New boaters

[Eric Canto]

Hello everyone. I was just talking with Harold Broussard and he informed me that he was on his way to a two day race this weekend. He said he could not run his .40 hydro because there were not enough entries to make the class. This got my wheels turning about recruiting new boaters. Over the years, it seems the prevalent school of thought to "get new people into the hobby" has always been to try and come up with some "cheap and easy" class that currently does not exist. Although well intentioned, it is very clear that this just does not work. I think we need to have some fresh thinking. How about some things like - Bring a new person to a race and have him join IMPBA or NAMBA and your entry fee for that race is FREE! Or recognition in the roostertail for new members and the person that "recruited" them. Thanks for any input!

Eric Canto

 

[wswatzell]

Eric, those sound like some good ideas to me.

 

[DJT]

I think you will find that the price of buying a race competive boat is the big problem. If they had a truely stock (not stock appearing) class that would help. The RC cars have a number of entry level classes, street spec, legends, etc. If that could be done with boats that would help. The car classes limit everything from gear ratios, batteries, price of batteries, motors, price of motors, brushes for motors, tires, and more. The car kits are cheap to buy, and you could switch cars with the guy next to you on the drivers stand and the winner would still be the better driver, not the guy with the deepest pockets.

 

[BigRagu]

We need a .18 or .21 Mono RTR in a Bright package next to the RC Trucks! It needs to be priced RTR like the Monster Trucks. Then open a class for "Box Stock" and Modified . . .the Truck/Car guy's will then throw some money at 'em . . .

My $0.02,

BigRagu

:unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

 

[NITROSNIFER]

:blink: Funny we were thinking the same thing in District16. Proboat sells a mono with a .36 I think RTR for 400cnd. Nice looking boat will need some work on the prop and sharpen the rudder but a not to badly put together set up.

 

[Ron Olson]

Bill Zuber and John Equi are working on revamping the ABS class rules that should include when done most RTR or RTF mass-produced boats now out on the market. They would have to stay pretty much stock out of the box to race with a few changes if wanted probably for safety. I haven't heard much more in the past week or so but I'm hoping that they are still working on it.

I don't want to eloborate right now as to what exactly the rules will be until they finalize the proposal. I'm just hoping that we don't see 6 Newbs on the water all with Miss Bud's!

 

[not2bright]

in the kitsap club we just started a new class running proboat hydro's i was thinking i might have to get one.

 

[J Solinger]

This is an area that's hard to put a finger on. With young people it's a matter of money, knowledgable help, a pond and a ride. Usually the folks need to provide money, rides and help and none of it will be enough. With the grown ups, ( I use the term loosely ) it's a matter of time, family, money, lawn care and that whole working to pay for it all thing. With an rc car you don't need to spend much to get a taste of it and you can drop it out the door and go. Boats by comparison are expensive and darn inconveiniant. I think we can only expect to attract a small percentage of the rc crowd because of these factors.

Although it helps, I'm not so sure that a low buck class would draw many more club members. A combination of price and durability will go the farthest there. The best bet is to show friends and family your boats and maybe let them run them some. In order to get young members involved the club would need to have building nites to get them sound durible boats and offer rides to the races and club gatherings. Sorta like the Scouts but with boats. Getting whole families involved is the best we can hope for. That way there is a family effort to cover all the bases.

 

[missbudpilot55]

Eric,

The problem with the races at the Baton Rouge Nitro Burner's is that there are hardly any nito boats that enter the races, mostly all gas and they have to put the likes of Harold in the Open Hydro class which runs with all hydro's, riggers and sport, sport scale & 1/8th scale, including gas, sorta like "run-what-ya-brung". This is the exact reason that I will not enter one of my 1/8th scale boats.

By the way, at the race today Harold started last in the first heat, being the only nitro boat in that heat, and had he not zigged when he should have zagged to miss a dead boat he would have finished the heat in 1st place,(he was in second place when he rolled over) but the slowest boat in that class was a gas powered scale round bow driven by Willie Dennis from Misssissippi that won that heat.

