# R/C boats in the midwest



## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

Although my lake is hard right now I just purchased a used nitro burning R/C boat and wondered if there is anyone else in the northwest indiana or s.w. michigan area that may be able to give me some advice on getting the boat set up and maybe get together next year for some racing Gary


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## shintastrife (Apr 26, 2009)

im no where hear you but if you had a bit tub that the boat would fit in. i would say set it in there and let idle and and kind of hold it and give it gas and just to run it a bit so it does not gum up on you. i race cars not boats. but every one has told me its about the same.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

I am not new to the r/c nitro stuff I have had a couple of planes (crashed) and another nitro V hull for 20 yrs, a warhead evo, and rt-x27 but this is my first tunnel hull and I have never met anyone else with a boat, I just thought theres got to be someone around with them. R/C stuff is meant for competition and gets boring by yourself Gary


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## Mike Clark (Apr 28, 2007)

hunternaf said:


> I am not new to the r/c nitro stuff I have had a couple of planes (crashed) and another nitro V hull for 20 yrs, a warhead evo, and rt-x27 but this is my first tunnel hull and I have never met anyone else with a boat, I just thought theres got to be someone around with them. R/C stuff is meant for competition and gets boring by yourself Gary


How far are you from Muncie? The Home of the AMA they have car, plane & boat groups, check em out.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

muncie is about 160 miles from me, might be a long weekend trip Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

I'm in SW Michigan, Kalamazoo to be exact. How can I help you?
I've raced nitro and am now into gas boats with more than a decade of experience in them.
Sorry, I don't hit this site too often but I thought that I'd pop in here to see what's up.
I was in the Gary area for 3 days last September, Hobart, for the Indy Masters race. It's held right in the middle of the city.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

keep looking at the st. joseph river still flowing through south bend and itching to try out the new boat, but I reached out too far last spring and rolled my canoe in hudson lake when the water temp was about 43 degrees and do not want to repeat that experience again. I had found a good thread on r/c universe about initial set up and had bought a tower hobby 2.4ghz radio for my rt-x with a spare rx module, and I have several spare props from my deep v prather (both K&B 3.5s) so now all I will be needing is help identifying the hull http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140365761352&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT if the link does not work it should be item # 140365761352 Thanks Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

That was you? I just replied to that thread!
Hi, Ron Olson here. I got tired of using my real name on all of the forums sites that I'm on.
I only found out about this site from 2 people, Butch Beebe who works part-time at a LHS, Extreme Hobbies and John DeMeester who owns Battlefront Gaming and RC who has his business right next to the lake where our club runs our boats.
Small world huh?


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

Hi ron this is a good site also, I am about 105 miles from you per your map on the other site where you were discussing setting up a lake for racing, do you guys have the guest memberships at your club, I read on one of the sanctioning body sites about the guest memberships, I have a lot of interest and cannot devote every other weekend to boats (on call every other weekend and need to be within 1 hour of all my patients). I would love to come up just to play and pick more knowledgeable brains, I do not have a superego that thinks I can be competitive without a learning curve Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

I think that the guest memberships that you're typing about only deals with if you're already a member of one sanctioning body and wish to run in another, i.e., an IMPBA member wanting to race in a NAMBA event.
I work a LOT of 6 and 7 day weeks myself so every time I get a Saturday or weekend off, I'm hitting water somewhere!
this Internet thing is the best thing that ever happened to me as far as upping my learning curve as far as this RC stuff goes. Don't be afraid to ask questions as most people are more than willing to help anyone with the same interest as them.
We were supposed to have a Fun Run this year in the Valparaiso/Hobart area but the guy that who was going to host it moved to Texas for a job.
I can understand your situation though. Our club lake would be easy for you to get to if you ever decide to roll up this way. You can hit I-196 which runs up along the Lake Michigan shore to Grandville. The lake is maybe 3/8 mile east of the highway.
I'm no expert by far in this hobby/sport as when I get around some people I feel like the Village Idiot. Most of what I know is from learning on the RC boat forum sites or trial and error.
The Dumas that you bought can be a great little starter boat as I got into nitro OB tunnels when I got back into boats again. You learn a lot about what does what when you tweak things here and there.
We do have a few brains in the club. IMPBA President Kevin Sheren and his wife, Walt Radzinski who has a house full of boats and is learning a lot quickly, Tom Borisch, owner of Class One RC Model Boats and a few others who hit the racing circuits. Some are new boaters and some just want other people to run with and aren't interesting in racing.
Seeing how the RC car track is next door, we get a lot of the racers from there walking over to the lake to check things out.
In Hobart, there is a great deal of interest since the Indy Masters race. The Chief of Police and the Mayor are both building boats for this year's race. They may have a place to run just outside of town.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

spoke (emailed) to the pres of the hobart group and they do have a lake for the year but suggested joining one of the insurance groups and has not gotten back to me on the guest stuff, I also run in local mud bogs, camping, grandchildren, and fishing, along with some 1/8th scale nitro monster trucks I would like to try racing, and that airplane I would like to get figured out, the helicopter is fun but mostly indoor or calm day toy, and then my better halfs plans, the 10.00 guest charge would just seem like a better investment than paying 60.00 for the year and only making it to the water once or twice Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

