Is an Air Boat/Swamp Buggy slower than regular boats??

[SwampBuggy01]

Hi, I am wondering if a NITRO Air Boat is slower than a regular NITRO boat? I just purchased a Hobbico AquaCraft Air Force Airboat RTR w/.46 and am wondering if it is going to be slow. I ordered it today and do not yet have it. I also want to know what I need to run it. I know I need nitro fuel, a glow starter, and a bump starter. How do I bump start this boat? I have bump started a nitro car, is it like that? THANKS!

[RickE]

Speed-wise your airboat will be quicker than many entry-level nitro boats, but you'll likely find it will take a few tanks of fuel to get the most power from the engine and to learn how to turn it properly out on the water.

If the engine's prop has a plastic cone-shaped spinner mounted to it, the cone that's on most 12-volt engine starters will work on your airboat. Just make sure it fits the spinner properly and enjoy your airboat!

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Hey RickE, Thanks for the response. that helps a lot. I was wondering if you have any instant messager service so I could ask you some more questions. It does have a cone where the prop is. How would I start it with a bump starter? Also, I have heard you can start the engine by hand. Is this true?

[RickE]

Sure, just check the moderator portion of the forum to send an e-mail.

There's no real place to use a bump starter on the airboat engine, and I'd only use fingers as a last resort-trust me the prop hurts!

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

I heard you can use a rubber coated stick about 8 inches long and push the prop counter-clockwise. Would this be a consistent way to start my boat every time? I do not want the hassle of carrying a bump starter and a 12 volt battery around, and will only do that if there is no other way.

[RickE]

Yup, it's called a "chicken stick" and Sullivan makes a nice one that's available through Tower and others. Just keep your digits back on the grip and you should have no problems starting your boat with the chicken stick.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Have you ever seen a Aquatech Air Force Air Boat such as mine been driven in the water? Is it fast? Do you have an estimated MPH? I would suppose it was fast as it has a .46 in it. Would it be slower than a regular boat because it uses a prop above water? Is a regular boat faster because the props in the water? Thanks!
Also, Do I have to break in this boat?

[RickE]

I've only seen the eariler .40-powered unit Tower put out a couple of years ago, and it likely ran around 35 MPH in a straight line. This will be much quicker than the majority of "in the water" propped boats around, and yes, you'll need to run a few tanks at lesss than full throttle to properly break-in the nitro engine.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Thanks a lot for all your help, is has improved my attitude greatly about my purchase. Is there anything else I can use in place of a chicken stick, something I could find in-town, as tower hobbies charges 8.00 shipping for one little chicken stick.

[RickE]

Pickup a piece of 1/2-inch-thick wood doweling (hardwood if possible) and cut yourself a suitable length to properly flip your prop. Then slip a piece of 1/2-inch inside diameter automotive rubber fuel line hose over the doweling and you have a basic chicken stick. If you want to get fancy, a rubber grip from a child's bicycle handlebar might fit the hand end of the stick to better suit your digits, however use CA glue to secure either/or the hose or grip to the wood dowel.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Thanks, I just ordered a chicken stick from sullivan at a site with cheaper shipping. I should be getting my boat this week, I am wondering which fuel % would be best for Tucson, AZ, as it gets up to 108 degrees during the summer. How many tanks should i run to break it in?

[RickE]

Depending on the boat's fuel tank size, between 3-5 tanks of fuel should give you a broken-in nitro engine. Avoid running the airboat at full throttle alot, just noodle-around with the engine set rich and you'll endup with a strong, long lasting engine. You'll find that around a 20% nitro fuel will be about the most potent fuel the airboat should need.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Hey, I was curious if I could put a aircraft engine such as the:
O.S. .46 LA w/Muffler Blue in my boat. Will it fit? Thanks!

[RickE]

Without seeing how each engine's mounting holes and clearances are, it would be tough to know if the O.S. would fit. You might e-mail Tower's service department and ask if the switch is possible.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Is there anyway I can find out soon? I was about to order the .46 o.s but I wanted to check with you first. How can I tell if it will fit? Buy it and take a risk?

[RickE]

Try e-mailing the Tower Hobbies Service Department on it; they might give you a thumbs-up on the O.S. engine switch.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Under R/C support on towerhobbies.com it says that they cannot give direct help on r/c products... Should I just buy it? Is there a good chance it will fit?

