Stock 2 Week Old Spartan Burst into flames

[slowride]

Stock 2 Week Old Spartan Burst into flames .
Thats one week more than I got. But there costumer service was great. They replaced my motor and ESC twice and then replaced the hull and servo that I now have sold . Would I ever buy another one...I think NOT.

[Brushless55]

and since then they have upped the price on this sunk boat to make up for all the smoke and burnt parts they have replaced

[Snowride]

Have you noticed on ebay most Spartan stuff is retailers stripping the boat down and selling the parts. No warranty to worry about and probably get twice the bucks out of a boat. Now If I could only find a couple of hulls for cheap I would be all set.

[Brushless55]

I believe that is because they cannot sell many of the RTR for the price traxxas has them at...

[wolfpack]

I stuck a leapard motor in there and a 645 prop, did the 180 esc from hobbyking, I cant keep it in the water with any ripple at all, it just halls butt, I cant leive how fast it is, but the boat is $400 now, plus 100 for the motor, I think the esc was 100, I stuck two water pickups thru-hull style, water flow is awesome, and plugged the hole for the rudder and the one in the transom, added a second water outflow to the hull (you are better off mounting this farther up front as the hull is thinner ont he sides up there and the screw it came with will actually work. (thus seperate water intakes for the esc and motor. In the rear the hull is thicker and you either need a longer screw (preferred) or hog out the inside of the hull to carefully countersink the screw in deeper. The esc needs to be waterproofed as I used spray on electrical tape. and it needs to be mounted on a platform to elevate it cause it is too wide to fit into the bay. I also mounted duel sets of trim tabs, with screw adjusters on back (holes are already in the hull, use a BRIGHT flashlight to mark them before you drill a 1/16th pilot hole, when you hit center use a larger drill gently to expose teh entire hole.

In rought water I am getting some chine, and at the faster speeds the boat is leaping out of the air. For the little tiny window of smooth water I had it seemed like it did good, I just need to dial it in a bit, as the boat sometimes jerks left or right so I find myself all over the wheel at times, (any help would be appreciated....) Its liek the boat lifts up and the bow moves left or right 5-10 degrees and I have to be prepared withthe wheel incase this happens....

So to get this boat actually work you really need to spend a bunch of money..... I am still waiting for glassy water to open it up with a GPS, but I would bet it is easily hitting 60 (the batteries get hot though with this set up if you run the motor toward teh higher end of the range.

Got to compliment traxxas customer service as they did warranty the exploded stock boat. But, the insides really shhould be changed out for this boat to perform for a while at the upper end speeds.

[Brushless55]

Got to compliment traxxas customer service as they did warranty the exploded stock boat. But, the insides really shhould be changed out for this boat to perform for a while at the upper end speeds.

I give more props to Aquacraft and Proboat for there customer service, specially being they don't have these issues to start with..
and they don't smack users and blame them for faulty products in there boats

[Fluxn81]

I give more props to Aquacraft and Proboat for there customer service, specially being they don't have these issues to start with..
and they don't smack users and blame them for faulty products in there boats

I admit, I do like my UL-1 Superior.

[Warlock]

Gosh I have had nothing but fun with my Spartan. I even enjoy running the 8.4 nimh's that came with it but they get hot after a run for sure. Maybe its because its my first electric boat, and also maybe cause I'm 57 years old. I fly R/C helicopters and planes all the time.

Since I dont have anything to compare my Spartan to, I may just think its fast and dont know any better. Here it is running Traxxas 11.1v 5000 mah lipos. It seems to track very well, and boogie, I flipped it once, here but it came right back for more.

Now after this run, the esc is not even warm, the motor is slightly warm, the lipos are slightly warm too. I am running the batteries in the forward position and never touched the trims. and except for a lot of polish on the hull, its bone stock.

Here is another video running it harder and by the way I do this 5 days a week as part of my job to entertain the special needs kids and adults as well as every one that comes out to see us. I am the train engineer there at Morgans Wonderland here in San Antonio. I also fly my helicopters in the event center and my planes out on the soccer fields. Its a tough job to do, but someone has to do it.

