Dead in the water?

[dugrant153]

What happens if the boat dies out in the water? And does this happen alot?
Do ya really need to bring out the canoe to fish it out? :P

I'm a total boat newbie (not RC, I'm into rally cars). But I've got a lake nearby, and buying an RC plane seems exciting but expensive.

[TERBObob]

Ok ... you can either use what is called a "retreival boat" ( which can be anything from a canoe to a john boat with an engine , to a jetski or even a rubber oneman blow up raft ) and if you don't want to use one of those , ( or can't because you don't have one ) you could always use a fishing pole with a tennis ball at tied at the end and have a retreivel hook on the front top of your boat and then you simply cast the line with the tennis ball out and make the ball run over the hook on the front of the boat and bring her on in ...
There are other ways of course also , like some fellows make and use a seperate RC boat that has some sort of adapter on the front where you drive it out to the other boat , line up behind it and push her on in ...
And you ask if stalling happens a lot ... that all depends on what kind of engine , what kind of speed , and what kind of water conditions you are driving in ...
And stalling ... with GAS ( NOT nitro ! - YUCK ) , you might flip first before stalling especially with a cat .... but most monos are kind of hard to flip ..
And gas stalling ???? not hardly .... ( unless you mis-judged you amount of gas left in the tank :D )
Electric ... the oly way you are going to stall is by either running out of range , or getting a radio glitch and loosing radio signal .
And in that case ... ( as is with ANY type of engine - whether its gas , nitro -yuck , or electric , you BETTER have a FAILSAFE otherwise , chances are you can say bye-bye to your boat )
And with ANY big boys toys ,,, yes ... they are ALL kind of expensive to some degree ...
But , as is with anything , you first must decide what it is that you plan on doing ... racing ... running for fun ( otherwise called PLAY boating ) , or combo of both ...
A good race boat properly set-up will cost you upwards of $1000.00 , whereas a play boat can be as cheap as a couple of hundred ... you might even find a few smaller electrics that might be cheaper , but that is what you will get too ... cheaper .... and not really any room for up-grades ...
If you DO nd up getting a boat ... my personal suggestion to you would be to get what they call RTR ( ready to run ) which means that when it arrives , the most you would need to do is install batteries in the radio and reciever ( or charge them ) and add your gas ( or that other crappy stuff called nitro ) .
And if you DO go with a "N" ( nitro ) engine , make sure that the hull you get , will be big enough so that when you get enough sense , you will then have the room for that great Pum , or QD , or even just a Homie to get yourself going with GAS .... ( and the get rid of that fickled "N" engine ... :lol )

[Doubledog]

I agree with all the above.

What boat are you starting out with?

[dugrant153]

Probably looking into an electric boat. Not sure what yet.

I could transfer my RC radio car stuff over to a boat, right? (or atleast, most of it?).

I'm just looking at my options and what owning an RC boat entails.

[Doubledog]

All of it should transfer.
Motor: Speed control: Servos

The main thing is to make sure you build a waterproof area for the radio equipment. The motors are generally exposed inside the boat. Also, a lot of the experts might disagree with using a car speed control in a boat, but make sure it doesn't get wet & overheat & you should be fine.

I'm trying to stock up on used gear myself just for projects like yours. Have fun & when you get the hull post a few photos.

[eeyore65]

Originally posted by TERBObob
Ok ...There are other ways of course also , like some fellows make and use a seperate RC boat that has some sort of adapter on the front where you drive it out to the other boat , line up behind it and push her on in ...

Below is a pic of my rescue boat made from bits and pieces i had laying around . I've retrieve fast boats , sail boats , scale boats , toy boats , balls , free flight planes , even cleared the launch area of sticks and trash .

Originally posted by TERBObob

Electric ... the oly way you are going to stall is by either running out of range , or getting a radio glitch and loosing radio signal .

I've seen other causes for an electric boat being "dead in the water" , a fried motor or ESC or those crappy Tamiya connectors ( use Deans or other high current connectors ).
Also the motor wires come off because the solder got too hot or just a bad solder joint .
Or the motor to shaft coupling isn't tight enough or the prop comes off ( this could happen with gas or nitro powered boats to ) .

[Doubledog]

Thats too cool

[eeyore65]

Thanks ,
It's ugly , but it works .
Another pic.........