discussion Old man returns to the hobby

[Guest]

Hi all, I am thinking of returning to model boating after a gap of 30 yrs. I am after a bit of advice. I am thinking of getting a Perkasa fast patrol craft. (49") If I were to get the plaggy hull I would expect to use electric motors or could I use an IC engine? if the wooden hull, I would go down the road of IC because of the weight, what size engine ? .60 or maybe .90 watercooled. Any idea of prices and makes. The radio 30 yrs ago was 27 mhz AM, has that changed or can you still use it? Many thanks.

 

[Guest]

Hi Ether and welcome to the site and of course welcome back to the Hobby too !!

The Perkasa is a popular subject on here so do check out the current threads in the boat section on here as there are a few of them. They will hopefully point you in the right direction with yours.

27 Mhz is indeed still in use for boats as well as 40 Mhz now. There are newer 2.4 Ghz sets also on the market now which are legal for use in the UK. So the choice is yours.

You may also notice that there are 35 Mhz sets available too but these are for RC Aircraft use only - so don't bother with this frequency if you are only doing boats.

As for the engine choice of IC or electric - I think that depends on the rules where you live, some ponds only allow electric. I have 3 ponds at my disposal where one is mainly electric only (no outright ban on IC engines but the pond isn't really big enough) The next pond is much larger so IC & electric are welcome and the last pond is long enough to cope with IC powered boats but seems to be mainly electric on there.. plus you have 30 odd now resident Swans to navigate around !!

Regards.........Mark.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks for the information on the radio frequencys Mark, Regards Pete

 

[Guest]

Hi my brother has just been given a perkasa in a sad state but more or less whole , it has a fibreglass hull so that helps . Anyway he thinks it is by far and away much to simple a build to bother with (he has previously made 1 gypsy caravan nearly 20 years ago !) , he says it is nothing more than a box on a hull and there are so many around it can't ever be exceptional . However it would make an ideal start kit if thats what your looking for . He intends to use only the hull and build an entirely custom boat .

Hope this helps somehow - ps brother doesn't like computers .