[RickE]

I personally would first run the airboat as-is, then once you've had it for awhile there'll likely be reviews of the airboat on some forums like this one, and maybe a full review in R/C Boat Modeler Magazine. I'm sure other folks will want to try the O.S. on the hull, and you can learn by their experience first, then know for sure that the .46 will easily mount on your airboat.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

Why arent there any web pages for my boat, the aquatech airboat? is it a new boat or is it not popular?

[SwampBuggy01]

Hey, do you think there is anyway to get my boat to 50+ mph with only spending 150.00 or under?

[RickE]

Your boat is lightly based on a plastic-hulled airboat sold by Tower a few years ago. There used to be an airboat website; but I've yet to recover it for you-stay tuned. As for the 50+mph; you're getting into the range where you'd spend either cubic dollars or do a lot of intense tinkering to reach those speeds. You might want to first run/learn the stock airboat, then advance it's performance as you gain knowledge of it's abilities. I'll conyinue to look for info on nitro-powered airboats.

RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

i got a kyosho nitro viper with a GT-16 engine, i got about $60, i will probably get more, but im wondering if there are any little things i could do to speed it up, and also can i fit a bigger engine in it, cause i haven't found any articles about that on it.thanks

[SwampBuggy01]

Hey, raider how do you like your nitro viper gt? my friend is getting one and wants to know if it is a good boat. He also wants to know if it is fast, and the approx. mph.

[RaiderFootbal27]

its pretty fast for its price, but there are some quirks that u need to fix, i don't know how fast but its around 30 mph. tell him to buy like 4 of those water proof bags for the receiver, battery, servos, i found out the hard way, by having the turning servo short out, and all the boat did was go in circles, tell him to water proof everything in radio box, water seems to find its ways in there, other than that, the boat is pretty cool, or on the other hand just tell him to put the receive and battery box in a latex glove.

[SwampBuggy01]

Hey RickE, Can you tell me what I would need to do to my boat to make it go 50 mph for future reference??? Would I need a new engine? Any new high performance parts???? Thanks!

[RickE]

A slightly higher content nitro fuel (no higher than 30%) and trying different sized propellers would be a good start, after that you might go with the before-mentioned O.S. engine. I don't know the size of the prop used on the airboat, but it should be stamped on it somewhere-try a size smaller and bigger and see if it helps.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

How can I find out if that os .46 engine will fit? it is made for airplanes, but my boat is basically an airplane on water. Tower cannot help, so what do I do?

[RickE]

I'd suggest waiting until a few of these airboats get in the hands of boaters-after that, I believe you'll quickly findout if the O.S. will work on the hull. Also, R/C Boat Modeler Magazine will likely review it soon.

RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

these airboats, do they turn over a lot, if there is just a little bit of waves, its not the ocean but its a pond, and then wing makes some waves, cause im thinking of getting one of these, and i need to know whether it is safe on my pond

[RickE]

Most airboats prefer smooth water, but they aren't prone to tipping over much due to the fact they tend to slide abit as they turn. The new Tower airboat looks to have a kind of split-hull design, so it might take slightly rougher water conditions better.

RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

how would u make a chicken stick for a boat proppeler, a regular deep vee, thanks

[RickE]

A chicken stick is designed for airplane engine props only, as R/C inboard/outboard boat props are far too small to handstart via the prop. It would be all but impossible to spin a little boat prop fast enough with the 'stick, so that's why recoil-equipped engines, belt starters and O/B motor cone starters are required for nitro/gas R/C boats. The chicken stick is only for boats using airplane-propped engines.


RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

but i can hook the chicken stick to a drill, and then it would be fast enough, so how would i make one like that

[RickE]

You're missing the point-a chicken stick is just-a stick of wood to substitute your finger while cranking an airplane engine's BIG propeller. You hold the stick in your hand, contact the prop and spin the prop with the stick to fireup the engine.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

What do I do if my boat dies in the middle of the lake??

[RaiderFootbal27]

u wait for it to blow to shore, or u swim for it

anyway...ricke, see my pull starter keeps breaking, and i don't have enough money to buy a lot of them, so im wondering if there is a way to start up the engine from the prop, like some kind of an extension for the drill, and im just asking u if u know any design that would work. thanks

[RickE]

Nothing that spins the prop itself. There's just no way to connect anything to the propeller that won't either break the prop or snap the driveshaft or cable.

RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

what about like a fork thing, when the prop starts spinning, it should slide off, that could work

[RickE]

You could try it, but again the likely result will be a broken prop, especially if your talking about a boat with a plastic propeller. One alternative goes like this: if your boat's engine has a grooved slot built into the area where the engine comes together with the driveshaft, a starter belt can be installed-but that means buying a 12-volt starter like the ones used on R/C airplanes to spin the belt itself.

Another glitch with using a drill is that without a clutch setup the drill won't disengage quickly enough if the boat did start-and again the prop would likely break.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

RickE, is this the only thing that can be done, wait for the boat to blow to shore or go swim out and get it? Raider I would appreciate it if you could make your own topic and talk there and not on my topic. Thanks

[RickE]

No problem.

RickE

[SwampBuggy01]

RickE I asked you how you get your boat to shore if it dies out in the middle.

[RickE]

The best way I've seen is to get a kid's fishing rod and reel (like a Snoopy rod) and simply tie a tennis ball to the end of the line. Wrap the line around the ball so it crosses-over itself and locks the fishing line to the ball's surface, and you're ready to capture your dead boat. This setup will cast a long way, so pitch the ball over your boat, reel it in til it catches on the hull and reel in the whole thing to shore. it'll take a bit of practice to get good at doing this, but it'll work on most all R/C boats and water conditions.

RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

hey ricke, for the 12 volt starter u mentioned, do i install it in the boat, or do i just put the belt on, cause my engine does have a groove, hold it and start, but im wondering, after the engine starts how do i take off the belt?

[RickE]

You hold the starter in your hand. It has a groove as well, and the belt stays on the boat after you start it. This is the normal way most racing nitro boat are started, and the belt can be twisted into a loop to keep it away from the driveline.

RickE

[RaiderFootbal27]

ok, im probably going to get that, thanks, just one question, how would i know what belt i need?

[RickE]

Punch on the Tower Hobbies website and type in starter belts-the Sullivan 17-inch belt should be right, plus it fits their starters as well.

RickE

[SKYNFAN]

Hello, I am usually over on the cars/trucks nitro boards, but just finished reading this board, as I am pondering a "boat". Is there any updated info on this particular boat? It looks like if I wanted to get into nitro boating, this might be a less expensive way to go than a 150.00 tunnel hull with a 250.00 engine + running hardware. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Karl

[xemiterx]

Hi,

I've had the Aquacraft Air Force airboat for a few weeks and have taken it out twice. I purchased the ARR version from Tower and attached an O.S. .46FX. I sold my other airboat to a friend after getting this new one. My old one was the Flitecraft Miss Outlaw with an O.S. .40FP.

The boats are very similar in length, width, motor mount and rudder. A major difference is that the Flitecraft was ABS and the Aquacraft is fiberglass. Also, the designs of the bottom of the boats vary greatly.

After attaching the .46FX I noticed that a 12" prop would barely clear the deck and slam directly into the throttle cable which runs along the center of the deck and under the motor. I replaced the stock nylon throttle cable with a flex cable and routed it along the side instead of directly under the motor. That solved the clearance issue and made the throttle cable a lot smoother. Although, I have since switched to an 11" prop.

The first run was a big disappointment with the turning radius at full rudder. I adjusted the rudder mount down as much as the pushrod would allow. That was a big improvement, but the turning radius is still too large at full rudder. The Flitecraft can do much tighter turns than the Aquacraft.

The Aquacraft rides a lot smoother in the water than the Flitecraft does. Both in calm and choppy water the Aquacraft is more stable. This difference alone makes me prefer the Aquacraft.

I managed to flip the Aquacraft upside down three times. The first time was because of a collision with the Flitecraft (darn steering response...). The only damage was a broken prop on the Flitecraft and a few scratches on the Aquacraft. The other two times was due to windy conditions.

The stock radio box lid is fine for water splashing around but leaks badly when the boat is upside down in the water. The only thing that saved the radio gear from getting wet was retrieving the boat *quickly* and keeping it upside down until all the water leaked back out.

I use a raft for retrieval.

I start my engine with an electric starter from Tower. In the past, when my 12V battery died, I have used my fingers (not recommended).

The speed of the .46FX on the new boat is just barely faster than the .40FP on the old boat. The .40FP is, however, running a header and the .46FX is running the stock muffler. My best guess is 30 to 40 MPH. I expect an improvement from the .46FX when I attach a header and tuned pipe.

If you have any other questions about either of these boats post a reply or email me.

Regards,
Robert