Colin. Indeed welcome.

Just to add to Paul`s comments, we would want to know. . Do you have much internal room to fit STUFF, or is it full of wood..bracing and so on (I see it is a kit,???? but you never know)

i ask these questions as certain Mr T a while ago did much the same thing as you are attempting with an RAF rescue launch  his father made. Considerable surgery had to be performed inside as although the boat had been fitted out for a motor and batteries and there was not a lot of room to fit alternative equipment, and even then it ended up nose heavy, although I am happy to say at the end of the day the boat worked fine and just about got on to the plane.

New 2.4Gig r/c sets are now very reasonably priced, and something simple like a Planet T5 will be sufficient whilst providing 5 channels.

Windows can be filled in with a number of thin plastics or thin acrylic sheet, Without looking, I would imagine someone like Cornwall model boats (Just to name one supplier) will have all this sort of stuff in stock and a quick phone call will sort you out. A motor taking more than, say, 20A is likely to need some cooling for the speed controller…nothing too fancy, but a draught through the boat would be useful before you go blocking up all the windows!

Prop sizes depend on motor/battery combination, and this depends on the afore mentioned data being provided and your budget for machinery exotica. For instance; a 600 size motor, 8.4v Nimh battery and 35 or poss 40mm S two blade plastic prop will provide a reasonable performance, a 700 and 12V Nimh battery will make it fast, and a big fat 50 Amp brushless motor will make the lake look far too small…

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 16/09/2014 18:09:01

Edited By ashley needham on 16/09/2014 18:19:23

Edited By ashley needham on 16/09/2014 18:24:05

I gained a 29" rescue launch last year. The motor, while unknown (and I'm not about to dig it out to see if there is a label underneath it) is probably a 700 of some description, being 65mm long and having 3 poles. Running from a 7 cell 3700mAH NiMH pack and using a 32mm two blade prop it does go like stuff off a shovel, and gives good run times, depending on the mix of fast running and cruising. Not particularly light, it weighs just over 4.5 lb ready to go.

Control is via a Saturn 2.4GHz radio (thats what I have, most others would work just as well) and an Mtronics Marine Viper 25 (low cost, compact, easy setup, reliable). If worked within their limits, modern ESCs run cool anyway. Worked hard, its the motor that gets warm. The radio is mounted in the front, keeping the antennae as high as possible, with extension leads to the servo and ESC. The battery and ESC live close to each other, minimizing the length of battery lead. Similarly, the length of lead between the EC and motor is kept to the minimum.