Advice to a newbie

[N0JRS]

I am a newcomer to the RC boat community. I have built a tugboat and helped a friend complete a Dumas Chris Craft kit. I have a complete hobby workshop. I'm asking for suggestions for wooden boat kit or a fast electric RTR. I don't want to get silly expensive, but I want a dependable, well built boat. I have two grandsons aged seven. I have built a couple dozen RC airplanes. I plan to run my boats at the local kids fishing pond. It's a long, narrow rectangle. Thanks for suggestions.

[sciesielka]

For FE RTR, I suggest looking at Horizon Hobby. Most of their boats are RTR including a radio and sometimes, depending on the model, a battery. So getting started is real easy. And Horizon's customer service is excellent. We have a few R/C cars and boats from them and anytime we had an issue in the warranty period, they sent us the parts without any issues. A few boats to consider listed by price, low to high, all with brushless motors and, except for the Blackjack, self-righting feature:
17" Power Boat Racer Deep-V
Blackjack 24" Brushless Catamaran
River Jet Boat 23" Brushless Deep-V
Sonicwake 36" Self Righting Brushless Deep-V
Those are just a few and range in price from under $200 to $400.
They have other great boats too and as much as we love our Stealthwake, the brushed motor burns out too quickly so that almost needs an upgrade to brushless right away which will require a motor and ESC ($100+ for both). We went through 2 brushed motors in one summer running it multiple times a day almost every weekend.

For wood boat kits, Dumas Boats makes some nice, mostly scale kits. You can get tug boats, Chris-Craft boats like the runabout, trawlers and others. Horizon Hobby sells the kits or you should be able to find them in a local hobby shop.

[NativePaul]

Roughly how long and how narrow is the pond?

Do you want to turn at high speed or are you happy slowing down for corners?

Are you after something for you to use, or for your grandsons, or for both? If for them or both, do they have any previous RC experience? if they have limited experience I would avoid any 2s boats, if you make a small boat designed for at least 3s then you can fit a 2s battery and very easily tame it down for the kids. A 4s or 6s boat will be much bigger, more expensive and needs more room to run in, but is also faster and handles rougher water; you could also run 2x 2s or 2x3s batteries wired in series when you drive for high speed, or wired in parallel when the kids drive for half speed but 3-4x the runtime.

What type of boat interests you, scale or functional appearance? Surface drive or submerged prop? Mono Cat or Hydro?

This is probably dictated by the size of your pond, but do you have a size of boat in mind?

When did you build the planes? Is your radio a 2.4ghz radio that can be used for boats, or is it an old 35/72mhz unit that can't be?

Were the planes Electric or IC? Do you have anything other than radio gear that could be used in a build, batteries for example, or a motor and ESC from a crashed plane?

What do you consider silly expensive? Do you have a budget you are trying to stick to?

[Jesse J]

Where in Colorado are you?

[N0JRS]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am familiar with Horizon Hobbies. They fixed my DX6 three times at no cost. I'll check out the details on the boats that you listed. I helped my friend finish his Dumas Painted Racer by swapping out the Dumas brushed motor and ESC for an Eflite Park 480 and speed controller.

[N0JRS]

I'm in Sterling, and I haven't found anyone around here who builds or runs boats.

[N0JRS]

I'm in Sterling.

[N0JRS]

The pond is about 300 feet by more than a quarter mile. I would slow down for corners. The boat would be for me now and the grandsons when older. I've flown RC airplanes for about 15 years. They can run the tugboat I built for now. I can turn the throttle limit way down for the little ones. I can get them a little boat for now. I think that I would like something like an electric powered crackerbox or something RTR. Building is the big fun. I'm thinking of something in the three to four foot range. I'm still building planes, but they tend to come down hard. I don't seem to sink boats. I have a Spectrum DX6. I have an even mix of glow and brushless lithium powered planes. I have a completely functional hobby room. That includes the usual stuff, a drill press, two bandsaws, belt sander, and Dremel tool, refrigerator, TV, and popcorn maker. No laser cutter or 3D printer. I have a good variety of brushless outrunner motors and ESC,'s 30-80 amps. I have a 100 amp water cooled speed controller and lots of standard servos. I built a tugboat last year. I would like to keep the build between$500-800.

[Jesse J]

Lynn, looks like you are about 2hrs from me.. you ever make it to Denver?
We have several clubs in the Denver area and would love to have you come race with us.
I have several monos and cats for new club members and will help you out with getting going.

Do you go to the pond by the sterling rest area? It looks like you have several quarry ponds by the river.. lucky you, they look perfect! And if built right, you won’t have to slow down in the turns... or ever!
Sending pm with personal contact.

[N0JRS]

I do get to the Denver area from time to time. It would be great to attend race. The pond by the rest area is exactly the one I was referring to. I have been quiet running my tugboat. I do plan to be really discrete when I run. I don't want to be the cause of any rules against RC boats. So far I've been complimented and invited to run my tugboat any time.