AquaCraft Wildcat Off-Shore Catamaran Brushless 2.4GHz

[Diesel6401]

Found this on tower today, looks like the AQ mini wildcat is getting a brushless 2.4gha upgrade.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LNBNVP&P=G

[Stinger9D9]

It looks bigger than the mini. I think it may be along the lines of the Rio EP. Around that size at least.

Great Planes Marine (Hobbico's boat division before Aquacraft) made a couple other versions of a boat called the "Wildcat" back in the 90's too, so this (and the mini) are a continuation of the name:

http://www.greatplanes.com/discontinued/gpmb1001.html

Should be a good entry level boat...as long as some joker doesn't try to run it on 6S the second time out to the pond because they got bored.

[Diesel6401]

Along the size of the Rio would be nice. Nothing blazingly fast, just stable reliable and fun... yea there always someone that wants to slap 6s in everything... smh

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

[tunnelvision]

Looks like a fun little boat. Looks ABS though...hmm. Where's Grim? I want some more info!!

[Grimracer]

Stinger9d9..

NAILED IT.. its all about getting new people excited about RC boats.. IF you are a POWER HUNGRY MARINE MONSTER!.... this boat aint for you!

I must say however.. its not all that slow!

Grim

[SweetZ28]

Is this faster than the mini mono?

THANKS
Z.......

Stinger9d9..

NAILED IT.. its all about getting new people excited about RC boats.. IF you are a POWER HUNGRY MARINE MONSTER!.... this boat aint for you!

I must say however.. its not all that slow!

Grim

[Stinger9D9]

I'm really liking these cats coming out of Aquacraft. I almost can't believe they can put out a boat with a brushless motor, a lipo capable ESC and a 2.4ghz radio for this price (about $200 with the Tower discount available from time to time). Also, remember, this boat will be backed up by great service from Hobby Services if something does go wrong - try to get service like that when buying a cheap boat from HK!

As far as an ABS hull goes, it shouldn't be a problem. ABS hulls can put up with a fair amount of speed as my brushless AQ Hammer has proven over the last couple years. Nice and light too!

[Diesel6401]

It's on aquacraft's website http://aquacraftmodels.com/boats/aqu...cat/index.html.

[Brushless55]

looks kinda cool and a decent price to!

[LordNegaDuck]

other then the twin rudder it looks like the motley crew hull


i may get it if i can get the motley crew decals for it

[Stinger9D9]

It's 3 inches shorter and almost 1 1/2 inches narrower than the MC. Chances are at least some of the the decals (if you could get them - not likely) wouldn't fit properly.

[shannon87]

i wonder if any one has brought one of these

[roadrashracing]

2.4 radio system 1800 kv motor 50 amp speed control, all for $225 wow.

[shannon87]

yer its a good deal i wonder if you could race with this maybe with a bit of glass reinforcement

[POWERS]

Just picked one of these up for the wifey (and ill drive it too of course) I don't have a Rio to compare it too. But it is along the size of the ProBoat Impulse 26 I got for my dad. Will maiden her tonight. See how she stacks up against the Impulse which I converted to Brushless.

So when will this get its own section here?

[POWERS]

Got to test out the wildcat ep out last night, and this morning I was back at my LHS returning it and picking up an Impulse 26.

To say the quality was bad is an understatement. Hobbyking would have been embarrassed to sale the electronics inside of it. After 2-3 minutes of running the motor was extremely hot, the hull was full of water thanks to a leaky hose. Half the outdated looking stickers on the outside where pealing off. The dual rudder set-up was touchy at best, any attempt to turn at speed was met with complete 180. The only points it gets is for going in a straight line, it would straight up scoot, until it got too full of water.

In general the look and feel was just not up to par with what I've gotten from ProBoat models. It's almost as if as an after thought they glued plastic sheeting on the ride pads, which in theory is a good idea, however their execution was half assed and hideous. I should have gone with my gut when comparing it to the impulse 26 at the LHS, but figured a cat would make a decently stable learning platform for the wifey to play with, like a smaller version of my miss geico.

This was my first Aquacraft purchase, and probably my last, is this type of quality typical? Or was I just lucky?

[Brushless55]

Got to test out the wildcat ep out last night, and this morning I was back at my LHS returning it and picking up an Impulse 26.

