Help with beginning boater.

[TheJCcarvalho]

Hello, im fairly new to the rc boating scene but very excited to get involved. im going with a proboat miss Geico 29 as my first choice. I do have allot of questions though on how i could improve the safety of the on-board electronics, increasing speed, prop selection, battery selection, and a few other things. If i want my boat to move a little quicker right out of the box and i know the first thing i need to do is switch the prop. After switching the prop, i get very confused. I also just ordered a scale crawler and i really just dont know how to improve the battery strength and make sure it doesnt overheat anything on my boat. Ive read that the boat with do high 30's out of the box. id love to get it up to 50 after i get a few days of use in. Any suggestions? links? literally anything would be greatly appreciated. From one enthusiast to another! Thank you for your help! One other thing, is it safe to do custom painting on my hull with regular hobby paint?

[ronarcweld]

Well I like the miss gieco I do balmost bought one for my son. But honestly after researching it I would suggest you go with the Proboat Blackjack 29. Understand this is the exact same boat. The only difference between the two is the blackjack is the hot rod version. Its comes with better motor and ESC and metal prop. If your just getting started you could run this on 4s. When my son got started we used two 2s packs in series and ican tell you its fast and ran flawlessly and stable. Now that he has some experience on it he is up to 5s meaning a 3s pack in one side and a 2s pack on the other both are the same 6400 mah and are run in series. With this its awesome. Now he occasionally rus 6s meaning two 3s packs and its really fun but honestly on the stock setup even though it says six cells is good and I haven't had any problems MANY reports of burned up motors and ESC . I personally think 5s is just right. On six it get a little crazy as you can see._20141205_185608.JPG

[ronarcweld]

Oh this boat is stock don't change a thing._20141204_152118.JPG

[olwarbirds]

Stock BlackJack on 6S https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A7M...Xvpm2A&index=7 ... I dont advise this for someone just getting started..its take some experience in tuning, the right prop etc... Either the BJ or Geico are decent hulls, but you need to beef them up...do some research and check out the Pro Boat section here on OSE...loads of info on how to set up those hulls... DJ

[TheJCcarvalho]

Appreciate the advice a whole lot everyone! i did actually do a little more research and discovered the black jack was a whole lot better! i cant wait to get a few sessions in, i will definitely let you how it goes. im going to start out with the stock blackjack and hopefully turn a hand at it. im going to buy a cheap toy to kind of get a small feel, in a way, do you think that will help at all?

[TheJCcarvalho]

and wow ronarcweld's! it definitely did lift up! haha

[ronarcweld]

See your in NY where about? Also you may not realize it now but if your gonna buy a cheap "toy" you can use this as a recovery boat when the other boat flips over. So dont get something too cheap and it will serve you another purpose that you WILL need.

[montymike]

remember there is a v2 and v3 of blackjack in the 29 if u go with it...

[ronarcweld]

He is correct, I have the v2 my only complaint is the hatch design sucks. The v3 looks like they addressed that issue but I haven't seen one up close also a little bit more expensive then what I paid. The hull is a bit thin on the sides also so glass it up a little. But all and all this is a great deal and an incredibly solid running boat. You will not be disappointed

[iop65]

He is correct, I have the v2 my only complaint is the hatch design sucks. The v3 looks like they addressed that issue but I haven't seen one up close also a little bit more expensive then what I paid. The hull is a bit thin on the sides also so glass it up a little. But all and all this is a great deal and an incredibly solid running boat. You will not be disappointed

this is starting to get a bit funny

[BHChieftain]

I have a setup/running/tuning guide for the Miss Geico and Blackjack that also has a bunch of useful links. Send me an email at [email protected] and I'll send you a copy.
Personally, I think the Miss Geico is the best looking RTR cat out there-- it is almost "scale". My son races it in p-limited offshore 4S, x642 tuned prop and is running just under 50mph. I really like 4S vs 6S on these boats-- I'm a fan of lower RPM and larger prop when you have a hull that can support that.

Here's a video of my son's boat just after we blueprinted the hull (stock 1500kv motor, 4S, x642 prop):

http://youtu.be/2LF6XWw9apc

Chief

[Flying Scotsman]

JC.....welcome to the forum...just a wee bit of advise.

Run the boat of your choice with NO modifications at least 5 times.... you might be surprised how fast it is with your skill level and then look at threads on your hull to improve handling and speed. Just keep in mind this is a starter boat and if you get the FE bug, move up to bare hull and then the real fun starts. Do not spend a ton of cash on your starter boat.
I trust that you enjoy FE boating and the friendship it evolves with other model boaters.

Douggie

[Diegoboy]

Welcome Josh!
Excellent advice Douggie!

[TheJCcarvalho]

i definitely was not expecting such a great amount of support, appreciate the advice from everyone! Im in Fredonia ny, it does snow viciously around this time of year but it wont bother me at all as i regularly take trips to florida. im definitely planning to just run stock for most of my first runs. 10 or 15. just want to get myself accustomed. but just to go with a battery to begin with, would i be better off with just two 2s right off the bat? or i remember ronrcwelds recommending a 2s and 3s instead of just 2s, is this a good idea? at this point i just want to get her in the water and get her moving, haha. Im sure as soon as the addiction kicks in everything will be totally different. just waiting to get started. and Douggie, i definitely will get to looking at those threads after my first runs are out of the way! i really appreciate all the support and look forward to eventually running with all types of people! if anyone is anywhere nearby feel free to message me, it would be great to get some friends to boat with.

[tlandauer]

I played a concert in Fredonia, love the place, it was exactly 14 years ago in Dec.
Fond memories!
As said, run 4s from the get go, that means 2x2s.
If you run 2s+3s, that is 5s and make sure your batteries match! Meaning their discharge rate"C" have to be the same, also capacity. The heavier battery on port side to counter any torque effect.