Heads up friends... Proboat won't warranty your Impulse V3 if..

.. you cross your own wake at 40mph on 4s and stuff it, causing the hatch to tear off.

My Impulse deck & hatch broke today. I caught a ripple wrong and the boat went air born and caught the nose as it re-entered the water. The boat submerged and when it came back up the hatch had separated, leaving the impulse bobbing in the water. At the time, I hadn't a care in the world as I knew of Horizon's legendary customer service. I guess my confidence in the brand was misplaced.

So I phoned them and left my name in the queue for a call back. About an hour later they phoned me back. Mike denied the warranty claim. Their position is that if the "boat submerges from hitting a wake, it's an unwarrantable claim and it just part of the hobby." Mike also went on to tell me that "if the boat submerged then it was no ripple that I hit." It struck a nerve that he had to question my integrity too... I was being sincere and very polite for him to go there. I was the only one out there so how can a wake that comes off of my own boat that destroys the boat not be a defect in design or workmanship? Am I being unreasonable?

In my mind, shouldn't these boats be designed to be able to sustain a 40 mph plunge from crossing their own wake on 4s? Am I being unreasonable on that position? I've only had this Impulse for 12 days and now it's never been past even 41 mph or 4s. I have to admit.. I feel pretty let down and won't make the mistake of buying another.

... just wanted to give you guys a heads up and manage expectations as mine were falsely high.

Steve

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I've had a boat that regularly submarined in rough water, but never seen one that a ripple would make submarine, I'm not questioning you integrity but I think your definition of a ripple may be different to Mikes and mine. I think some skill in reading water is needed in FE boating, and I wouldn't expect a brushless boat to be able to go flat out all the time, I also wouldnt expect that hatch hold down system to cope with all high speed flips and dives so I wouldn't have called support.

I do however I think it is totally their fault, it was a totally idiotic idea putting a rounded hatch on a FE boat making it difficult to tape up, I suspect that if it was taped on then there would have been no damage. Are rounded corners so much sexier that they think it will sell more boats to newbies who think the curves are sexy, than they lose to FE vets that won't touch it due to the tape issue? Or is it a cynical ploy to sell spare hatches?

For what it is worth, they have squared off the Geico v3 hatch, maybe Impulse V4 will get the same fix for future purchasers.

Yea, I feel ya.

It just wasn't worth it to me to argue with Mike. I'm not going to let a $280 hull and hatch replacement ruin my day and if that's their position, fine. But I'm damn sure going to learn from my mistakes and make sure others don't fall into the same lion's den. Tape your hatch, expect the possibility for the V3 Impulse to come apart and fail if you torpedo it on 4s at 40 mph, and don't expect Proboat to support you when it happens. If it can happen to a guy just playing around on his lake by himself, it can happen to anyone. To me, that's a structural failure of the design... not misuse. It would be reasonable to think that people are going to run these things at 4s speeds when the box says 6s is acceptable and it would be reasonable to expect them to stay together when just playing around at these levels.

... and don't ask for Mike, lol. I've been at executive level manufacturing, support, and service for a long time now and I would be embarrassed to have that guy on my team. Sometimes it's the delivery, not the content... he's not of the culture I've seen portrayed by the leadership team here and in other social media outlets.

Steve

I don't know man. If I stuff a boat it's the drivers fault. I have a throttle. Be it a ripple or a mild gust of wind I'm supposed to know when to back out of it. How is PB supposed to anticipate the way I drive?

If I have a mechanical failure that's not due to me trying some crazy prop, then I'm calling tech.

Now that I think about it. I've crushed 2 GEICO canopy and a Mystic. It never occurred to me to ask for a replacement......and I know people. Haha

Sooty to hear your misfortune but to be honest stuff happens. Nothing is fool proof. When they test these boats one of the testing criteria is not stuffing it at 40mph. That's just ludicrous in my opinion. Nobody can build a completely bullproof and fool proof boat and still sell it for any where an affordable price. I have a few proboats that I knocked the hatch off and lost the hatch. I never even considered calling them to see if they would warranty it. Drivers fault in my opinion.

Don't let it be a $280 hull and hatch replacement anyway, buy some epoxy laminating or finishing resin a small sheet of light glass cloth and some microballoons, milled cotton or milled glass to thicken it.

At the front grease the hatch and hatch pins well, mix some epoxy with the thickener until it is a paste then fill the chipped out parts with the paste and slide the pins into it weighing the hatch down so it is at the sealed level, leave it 24 hours then remove the hatch and sand the resin down level, re-paint it if you want.

Take the hatch lay bits of your glass cloth over the hole, then tape over the top, turn it upside down, fill the hole with bits of glass cloth and put a larger piece over the top then poor epoxy into the hole, have a gentle poke around to make sure it it is wet right through (but not hard enough to lift the tape on the bottom), and leave for 24 hours, then re-drill the hole, sand and paint if you want, the tape should give it a pretty flat and smooth finish.

It should cost under $50, take an hour or 2 and you will still have nearly all of the stuff you bought left over for future mishaps, or if you want to build your own boat sometime.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by T.S.Davis

I don't know man. If I stuff a boat it's the drivers fault. I have a throttle. Be it a ripple or a mild gust of wind I'm supposed to know when to back out of it. How is PB supposed to anticipate the way I drive?

If I have a mechanical failure that's not due to me trying some crazy prop, then I'm calling tech.