We are finding that generally at most of the Baton Rouge races lately that the gas classes are dominate over nitro by at least 3-1. I have expressed my concern with Bill Zuber in the past about the fading nitro classes, seems like it is a thing of the times. Zenoah 2.6 motor for around $250 verses a nitro motor say a .67 for around $430. Gas at around $1.75 gallon with oil maybe another $3, Nitro 50% at about $27 a gallon not to mention glow plugs at $3.00 each.

[SIZE=14pt]I think you guys see where this is headed my freinds!!!!!!!!!!!!![/SIZE]

P.S. There was a total of 91 boats entered for the 2 day race, had it not been for Madi Gras & Super Bowl weekend they normally have at least 120 to 140 boats.

 

[Propjockey]

Years ago, when I flew RC planes, our club had a Sig Senior that was built and maintained with donated parts as a club project. A big trainer in yellow and red, complete with 'buddy box'. Every weekend it sat on the flightline trimmed and tuned...just waiting for the next 'newbie' to stop by and say "Hey, that's cool!"

The immediate response was always "Would you like to fly it?"

A club in Austin has an old magazine rack that stays filled with donated RC mags and catalogs.

Not sure how feasible these ideas would be with boats, but the general idea is to spark interest.

 

[BigRagu]

:blink: Funny we were thinking the same thing in District16. Proboat sells a mono with a .36 I think RTR for 400cnd.  Nice looking boat  will need some work on the prop and sharpen the rudder but a not to badly put together set up.

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We have two guy's with that boat . . .we decided to let them run wih the .21 monos! They aren't the fastest thing on the pond but Kevin you are on the same wavelength for sure!

BTW YGM,

Regards,

BigRagu

 

[NITROSNIFER]

Glad I could help you two out getting the deal done. I guess the electronic age scares some peeps. Personaly I think Allan is trying to hide the cash from his wife

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[bbnate804]

i don't kno if this helps or not but i'm a new guy trying to get into the boat scene myself. the 2 biggest things that have slowed me down are the costs and the information. the start up costs are huge. boat, motor, fuel, plugs, starter, batteries, chargers, stand the stuff it just adds up really quick. then you get all that money involved and if you don't have any clue your half afraid to take it out. if you don't have somebody there that's done it before and can stop ya before you tear something up its a big help. just like today i took my first step and never made it into the water. carb settings, prop set ups, motor set ups, reading what the boat is doing on the water. there's no real manual on this kinda stuff just gotta figure it out yourself and find somebody who can help ya long the way. you guys just need to set up a collection and educational program

nate

 

[Tim Kish]

Eric

When I returned to the hobby a year and a half ago the first thing

I noticed was how small the nitro classes have become.

Hydro classes seem to be the hardest hit.

I went to a number of races last year in my District and it is simple to see gas is growing nitro is shrinking.

Most new commers are being drawn to gas I believe because of the size of the boats as well as the ease of set up ,running and the cost of fuel.

When I asked some of them if they were interested in running a nitro hydro there reply was that they are hard to set up and hard to drive but they loved the speed .

This season I plan on letting a few people in our District run one of my hydro's in

hopes that once they try it they will be hooked , growing within the hobby is always a good thing.

How many people run just one boat ?

There are a number of reasons why nitro is not growing like gas is but I think the #1 reason is we do not promote ourselves well enough.

Does your club advertise at the local hobby store?

Does your club set up a booth at hobby shows , car meets or other related shows?

Do they advertise thier races in local papers and were ever else possible.

Our club has tried the things I listed and they do work

.

If we don't let people know we are out there how can we expect to grow?

Tim Kish

 

[nitrotoys]

I think The RTR boats are all JUNK.

I have a friend flies Helicoptors, I have been on him to get a boat, I have even SENT him Info on a good deal for on a boat for sale.

It all boils down to HE DONT WANT TO CHASE IT IN THE WATER.

I said you cant go by they way my boats are. I said get a good little .21 mono and just run it.

