ER

Interested in building an indoor rc boat pond for racing. Thinking about 80x30 and 1 foot deep. Plan on cinder block walls and Lowes pond liner. Heard AMB system and transponders are waterproof for lap scoring. Any ideas / help with this, classes of boats (thinking about 11-15 inch class deep fee; 11-15 inch hydroplane class).

ER

Darn word predictor, I meant deep Vee class and hydrofoil class. All online videos shows boat racing in lakes, ponds, YMCA pools, but no private indoor ponds. I'm in TN and think this type of rc will be a big hit, especially when you have even equipment instead of special tires, setup sheets, and its inexpensive to get into.

Johnnysplits

iTrader: (1)

That's an awesome idea...wish I had something like that by me!!! The only thing that I'm not digging is the boat size. If it were me, I would do 29" to 41" boats to cover the majority of what's out there in electrics. 11" to 15" is too toy-like for me. The other thing is maybe expand your track plan to 100'x30'.

ER

Thanks for the response. Just worried about boats being too fast for pond size. I want it to be fun,but not having to run boats at 1/2 throttle or being too expensive. I don't know anyone around here with an rc boat so cost to get into hobby will be a factor, but everyone likes to go fast. Looking at using foam pool floaties to make course; some friends have suggested using submersible pumps and hoses to create a "rapids section". We currently have an indoor rc track, but cannot rent these out for birthday parties due to cost and fragility of 1/10 th scale trucks, but we can rent out pond time with inexpensive, almost indestructible boats. Not much to break on these, don't need turn Marshall's, props are cheap.

roadrashracing2

I would skip the whole scoring system, most boat races are six laps, each person has a person counts, after six laps that's it, could change that, racing does not stop for anything, unless no boats are running. You could only run real little boats, I would say its really worth the time or energy. Go with little pro boats, the 9 inch ones.

ER

What size of pond would you recommend for 17" boats? And 25" boats? Not sure how fast they can eat up 60'-80' straightaway.

roadrashracing2

Big, people will not want to run brushed for long. I would just do an oval course. You would almost need a swimming pool.

Contact this member, http://www.rctech.net/forum/members/...com-69012.html. I think he belongs to a group that races inside.

Ron Olson

For something a little different you could set up a Sprint boat course! The boats have to run through a timed course and it can be changed easily so that it's not always the same. Check out You Tube for videos on how the big boys do it.

Larcor69

iTrader: (37)

I had an aquacraft mini thunder, with a 7 sub c cell pack would be almost to fast for the 32x16 pool, on and off the throttle 80x30 would be perfect for them aquacraft minis mine would actually ride on the prop, crazy fun

ER

Someone suggested the aquacraft mini mono. Those things look AWESOME and fast. We have the space to go 100' x 40'. Looking at using personal AMB transponders and a computer timed race to count laps ( all are waterproof). Other ideas are submersible pumps for a rapids section, foam pool noodles to make layout/chicane section, and kids birthday party pond rentals using house reef racers that seem pretty kid proof ( we'll supply 6 reef racers, tables, and tech person to charge batteries for the kids for about $150/ hr. 3 party rentals and the reef racers are paid for).

Johnnysplits

iTrader: (1)

Rent reef racers at $150/hr. ??

Ron Olson

The Reef Racers and Zig-Zag Racers are $80.00 at the street price. Those little boats are almost indestructable so there's not much in the way of maintenance.
I had to comapre prices between what you want and the cost of an hour of a 3-car rental at my LHS http://hobby-sports.com/partyguide.html . Here, in inexperienced hands of kids these would more likely break than the boats. Line your pool with pool noodles and that would reduce your costs even more.

Larcor69

iTrader: (37)

zig-zag. reef racers, not acceptable boat here, the mini mono and GP-1 would be a modified class for sure

Larcor69

iTrader: (37)

So Er, when is this awesome plan going to come together, I am lovin the idea, I have always wanted the same

c_ngarza

I'm doing this with a friend as another attraction to his RC car track..

Got a 12' X 24' ft pool liner, cinder blocks and a bunch of foam for guardrails and track barriers....

My question is what is the lowest depth of water these little 9 inch boats can run in?

The ones I will be using in specific are the Pro Boat Blackjack 9 mini boat on 2S lipos.. Gonna run different types of circuits and an oval occasionally... thats the beauty of the foam pieces. You can rearrange the track once it starts to get repetitive---some races, but mainly just for fun. But, I got 6 Blackjack 9's just to make sure they were all the same spec. (No excuses for losing lol)

Anyway, reason I ask about minimum depth is cause I may want to get rid of the cinder blocks and use a short and stout PVC frame for the hopes of the "water track" being somewhat portable. Also, less water depth = less pressure on the frame and easier to fill/empty.

I'm hoping they can be ran aggressively in 8-10 inches of water...


That idea about the underwater pump providing some "rapids" or just some kind of current sounds like an interesting deal to try.... I have an old, 30 gph turtle tank pump I could toss in there. I was thinking of angling the current so that when you hit the small "straight" (22ft) it pushes you into it kinda like a "booster" current so if you hit it right you can rocket through (also, if you hit it wrong--reverse effects haha)....

Anyway, this sounds like a pretty fun deal.

I'll make sure to post a vid when I get this going

WE have an event coming up on the 24 of this month so I'll be sure to post footage before then