RC Boats for Christmas

[CSR_Admin]

H Everyone, I am very excited to announce we'll now be carrying RC Boats & Accessories. RC has been a fun hobby of mine pretty much my whole life. The climate isn't great for owning a hobby store, but our regular business is big enough that I can slide in some hobby stuff! So I am starting with boats since it will be a great thing to offer all of our boating customers.

If you have questions, please ask away. I think these boats are the coolest thing, and I want to make sure you all might find the same fun in them that I do.

The brands we'll focus on are Pro Boat for the boats, and Spektrum for the batts. Here is why. Pro Boats offers a full lineup from tiny little jet boats for the kids to run in the pool, up to a 48" Gas Skater. And everything in between. Speeds are from 15MPH for the smallest to over 80MPH for their fastest electric boat. So they really have something for everyone. And again, these are all hobby grade. That means parts are interchangeable, replaceable, upgradeable, and repairable.

The Spektrum batteries are what sold me though. Lipo batts and brushless motors have pretty well taken over the RC world. Lipo batts can be finicky. The biggest problem with them is that if you don't store them at a "Storage voltage" they can go bad in pretty short order. Batts are very expensive, so this is a problem. The new Smart Spektrum lipos have some brains, and they will actually go into a storage mode after 72 hours, so they basically can live their full life without going bad prematurely. Real easy.

I picked out the Sonicwake for myself. This boat goes 60MPH out of the box. My favorite part is that it's "Self righting". So if it flips, it will turn itself back over and be fine. I'll run this behind the big boat and jump my wake, or play with it on choppy days.

They have a really cool tug boat too. If I kept my boat in a marina I'd sit on the back deck with a beer and putz around with this one. It has fire monitors on it too!

If you need something for a kid check out the 12" Jet Jam. It's pretty fast, and is a jet boat so pretty safe too. Great in a pool.

These boats are really easy, high quality, fun and durable. Here is the list to all of them that we have. https://www.boemarine.com/hobby.html

 

[spikedaddy99]

Pretty cool Jim. We had a kid playing with one of those Sonicwake boats at an anchorage last summer. Pretty cool until he hit some lady!

 

[Pirate Lady]

Friend had one, somehow it got out of range, we watched it keep going off into the distance. Guess its on a beach in France by now. Will check it out.

 

[JHornsby3]

Crap on a cracker! Dad was looking at them today, locally.

So my burning question. Can I bind to my Spektrum DX8e trans or do I have to get yet another transmitter? I already have 5 planes with a jet on the way. (please don't tell the wife. She thinks if I put two in a room together, they multiply)

 

[firecadet613]

Crap on a cracker! Dad was looking at them today, locally.

So my burning question. Can I bind to my Spektrum DX8e trans or do I have to get yet another transmitter? I already have 5 planes with a jet on the way. (please don't tell the wife. She thinks if I put two in a room together, they multiply)

@JHornsby3 we're going to need a separate thread about these planes (and jet), please . Sounds like a fun way to burn some cash.

 

[Sundancer]

Crap on a cracker! Dad was looking at them today, locally.

So my burning question. Can I bind to my Spektrum DX8e trans or do I have to get yet another transmitter? I already have 5 planes with a jet on the way. (please don't tell the wife. She thinks if I put two in a room together, they multiply)

Only 5 plus a jet on the way? Or is that flyable and not including kits on the shelf? I've never counted mine and I don't think I want to know! It keeps me busy and my mind and thumbs coordinated!

 

[CSR_Admin]

Crap on a cracker! Dad was looking at them today, locally.

So my burning question. Can I bind to my Spektrum DX8e trans or do I have to get yet another transmitter? I already have 5 planes with a jet on the way. (please don't tell the wife. She thinks if I put two in a room together, they multiply)

They have various types of modulation. DSMX and some others. So not everything is bindable, but some is. All of these come with Spektrum radios anyway, and they are pistol grip so more suitable for surface. The sonicwake boat I got has a Spektrum receiver but I could not bind my Spektrum radio with it, had to use the included one.

I love planes too. Have couple on display at our shop. I can get eflite, hangar9 and some others. Having this new hobby wholesale account is dangerous lol

 

[JHornsby3]

Only 5 plus a jet on the way? Or is that flyable and not including kits on the shelf? I've never counted mine and I don't think I want to know! It keeps me busy and my mind and thumbs coordinated!

When I was a level 2 rocketeer, I had 12 flyable rockets. About 60 or more in kits. I flew my complex two stage more than anything. it was one of those "you can't do that" things. But a K or L motor to a J would put me about 10k agl on the booster and the sustainer at apogee would be right around 20k to 24k agl. And that was about $800 just in motors and another $150 or so in other stuff. All for about 10 seconds of up. I did fly on some experimental motors that had a burn rate of around .3 seconds. It didn't really "burn" but more explode in a since.

Airplanes were always my fathers thing growing up. I was more into the cars. Dad would go to Japan for work, with a suitcase full of Jack. He would bring home some pretty expensive cars put out by Team Associated years before they could be had here. I have had a fun life of toys. As for the current hangar. I'm spending boat money on RC stuff to keep an old man happy. His health has been going down hill for a few years now. And his doctors don't think he will be around too much longer. So keeping him happy and his mind working is the biggest thing right now.

 

[CSR_Admin]

Airplanes were always my fathers thing growing up. I was more into the cars. Dad would go to Japan for work, with a suitcase full of Jack. He would bring home some pretty expensive cars put out by Team Associated years before they could be had here. I have had a fun life of toys. As for the current hangar. I'm spending boat money on RC stuff to keep an old man happy. His health has been going down hill for a few years now. And his doctors don't think he will be around too much longer. So keeping him happy and his mind working is the biggest thing right now.