To say the quality was bad is an understatement. Hobbyking would have been embarrassed to sale the electronics inside of it. After 2-3 minutes of running the motor was extremely hot, the hull was full of water thanks to a leaky hose. Half the outdated looking stickers on the outside where pealing off. The dual rudder set-up was touchy at best, any attempt to turn at speed was met with complete 180. The only points it gets is for going in a straight line, it would straight up scoot, until it got too full of water.

In general the look and feel was just not up to par with what I've gotten from ProBoat models. It's almost as if as an after thought they glued plastic sheeting on the ride pads, which in theory is a good idea, however their execution was half assed and hideous. I should have gone with my gut when comparing it to the impulse 26 at the LHS, but figured a cat would make a decently stable learning platform for the wifey to play with, like a smaller version of my miss geico.

This was my first Aquacraft purchase, and probably my last, is this type of quality typical? Or was I just lucky?

sounds like you should check over the boat and for a fact check any boat out before running it in the water.. and that goes for all users of FE boats
having a leak can be common as these are mass produced and can have a leak.. something you as the user should always check first..
and use EPA on the rudder... you won't have the 180 spin outs when you set up the rudder correctly in the radio
and the comment of a extremely hot motor?? temps bro, not just "I think its hot?" outrunners can take more heat than inrunners...

AQ made a low price point Cat to get new people into the hobby for a few hundred bucks
I would never buy from HK before AQ.. AQ has amazing service and back up there products 100%

and again this is not a $350+ boat
only about $190 through Tower with a coupon

[POWERS]

sounds like you should check over the boat and for a fact check any boat out before running it in the water.. and that goes for all users of FE boats
having a leak can be common as these are mass produced and can have a leak.. something you as the user should always check first..
and use EPA on the rudder... you won't have the 180 spin outs when you set up the rudder correctly in the radio
and the comment of a extremely hot motor?? temps bro, not just "I think its hot?" outrunners can take more heat than inrunners...

AQ made a low price point Cat to get new people into the hobby for a few hundred bucks
I would never buy from HK before AQ.. AQ has amazing service and back up there products 100%

and again this is not a $350+ boat
only about $190 through Tower with a coupon

Lets do a little thinking here brushless55. In one sentence you say I should have checked out the boat before I ran it, then you say this boat is a low price point Cat to get new people into the sport.... you really think newbies are gonna pressure test the cooling lines? And of course your going to invoke the old "these are mass produced and mistakes happen argument" way to dig deep and come up with something original. The truth is the hoses AQ used where laughable in quality.

As far as the boats control issues, let me clarify, this is not my first rodeo. I experimented, as much has one can with the stock radio, to get control in line. It either gave me little to no steering or it would become a "drift machine".

I apologize if my lack of use of my temp gun on my entry level cheap boat offended you (I'm sure all the newbies out there will share that info with you when they buy this as their first boat), but it doesn't take a genius to know that if the motor burns my finger tip...its too hot. I run 4s in the impulse brushless all day long and it comes back barely warm to the touch.

Next up lets analyze the "this is not a $350 boat" . Wow thanks for clearing that up for me, I just thought I got a great discount when I bought it for $210 at my LHS. In truth this isn't even a $210 boat id say $99 at toys 'r us clearance rack is the realm this thing lives in.

In the end you really need to relax bro. I wasn't bashing AQ in general. Just my first experience with their product, which they should be ashamed of. I did ask for input into other products they produce, which if you look at Billy Barnacles response you will see a great response in defense of AQ not just the whining bitchiness which you so graciously provided me with.

I'm sorry if my piss poor experience with an AQ product causes you loss of sleep, or heartache. It is what it is.

[Brushless55]

Man the Trolls are thick!
some just have to bash on a good company.. AQ makes great items!
and some have not a clue as to a real review...
what a joke!

[BLACKJACK_101]

I have a AQ Wildcat EP, a AQ Rio EP and a PB Impulse 26, my obsevations: Aqucraft really need to improve the water cooling system on the motor mount of the Wildcat EP, more aluminium to aluminium contact rather than the two small round tubes.

PB have the benefit of the inner sealed "tupperware" lid which the WC and RIO does not, this inner lid is a great idea and keeps 99% of water out, even so I think taping up the outer hatch is a must; inner lid or not, you have to assume the boat is going to flip and the inner lid could become displaced during a flip.

I have found every mass produced FE boat I own needs checking over before I hit the water, you can not trust the assembly line people in the factory to get every hull right.

These entry level plastic boats are what they are and for a serious FE boater I think modications are necessary, the sloppy rudder pivots on the Rio EP and the WC really need addressing by AQ as does the motor cooling on the WC.

