New at rc boating

[butchg]

I'm 55 years old and my son is 35.. We have been in rc for the past 15 years. We raced rc cars and trucks for many years and last fall got into Airplanes which we are in the process of learning to fly. Now we decided to build boats but we are on a tight budget (we are over budget already) We bought the hulls on ebay, I painted them, then we bought all the running gear from American RC Boats. We are running a water cooled 28cc Mac, Dual rudder surface drives. We have 3"x1.75" trimm tabs.. We are ordering out tunned exhausts this week from American RC Boats. These are direct drive so we are not putting in water pumps. Would like to know if we are on the right track or not? The boats are 47" long with a 14" beam med vee. We had to send out the hatch covers to be modified to fit oveer the engine. What kind of speed can we expect to get out of these boats? Using the Prather 275 Prop balanced and sharpened. I am adding some pics too. Let me know what you think.. Please be honest..

[butchg]

Here is another pic..

[butchg]

Look at this..

[butchg]

Son's boat..

[Ron Olson]

Nice looking boats! They are the old RadioActive Hobbies hulls that were purchased by someone else and they re-did the molds.
I'd ditch the dual rudder setup myself and just use one on the right side.
Speeds? Maybe 35-40, possibly more.
55 huh, you've got me by a couple of years, I'm coming up on 52 in September with a son that just turned 17.

[Hydro Junkie]

I agree with Ron, they do look great. Did I see a turn fin on the back right corner of your boat? You said you have ordered tuned exhausts. Does this mean a tuned pipe and header or something else?

[butchg]

Yes a tuned pope and header that is water cooled also.. No turn fin and hope I don't need one. Was wondering why I shouldn't use the dual rudder system..

[Ron Olson]

Most of the time it is overkill. Try it yourself both ways and see how you like the difference. I'm a racer so it's in my mentality and sometimes forget the boaters that don't. The extra rudder will give more drag and slow the boat down slightly.
I am kind of confused on the plumbing on the transom. I'm trying to figure out where it's all going.

[ahab2]

Hey I have the same kind of allen wrenches heh! love the boats Especialy how that engine stiks out off the Yellow one :cool:

[butchg]

I'm waiting for the extra piece we are making so that it looks good on the back.. going to run the tube from the left rudder into an aluminum joiner (can put two tubes together) so it looks like the tee on the other side and than the one tube will just run inbetween the joiner and the tee.. Only doing it for looks and neatness.. I know over kill but I like things neat.. As far as the rudder system we wanted to have good control at low speeds as well as high speed and we are going to set up obsticle courses and thought it would better handle with the two rudders. I might be al wrong on that point but I have never had an rc boat before and I guess it is trial and error.

[butchg]

I sure hope we are building these boats the right way.. Yeah the engine does stick up pretty high but couldn't get then any lower. I guess if we had an unlimited budget we could have went with Zenoah engines and probably better hulls.. We had no idea what the cost would be to build a boat.. We have 4 planes and I don't have over $300 in each of them and so far we have a lot in thest boats and not finished yet.. Not complaining cause I think the fun will be well worth it but I also know with our competiveness we will be getting into racing boats in a year if we can find any races around our area.. We live in swny..

[DLM]

you said honest! First go to www.intl.waters.com --register-- cause that is a gas site and you will understand why i sent you!! I'm not trying chase you away but you said honest!!

[Ron Olson]

If you want a Gas boat site, go here, it's probably the best one one the Internet:
http://p086.ezboard.com/bjimsrcboatdock