You might want to read my previous posting again but here goes anyway. The $10.00 that you're thinkning of is an extra charge when you're a member of one sanctioning body and wish to race in another sanctioning body's event.
Let's say that you join the IMPBA, that's $60.00 a year after January first. OK, now there's a NAMBA sanctioned race nearby and you want to run in that one. You'll pay your normal entry fee for how many boats you want to race then another $10.00 on top of that because your not a NAMBA member but it beats having to pay the full amount for a NAMBA membership unless you race in their races more than what it would cost you to join them in the first place.
I've been paying my IMPBA membership for years but haven't raced in an IMPBA event since 2006 I think.I still need it to run at our club pond so that I've got the $3,000,000.00 in liability insurance covering my butt just in case something does happen and it was required by the company that we lease the property and lake from as it saves their butt also from any nasty lawsuits. NAMBA covers you wherever you run, race or play. I think that the IMPBA insurance is now the same way. Get stupid and run into some kid in the water and you'd be glad that you have it. I'm not saying that it could happen to you but it has happened and I know you're smart enough not to pull a stunt like that. I just use that as something that we throw at people as a "for instance", you get the idea though, just like homeowners and car insurance.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

*impba or namba*

you mention the two groups then state you have not raced in impba since 2006 but keep up with your membership you use the club pond, are there namba events in this area that you have run in and would that qualify for running at the club, I will probably join the organization that covers the hobart lake since it is only about 50 miles from me and my wifes mother and brothers live there so I would probably get there more often Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

There is only one NAMBA sanctioned club that I know of in Michigan and they're electric only so I've never raced in their events.
The Hobart race is IMPBA sanctioned.
A little heads-up on the Hobart race though. They take entries early in the year and limit the number of entries for each class. This year they plan on limiting it to only 12 boats per class. Most classes will fill up quickly, literally within days. Last year they gave away over $14,000.00 (!) in prizes and raffle items. I made out pretty well including a card of glow plugs, a gallon of 45% nitro, 2 ABC props of my choice and a .67 Jaguar outrigger hydro, the big prize of the event.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

*races*

I only run 15% nitro with 18% oil so even if my setup was great I wouldn't stand a chance, I am not thinking I would be competitive in a sancioned race but would like to run with some other boats at some time, it gets boring with only one boat in the water and no way to tell if you have the setup on the ragged edge getting the most out of what you have


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## Duke Bradshaw (Dec 27, 2006)

I don't know if you guys are interested but I will be running some boat races at my place.
Sounds like they might be Electric and Nitro but I can tell you the Electric boats are bad fast! Turn key, high quality boats. I will be selling them and running raceses, like I said very fast boats too!

If interested you can pm me.

Duke Bradshaw
Proscale R/C Raceplex
4405 E. Sternberg Rd
Fruitport, MI 49415


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

Most turn-key boats aren't competitive in sanctioned racing events. The only exception is in the RTR class.
The Hobart race is the weekend after Labor Day this year and I've already gotten my entries in. I'll be running in the .21 outrigger hydro class and gas Cat. My son is running in gas mono. The site is very easy to find, use take the truck route in and it dead-ends right at the lake. Spectators are very welcome and they'll have bleachers set up. It was cool last year as we seemed to distract the kids in school so some teachers brought their classes down to see what all the noise was about.


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

Don't forget about the race in Hobart, it's a month away!
I had a little change of plans. My .12 'rigger han't seen water yet so I scratched that one. The needed more entries for the gas Cat class so seeing how I have 2 of those, my son is going to race the other one. If you come in on Sunday, the racing gets over with early but they have a HUGE raffle. I spent $50.00 on tickets and got my money's worth including the biggest prize the they gave away to ticket buyers. Class winners also get a bunch of goodies besides a trophy.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

*hey there*

neither of my boats have hit the water this year, I started racing ec trucks this year and just have not had time to play with them, my inlaws live in hobart and talk of the race so I will probably be going to watch Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

Great, look me up! I just got a new enclosed Haulmark 5' x 8' black V-nosed trailer for hauling the toys in so that'll narrow down your search for finding me. You should see these boats sitting on the tables or in the trailer.


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

Come on down Saturday as that's probably going to be the best one. I've seen the line-up of racers and some of the best in the US, Canada and even France are showing up. At 8:00PM Saturday is a luau put on by the City of Hobart, $8.00 to eat for non-racers with pulled pork, broasted chicken, macaroni salad, iced tea, lemonade plus more food. A lot of us are going to really get into it as I'm going to light up my trailer and canopy, crank the stereo up with Hawaiian music, throw up some Tiki torches and dress up. I think that I'm going to pass on the grass skirt though.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

Thanks for the reminder I will be racing my Blitz and Losi xxx-nt on sat but will head that way as soon as racing is over, are the races in hobart on sat or sunday


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

You missed some great racing if you didn't show up. The event started on Friday and ended Sunday but I went down on Thursday to get a spot to put the trailer and canopy.
My week wasn't so hot racing-wise, the Lazer 45 was plagued with radio problems so we withdrew it. The Cat's did better though.
Yes, that's me in most of the shots.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

I am very sorry I missed it this year hope you had a great time, my boats are still sitting where they were in feb, deer season opens soon so the rc stuff gets stowed till next year Gary


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## Mr. Obvious (May 12, 2007)

Try it again next year then, it's going to be on the same weekend.
I'm already building boats for next year. I picked up my JAE gas 'rigger at the race as I sent it to Indiana to have someone build it for me (I can't glue sawdust together!) then sent it to Ohio to get it ready for paint but the guy dropped it off for me to drill mounting holes before final paint. I sold my Lazer 45 there but have an extra mono hull sitting in the basement that will get a good going through this winter.


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

Some cool video posted in a rc video contest and I have one but it is a short coarse truck race at Granger Off Road Raceway, before my race got posted I had voted on a 1/8 hydro that blew over landing on the sponsons and kept going anyway I would appreciate your vote and you can vote for 1 video each day until 11-9-10 http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/48986/voteable_entries/9983441 Thanks Gary


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## hunternaf (Jun 10, 2009)

last night of voting and I am up to 18th any and all last minute votes would be appreciated at http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/48986/voteable_entries/9983441?ogn=facebook


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