Float flying and Boat Driving on the Willamette!
Posted on July 11, 2008 by aaronredbaron
Thursday July 10, 2008, Cedar Oak boat launch, West Linn Oregon. I have been going to this spot for years to play with my RC toys on the water. Since I moved home to Oregon, I have thoroughly enjoyed flying at my old spot once again. I have a Aquacraft Super Vee 27 electric boat that is really pretty impressive. It is designed to run on 12-14 NiXX cells, but I am running mine on 5s Li-Po packs. I run two 5s 3700 Flight Power batteries in parallel, so the model has 7400mAh of capacity on tap. I am running it with an oversized metal Prop, and it jumps clean out of the water when you hit the throttle. It will torque roll if you aren’t careful, but it is a boatload of fun. (ha ha, boatload, get it?)
My friend clocked it at 34 MPH wide open, which is about all the hull can handle. It is very stable and manageable at up to 3/4 throttle, but above that it is really insane and will catch and flip or toque roll without notice. If you jump a wake, it will backflip if you’re not careful to let off the throttle as it jumps, and it will torque roll in mid air if you hit the gas. I don’t recommend the setup I have as I have pushed the speed control and motor way beyond what they are rated for, but I have not had any problems.
The Great Planes Seawind is a fun little model that does well on the water and in the air. See my article on modifying the tip float to maximize performance. I had some fun flying for the camera, both stills and video, with Spencer Scott taking the honors of behind behind the lens. I flew a pretty aggressive flight for the the video camera, and called it a day.