I find the WC and Rio EP run great with no water leaks as long as the hatch's are taped up, I have had to modify the WC motor mount to improve cooling.

Generally I find all three boats out of the box are great fun, but with a bit of modification they are better still, the Impulse 26 does seem to have the edge on hull quality and hardware over the AQ models but even so the motor was misaligned on the Impulse and the stub shaft was too tight a fit in the drive line.

I think AQ need to play catchup with PB on these entry level plastic boats and improve there quality, even so I will continue to purchase AQ products and do the necessary minor modications to give the result that I personally want.

[Brushless55]

I have a AQ Wildcat EP, a AQ Rio EP and a PB Impulse 26, my obsevations: Aqucraft really need to improve the water cooling system on the motor mount of the Wildcat EP, more aluminium to aluminium contact rather than the two small round tubes.

PB have the benefit of the inner sealed "tupperware" lid which the WC and RIO does not, this inner lid is a great idea and keeps 99% of water out, even so I think taping up the outer hatch is a must; inner lid or not, you have to assume the boat is going to flip and the inner lid could become displaced during a flip.

I have found every mass produced FE boat I own needs checking over before I hit the water, you can not trust the assembly line people in the factory to get every hull right.

These entry level plastic boats are what they are and for a serious FE boater I think modications are necessary, the sloppy rudder pivots on the Rio EP and the WC really need addressing by AQ as does the motor cooling on the WC.

I find the WC and Rio EP run great with no water leaks as long as the hatch's are taped up, I have had to modify the WC motor mount to improve cooling.

Generally I find all three boats out of the box are great fun, but with a bit of modification they are better still, the Impulse 26 does seem to have the edge on hull quality and hardware over the AQ models but even so the motor was misaligned on the Impulse and the stub shaft was too tight a fit in the drive line.

I think AQ need to play catchup with PB on these entry level plastic boats and improve there quality, even so I will continue to purchase AQ products and do the necessary minor modications to give the result that I personally want.

and great quick review

have you modded a Wildcat yet

and does anyone have any gps numbers on the stock setup
curious as to how fast this is out of the box

[BLACKJACK_101]

The only mods I am doing is the Leopard 28 series inrunner and Turnigy ESC, I won't have the modded boat on the water for a couple of months yet, have never run the boat in stock form so can't help with stock performance.

[msmail715]

I have a wildcat ep was not fast enough. I run it on my pond. I put it on 4s the temps went to 186 then I put an rc car cooling fan right behind the motor fabricated mount and shroud out of balsa weighs very little ultra high speed for $11 in tower catalog. The temps went from 186 to 122 the speed went from 22 to 37mph. I could not notice any loss in run time

[BLACKJACK_101]

I found the handling good but I had to turn down the travel on the rudder, my decals stayed on fine and with the hatch taped down and there was no water ingress at all. I did what you suggested, 8mm square aluminim bar with a 4mm drilled through the centre for the cooling tubes then bonded to the vertical and horizontal parts of the mount, but it still runs very hot, (too hot to touch).

...AquaCraft really need to improve the water cooling system on the motor mount of the Wildcat EP, more aluminum to aluminum contact rather than the two small round tubes...
That was my impression when I first saw pics of it. Couple things I thought of were to replace the round tubes with square ones (K&S Engineering) so there will be more surface contact between the cooling tube and the motor mount. Or enlarge a cooling coil like those found on 550 brushed motors and carefully sliding it onto the silver area of the motor.

...the sloppy rudder pivots on the Rio EP ...
Guess I got lucky, only issue I've had with my rudders is the break-away bolts came loose, couldn't get them tight because there made of plastic(tried loctite), so I replaced them with standard stainless hardware, problem solved.

...Generally I find all three boats out of the box are great fun, but with a bit of modification they are better still,...
AGREED!! – My biggest complaint about the Rio is the El Cheapo motor mount that prevents the motor from dissipating heat. I started with R/C trucks, so I tried doing things that work with them to make the Rio faster, including using the Trax Titan 12-turn motor with XL-5 ESC. I’ve fried several motors because of that lame ass mount.

Most Proboats use a CNC'ed aluminum mount that attaches to the front of the motor, so heat can dissipate properly - also makes upgrading to brushless FAR easier. It was those mounts that inspired me to replace the stock Rio EP mount with one that would attach to the front of the motor (see attached). It’s very strong & provides room for cooling coils. I modified the stock Rio coil to work with my BL motor.