When I was a kid the cat's ass was an Associated RC-10. I started out with a Frog, and then I got an RC10. The highlight of my youth. I still remember building it. The modern RC car still uses the same general geometry and layout. And Tamiya started making Frogs and all those old cars again.

 

[Tacoma290]

I still have my RC-10. I think of all the newspapers I had to deliver for just the bearing kits alone, and I now have a tough time letting it go...

 

[swaterhouse]

When I was a kid the cat's ass was an Associated RC-10. I started out with a Frog, and then I got an RC10. The highlight of my youth. I still remember building it. The modern RC car still uses the same general geometry and layout. And Tamiya started making Frogs and all those old cars again.

I also started with a Frog as a kid but went the Kyosho 4wd route after that. I still had all my original cars up until about 5 years ago and finally parted ways with them.

In early 2000's I started on-road carpet racing with an Associated TC3, then stopped for a while and got back in hard for several years with tons of different brands in about 4 different classes.

We also had r/c boats, one is a Dumas 36" sailboat we have had since the 80's and still works. We also have a 56" weed wacker powered "offshore" racer. This was before they started making gas engines that you could buy for r/c boats, we literally went to the hardware store and bought a gas weed wacker, took it apart and made up mounting brackets for it. That thing is a beast and we had it running again last year after 15+ years of sitting.

Fun times.

 

[bobeast]

Find some models of Sea Ray boats and I'm all over that.

 

[JHornsby3]

When I was a kid the cat's ass was an Associated RC-10. I started out with a Frog, and then I got an RC10. The highlight of my youth. I still remember building it. The modern RC car still uses the same general geometry and layout. And Tamiya started making Frogs and all those old cars again.

Dad got some of the Tamiya stuff he picked up too. Again before it was released into the US. Wish it was still around. Had a break in around 1989 and they took it all. Cars, planes and a couple boats. Dad lost interest in the cars and only dabbled with a few planes.

 

[b_arrington]

When I was a kid the cat's ass was an Associated RC-10. I started out with a Frog, and then I got an RC10. The highlight of my youth. I still remember building it. The modern RC car still uses the same general geometry and layout. And Tamiya started making Frogs and all those old cars again.

I did the same thing. First had an RX sail boat. Bought a Frog off my friend, then upgraded to an RC-10. I spend a lot of allowance and work money on upgrades and motors and had a great time doing it. I learned a lot about mechanics and electrical stuff from my RC stuff.

I tried to get into planes and built a sail plane when I was 16 or so. Took 3-4 months of work, and I was so proud of all the effort I put into it. I took it out with my dad and older brother. On the second launch my brother took the controls and promptly crashed it, doing major structural damage. It never flew again. After that I lost my appetite for RC planes.

 

[JHornsby3]

On the second launch my brother took the controls and promptly crashed it, doing major structural damage. It never flew again. After that I lost my appetite for RC planes.

Funny thing. We have one single large fir tree in the back yard. Other than the 50 acers of Christmas trees. But, every plane I get, dad wants to fly it. And every plane has ended up in that lone fir tree. Same with drones or helos. And dad used to fly in competitions and win.

 

[Jeremygavin]

I raced RC cars on the cape for many years before real cars and girls got more interesting. My first real RC car was a Kyosho buggy (I don't remember the model now) that I had cobbled together and won many races with against the "high end" RC-10s that I couldn't afford to buy. Back in those days it was mostly about who could not break their car before the end of the race and more importantly who could get their batteries to last the longest. I spent my time and money keeping the old buggy together and buying the best batteries and motors I could. Eventually I put together enough money to buy an RC-10t truck and that truck was a beast. It was so much easier to win races with it than the old buggies. I raced that for about 3 years before I lost interest.
I still have the RC-10t and a few years ago I got a LipO battery, new speed controller and brushless motor for it. It will pull wheelies it has so much power and will run for about 30min on a charge. First time I ran it I imagined what I could have done with this kind of power and duration back in my racing days. It is a whole different ball game with the battery and motor technology our there today.
I like the idea of an RC boat to run off the back of the boat while at anchor. Maybe a good Christmas gift idea to give to my wife.

 

[GnrlPatton]

I've got a 1/8 ProBoat Gas Hydro (Formula) and 2 1/12 Nitro Hydros, they are fun (one Miss Bud, the other Miss Elam). The big one (45" long) is a handful, and the nitros are temperamental to get dialed in, so I've been looking for something smaller that I can have fun with, looks like these may fit that bill.

I've also been wanting to get into RC planes, I've built a few foamy kits from Dave Powers and recently Flite Test, but haven't yet gotten the nerve to get them in the air.

 

[ocgrant]

Oh man you guys made me get mine out of the closet and play with it today… still works I thought the lifo batts would be shit but they were fine. Scared the shit out of the turtle in the pond behind my house

 

[Espos4]

When I was a kid the cat's ass was an Associated RC-10. I started out with a Frog, and then I got an RC10. The highlight of my youth. I still remember building it. The modern RC car still uses the same general geometry and layout. And Tamiya started making Frogs and all those old cars again.

I started out with The Hornet.
I still have my 1984 version as well as another one my son got around 2012.
There’s a Fox too in the basement as well.

My buddy and I kept adding NiCad cells to our 6v packs. We had 8.4 and 9.6v versions and a 360 Gold motor. Very fast car for its time.

 

[mnm99]

I had a Sonicwake. Fast right out of the box, ripped with a nice rooster tail and self rights if you flip it over. Fast enough right out of the box. Just had to clean it real good after use in salt water.