Small Bolt Brushless Twin-Hull R/C Boat (385mm)

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From the perspective of a pro

Nov 25, 2017

I ordered the Small Bolt because it looked like a well-designed product made from quality materials. As a highly experienced Fast Electric model boater, I did not view this boat as “Ready to Run”, but rather as a complete “kit” that would need some refinements, modifications, and “dialing in” before putting it on the water. Upon opening the box, I was pleased to see that my expectations of quality were substantiated. This is a VERY NICE product.
Before putting it in the water, the first thing I did was add a carbon fiber doubler to the inside back of the right sponson. Hydroplanes, by their very nature are designed to turn in only one direction, so I plan to install a turn fin on the right sponson to allow it to corner at full speed in a right turn. Next, I installed some foam flotation pieces in the sponsons. It’s like a life vest for your boat. If you hit something and knock a hole in the hull, the foam will prevent it from sinking. Don’t ask me how I know this!
The next step was to pull out the flex shaft. I removed the strut and discovered some REALLY THICK grease on the stub shaft that was ostensibly there to keep water out of the drive shaft. While this works, the thick grease is a lot of drag on the rotating parts. I cleaned the heavy grease off and replaced it with a thin layer of some much lighter marine grease. I pulled out the flex drive shaft and put a bit of silver solder on the motor end of the shaft to keep it from unraveling. Next, I put some electrical shrink tube on the brass flex shaft housing tube and over the nose of the strut. This helps reduce the possibility of water getting into the hull through the driveshaft without the additional drag of the heavy grease. I lubricated the flex shaft and re-installed it. I adjusted the angle and height of the strut so that the bottom of the strut was even with the bottom of the sponsons, and such that the strut was about 2 degrees down. Actual water testing may require the strut depth and angle being tweaked for maximum performance.
I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the servo, so I carefully checked the rudder linkage for signs of interference with the transom or the water-tight boot.
Finally, I installed a balanced, sharpened, polished, and de-tongued Oxtura X632 prop. This may be a bit too much prop for this motor/hull/3S lipo combination I plan to run, so I will have to keep a close eye on motor temperatures for the first few runs. If things are too hot, or I feel I’m not getting full RPM out of the motor, I have a raw X632 that I may cut town to 30mm when I race prep it.
My only complaint: The bottoms of the sponsons are not flat, they do not have sharp edges, and there is no deadrise. While the boat will run just fine as-is, properly detailed ride surfaces make a huge improvement on handling and speed. Normally, I use epoxy and micro balloons with a mix of colloidal graphite in the final layers to re-shape the ride surfaces, but in this case, I have some 1/2mm carbon fiber sheet that I will use to create glue-on ride plates. That will ensure a flat ride surface and make it easy to put in about 4 degrees of deadrise.
All in all, this is a good boat for the casual hobbyist and a great modification platform for the serious enthusiast. I expect to have the fastest 3S Small Bolt out there, and one that will give stock boats on 4S a serious run for the money.

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awesome

Dec 13, 2016

this is an awesome Little boat, very fast and most important ..is a heap of fun see my vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZosrTR0M8k


cheers

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awesome

Dec 13, 2016

this is an awesome Little boat, very fast and most important ..is a heap of fun see my vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZosrTR0M8k


cheers

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Customer Rated

Feb 05, 2015

Awesome Quality and price.

Well packaged and no issues with servo yet. Just make sure the rubber boot doesn't bind up the servo as it's small and any excess friction will kill it. Screams on 4s.

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Customer Rated

Dec 11, 2014

Nice little boat. Remember to tighten all the screws and use nail polish or a threadlocker to avoid unwanted flying (sinking?) screws and/or pieces. You may also want to solder the tip of the flex shaft (where you tighten the grub screw of the coupler): doing this can prevent the unravelling of the flex shaft. To put out the flex shaft you have to remove the drive dog and the strut from the strut mount. The cooling jacket should have the inlet tube towards the lower part of the motor so the jacket will be filled with water before any water comes out.

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Customer Rated

Oct 07, 2014

Trs bon petit bateau pour dbuter.
J'y ai ajout un contrleur Tunrigy marine 35A et mon systme de radio (qui ne son pas inclus dans ce modle ARR "presque prt l'emploi").

Attention pour les batteries en 3s, maximum 2200mAh, au dela ca ne rentre pas, d'autant qu'il y a trs peu d'espace lintrieur du small bolt.

Le miens prend un peu l'eau ce qui est agaant pour un modle ARR, il faut imprativement prvoir du matriel rsistant l'eau.
En cas de retournement, le small bolt est difficile ramener, il tourne sur lui mme (ou alors je n'ai pas encore la technique^^).
Prvoir une canne pche, un short de bain ou un bateau de secours.

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Customer Rated

Jan 23, 2014

Very good fast boat the only disappointing thing is the sealing around the motor when i got mine I tested it for leaks in our bath and behold it was nearly half full of water within a minute or two ( i left thinking it would take a long time to leak)
But I also think that hobbyking should include esc.
But once I fixed these minor things It works well

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Customer Rated

Nov 13, 2013

boat came with missing ESC, antenna has no hole thus cant mount... contact customer support, then was ignored for about a week then contact again still no luck. its not worth the hassel so i ordered another ESC... makes it unfair and hard to trust for my next order, makes me wonder what my next order is going to be???????????????????

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Customer Rated

Nov 06, 2013

I have just received my small bolt, there is no ESC inside despite they said under their spec the ESC is include also on the antenna side there is no hole for me to plug in the antenna. Am i supposed to drill a hole myself? not happy

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Customer Rated

Sep 09, 2013

Real good deal, before you start, be sure you have sufficient space this ship feel god on larger areas. I use with 2200mAh, good run time not prone to jumping, but if you try to slow down boat has been momentaly submerged (always use sealing tape!). I try 1600mAh 30c and all appears much better, minimum submersion, ship is bit more lively (no "submarine" starts), it is necessary to to drive sensitive. Of course, run time goes down to 5-7min.
Two crown for quality down my boat arrive without ESC.