My plans for the WC were to replace both the ESC (I don’t do LiPo’s) and the motor. I got this ESC… http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXZGW7&P=SM on the way. Motor would be a standard 540 size, so I could use the standard cooling coils / sleeves – thus neither of those items would have been an issue with me.

Regarding the WC… Do me a huge favor and share your experiences with it – skip the motor & ESC, as I said, those are non-issues for me. I’m interested to know if your experiences were similar to powers’ regarding handling, the decal issue, taking on water and so on.

I’m not trying to start a debate or pit you against him. It’s just that different people see things differently, and of course there’s the manufacturing variables you pointed out.

Thanks,
Regards

[Diesel6401]

Any and all 1st run/batch boats (and other rcs for that matter) have issues. I personally like to order the first batchs and try to figure out what is the issue and if their is one how to quickly fix. The Ul1, MG, MC all had numerous issues in the first versions I think we are at like the version 4 on the UL1 already. The MC and MG also had issues that keep the boats grounded, it's nothing against PB or AQ theses things just happen in the production versions. The prototype MC and the production MC had a few major differences.

When it comes to taping a boat, their is NO sub for that. It sucks but needs to done. Take the time and do these small things and it will save you a headache in the end, its the nature of the beast and pretty much all experiened boaters will tell you that!

Any mass produced rc product (land, air or sea) should be looked over with a fine tooth comb prior to operation. That something that you will figure out with experience. A new person to rc wouldn't know that, but like I said with experience they will.

As far as the poster about his brushless Rio, I personally don't believe it was anything against you or I think its because boat has brushlessed converted many times and the Rio section has kinda died off with all the new products on the market. I don't think anyone was personally trying to ignore you though, just maybe nothing to really add to. Just my 2 pennies. happy boating and happy easter everyone!

[rc2266]

Wow

[Brushless55]

so no gps on the stock setup yet..
maybe 30mph a good guess?
has anyone tried 4s on the stock motor with a different esc?

[Brushless55]

...has anyone tried 4s on the stock motor with a different esc?...
Brushless,
If people are having issues with the motor overheating on 3S, what do you think will happen on 4S??

I scanned page 3 of the manual and attached it, has all specs for both the stock motor & ESC. As you can see, the motor voltage is not listed, it just states 3-S LiPo which of course is 11.1 volts.

As I stated earlier, I'm going to run mine on 8.4v NiMH hump packs and see what happens. I'll update when I know more.

Regards,

use a better motor mount with proper cooling....
going up in volts and proping down could pull less amps with greater speeds

[Brushless55]

use a better motor mount with proper cooling....
going up in volts and proping down could pull less amps with greater speeds

This reply is a bit long because it’s a combination of answering questions and my review after her maiden run, it’s also going to be my final post to this thread. The weather suddenly turned picture perfect so I want to work on my Rio and go boating after a looonnnngggg winter.

Motor Mount…
I will agree that the factory motor mount is somewhat Micky Mouse, HOWEVER, with the cooling system mods I outlined above overheating will not be an issue. I took my boat for her maiden run yesterday, my motor stayed cool to the touch all day long. So at this point I can only say that I was able to accomplish the desired results, as such, I see no reason to change anything. Your results may vary, I’m happy with mine.

Good that the mod is working!

Regarding Propping Down...
I already tried that with my Rio. Stock = 42mm x 1.4pitch (x442) FRP, same as the WC. I tried a x440 CNC'ed aluminum, speeds went down, I went back to the x442 for now. When I get her back in the water I'll do some experimenting and see what happens.


Keep something in mind, both the Rio & WC use a surface drive system so only 1/2 the prop is in the water at any one given time. Thus smaller props will degrade performance more often than improving it. Submerged systems are the ones that can benefit from smaller props.


Going down in prop size is not what this little boat needs.. going up to the next size could wake it up
when I said proping down that was with more volts to keep amps (heat) lower

Happy Boating everyone

...

[Diesel6401]

Keep something in mind, both the Rio & WC use a surface drive system so only 1/2 the prop is in the water at any one given time. Thus smaller props will degrade performance more often than improving it. Submerged systems are the ones that can benefit from smaller props.

I'm going to STRONGLY have to disagree with that whole statement and feel that reducing the prop size and increasing the voltage is a excellent point and may indeed drop the amp draw.

Given the specs of this hull, if I owned it I would without a doubt run a ammo 3650 2300kv and a y537/3 and a seaking 60, 90 or 120...jmho. Going up in prop size doesn't alway yield the best results and can introduce handing issues and prop walk issues.