best boat for a noob?

[jaspercane]

Ive been watching you tube vids then searched my way here. Awesome forum BTW! Lots of cool boats and information.

Ok Im interested... just want to play around have about $400 to spend. May shelf it in the man cave after a few runs or I may get bit by the bug and drop more money into a new found hobby. Miss Geico looks pretty cool. Is it my best bang for the buck? Others?

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[siberianhusky]

All of the ready to run boats are more or less about the same in quality and performance, The Mystic is the same hull as the Geico with a little different motor and a different rudder that works a little better than the in line rudder setup.
The Motley Crew from Aquacraft is a better handling boat, but if you decide to mod it for more speed the hull will start braking at crashes much above 50mph, I went there with mine and now it's back to stock, and really beat up! Missing a sponson tip, cracked sponson and I don't know how many times the hatch has caved in from impact with the water, motor mount bent, stuffing tube came loose from the hull.....
Runs great and is a ton of fun if you run it with the intended power set up though, I run mine with a Geico motor now and it flies for a Limited class offshore boat.
Remember that on top of the cost of the boat you'll need batteries and a charger, cheap batteries would be about 150$ is for 3 sets of 2s 5000mah lipos and about 50$ for a charger, you will want to upgrade to a better prop no matter which one you buy 15-30$ depending if you can sharpen and balance it yourself or not.
Some Loctite for various screws, caulking to seal where the hardware bolts to the hull, some spray lube and grease for the flex cable.
A little point and shoot IR temp gun is almost mandatory for measuring taking the temperature of the batteries, esc and motor to make sure you aren't running a prop or set up that causes too much heat.
All up if you buy a brand new boat you will spend about 700$ to be on the water and having fun.
You will want more than one set of batteries, running for 3-4 minutes then waiting 40 minutes or more for another run really takes the fun out of it. Yesterday I was cycling through 3 sets of batteries and was always ready to run after everybody made some adjustments to their boat and talked about the last run etc.
Was running my SV27, it's not big, it's not the fastest boat I have by a long shot but it's probably my favorite boat. It always runs, never breaks down and you actually have to drive it to make sure you finish a run in choppy race water, plus when it does flip it's usually with some great aerobatics and lands right side up 50% of the time!
You can pick one of those up used for well under 200$ with the usual upgrades, makes a great first boat.

[Darin Jordan]

The Motley Crew from Aquacraft is a better handling boat,

I'm not sure that's entirely true... but I'll leave it for you guys to decide...


For versatility and the ability to run in a variety of conditions, and with multiple power levels, it's tough to beat the Impulse 31 Mono.... It's very easy to drive.

If you are into Cats, however, the Miss Geico or the Mystic are tough packages to beat... I know of several people here who will testify to the ability of the Miss G/Mystic hull to handle some decent speeds, and handles very well...

[maddmatt]

Howdy, Buy a miss geico or mystic. It goes great stock and can be upgraded very easily. I upgraded motor and esc and a little setup work and I'm getting 58mph 4s and 68mph 5s. I'm working on the CG and a little set up and going to 6s and I should get it the 70's maybe 80's. Fast and fun. Great starter boat. Buy one and have fun.

[jaspercane]

Geico, Mystic or Motley Crew. Leaning more toward Geico

Going to buy one of them. Thanks for the advice!

[G-UNIT]

IMPULSE 31.
Fun boat to drive and can handle slight chop on windy days.

[Mattwarner]

For what its worth I weighed up all the options and after owning a couple of RTR's (older brushed boats) and having spent almost the same again replacing motors, electronics, shafts, props it is far more cost effective to build your own from scratch using quality hardware/electrics and is what i am doing currently.

[ecoovert]

I found the same to be true with all my Aquacraft hulls. Some of mine started to crack even without blow overs. So far I just find the Proboat build quality to be superior to Aquacraft. My Mg-29 has a Nemesis Gold 4082 motor in 2200kv configuration running on 6s spinning an x645 prop. All I can say is I wouldn't attempt that wih my Supervees or UL-1s. Never had a Motley Crew but if the same holds true with that hull I think I'll stick with Proboat. As to handling. I was able to push my MG-29 to WOT. with the above setup with no blow over...

