And the fun begins !!

I guess this will turn out to be a short journal of sorts as I take the jump into boat racing. Hopefully another potential new racer might read it and decide to get involved.

Went to the club race today and had a blast taking in all the action and bothering everybody with questions. As soon as I got home I started the process of buying a boat and a few assorted accessories. As of now I have an Aquacraft Lucas Oil catamaran on the way along with some marine grease, hatch tape and a propeller upgrade. Tower Hobbies actually had the best deal available. I lost out on one of their Scratch and Dent deals but still did ok using one of the promo discounts. It was also worth the 10 bucks to become a member.
Next will be batteries. After looking around at various batteries I quickly learned to be prepared for a small additional purchase of the appropriate wire "leads". The boat comes with "Deans" type "T" connectors on the esc. The batteries I'm looking at have 5.5mm bullet connectors. Remember to pay attention to the esc and battery connections. If you don't plan ahead you'll end up with a boat you can't run because you're missing a 5 dollar item. It's pretty easy to change connectors but it's easier to get the right stuff and simply plug it all together.
So now we wait for Mr.Postman.
Can't say enough about the advice I got from the club members. Once I asked questions and saw the boats run I knew what direction to take.
I'll make an update when boxes start arriving. C Ya at the pond !!
Dino

Subscribed. :biggrin:

Dino,don't forget 5.5,s on the motor side too!And use a good 4%(at least) silver bearing solder.
I like the "cut" style bullets available f our friends at OSE.
Also,if u use a male and female on the batteries u can plug them together to make a series connection without a separate "harness".

JS

The Lucas boat has arrived !!!
Been shopping for batteries and finally bought a couple of 6500mah, 70c units from SMC. After all my years in rc cars it felt strange to be "shopping" for batteries. Normally I'd go right to my usual sources and buy what I know works. The boat had me thinking though. Some people swear by hard case packs and others swear by soft packs. After researching for days I really couldn't find anything definitive about which type is "better". In my honest opinion I think it comes down to personal choice. That said, it's worth noting that some boats may have space limitations which may limit the type of battery you choose. Be mindful of how your batteries mount in the hull and if anything might be in the way.
I also took in to consideration what type of connectors were involved. Typically I would've planned on larger gauge wire and good,high temperature connectors. Well, the Lucas Oil boat comes with 14 gauge wire (actually fine for a 60 amp speed control) and a set of Deans plugs already mounted ( Deans are widely regarded as some of the best. Not MY favorite but they work). In this case I wasn't too worried about large gauge (10-13 gauge) wires and Deans are fine for this kind of Amperage. Now if this was a 100 amp (or larger) speed control, I'd be planning on heavier wires and larger connectors. The batteries I bought already have 12 gauge wire and the female Deans ends.
Remember I'm basing these thoughts on my rc car experience but I can't see how the boat would be any difference. Amperage is used the same way so I don't really expect any problems. Fellow boaters please chime in if you think this is wrong thinking. Be prepared to explain though.
So what's with the 6500mah and 70c thing?? Here's my take on batteries. MAH is basically the "size" or capacity of the battery pack. More MAH generally means more run time. Why would I need more run time ?...2 particular cases I can think of....longer races or longer periods of use(like practice or just goofing off) AND races where the vehicle is using higher power requirements for longer periods of time. Hmmmm. In road course car racing we are constantly turning, braking and accelerating. A battery of 5000mah is about the norm these days and you'll almost never see anyone run out of juice. Boats on the other hand aren't as efficient as cars AND we generally run oval races which allow us to be on the throttle almost constantly. Sooo, we generally need more available run time to balance out the higher power demands. In other words.. greater MAH and a larger "C" rating. I won't go into the literal meaning of "C" rating since I still don't know how to describe it myself !! Bottom line...it's power and how the power is released from the battery. Smaller "C" rating....smaller power output and will lose power quicker over the duration of the runtime. ( Example: 5 minute race...30c...power might start dropping off after 3 minutes and continues to drop off continuously till end of race). Larger "C" rating....higher initial output (sometimes called "punch") and maintains available surge or punch for longer.
To put it into context: I'm projecting my 6500mah batteries are more than enough capacity for the type of racing I'm doing. The bigger 70C rating should allow me to have excellent power availability for a longer period than other racers with smaller "C" batteries. From my research, boats are better with big mah ratings and big "c" ratings. Buy what you can afford but look around. You'll be shocked by the variety in pricing. My SMC batteries cost $54 dollars each. Who's best ? I won't touch that discussion !!! Ask friends, ask on the forums, do some research. Stick with some of the well known brands with good support and you'll decrease your chances of buying junk.
With any luck my batteries will get here before the weekend. The club meets on Sunday and then the learning curve goes nuts !! I'll let you know. C ya at the pond !

