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[Andy M]

Ha ha, you are right, thats definately cheaper.
We have had lots of rain here so not getting much chance to try my cruiser in open water yet, our local river is a bit high and fast for my tiny boat. I have been working on my other boats tho, rorqual is ready for radio gear and motor, suzie Q needs more paint and its radio etc fitted too. My blue/yellow speed boat has the proper motor in it now, bath testing suggests its going to be a wee rocket. Will update after I get a chance to try them.

[Andy M]

As I have already shown a picture of my yellow and blue £1 toy speedboat,  I thought I should update on it too, it had motor heating issues caused by using a 4.5 v motor with 7.4 lipo. It performed well, but not for long. I can now happily report that I have solved the issue by using the motor from the car that the radio gear came from. I had hoped to recycle a motor from something else, but its only 3 screws. I used same method of gearing as I used on cabin cruiser, to eliminate having to buy a coupling for 1.8mm propshaft to 2.1 motor shaft, if you can get them? I looked for a while. Anyway the gearing works perfectly. And the little speedboat now has even faster performance than a 4.5v motor on 7.4v, and for as long as bsttery lasts, without getting more than warm. Last motor heated up till hotglue motor mount was getting sticky. I 3d printed the rudder, for the green 3d printed hull but ended up using it on speedboat, I did wonder if it would be strong enough but its still there after catching a rock so hard it flipped the boat upside down,so I think it passed the test. The donor car I used for this was £27, and can go back to being a car in about 20mins. The car is wltoys A232. Four wheel drive,fully proportional and very fast as a car, its even  fast in a boat. My friend took video of the speedboat, so I might manage to get aome screenshots up soon.

[Andy M]

Here are some photos of speedboat with wltoys a232 car speed controller and 2x 500mah 7.4v lipos. The first motor I used didnt like more than a few seconds of full throttle, so it was swapped for the car motor shown, I used an old hs 80 servo for steering as it was in my box and didnt need to be removed from anything. The transformation was amazing, full throttle for ages with no sign of getting more than warm. The receiver/speed controller has proved to be small, reliable and with its motor, pretty fast in a boat. Very happy with results. The cars have gone up a bit since I got mine, but they stll seem good value for the money. The best fun I had with it as a car was at a skateboard park, which it survived well, only popping off a balljoint after numerous crashes. They flipped over from the smallest of stones though, as a boat, you tend not to get that. My setup is staying in the boat for now.

[Andy M]

For any of you that might fancy making a boat from a car, well, parts of it anyway, here is the wltoys a232, the motor is on other side from battery. I havent looked at prices recently, but I would recommend it, I dont think my boat is even stressing the motor in any way but its still quick. I may try a bigger boat for this setup. The 23 cm cabin cruiser has turned out good considering its a 7 or 8mm motor. But its no speed demon, which is good fun too, even if I have to chase it downstream.

[RST]

I was looking just out of interest on the bus on way to work this morning. About £85 seemed a regular price accross a dozen or so web sites, which left me a tad shocked.  At that price I personally wouldnt be stripping apart and butchering.  Each to their own though.

[Andy M]

I think we were extremely lucky to get them for £27. I only stripped it because I knew it could go back in at any time. I wouldnt even have one if they were 80 odd quid. I still have one complete car to use when I want.

[Andy M]

Hi, I feel I have to point out that I never butchered anything, the motor uses the pinion it had in the car, the car comes with spare sets of gears, of which I used one, on my propshaft. Everything else is unscrewed from car and can be put back exactly as before. Its like changing radio between aircraft, you are not damaging it. The motor is on a metal mount so it can be unscrewed easily. It turned out to be a brilliant little boat set up, so I am glad I experimented with it. I may change it back to a car, or might build a larger hull for the gear. It swaps out so easily. I feel another project coming on............