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Valid point. I'm new to this and I guess my expectations were for things to stay together in a plunging.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kfxguy

Sooty to hear your misfortune but to be honest stuff happens. Nothing is fool proof. When they test these boats one of the testing criteria is not stuffing it at 40mph. That's just ludicrous in my opinion. Nobody can build a completely bullproof and fool proof boat and still sell it for any where an affordable price. I have a few proboats that I knocked the hatch off and lost the hatch. I never even considered calling them to see if they would warranty it. Drivers fault in my opinion.

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Thanks for your input... seems like I had my expectations set to high.

This is an entry-level price point boat after all. Built to be bullet proof would raise the price and fewer would be sold. Like so many of the things we buy today, the consumers' expectations are likely to be too high.... :sad:



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If it was a plane and you hit some turbulence right before the landing would it be a the planes fault or the pilots? Would you expect a company to replace a crashed plane? What about a broken a arm on a truck that happened from going over a little jump? To me this is considered crash damage not a defect in equipment or manufacturing.

Sorry your boat is busted. At least it wasn't in shallow water. Make or buy a new hatch/ repair yours and throw her back in the water.

I hope you are not too discouraged by the reception from your ''audiences"------ it is the reality and for those of us who have been there, we are telling you like it is.
Of far more importance is what you will learn from this and proceed with much better readiness.
You should get some Corrosion X---fantastic stuff to repel water and prevent corrosion:http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...hp?prod=corr-x
If you don't have it off hand, then, you need to use WD-40 to disperse all the water inside the motor, if you can take the front and/or rear end bell out, spray liberally inside and make sure your bearings get a good oil bath. You should re-lube your bearing with proper bearing oil, thicker 10W30 motor oil will work too, I like air tool oil, but don't need to get too crazy, just something thicker than WD-40 is fine.
I don't know your ESC, don't have this version, but looks like water resistant, so make sure it is all air dried. If this happened in salt water, you need to rinse everything well. Open your servo case, upper and lower, Spray WD-40... Unless this is a water proof servo which case rinse outside.
As for your rx, rinse if salt water and air dry. People spray Corrosion X into it and also their ESC , something to keep in mind.
Just use your common sense to do your post diving mop up.:thumbup1:
Regarding your hatch, did you use tape? Unless the hatch is done the "Travis Way" ( read some of kfxguy's build or watch some of his videos and you will know what I am talking about) , meaning multiple hatch locks AROUND the opening of the hull, it is sealed like a gun safe!
This one is too flimsy . The hatch will flex when hitting the water and the front is compressed and the pins will back out, tearing it away from the rear lock. A well taped hatch will likely to prevent that. If you already used tape and taped well, then ignore me.
Which brings me to the next point: as said by one member, these curved hatch is hard to tape, especially if you use dedicated hatch tape or Hockey tape . Use a good grade everyday electrical tape, your hull is black, buy the black tape, don't buy the $.99 Chinese, a two or three dollar roll that has 3M on it will be great. Use new tape everytime after a run and you need to open your hatch. One-time used tape may seem reusable---DON"T DO IT! Always use new un-used tape from the roll.
You need to get a hang of "CURVING the tape" , start in a straight place and use one hand to press down while the other hand lay the tape according to the shape, you may want to pull harder on one side and IMMEDIATELY press down with the other hand (fingers). So MAKE the ADHESIVE WORK FOR YOU!! A well pressed tape adheres well. Make 100% sure your hull and hands are dry!!
Good luck! You are no longer a nood. At least you didn't let the magic smoke out---that is the good side of your story!
Cheers!

Thanks Timothy, that was a very thoughtful post. Yea, immediately yesterday I took everything apart, blew them out with compressed air, and set them under the ceiling fan to dry out a few days. The waterproof servo and receiver were both full of water... The GPS was dry. Water was coming out of the allen bolt holes in the motor as I removed each one until the last of about 15 bolts rounded, now I can't get the back off (grrr). So I think the motor may be worthless unless I can get in there somehow. I stripped the boat of hardware yesterday and will attempt repairs. Thanks for all your kind advise.

Steve

Thanks for your input... Good point about the shallow water, lol.

Hey guys,

I wanted to bring some closure to this thread because a lot of you jumped in to help or comment for me. Horizon reached out to me last week via telephone and wanted to apologize for the way things went down. They also wanted to assist me with the purchasing a replacement hull and commented that it shouldn't have come apart the way it did.

I'm taking the advise of some and am making repair attempts to the original hull and hatch as a back up.. besides it should be a good learning experience. I basically scoured up the fractures with 320 to remove any dead glass & paint and make a good bonding surface for the epoxy. Then, I gave it several good cleanings with denatured alcohol and paint brush, taped it off, and filled it with 30 minute epoxy. When it cures, I'll sand it flush and paint it with some hi gloss black model paint, 600-1200 wet sand it to blend, then buff it out with some car polish. Hopefully it will blend ok.

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I'm also going to try to recover the hatch as well as reinforce it with glass. It's got quite a bit of flex to it so I can now see how it would have so easily popped out if not taped down in a wipe out.

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I taped off and sanded out the bad areas of the hatch, then gave them a good washing. I know for sure I could use a 2" strip of glass across the underside of the front and back to reinforce the support areas... but how would you guys go about removing all the flex in there?

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Thanks again to all.

Steve

Flex can be removed by adding a layer of carbon fiber cloth using laminating resin or thinned epoxy. That will really stiffen it up.


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Well that just goes to show you what kind of customer service horizon really has. They care about taking care of their customers.

Yes agreed. I feel well taken care of.
Steve