Hi Chris,

The 400 brushed motor is amazingly powerful it would get up and plane with no problem on 7.2volts 🙂

25mm prop does the job, all the cheap 2 function sets by Howes are fit for the task imho say £30

Regards Ray

PS have you looked at your WhatApp lately ?

Hi Chris,

Yes that’s just the job 🙂

The standard Sub C Nimh 7.2volt Buggy pack may be a bit too bulky maybe AA size cells would be a better size for an 18″ boat which is pretty small.

Regards Ray

Hi Chris,

I saw this thread and thought I would weigh in radio gear, might be a bit late now.

The Cheap

As Ray said you can get really cheap 4 channel sets from Howes and other for £40 up that are not branded and will do the job, the downside is that they are cheap in construction so don’t give the best feel in use, and in future you may struggle to buy extra receivers for other boats later if the supply dries up. Cheap and cheerful good starter option.

The Branded Cheap
If you go to a FlySky or Radiolink you might spend £60-70 but your getting a better build quality and a lot more sources of supply if you want more receivers later. Receivers are very cheap direct from China and the FlySky seems very popular with people only needing 4-6 channels like boaters and leaner pilots.

The More Flexible Option

Radio’s with a “multi-module” have been around for a while now, radiomaster and Jumper are two well known brands, multi-module is open source and uses a generic chip to talk a larger number of receivers (including FlySky and radio link) https://www.multi-module.org

These are usually in edgeTX radios though, which brings a level of complexity that would certainly be unwelcome for a beginner and probably bamboozling for the experienced modeller that just wants to plug in and go. The advantages are though they are hugely customisable, you can setup the model on the PC with the free companion software and backup all your model configs, clone them to new models etc. The channels can be easily mixed (differential throttle on multi-prop boats to mix in rudder input, so you slow the motor/prop on the inside of the turn), you can easily limit output as well to control rudder throw, set curves (less rudder movement in middle of stick and more extreme at the end of movement when slow speed manoeuvring). Lots power, at the cost of complexity.

Unusually though not at the cost of cost, the LCD screen models like the Radiomaster Pocket start about £60 and the colour screen models can be had for about £130 up depending which model and where.

The Bleeding Edge

Coming out of Drones is a newer protocol called ELRS, this uses a Lora based packet system to get long range, but for our purposes its open source and the receivers are cheap (<£30 for 8 channel, £15 for 4 channel) as well as available in number of shapes and sizes. Many edgeTx radios now come with this protocol built in, the radiomaster pocket at £60-70 is the cheapest.

The receivers have WiFi, so you can just connect to them from a PC or phone to set the channel limits, the failsafe etc, you don’t need the long range for boating but the telemetry is useful, most of the radiomaster receivers have battery voltage built in (for £15 you get WiFi setup and battery voltage monitoring!). You can get a BetaFPV receiver with 12 channels for <£30.

So after all that – I would suggest the leaner go with a FlySky because its cheap, but not toy level cheap and should be robust, nice to use and last them a long time time.

You certainly get a lot more for your money these days!

That’s the advantage of going for a more complex model, lots of memory for many models.

I’m currently squeezing a dual channel ESC and small receiver into one of those 686 tugboats.

I’ve not had any problems with the ‘cheapie’ 2.4 sets which I have used on my kit review models. As said above, they are maybe not the best option if you want to purchase extra receivers in the future. Fine as a ‘one off’ though.

My more upmarket sets are Futaba and  Spektrum and more recently Radiolink.

I think all of them are pretty reliable really. I have one boat which is now over 45 years old and still functions perfectly well on an ancient Futaba M Series TX ad RX with the former having a replacement steerwheel from an equally ancient Monza set when the Futaba steerwheel gave up the ghost!

Colin

Colin

A model 45 years old!

My Veron Trident is 63. Although it has been repainted twice with resealing some of the hull joins , had the motor changed, radio set changed.

Still working in the dogs paddling pool last year after changing the rudder gear.

Sounds a bit like “Triggers” broom in “Only Fools and Horses”

Tim

Hi Richard,

Yes I agree, but when you have the boat and radio as an item all be it a cheap set it’s much easier to sell £££

Having worked on a computer keyboard for 30 years the last I’m going to do is read the manual every time I set up a model 🙂

Keep life simple

Regards Ray

PS anybody wanting a boat & radio drop me a line 🙂

Sea Queen, Tiny Mite thames barge yacht, Sea Urchin, Osprey, Wild Duck, Eventide, Norfolk Wherry, Veronica tsb

I must have a clear out 🙂

Regards Ray