Mini air boat

[Basstronics]

On back order... And it probably costs $40 to ship it here...

Looks interesting. Its what AQ should do instead of all that brushed stuff...

[sailr]

...and you still have to buy an esc for it. There's another $40 or more. I'd steer clear of that thing. JMHO. I bought one of their outboards and it was the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen not to mention they advertised it as a 540 motor (typically 36mm diameter motor) and it in fact had a 380 size, 28mm in it. To top it off, the esc blew in the first one minute of use. I lost my butt selling and shipping it in the swap shop.

Lessons learned.

[Basstronics]

I think I would go for it if I was in the market for one.

You gotta be careful what you buy. I only buy whats tried and tested.

[Basstronics]

Update.

Now that the power system has been sorted out it was onto control.

I noticed some pictures of people using the flex pushrods w/braided line. So I went that route. Works well. My boat is so short that I truly need a smaller cable... But I got it to work!

I ended up ordering the Dubro Micro Ball link (.032") for the top. After assembling it all I noticed the bottom was a little loose. So I got another set. Got it all in tonight and works wonders. Note that you must accurately locate the second set of ball links. I used a scale and my eyes and I must be damned close as it moves with no hang up... My point is if you are building similar its probably best to plan this part before mounting your rudders... Otherwise it makes it much more difficult.

My next step is to but a layer or two of glass over my piano wire hinge pins which are just epoxied onto the wood. One broke loose as i heated it up to much cutting the steel rod w/ dremel tool.

Pictures:

[Basstronics]

Got the paint done as far as its going to go. So I put it together. Then I got to run it.

[Basstronics]

6x5e prop. Using some older AM XPS remotes. I didnt have the throttle setting on "hi" cranked all the way up so I was not getting full power until my last video.

More video's to come!

[SweetZ28]

Hi looks good.
I bought a aquacraft mini alligator tours and converted it to brushless.
Here it is on 2S lipo.

[Basstronics]

7x4.5e

Same throttle issue...

8x5e

8x5e throttle corrected- full tilt crash! ouch!

[SweetZ28]

Hi years back i used to build airboats lots of guy's recomend tilting the prop on a slight angle...think it was slight like 5 to 7 degrees... try putting a couple thin washers under the bottom motor screws so it tilts the prop up tawards the sky just a hair so the wind gets thrown at a slight angle towards the water behind your boat ..play around will more and less washers to find the sweet spot you may be able to get some faster speeds and better thrust to push the boat farward .... you can even try the smaller prop that did not push it to well.

[Basstronics]

Hmmm. I was thinking the exact opposite. The boat tried to take flight a few times. Especially when a gust of wind caught the sides went under the boat. When I got on it with the throttle fixed up only a bit of the boat was in the water.

Im quite pleased so far. Just need to get it out and try again.

More videos to come tomorrow, weather permitting.

[SweetZ28]

I think it's just the oposit... search RC airboats on the web and look at the photos of boats sidways you will notice most have the prop angled up a little.

[LarrysDrifter]

Thats sweet! I think I just found my next build. Good job, looks like fun.

[Basstronics]

Im going to update my CAD drawing with my lessons learned and build another one.

The motor I used is still available by the e bay link. It took a good month to get it!

[SweetZ28]

There are 2 companies that sell lazer cut airboat kits you put together they are not to expensive why not buy a pre cut kit that was tested and perfected already?

[Basstronics]

Oh?

Never knew about them. Got links?

Ive built a small swamp buggy 15 years ago.