I can tell you that too many drag race starts and your going to twist a drive cable in two! I did. But I dont blame the boat nor Traxxas for my abuse. I didnt think how hard it had to be on the cable to be sitting still and in a split second running wide open over and over as I did in the drag boat races. I feel its my doing and hold no grudge. You boys must really be so far out my my league in experience, I just dont have the ability to get it because this Spartan is one tough SOB if you ask me....of course nobody did.

I have a set of 11.1v 8400 mah lipos on the way I wonder how they will do?

[Brushless55]

I can tell you that too many drag race starts and your going to twist a drive cable in two! I did. But I dont blame the boat nor Traxxas for my abuse. I didnt think how hard it had to be on the cable to be sitting still and in a split second running wide open over and over as I did in the drag boat races. I feel its my doing and hold no grudge. You boys must really be so far out my my league in experience, I just dont have the ability to get it because this Spartan is one tough SOB if you ask me....of course nobody did.

bro, twisting the drive line is not abuse by the user (you), not at all your fault
just bad parts from traxxas
I love to punch my boats off the line for that hole shot thrill!
I've yet to twist a shaft for that one..

[Warlock]

Well I sure do enjoy jumping on it off the line. I thought the cable looked pretty stought for its purpose but I guess its not. Is there a site that sells Spartan after market parts? Maybe there is a better cable out there. Tower Hobbies is out of them and the stuffing tubes too, so I must not be the only one tearing them up. And I guess its just because I have not had any electrical issues, I dont see why this boat gets bashed so badly here. I have a Traxxas Tmax truck and have had it for years. Its seen so much air its almost a plane and nothing you can do will hurt it. Traxxas is sending me a cable and tube, free shipping and no charge. The guy said he too felt the cable should take it, but I really did slam it hard a lot over and over. Its not like me to abuse anything, I was just having so much fun out running nitro boats that cost 4 times what my Spartan did.

In fact two guys complained it was not fair, to the other guys boats and that I had some sort of race set up. We dont run seperate classes we just run what ever is out there for fun. I got got my clock cleaned a few times as well by some very fast gas boats that could barely contain them selves in the lake they were scary fast. Wish I could afford one.

[Brushless55]

LOL
read around and you will see why traxxas has gotten the boot on this sunk boat
and traxxas has always blamed the users for all the issue they had with this thing
and keep this in mind, no magazine has done a review on this boat that we know of because of the problems this boat has had from the beginning
and this boat outrunning nitros is not a big surprise, there are cheaper FE boats that can do that very thing
now put this boat up next to a FE built for its class and it will get smoked over and over again!
so the two guys who are complaining must have never seen a real racing FE boat before, if they have they would wet themselves if this thing impressed them...

but FE is fun

[Warlock]

Ya I wish I knew more about the boats. I freely admit this is my first electric boat and have lots to learn. I did have a Manta Ray by Enforcer years ago. It had a 4 hp water cooled two stroke with a pull starter, senility keeps me from recalling the brand of the engine... I hate that! It was pretty fast and ran a long time on the huge gas tank. It was great to just use gasoline/ oil mix rather than nitro. It was a couple of the hydroplane type gas boats out at our lake, that had to let off to keep from going airborn. I could actually out run them from a standing start, but after maybe 100 feet max I was shot down and nearly sank by the rooster tails of these monsters. They were really something to watch, and oh ya the Spartan would have made a decent tow boat for either of those buts thats about it.

I would guess they had a lot of money invested in these boats, I was way out classed.

[Fluxn81]

LOL
read around and you will see why traxxas has gotten the boot on this sunk boat
and traxxas has always blamed the users for all the issue they had with this thing
and keep this in mind, no magazine has done a review on this boat that we know of because of the problems this boat has had from the beginning
and this boat outrunning nitros is not a big surprise, there are cheaper FE boats that can do that very thing
now put this boat up next to a FE built for its class and it will get smoked over and over again!
so the two guys who are complaining must have never seen a real racing FE boat before, if they have they would wet themselves if this thing impressed them...

but FE is fun

Can you post up a few links of a FE boat that is faster and cheaper. I'm interested.

[Brushless55]

Can you post up a few links of a FE boat that is faster and cheaper. I'm interested.

take a look around on this site and you will see them...

[Fluxn81]

take a look around on this site and you will see them...

Are they ready to run? Something I can just buy online?