FMH Dolphin outboard

[dghutt]

Has anyone seen one of these FMH kits up-close?

Ebay: FMH Dolphin tunnel

I'm not interested in getting one or anything, but there seem to be a lot of them on Ebay right now so it's only a matter of time before someone comes to the lake with one. I've never seen an outboard set up like that, with a belt between flywheel and the lower unit:

Not surprisingly the Ebay ad tells bidders the thing will go 45 mph. That's a .15 motor on a 24" ABS hull. I'm guessing they arrived at that speed with tests involving throwing it off a building. Has it been reviewed in RCBM?

Dave

 

[ryan_t888]

That boat has been out on eBay for quite some time now. Many people have purchased it and were quite dissapointed with poor descriptions and support from the sellers. There are issues throughout the whole boat including the poorly designed engine setup. Top speed is around 20mph.

The boat has been reviewed and even they even found it very hard to say something good about it.

Ryan

 

[moparbarn]

i actually have one of those ob's ! pretty cheap, low quality drive. not fast, by any stretch. it came on a great planes top speed, also abs, i bought on ebay. i was after the hull. ran the boat the way it came a couple of times. no adj. mount, was pretty limited-only ran about 20 or 25 mph (?). the same hull with a properly set up stock 12mm k&b has run 42 mph on radar. i didn't worry about maintainence at all. about halfway through the third tank, the bushings in the lower were GONE. the belts are 'gilmer' belts. the belts have cogs, and the pulleys have teeth to match. like the drive belt on a supercharger on a top fuel dragster. the bushings were so sloppy the belts were slipping. i don't think greasing would have helped much. the motor on mine was a asp .15. the motor isn't bad, i still run it in a inboard cat. a nitro motor with a plastic prop-that should tell you something. the purple plate you see used for the mount/adapter works great for the mount in my cat. abc hobbys used to sell them, now i don't know if you can even find parts. just for grins, i checked on some of the ebay sellers sites-nothing listed. a couple named a manufacturer in china, no luck there either. i still have the lower somewhere, it might make an interesting paper weight :lol: . the shaft size is 3 or 4 mm, not a popular size for a decent prop. basically a POS.

 

[moparbarn]

oh yeah, the blue muffler extender on the carb is necessary. the belts sling so much water, that the carb will suck water without it. good design :lol: , but it does match the rest of the thing- wierd and cheap.

 

[Andy Greene]

i actually have one of those ob's ! pretty cheap, low quality drive. not fast, by any stretch. it came on a great planes top speed, also abs, i bought on ebay. i was after the hull. ran the boat the way it came a couple of times. no adj. mount, was pretty limited-only ran about 20 or 25 mph (?). the same hull with a properly set up stock 12mm k&b has run 42 mph on radar. i didn't worry about maintainence at all. about halfway through the third tank, the bushings in the lower were GONE. the belts are 'gilmer' belts. the belts have cogs, and the pulleys have teeth to match. like the drive belt on a supercharger on a top fuel dragster. the bushings were so sloppy the belts were slipping. i don't think greasing would have helped much. the motor on mine was a asp .15. the motor isn't bad, i still run it in a inboard cat. a nitro motor with a plastic prop-that should tell you something. the purple plate you see used for the mount/adapter works great for the mount in my cat. abc hobbys used to sell them, now i don't know if you can even find parts. just for grins, i checked on some of the ebay sellers sites-nothing listed. a couple named a manufacturer in china, no luck there either. i still have the lower somewhere, it might make an interesting paper weight :lol: . the shaft size is 3 or 4 mm, not a popular size for a decent prop. basically a POS.

As much as I hate to admit this, I actually had one also- on a Laserline- another high quality turd. If anyone ever needed spare belts and bushings , I have them- they were a pain in the Azz to find. Didnt bother using mine as paperweight though , it was more enjoyable to see it go straight to the trash can.

 

[Grant]

A friend of mine bought one of these after he saw my TS2 run. It is 100% junk. Don't even consider getting one. The engine was a single needle .15 and was just about impossible to get it to run a full tank. The boat did maybe 15 to 20 mph in the brief moments it would run and not cavitate. After about 5-6 tanks the bushings in the lower were shot and the belts would just slip. RC's like this give the hobby a bad name, especially to the noobs.

For anyone reading this thread, don't waste your money.

 

[dghutt]

To my mind the real problem with junk like this is that it compromises the reputation of good ARR stuff, like Aquacraft. I have to admit that I lumped the Top Speed and TS2 in with crap like this until I started reading about Aquacraft's products here at Intlwaters. I don't know how someone who's new to the hobby could possibly separate the wheat from the chaff. And with chaff like this thing a newbie might be turned off rc boats forever.

Dave

 

[ryan_t888]

I would have to agree. It drives me crazy that these incorrectly advertised hulls can be sold on eBay. Features are endless on the description list until the boat arrives in the buyers hands.

Ryan