Destroyed in one second! Traxxas quality control thanks again!

[JPriami]

So here is a brand new Spartan. First day at the lake this weekend testing her out.
And low and behold something goes terribly wrong!


YouTube








From the damage and the video it looks like the hull folded in half just in front of the inner support/2nd layer of hull. there are cracks on the floor of the hull that makes me wonder if they busted and water came in and the force of it folded the boat in half. Also the top and bottom halves of the boat dont seem to be joined all that well so that could of contributed to the folding in half. All I can figure is the hull was extra thin up front and just gave in. Because I ran my boat that same day with no problems. Also my boat has been in a few crashes and nothing like this has ever happened.
Before its asked no the boat didnt hit anything in the water. there are no marks on the bottom of the hull or anywhere that suggest it was a strike. Ive watched the video at 1 frame per second and its not the best shot but it looks like the boat just exploded to a dead stop. So unreal!
Any thoughts on this are welcome.

[Alexgar]

Plastic hull no telling that so weird I've had a couple traxxas boat and was dissapointed with there quality over time they became brittle but never even came close to that speed but if they did I could imagine they same results

[bbosncali]

that sucks all that work you put into it and the hull fails.... traxxas has built a lemon.... not just the electronics i guess anymore. hopefully theyll warranty it!!!

[JPriami]

Just so it's known that wasn't my personal Spartan. It was the one I did work too for someone. And then testing it this happens. It was doing about. 55mph.

[bbosncali]

Ohh I know it wasn't yours I noticed the sweet pickups you put the bottom of the hull... you don't think something got to hot and melted it do ya? Will traxxas warranty something like that since its been modded???

[JPriami]

Not sure about the warranty. No heat was used in anything I did. And there is no chance the pickups in back caused the front/mid part of the boat to fold in half.

[bbosncali]

I meant by the motor or esc but you could tell between crushing and folding and melted plastic.... its too bad cause this boat got all this hype and its done nothing but disapoint. I was very close to buying one but wanted a cat so I opted for the mg after all thes bad posts I'm kinda glad I went that way. Just like my buddy shaun hits 50.7 stock next outing it sounds like the chitty chitty bang bang car what a shame... I actually like a lot of traxxas products I've had my share of tmaxxs revos and even own a mini revo now for the most part they got those down they just need to go back to the r and d department an work on there boat line. Hey you can always throw all the stock parts back in it call them up and say hey this is what happen I hear the customer service is pretty good atleast

[JPriami]

I wanted the miss geico too. Still do. But the smaller size was a turn off. I thought a larger boat like the Spartan would be fun. Boy was that a bad call lol. I like cats better anyways.

[wilsta67]

I wanted the miss geico too. Still do. But the smaller size was a turn off. I thought a larger boat like the Spartan would be fun. Boy was that a bad call lol. I like cats better anyways.

i think the geico could probably handle the power you have applied to the spartan.
being fibre glass. i have bought one myself its arrived in customs and i cant wait.
should have it by the week end.

[wilsta67]

thats weird how your boat folded are you sure you never hit a turtle or something?

[bbosncali]

I wanted the miss geico too. Still do. But the smaller size was a turn off. I thought a larger boat like the Spartan would be fun. Boy was that a bad call lol. I like cats better anyways.

But its really only 6inches shorter and about 6inches wider... shaun was try like hell to talk me into the spartan but I stuck to my guns cause I wanted the cat over the v. I just love the way they look. And I'm a lot like you and many others I bought it never ran it tore it apart and modded it now its all about tuning. Just wish I went with a lower kv motor but we'll see what I can get on 4s. Hey it was still as fast as his stock 6s just the way it was without any adjustments and only an x642 so there lots of room for propping up

[Steven Vaccaro]

Something happened at :34 to make it nose drive. Most likely a fish or something. It happens to all of us every once in a while. Things are going good and all of a sudden the boat darts without warning.

