the world to power back or steer in another direction.

[Xzessperated]

one thing i did see awhile ago was some brushless electric cars on a race track and i thought boy are they fast, yet when they were radar gunned they were slower than my boats,but this thread was more a retorical question than if my boats are fast.
paddy one thing i noticed when going from say 65mph down to 50mph is yes it seems boring,but you notice the hulls attitude more and if things start to go wrong its like in slow motion and you seem to have all the time in the world to power back or steer in another direction.

I agree ozzie.
A little off topic I know but the other day I put an old 4s 25c pack in my DF 33 and it was running at 80 kph an hour and I had a ball with it. You can bet that pack is going with me every time I take that boat to the lake from now on.
You mentioned cheap batteries. I run Zippy Flightmax 5s 30c in my DF 33 and you have seen the videos. Cheap battery and lots of speed.

[andym]

Guys any boat using what we have available now days, lipo's, brushless etc is FE even well set up Nickel and a brushed motor is FE.
If it can beat a nitro or gasser in the same hull it's FE

[Steven Vaccaro]

I've seen people race electric tug boats, so I would say the definition is any boat that races and is electric.

[Flying Scotsman]

any boat that is faster than a fast scale boat by about a 20% region, about 20mph in that case


Douggie

[Fluid]

When the phrase "fast electric" was coined over 20 years ago, the standard definition was any electric boat which could exceed 12-15 mph. That seems slow today, but that was the definition. Today, I'd say any electric boat which can fully plane is still FE. It's just that some boats are more "F" than others.


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