For the R/C boating guys, My Winter Project

[CheckmateFever]

Spent the winter putting this R/C cat together. It's a 37" FighterCat Daytona that is a scale version of a Mystic offshore race boat (Miss Gieco, Bud light and Citron race boats ect.). It's powered by a Leopard 4074 Brushless 1800KV motor with a Seaking 180 Amp electronic speed control that runs on Lipo (lithium polymer) batteries. The paint is Mopar Sublime Green with pearl purple, orange, and silver pinstripes. I did all the paint and body (hull) work, that was the longest part of the build. So far i've only run the boat with a 4S lipo setup, which is getting low 40's mph. If i go to 5S lipo, it would be around 50mph. Right out of the gate, with out any tuning or tweaking it handled like a slot car! I'm still testing props, on my second set of batteries i prop'd up an my motor/driveshaft collet and shaft itself didn't handle the load. Here's some pics/vid of this thing running!

Just starting the project:




Finished, ready to run..










And here is a couple Youtube videos of the boat up and running. This was it's maiden run, smaller prop for testing but it ran pretty good with it!

http://youtu.be/AmZuCCAWAJ0

http://youtu.be/s-yecFVHISg

http://youtu.be/CYt_ypxRCp0

 

[sim]

That's so cool, thanks!

 

[Ramifications]

Sick, I want one

 

[keith4216]

Thats a cool toy, on my list of things I'm gonna do with my son weather he likes it or not. lol Wife says I have a long list of things I want and use my son to get them.

 

[cturboaddict]

Thats a cool toy, on my list of things I'm gonna do with my son weather he likes it or not. lol Wife says I have a long list of things I want and use my son to get them.

Sounds like my wife!

 

[SippyRat]

hell yeah checkmatefever! you know me i love rc chit! you did a real nice job both on the hull and the rigging. i esp like the use of the traxxas waterproof rx box! the colors are sharp as well and will definitely make it easier to keep your eyes on on the pond. what is the c rating on your 5S lipo? will the esc handle the burst rate?

i did sell my 57" deep v enforcer but i still have my cat and will never let it go. you just can't beat how they handle like they're on rails! i've been stayin away from the rc forums so i wouldn't get the itch but man now i want to go play with my toys! but i better focus on my 1:1 scale boat for now lookin forward to more vids

 

[CheckmateFever]

Thanks fellas!! We're all boating nut's around here, big or small!!

Sippy, i'm running 2 2s lipo cells in series, thus creating 4s. This way instead of running just one big battery pack, i run 2 smaller cells in each of the sponsons, better balance. The lipo's i'm using are Turnigy 2s (7.4v) 5000mah 40-50C's, i really like them and they aren't stupid expensive. I don't have any 3s packs yet, but when i do i will try it on 5s (one 2s pack and one 3S pack). The Seaking ESC will handle up to 6s, but that would be at or just above what the 1800kv motor will handle. Yeah, the Traxxas waterproof reciever boxes are nice, and the new 2.4g radio systems are great becuase they are more reliable than the old AM/FM systems and don't require an exposed antenna!! I may be building a large gasser next year, a buddy of mine just got a gas hull and now i want one too lol, plus we have all access to that pond. I kinda miss my day's of running nitro, but the brushless electrics are so much more reliable and user freindly, so are the gasser's too.

 

[Jetmate]

That is cool. I like the sound it makes on the drive by vid!!!

 

[boatman4021]

I love it! What does it cost to get one like that up and running minus the paint work?

 

[john lamon]

Really cool, I love that R/C stuff, just can't afford another hobby or I'd be all over it, kinda regret backing out of that spartan deal, how did yours end up working anyway?

 

[Viper 1]

Really Nice

CheckmateFever You Did a Great Job on Your RC Cat...It Runs Real Sweet. Back in 1996 I was Manufacturing a complete line of Gas RC Boats and Motors under the Name of North American RC. We Built both Cats and Deep Vees and Sold them World Wide. In 1996 North American RC Broke 9 IMPA World Records in both the Straight away and the Oval in 5 different class's and in 1997 North American RC Broke 14 IMPA World Records in both the Straight away and the Oval in the same 5 different Classes..Record Speeds were from 51 MPH to 65MPH all done with 2 Intruder XS 47 inch Deep Vee boats and 5 Different North American Motors Ranging from 23cc to 35cc. Also in 1997 at a National IMPBA 2 day Event in Fort Myers, Florida We Moved My 47 inch Intruder XS with a Mag 3 up into the 90 F Mono Nitro Class and for the First Time Running a Gas Boat in the Nitro F Mono 90 Class, We Took 4 First Place Heats in the 2 day event, Out Running 11 Nitro F Mono 90 Boats at there Own Game. A Nice Article with Picture's of our Boats and I were in the RC Boating Magazines. Enjoy both your Checkmate and Your Nice RC Boat....Best Wishes Always Sammie Action Marine

 

[CheckmateFever]

I love it! What does it cost to get one like that up and running minus the paint work?

Boatman, i have somewhere between $600 and $700 into the boat roughly. I bought the hull from an R/C marine hobby dealer out of florida called FighterCat Racing. They sell the hull as the "Daytona". Another hobby outlet, Hobbyking.com, sells the exact same boat/hull as an ARTR (Almost Ready To Run) called the "Genesis" which is painted and finished to look like the Aqua-Mania race boat. They sell it for $218 bucks with a motor, all the hardware already attached, and the motor is mounted. You have to supply the ESC, radio/servo. With a decent radio and ESC you'd probably be into it about $450 all together. I wanted to build the boat my way from scratch, plus do all the paint work, that's why i went the bare hull route.

