RC boats are more popular than ever before and for many great reasons. From the fit and finish of today's RTRs to the outstanding performance, the quality of today's RTRs are better than ever. While RTRs don't require any significant assembly before running them for the first time there are several steps you'll need to take before you can hit the water.
Before you run your boat for the first time you should remove the main prop shaft and lube it with a generous amount of marine grease. There are several benefits to taking this relatively easy step. First of all, the marine grease helps to seal the flex shaft tube better, preventing water from seeping into the hull. Secondly, the marine lube helps to reduce friction as friction heat is the #1 cause of breakdown in RC boats. Finally, as lubing the flex shaft will reduce friction, it will also reduce wear and tear and extend the overall life of your parts. You should always lube the flex shaft and other moving parts if you're going to be storing the boat for an extended period of time. Pro Boat's Grease Gun makes getting to those hard-to-reach spots much easier with a lot less mess. Flex shafts tend to shorten under load so don't forget to leave a few millimeters of a gap for contraction.
Whether you're running an electric boat that uses a main battery pack or a fuel-powered boat that uses a rechargeable receiver pack, you'll need to charge your batteries up before the first use. Don't overlook your glow driver either, as that also uses a rechargeable battery. Charging your batteries is a simple process with your receiver packs and glow drivers, as most include a wall charger. You'll need to purchase a separate battery charger for the power battery pack. A simple peak detection charger will completely charge your packs easily and quickly.
One step that some people overlook is the engine break-in process of their nitro engine. This is a very necessary process that will make the engine easier to tune, last longer and run faster. You'll need to idle the engine for several tanks of fuel to ensure a proper fit between the piston and sleeve inside the engine's crankcase. During the first tank of fuel, you may wish to set a higher-than-normal idle speed and/or leave the glow plug igniter attached in order to keep the engine from stalling. Drive the boat around while "blipping" the throttle and avoid operating the engine at full throttle for more than 2-3 seconds at a time. Consume the entire first two tanks of fuel in this manner.After the first two tanks of fuel, begin leaning out the needle valves 1/8 turn at a time. It generally takes about five or six tanks of fuel before you'd want to start tuning for maximum power.
Many of the latest boats from Pro Boat include a brushless motor system and programmable electronic speed control, or ESC. If you are going to use Ni-MH batteries then there's nothing you'll need to do. If, however, you're going to use any of the latest generation of high-performance Li-Po battery packs, you'll need to program the ESC with the proper profile for Li-Po batteries. Pro Boat makes this a simple process through the use of their ESC Programming Module. This module will also make it possible for you to activate braking, set cutoff preferences and choose throttle curves. Even if you're not using Li-Po batteries this is still a helpful tool to have at your disposal.
One of the biggest mistakes people make in regards to fuel-powered boats is to use old fuel. This can be especially problematic with 2-cycle gas powered boats. It's quite easy to just use up the gas from the family lawn mower, blower, or string trimmer. Fresh fuel will ensure top performance and, more importantly, proper oil and lubrication of crucial moving parts inside your engine. Fresh glow fuel is just as important to the performance of your .15-.18-powered boats as well.