[Andy M]

I forgot to say that I used the same radio setup in a cheap crawler truck that had non proportional steering, I used a standard sized metal geared servo and the small motor that was in the truck already, I ran it for a while until I,made my indoor mini/beetle/capri race track, the gear went back in the original car for a while, then became a boat. More value for money than just being a car all the time. Its a well matched setup with rugby pitch range. Coped with the full size servo with no apparent problems.

[Andy M]

Update on the little cruiser, had it out for maiden voyage on the river, the river is still quite full and fast so I had to stick to the edges to make way up stream. It did well, probably 15 mins and still going strong. I also built a small harbour for it. Lol.

[Andy M]

Myself and 2 friends bought a toyabi T03 each last week, £28 gets you a nicely made boat, proper waterproofing measures that work, proportional servo and speed control/rx sealed with silicone around the wiring, watercooled motor, two batteries and charger and a nice transmitter. We had a lot of fun in our local river which was still in flood, these boats coped well andare fast. My friend's boat dived through a wave and wedged into rocks on the bottom, 2 and a half feet underwater, right in front of me. It stayed wedged for a long 15 seconds then worked loose and bobbed up downstream, the relief on my friends face when he realised he hadnt lost it. all three of our boats went underwater a few times. I had previously followed the well detailed instuctions on how to grease the propshaft using the supplied grease. Mine had no water, at all, I,had been under or upside down for a total of probably 30 seconds, so the hatch seal works. The instructions detail how to right the boat if you flip it over. And thankfully, it works. Awesome little boats at the price, they come with a spare prop and nyloc nut too. I ran my blue yellow speedboat alongside the other guys and mine wasnt that much slower, but my motor got hotter, time to try a cooling coil? I am happy with my blue yellow speedboat, considering the hull was a pound. The radio donor car cost me 27, these have since rocketed in price. In summary, the Toyabi T03 is an excellent little boat for the price, quality build and fast, very fast with tight turns if you want. 2 batteries make it well worth it.

[Andy M]

Toyabi T03

[Andy M]

I have wanted a heng long atlantic yacht for a long time but never bought one. Then, while looking online, I spotted the new 2.4 ghz version. I now have one, and I am very pleased with how it looks and goes. It is good as it is with a 2000 pack as supplied, I ended up trying a 4400mah li ion from a worklamp that had a dead led. I stripped out the charger from the light as well, so the battery has its own dedicated charger. This pack ran for ages, mostly flat out up and down the river, another set of cells from a 'dead' bosch drill battery proved to run ok after charging on a B6

[Andy M]

Forgot the picture

[Andy M]

I ran the Atlantic Yacht alongside my friend's Toyabi T03, pretty even speed, the little speedboat looked faster but the speeds were even. The brushed motors seemed to be getting pretty hot in the atlantic yacht, they have alloy heatsinks but they werent working too well. I added a PC fan, along with its own 11.1v 1000mah supply, this vastly improved the yemperature of the motors, barely warm now, plenty of space in the hull for both fan and battery , extra weight doesnt seem to make much difference but well worth cooling the motors.

[Andy M]

A short video of the 23cm cruiser  https://youtu.be/QQyOsjq-Y5k

[Andy M]

Here is a better video, the tiny boat coped well with the moving water, staying towards the edges to work upstream. https://youtu.be/SvTkY6avfMU

[Andy M]

After sitting on my shelf for months, I gave the 23cm cruiser a dust off then decided to fit windows in it. I still want to add some detailing, its pretty basic just now.

[Andy M]

Tried my little cruiser today, nothing happening so I tried charging it, still nothing, fitted a socket on the board to take my e cig cells, 2x 300mah, should be over an hour no problem. Anyway, tried it again, nothing, tried bridging the switch contacts.... It works, so I soldered the contacts together, battery unplugs to switch it off now. Success. Until I tried fitting my cabin back on, the e-cig cells are too big. I soldered a plug on the  smaller original cell and it still works so it was just the switch that was faulty.
 It all fits back together now. Sorted.