Really cool, I love that R/C stuff, just can't afford another hobby or I'd be all over it, kinda regret backing out of that spartan deal, how did yours end up working anyway?

John, i really like the Traxxas Spartan boat, it runs great at the lake and handles the lake chop with ease! It's not super fast on NIMH's, but fast enough to be fun at the lake and not to dangerous. I flipped it last season (driver error lol), it took on water and fried the origional Traxxas ESC. I sent it in under warranty and they replaced and upgraded the ESC and motor to the newer better quality Castle Creations electronics, free of charge!! Runs even better now! I have been running it on Lipo's at the pond, it's pretty quick, not quite as fast as the cat but close! If you ever get a chance to get one, i'm sure you'd enjoy it!

Viper1, Very cool man!! I love gassers, i might put one together next season. Back through the mid 90's i was an IMPBA member and sanctioned raced up here in NY. I ran all nitro, a bunch of different classes thru the years, .20 Hydro, .20 and .40 Tunnel, and for a little bit ran a .90 mono in F-mono class, just to name a few. Never had a gasser, we had a few guy's that ran them around here tho. Right around '96 or '97, our local club pond hosted the IMPBA Internationals in Horseheads NY, did you run up here by any chance?

 

[RNGRDVE]

very cool, love how quick that little thing takes off.

 

[ezstriper]

bad a$$ for sure...sounds like a turbine !!!!

 

[Viper 1]

Very Nice

CheckmateFever Thank You for the Kind Words...We were in Naples Florida and Florida is where we Raced our North American RC Boats. We Were to Busy Building these Ready to Run RC Boats to Leave the State of Florida. Each Boat that We Built I Personally Broke in the Motors and Set up every Boat at Our Private Lake and Verified Each Boats Top Speed with Our Top of the Line Stalker Radar Gun. All our Custom RC Boats had our Customers Name as Driver on there Boats and there Names were Engraved onto Each North American RC Motor that I Built for Them. We Included a Video with there Boat Running on our IMPBA Race Course and there Top Speed Recorded on our Stalker Radar Gun. Every Boat that we Built had to Run Between 51 to 53 MPH Guaranteed Before being Boxed up and Sent out to Our Customers with a North American Hat and T Shirt. North American RC was Run on the Same Business Policies that I Ran My Action Marine. Take Care CheckmateFever and have a Great Summer Running Your Boats...Always Sammie Action Marine

 

[jshepherd]

Damn you guys

I go too far on most hobbies but I have been looking at getting a lipo rc boat to replace my old nitro traxxas( don't even recall what model it is)

I found the miss geico from pro boat than saw the mystic 29 which looks to be an upgraded unit with the same basic 30" hull.

Is the pro boat a good option or " bang for the buck" ? I am afraid to even get on a rc forum because I know what will happen haha.

 

[CheckmateFever]

Damn you guys

I go too far on most hobbies but I have been looking at getting a lipo rc boat to replace my old nitro traxxas( don't even recall what model it is)

I found the miss geico from pro boat than saw the mystic 29 which looks to be an upgraded unit with the same basic 30" hull.

Is the pro boat a good option or " bang for the buck" ? I am afraid to even get on a rc forum because I know what will happen haha.

I'm on one fast electric R/C boat forums, http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/forum.php, there is a ton of info about the Proboat Miss Gieco and the Mystic cats with sub-forums devoted to just those particular boats. From what i've read the Mystic is a pretty good boat right out of the box, and probably a good lipo FE starter boat. I almost went that route myself, but i wanted a bigger hull, the Daytona/Genesis cat is 37". Kinda depends on where you are gonna be running the boat, small pond or big lake, the ProBoat Mystic would make a great pond runner.

 

[jshepherd]

I'm on one fast electric R/C boat forums, http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/forum.php, there is a ton of info about the Proboat Miss Gieco and the Mystic cats with sub-forums devoted to just those particular boats. From what i've read the Mystic is a pretty good boat right out of the box, and probably a good lipo FE starter boat. I almost went that route myself, but i wanted a bigger hull, the Daytona/Genesis cat is 37". Kinda depends on where you are gonna be running the boat, small pond or big lake, the ProBoat Mystic would make a great pond runner.

Thanks,I do have a pond in my backyard but I may not be able to use it much as it is fairly small. I planned on taking it with me boating in the Ohio River. Most of the time the river is pretty smooth.

 

[CheckmateFever]

Thanks,I do have a pond in my backyard but I may not be able to use it much as it is fairly small. I planned on taking it with me boating in the Ohio River. Most of the time the river is pretty smooth.

That's cool, a smaller cat like the Gieco or Mystic will like calm water for sure. I have a 37" Traxxas Spartan V-bottom that i run up to the lake, that boat handles the lake the chop really good, runs great on 4s Lipo and pretty good on 14-cell NIMH cells too.

 

[yellowfiero88]

The paint is Mopar Sublime Green with pearl purple, orange, and silver pinstripes.

Looks awesome Jason! You did a great job on the paint and body work

I am sure you have seen this on my facebook page but the mopar green ("sublime" or "get-em" green depending on manufacture) is one of my favorite greens. Wasted Income almost got that color if it wasn't for the fact I had already used it on one of my trucks