Everybody’s Scalin’ – Das Boat

Greeting folks and a Happy Friday to you!

There are several niches of the hobby that, while different, seem to naturally pair well with scaling. Drifting. Solid axle monster trucks. Construction equipment. Boating.

That last one is particularly interesting to me as of late. It’s pretty common to see boats on trailers at scale get-togethers. Many times, before a run starts they are towed around for show and photo-ops.

You know, I’ve tried about everything in the hobby at least one. Heck, I even had a brief phase where I was into airplanes and helis (it ended with several expensive crashes). I have never done boats. I’ve never even driven a friend’s!

I think the first and only time I ever drove an r/c boat was sometime in the early 90’s when I had a Micro Machines submarine that had the controller attached via a wire. My deep sea adventures were limited to the kitchen sink.

Anywho, my subdivision recently put in a decently sized retainer pond and I think that this summer may finally be the time for me to get wet. Poking my head around on-line, it seems that r/c boats are looking just as realistic as the surface vehicles these days. One problem though; I know absolutely nothing about them. I don’t even know where to start!

So, dear reader, that’s where I’d like you to come in. I’m looking for recommendations on a sharp looking vessel that’s fun to run in a small area of water (approximately 125′ long by 50′ wide). Also, my budget is around $200 at the high end. Less would be preferred. Yeah, yeah, the Traxxas Catamaran looks killer but I don’t feel like blowing that kind of change on a first boat when I’m not even sure if I’ll like what I’m doing!

I’m sure many of you know your stuff, so help a brother out, won’t you? Shoot me an e-mail with your first boat suggestions to doug at bigsquidrc.com.

I know I’m not the only scale crawling land-lubber whose never tried boating but has an interest in it, so if I get enough good responses I’ll post them up whenever I wind up making my purchase. I’m sure many of you that are in the same situation as me would find that info enlightening. I am constantly learning new things from the e-mails you all send, so I’m hoping you all can edu-ma-cate me in the ways of the water.

Hey, worst case scenario I’ll have something cool to display behind my TRX-4. Thank you!