[Shaun78]

that makes sense Steve. any prop damage

[JPriami]

No prop damage or scuffs on bottom of hull.
A fish? Awe man that blows. And a first for me.

[Diesel6401]

I wanted the miss geico too. Still do. But the smaller size was a turn off. I thought a larger boat like the Spartan would be fun. Boy was that a bad call lol. I like cats better anyways.

Meet in the middle at a Pursuit mono.... 32" and a straight BLAST. Stable and build good, will run circles around a Spartan

It's about 6mph faster now then in this video, I didn't have the throttle calibrated on the esc so in this video it wasn't full WOT... This is on 4s2p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOc9vU1ltsY

[ray schrauwen]

Just so it's known that wasn't my personal Spartan. It was the one I did work too for someone. And then testing it this happens. It was doing about. 55mph.

I'll say I told you so because I did. I originally told people when this first came out that a plastic hull is not capable of high speeds without this sort of catastrophic failure.

Caveat Emptor

[ray schrauwen]

If it was very cold water and the motors, esc or lipos heat up enough the air pressure could possibly blow the seams apart while under stress.

[JPriami]

Thanks ray. I never said you were wrong. In fact I've wondered about how these hulls would hold up over 50mph in time. Let's just say some of us are taking traxxas claims about the boat to the proving grounds. :)
And making useful information for those wanting to know about these boats. I know if I was someone else right now looking for a new boat in this price range I'd really appreciate some information supplied by others on if what I'm looking at is a lemon or a gem.

[PeterTRAXXAS]

I thought for sure the boat hit something in the video, but the Spartan project lead says it’s a defective hull with an insufficient bond between the upper and lower hull. We'll replace it if the customer contacts us.

To me, it looks like the top deck separated first, which allowed the now-unsupported lower hull to flex and “dig into” the water, stopping it dead in its tracks and causing secondary damage. At any rate, we'll cover it. If the hull popped because the driver ran it into a wall, that would be different--but that's not the case here.

[JPriami]

Why thank you for taking a look at this Peter. I will let the owner know what you said.

[PeterTRAXXAS]

All good, we'll make it right.

[dag-nabit]

All good, we'll make it right.

Good to see you visiting here again Peter

Also encouraging to hear that Traxxas is going to stand behind the hull, even with the mods done.

Kevin

[Diesel6401]

I thought for sure the boat hit something in the video, but the Spartan project lead says it’s a defective hull with an insufficient bond between the upper and lower hull. We'll replace it if the customer contacts us.

To me, it looks like the top deck separated first, which allowed the now-unsupported lower hull to flex and “dig into” the water, stopping it dead in its tracks and causing secondary damage. At any rate, we'll cover it. If the hull popped because the driver ran it into a wall, that would be different--but that's not the case here.

All good, we'll make it right.

Round of applause for stepping up and handling this in the proper manor!

[PeterTRAXXAS]

If the mods caused the problem, that would be different, of course. But if the hull wasn't bonded right, it wasn't bonded right--we're not a "gotcha" company that's going to bone you on a technicality.

[egneg]

I had the same kind of thing happen last year. The boat subbed for no apparent reason.

[GeoVW72]

wow, sucks to have all that work go up like that
Good to see you back Peter
I know these guys have beat the crap out of the hulls, and with the way the weather has been around here mine has seen some flight time.
hull must have just been joined bad.

[johnf]

I don't have a Spartan, but can say traxxas has always had great service for my other stuff. It always came out no cost to me, and extremely low down time. Peter's posting is an accurate representation of my past dealings with them.

[shctexas]

Wow! Well, I'm impressed.

[Doby]

I had the same kind of thing happen last year. The boat subbed for no apparent reason.

Is that a FG hull Eggy??? I tought only plastic hulls were supposed to do that....at least according to most opinions on here...

[Punisher 67]

I hit a duck about 20 years ago that had dove down and came up at the wrong time in the wrong place . The boat only did 20 mph , the duck survived and swam off . I was more worried for the duck than I was for the boat