He drove my .21 ducer and LOVED IT, Hell he still talks about how fun it was to run, BUT Eather boat out and get it or tennis ball and string to get it.

Maybe my boats flipping and doing weird **** scared him off. v

 

[Shnick]

not to mention glow plugs at $3.00 each.

Heck thats cheap!!! I pay $4-5 bucks a pop here in san antonio...

The market is predominately cars/planes, but hey, a plug is a plug...

Send some $3.00 plugs down here... I'll use 'em!!!

Lol...

Shnick

 

[Ron Olson]

Schick, where were you when we had the big order of Merlin plugs! Yeah, the prices of plugs at the LHS's has gotten out of hand, $10.99 a pair for MC-9's!

Anyway, there are some good RTF boats out there, they just need a little work done to them. The Miss Bud is a POS just like any other ProBoat barge but the "It's a Bud!" that suckers them in. The new Miss LLumar is a step up, OK, a short step but slightly improved version. The Aeromarine Mean Machine 18 would be my choice in such a class, pricier but much better quality.

I see on other sites where people buy these RTF boats then would like to race them and then find out that there isn't a class where they wouldn't get their asses handed to them on a platter. The important thing is to get them to the races first with whatever they have so that they can get some experience. This will give them the motivation to improve themselves then look at what else they'd like to try next. We all had to start somewhere. Not all of us have bottomless pockets and most have started out with some real crap for first boats. REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM AND HOW YOU GOT TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY!

 

[Propjockey]

Ron...what was the RTR that Marty was working on? Any news about it?

 

[jevmax]

Here's an idea. Encourage every gas/nitro boat club to start an entry level class of "fast electric" boats. Use the same course as nitro, but reduce the laps from 6 to just 4 or 5. Pick or make one fast electric boat with 12 cells and a brushed 700 motor. That way a newbie could get his introduction to racing relatively cheaply, and a guy that's already racing R/C cars could use the 6-cell battery packs he's already got lots of. Racing in that class would get a guy familiar with the protocol of the race program, the boats would always start and run without stalling out, which can be discouraging to a newbie. At each race, get the experienced members to offer for sale some of their nitro or gas boats that are already set-up and ready to run well. The experienced guys are always working on a new boat anyway, and could benefit from an outlet for their used stuff.

After a new guys builds his driving skills and confidence by racing in the electric class, he could always "move-up" into the gas or nitro ranks, and use the transmitter/receiver etc. from the electric boat. This approach would also allow newbies to practice with their boat in a small local pond, without the need to travel to the "official" club race site to run the boat.

I'd love to see the ranks of R/C boaters grow, as right now it is a very very small group, even if you combine all of the gas, nitro, and electric boaters. We need to pull together to bring folks in.

 

[Nigtmare]

Here's an idea.  Encourage every gas/nitro boat club to start an entry level class of "fast electric" boats.  Use the same course as nitro, but reduce the laps from 6 to just 4 or 5.  Pick or make one fast electric boat with 12 cells and a brushed 700 motor.  That way a newbie could get his introduction to racing relatively cheaply, and a guy that's already racing R/C cars could use the 6-cell battery packs he's already got lots of.  Racing in that class would get a guy familiar with the protocol of the race program, the boats would always start and run without stalling out, which can be discouraging to a newbie.  At each race, get the experienced members to offer for sale some of their nitro or gas boats that are already set-up and ready to run well.  The experienced guys are always working on a new boat anyway, and could benefit from an outlet for their used stuff.
After a new guys builds his driving skills and confidence by racing in the electric class, he could always "move-up" into the gas or nitro ranks, and use the transmitter/receiver etc. from the electric boat.  This approach would also allow newbies to practice with their boat in a small local pond, without the need to travel to the "official" club race site to run the boat. 

I'd love to see the ranks of R/C boaters grow, as right now it is a very very small group, even if you combine all of the gas, nitro, and electric boaters.  We need to pull together to bring folks in.

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I like this idea!!!!! just one draw back h34r: those electric boats go faster then nitro and we will have a newbe sticking his tong out at us :lol: :unsure: