Rescue Boa/Proboat Gaff

[silvermansteve]

anybody ever use the proboat duck decoy gaff, tied behind one of their boats, as a rescue rig? i'm thinking of tying one to my traxxas blast. nudging a stuck boat with the bow of the blast is NOT efficient for me....

[DK535]

Was thinking of doing the same thing actually. I don't know how effective the gaff is with larger boats or in rough water. Was thinking of taking wooden dowel rods and pool noodles and setting up a rig. Before I bought the blast I've been searching to see if it's even a good rescue boat? I know it's lite weight wise.

[de-pro]

I bought the proboat retrieval decoy last year. Although it was good for calm water, it was slow and useless for long distance or heavier boat rescues. The brushed motor wasn't quite doing a good job even with a 2s lipo.
Brushless is the way she is now using a HK 2800kv motor, 35 amp Turnigy ESC and 3s 1750 lipo battery. Much faster now...lol

P1000031 (1024x768).jpgP1000032 (1024x768).jpgducky 006.jpgducky 007.jpg

[Jersey Crewmax]

Lookin good, I'd like to see a video of that jet drive duck on the water.

[marko500]

I found sometimes using a pvc pipe/ pool noodle push catcher can be hard to line up. We've been using a grappling hook made with 3 pieces of wire epoxied inside a tube with a fishing tube shaped float over the tube so it floats. Tie it to a line and drag it out. Circle past the stranded boat and hook it and drag it back. has not missed yet, right side up, upside down and any size or shape boat.
For a rescue boat we use a Vac-u-tow tug boat. Tons of power with a 27t brushed motor and a Traxxas car esc.

[BHChieftain]

anybody ever use the proboat duck decoy gaff, tied behind one of their boats, as a rescue rig? i'm thinking of tying one to my traxxas blast. nudging a stuck boat with the bow of the blast is NOT efficient for me....

That is the exact setup I use-- been working great for past 2 years. I screwed an eyehook in the back of the transom and attached the tow line to it. The gaff works great, but you can also tow a tennis ball. I thread the line through a couple of soda straws attached to the eyehook to keep the fishing line from getting wrapped up in the prop.

The blast makes a good boat for this since it has a steerable drive and can maneuver well at low speeds.

Chief

[dont slow down]

I like to see some video too. I put two of those jet drives in a rescue boat and it's not anything impressive. I would love to put some hotter motors in it but I'm not sure how much those little jets could hold up to.

[dana]

The gaff works good, the duck itself is pathetically useless. Despite everyone's attempt at rescue boats on here, the reality is, when your boat is far out, it's too hard to line up at distance. Also, if you lose the hatch and the boat is just bobbing, the gaff doesn't work. With all the money people spend on boats, I took the money I could have used building another boat, and put it into a kayak and roof rack for my car. Now I don't even have to give it a second thought.

[de-pro]

I tend to agree with dana on the kayak usefulness although I don't have the means of transporting or storing it.
The gaff IMHO works better than the PVC fork but not for rescuing boats doing a death-bob..lol
The ducky does maneuver very well due to its size and shape and would be close to impossible to capsize. Just need to go brushless to get the speed and pulling power. With the cooling system fed by the jet I can be going at any speed and still supply plenty of fresh water to the electronics. you cant beat that with any other drive system.

[iridebikes247]

How about an inflatable kayak like a sevylor one and a cheap air compressor?

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=inflatable+kayak&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1600&bih=799&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15220657246277539850&sa=X&ei=Gxo0UPWDC6ar6QHPrIHgCQ&ved=0CI4BEPMCMAc

I bought an inflatable kayak from walmart for 50 bucks and its full size, I have it along with a cheap air compressor, got a paddle too and it all came out to about 120 bucks. Its great I can inflate the kayak in under 3 minutes and don't need a roof rack. Building a rescue boat is a good idea but if your boat is over 40 inches forget it, you'll need a high powered rescue rig if its windy or choppy.

This will be my rescue rig project for winter, almost drowned swimming after one of my boats last year in 45 degree water. This thing is going to cost more to build than my FE boats lol

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/mfa-tracker.html

[Bone]

I use an inflatable air mattress - single bed size - that I inflate using a nifty little 12 volt air pump that is plugged into the cigarette power outlet in my car. I strip down to my shorts, leap aboard the mattress & paddle out to do the rescue deed. The weather is this part of Australia is reasonably pleasant all year round but swimming out to retrieve my boat(s) is out of the question. Certainly not worth drowning over. If the boat sinks, sure I will be sad but too bad......will buy another one.

[kevinpratt823]

I bought the proboat retrieval decoy last year. Although it was good for calm water, it was slow and useless for long distance or heavier boat rescues. The brushed motor wasn't quite doing a good job even with a 2s lipo.
Brushless is the way she is now using a HK 2800kv motor, 35 amp Turnigy ESC and 3s 1750 lipo battery. Much faster now...lol

[ATTACH=CONFIG]82923[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82924[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82925[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82926[/ATTACH]

I wish I read this a month ago. The duck is useless in stock form, I put a 3400kv brushless in it with a 60amp pro boat esc and 2s lipo(it's what I had) and now it does wheelies. It's way too heavy now though, and it can submarine itself, but now reliability is an issue.......thinking of getting a Traxxas Blast, and a kayak as well.
I am also pondering building something with a larger Graupner jet drive, maybe even with the reversing bucket, as I'd like to be able to get into weeds or close to shore as well.

[dana]

I got a kayak. Rc retrieval boats never work well

[BlackSnakeRacing]

i have an inflatable zodiac that i picked up for $50, it came with oars and can have a small electric outboard mounted to the back if you want to spend the $300. Its big enough for me and my osprey to fit in comfortably, and then i got a 12V air pump, put a deans connector in parallel on the power leads. This allows me to either use my car or a 2200mah 3S to inflate the boat if i am running to far away from my car and cant be bothered carrying the boat while it is inflated. Takes 4-5 mins to inflate using the 3S and uses less than quarter of the pack. Where i live and run its generally to cold to get in the water and this allows me to stay 100% dry, and can go out with all of my clothes on. Have tried making different retrival methods, but this is by far the quickest and most effective way i have found.

[viper1]

I got a kayak. Rc retrieval boats never work well

I disagree...