[ecoovert]

Please gps it for us if you can maddmatt. I ran my MG-29 with a 4082 2200kv. motor on 6s spinning an x645 prop. I was able to do some wide open throttle runs with no blow overs. Problem is many are telling me this hull can't go above mid 50s. Never needed a gps in the past and with Christmas coming up I won't be buying one any time soon. If you have a gps I'd love for you to show others what I know this hull can do. One thing I found is it seems when I get to the higher speeds mine seems to settle down. Could just be in my mind but have you noticed that also?

[Rumdog]

ecoovert.. what "we" said is that YOUR boat in your vid is going mid 50's. Nowhere near your claim of lo 80's. Which, the hull will not handle without blowing off.
Plus, the MG hatch will explode at any stuff or blowover at that speed easily.

[ecoovert]

What claim? When did I say my boat did 80? All I said is something allong the lines of according to the distance traveled and the time in which it travled that distance it would have had to have been in the ballpark. Anyone can count to five and be within a fraction of a second. Furthermore, I know one can be off when taking measurements but I could have been off by a full 50 feet and still have travled 600 feet. So lets just say the boat only travled 600 feet in 5.5 seconds that would still be 74 mph. I think we all know with my setup any boat of that size would be propelled to mid 70s to mid 80s provided it doesn't blow over. What I can tell you is with the setup above I was able to push the boat to full throttle. No way with over 4.5hp. at over 43,000 rpm. with an x645 prop would it be going only mid 50s. At no load the motor turns at over 48,800 rpm as I'm sure you know. Taking into account motor efficiency and hull drag... you still come up with over 43,000 rpm. No I didn't gps it but to say the hatch will explode at anything over mid 50s is like saying the plastic body on my Rustler VXL would explode at the same speed. Both are made of similar plastic and no one denies the Rustler VXL can go 70 + mph. As to blowing over that all depends on how the boat is tuned as well as the water conditions. Just because you never managed to get it over 55 doesn't mean it can't. There are plenty of indeviduals who have gpsed speeds above mid 50s with this boat using a smaller power plant.

Rumdog, the vid. you just posted to I guess to make a comparison is impressive but look at the size of lake your vid was shot in as compared to the size of lake my vid. was shot in. The boat in your vid never got as far from the camera as nearly all the footage shown of my boat. How can you base your judjment off of 2 entirely different videos in completely different water conditions?

Take a look at just before the esc put the lipos into protection mode. You can see I was just starting to acellerate for a full throttle run. Listen to the video as well.

[ecoovert]

Look Rumdog, The issue here isn't so much weather my boat actually went over 80 mph. or not. You know I don't really give two hoots. Maybe it didn't make it to 80. The issue in my mind is how someone can make a blanket statement like the one you just made. Sure, that bothers me some but that's also like telling all the others with MGs that they could never get above mid 50s no matter what. There are those who have and yes some have proven it with a gps. I just can't lay claim to that gps part.

[BHChieftain]

For what its worth I weighed up all the options and after owning a couple of RTR's (older brushed boats) and having spent almost the same again replacing motors, electronics, shafts, props it is far more cost effective to build your own from scratch using quality hardware/electrics and is what i am doing currently.

That's true, but for a beginner it is nice having a first boat "pre-setup" so you have a reference point to learn from.

Chief

[ecoovert]

BHChieftain, I agree with you there. Also for those of us too busy putting beans on the table it some of these rtr. hulls allow us to get right up there with the big dawgs with the time we have to put into it.

[ironjaws]

back on track.
The motley is a better boat for a couple reasons.
First, it is a much easier boat to tape....very important.
Second, the drop pan design is a much simpler, cleaner layout than the proboat boats. Easier to upgrade electronics later.
The geico/mystic hull durability in my opinion is about the same quality as the motley hull. Seen both break.
Also the motley can run 4s2p with room to spare in the tub. Nice long run times.
It handles a little chop better too. It is a taller hull design.
It definitely turns nicer.
The tactic radio that comes with the motley is better in most peoples opinion.

motley= better boat for newbie that wants a cat.