American Express free boat build

[Richterat83]

My boss at work received in this boat from American Express as a promotion. Catch is you have to schedule a meeting with them to get the transmitter. He doesn't do RC and knows I do, so he offered it to me.



quick google search shows it to be the atlantic yacht 3837.
Cheap toy boat with terrible electronics (Full speed or NO speed) and no functional rudder (Boat is steered by either the port or starboard motor)
And Amazon sells it for nearly $80 (rip off)


Figure this could be a fun little project to throw a hobbyking esc into and a flysky receiver.

Can't bring the boat home until Friday (not sure why) but once its home, it'll be torn apart. Give the drive lines a once over and possibly upgrade to new props (brass rather than plastic) and figure a way to mount a servo arm to the fake rudder





Should be a fun cheap project.

[ScGRaceR]

isnt that exciting! scale trailer for the 1.9 hahah! subscribed!

[Richterat83]

unfortunately its no where near scale for the XJ lol. Its over 2 feet long, but not 1/10 scale. Probably closer to 1/32 or 1/24

It might work for my Redcat Micro sumo though. . . hmmm. . .

[Richterat83]

budget parts ordered. I've already got some 2S lipos at home as well as a spare flysky receiver, so i'm all in for $26 so far since i'll be using the stock 380 brushed motors in there already.

ESC: Turnigy 20a brushed esc


steering: Ebay metal geared waterproof cheap-o servo


rudder: Ebay 3" plastic rudder assembly

[Richterat83]

So finally an update. I ordered the turnigy esc but managed to burn it up after one of the props turned itself tight and locked up the motor which also fried the ESC.

So, i picked up a used traxxas XL5 off ebay, soldered on new connectors, and away she went. While still not perfect (I managed to hack up the props while trimming the rudder to clear the props) some new props would probably do wonders for it. It has given me the boat bug since i have the little canal in the video across the street.

Now it makes me want something faster. This will not be going anywhere and will probably end up as a recovery boat. But all in all a fun cheap project.

Total spent: $30
$16 traxxas esc
$10 waterproof ebay servo
$4 rudder setup
(Add on $10 for turnigy esc i burned up)

and for pics and video









legos and 3m automotive sticky tape FTW

[InsanePacoTaco]

Nicely done!

I have an AquaCraft Revolt 30. It does 35mph stock. It's a lot of fun, turns very well (can do full input turns at full throttle). Compared to our crawlers, it goes through batteries at an amazing rate. Will discharge 2x 2S 5000mAh 40C batteries in about 5 minutes.

Proboat makes some great boats as well, here's one that looks like a good starter fast electric: Recoil 17" Self-Righting Deep V Brushless: RTR (PRB08016): Pro Boat Models

I also have an old Traxxas Villain EX, it only does ~20mph but it's still a lot of fun.
I would stay away from the Traxxas Spartan boat, it's a plastic hull and requires a LOT of work to get running well. Something like the AquaCraft Revolt 30 or the Proboat Impulse 31 V3 would be a far better option for a deep-v style boat.

[Richterat83]

i'm leaning most towards the Atomik Barbwire XL now for both speed, self righting, and close enough scale to tow behind the SCX10

[BJoe]

Nice work!

With as many of those as I've seen in my shop looking for a radio so the person who got it doesn't have to go to those meetings, I have to wonder if there is a warehouse somewhere that AmEx owns that is filled with just the Tx's for these things

[rustneversleeps]

Originally Posted by Richterat83

unfortunately its no where near scale for the XJ lol. Its over 2 feet long, but not 1/10 scale. Probably closer to 1/32 or 1/24

It might work for my Redcat Micro sumo though. . . hmmm. . .

Nice boat.I guess meeting went well and you recieved your TX.
Just a thought , 2 feet seems long for 1/32 or 1/24 scale and looks to be right size for 1/10.I'd like to see that behind my rig.....

[Richterat83]

Nope, no meeting, i yanked the guts out of the boat and went with a Traxxas XL5 ESC and a Flysky tx/rx from my little brushless truck.

As to scale, it's much too small to be a 1/10. I'll take some comparison shots later tonight, but side by side with the SCX10, it's half the size it should be. Next to my Redcat Micro crawler, it looks about the right size.

[Richterat83]

Getting closer but not quite dromida SC4.18


And just about right redcat micro crawler with grave digger body

[Natedog]

Very cool for what you paid and did with it, need to peel the fawkin Amex sticker off the back though, no free advertising for them lol.

[Richterat83]

Hey, they gave me the boat for free, so it can stay lol

But, i have since burned up a prop shaft and eaten up one of the props. It's fun, but not worth putting anymore money into for me.

[rahulbpatel]

Reviving this old thread... just picked up one of these for my 10 year old son. Any further mods? Do you happen to have links for the parts ordered? At least the rudder assembly? Thanks!

[leebart121]

Where did you get the replacement props?
Also what is the size of them?