So here I am at 10 pm before a race day trying to mask off and paint my Lucas boat. Why...well the wife had me out buying furniture. 5 stores and quite a few hours later I'm home trying to cram all this work into a couple of hours. Probably not gonna happen but it's got to be done. Fellow newbies keep this in mind when you buy one of these RTR boats. If your club has a class for them...and many will...you'll find yourself doing some paint work or applying different color tape here and there so you can tell your boat from the bunch of other racers driving the same boat !! After only watching one race with about 4 Lucas boats I quickly realized I was in for some color changing. My personal choice is repainting the top deck and cowl with a different color. I chose metallic silver. Liquid mask is pretty good for protecting the already applied logos and window areas of the cowling. You can use blue painters tape also. Tape drives me nuts so i chose the liquid mask. We'll see how it turns out.
The other thing I did which I really wasn't expecting was to buy a waterproof receiver for my Airtronics MX Sport radio. This is a great surface radio (the MX Sport is now discontinued and has been replaced with an even better variation) and many of my rc car club members have used it. After doing some reading I quickly realized that using a standard surface receiver was just to risky. For 50 bucks I bought a brand new Airtronics 371W receiver from an online shop I use and it arrived today. I quickly got it bound to my radio and installed in the boat. I probably could've purchased a cheap radio with the proper receiver but I've always trusted my Airtronics stuff and it's of known quality with great support.
I'm not going to make it for race day because I'll have to paint in the morning (NEVER, EVER try to spray paint in the house. Your lungs, the wife and your pets will thank you) but that's ok. It's simply not worth rushing things and I'll have more fun knowing i'm better prepared come next race day.
So what's next. I plan on adding some flotation to the boat. Have to go buy some pool noodles ( those long, foam things you always see in pools that come in a variety of colors). This appears to be one of those steps that may not be a real requirement for racing but from everything I've read it's just a good idea and it really does make sense. I'll comment on that when I do the job. I'll add some photos of the boat tomorrow after I shoot the paint.
Till next time. C Ya at the pond !

Good Morning fellow boaters or ,in my case,ALMOST boaters. Got up bright and early to do some masking and painting. Decided to alter the paint job a bit so I ended up using some painters tape after all. The paint is not an exact match and it's not the cleanest paint job in the world. It wasn't meant to be. For me, this boat is a work horse. It doesn't have to be the prettiest horse in the paddock but it shouldn't be the ugliest either. So...here she is. Simple, fairly neat and not a lot of work at all.

The Lucas is looking good,should really stand out in the crowd!

If you want some test/tune/practice before your 1st race, some of us will be at the pond next Sun.Scale boating till 10a...then open h2o...no rescue boat...so to be self sufficient at least bring a fishing pole.Tug boat rescues are sometimes possible...but???

See ya soon,JS

nice looking boat

Thanks Jeff and Ron.
Jeff, I've been thinking about coming down on a practice day.

Greetings Dino,haven't heard from u f a while,was just wondering how that Lucas cat is running?
I know it's a long drive for u to come down here,but u are always wecome to hang out w us.
JS

Hey Jeff, Lucas has never seen water !! :laugh: Just haven't had the chance to come see you guy's but I'm hoping to change that soon. That drive is actually pretty easy but I do wish there was something a bit closer. I tried to reach Ken via email regarding the website but never heard back. Is he ok ?

Just a few points on the battery issues you were talking about. I was a car guy also. These things for some reason pull alot more amps than the cars. In 35 years of racing cars I never melted the connectors or the wires on my cars. These things will do that. I used to use Deans on everything now it is all bullet connectors. The other thing is the Mah rating. Be careful as most sanction races in the class your boat will run limit you to 10000 Mah. This is 2 6500 would exceed this. Just sayin. Also the reason most dont use hardpacks is if they get wet it is very hard to get them to dry inside the case. Hope this helps.

Just remember,2x 6500 mah in series =6500 mah...2x 6500 mah in parallel =13000 mah !

We run 2 x 2S in series for PLtd...you prob run 2 x 4S in parallel for P...right?

Yes I tried running 2x 5800 in series and came back with only 20% left after a race which was too low for me. It will really hurt the batteries so I switched to 2x 4s 4000 and have about 60% left at the end of a race. Most of the time the extra weight accually makes the boat handle better.

Yes you understand Ohm's law!Running 2x4S 4000mah in Parallel=4S 8000 mah.Many run 2x4S 5000mah in parallel to take advantage of the NAMBA 10000mah limit.

Has the fun began on your thunder boat build yet?

I found I didnt need the extra ah and the 4000 are cheaper:buttrock: I started the engine kit and got the motor today. I have everything now but the reverse rotation flex drive and prop. I should start the hull by the end of the week. I cant wait to drive it. I went to the big nitro race this weekend in Brandon Fl and got stoked over the 1/8 scale boats.

Rich,I'm pretty sure Steven right here at OSE has every thing you need for a reverse drive.Don't be afraid to try the CNC props,TC loves them,and they are available in all the popular sizes.Just my 2 cents.