Ten years from now

[MattHiggins]

Time to see who can predict the future. Where do you see this hobby in ten years?

[69dart]

lipo powered and no more gas or nitro cause the price of petrol is gonna be sky high lol

[Ron Olson]

Ooh, tough one. Nitro has pretty much hit its limits now unless there can be something found that no one has yet. Gas boats will become more popular regardless of gas prices. Electrics will keep on growing with all of the technology that's been coming along in the past few years.
With the smaller electronics such as the nano and micro servos and tinier recievers, there could be a surge in super-small boats that could be raced in swimming pools at high speeds.
I foresee a lot more RTR boats with much higher quality and more companies getting together to produce sanctioning body class legal boats that will be competitive out of the box.
Noise is going to become a bigger issue also than it is now.
I'd love to see a true world championship race for ultimate bragging rights.
R/C boat racing to be on ESPN or some other big sports channel.
Newer types of racing. One that I'd like to see like the Sprint boat racing that is popular Down Under and just starting to go here in the US.
3-D subs, built to do stunts like planes but under water.

[BoatDoc]

i can see the headline:

"FIRST 6 CELL BOAT CLEARS 100MPH BARRIER"

ok, so it's a pipe dream, but guys are already over 70mph in that class (you needed a lot more than 6 cells to that a few years ago). i think that nitro will continue, but electrics are going to grow even faster as newer battery technology gets introduced. i've heard some rumors of some ultra high tech LiPo's that will be undergoing testing in the upcoming months, so keep your eyes peeled. combine that with the fact that brushless motors have almost unlimited power potential...the numbers are just going to keep growing. the biggest limiting factor will be where we can run. you need about 1200 feet of good clean smooth water if you want to run 100mph saw's. as we approach 150, we're going to need more room. so maybe the focus will come back to how fast we can turn an oval. i also hope Ron is right about RTR's. bring up the quality and the hobby will attract TONS more beginners.

[zigzagracer]

Probably motor electric and more gasoline.Both have more choices for every aspect of operation right now and is growing.
More will be availabe for sport boaters than racers though , RTRs will probably get better across the board.
Not to disagree with Ron , but its up to the sanctioning bodies to accept what the manufacturers are producing.The sprint boats are a perfect example , there is not even a class for them , but they will gain popularity for the simple reason is that there are more places that they can be run.

With technology advances gas props will finally come out of the stone age.

With more environmental concerns sailboats will probably gain more popularity.

Less nitro because of cost and that sweet smelling exhaust is a health hazard.

AND in Ten years guys will still be complaining about the content of RCBM. :p :D

[Ron Olson]

ZZr, not to completely disagree with you but I've felt that in the past that some manufacturers have deliberately avoided having sanctioning body class legal boats for a reason, they wouldn't be up to the task. The IMPBA does have the "ABS" class that was never used and there were only a couple of boats that fit under those guidelines.
Bill Zuber and John Equi were talking about creating a class for the ProBoat 1/8 scale Miss Bud's just because they have sold so many of them. Would this be fair to other manufacturers? Of course not.
The clubs do have a choice of including an experimental class for any boat. There is currently a grass-roots campaign to start a "2x4" class, a Gas engine that anyone can buy for under $99.00 new, home-made hardware and hull that can be made from door skin. I'm just using that as an example.
Time constraints are also figuring in to how many classes that a host club will allow. Most would rather have a one-day event but we're starting to see more 2-day races because of the overload of too many classes.

Back to the Sprint boats. The great thing about those is that races could be held on much smaller ponds that what is normally needed. Pool noodles can be used to mark the course. The only real expense would be the timing equipment.

OK, back to the future.............:D

[scorpien boats]

ahhhhh I don't know, I thought I was going to give it up for a while, but im now experiancing withdrawl... (therefore this hobby wont end, because once you start, you CAN NOT give it up. No matter how hard you try there will always be part of it in you.)


I got a great price for my boat and started doing stuff to my mustang with the money, mabey ill get a nice little brushless boat now...

[Ron Olson]

I was hoping to see more repsonses here. Come on people, put on your thinking caps and let your imagination go wild!
I see some revolution in the designs of outrigger hydro's as with the higher speeds there are stability issues that will need to be resolved.
Turbine powered boats with the worry of water ingestion taken care of.

[BoatDoc]

hey ron...maybe a "true scale" class for hydro's where they are powered by turbines??? too bad those motors are $5k and up. the thought had crossed my mind to build one until i remembered that i needed to eat :D as far as big advances in 'rigger design i don't see much. there is some tweaking to be done, but that's all i see. i don't think we're going to see anything more advanced than the team Jag's boats. it will be a power issue, not a design issue. in my humble opinion, riggers in 10 years will look like riggers now. the speed lies in Lipo's, props and fine details...not new hull design. hopefully i'll be retracting these statements in a few years, becuase that will mean something revolutionary has happened to our sport.

[Ron Olson]

The IMPBA did field the question of turbine powered 1/8th scale hydro's to the members a few years back. It would have been a class for only the select few with a fat wallet, for sure not me. There would have been rev limiters needed but the big problem was with getting water into the turbine. There are a few that have been built or are in the works. Even at $3,500.00 just for the turbine, I could replace my fleet with change left over.
A local boat racer that is into anything high-tech had a friend at the University do some computer simulations with different hydro designs and had one that was pretty much blow-off proof. They sent the design to Andy Brown but he didn't seen interested. He did end up by building a prototype himself and I saw it race once. It was very fast and stable considering that he had it powered with an old K&B. The boat met its demise when he let off the throttle going into turn one and the flex cable along with the prop decided to stay behind. The 'rigger behind him drove through the rear of his boat pretty much trashing it out. The tub was shaped more like a Bullet train or large passenger jet with sponsons that are very close to what the current SAW 'rigger record holders are using now.

[zakerid]

Nitro has pretty much hit its limits now unless there can be something found that no one has yet.
here is something pushing the nitro envelope (http://teamorion.com/faq/wasp_rev.asp)
I do think we all agree that with lipo technology more people would head towards EP vehicles (cars, boats, planes...).

[Ron Olson]

The problem with that engine is putting it in a boat with it having the SG type of shaft otherwise the technology is there.
You might be seeing that same engine if I'm correct with other nameplates on it, probably Fantom and Tamiya.
There is a new line of engines that will be out early next year from Andy Brown and Company that will be called the A/A engines that will be superior to the MAC's with sizes from .12 on up to a rumored 1.0 cubic incher. Yes, Andy is working on a hot .12 right now but having overheating problems running 70% nitro in it. Yes, I'll be in line for at least one of those bad boys but I won't try to push 70%, maybe 55%. He's working on the tuned pipes to go along with the new motors.

[Laursen]

I agree that changes are coming but I think that its more with the boats that it is with the motors you look at a company like Cigarette they spent alot of money last year doing massive amounts of fluid dynamics testing and drag coefficients as it stands now we (RC Boating) are doing the Hemi in a volkswagon concept,to get the speeds and stability that we all crave we have to get our drag coefficient down to less that one and our wetted suface down to about 15% I think anything less will become an airplane lol. Cigarette has a on plane drag coefficicent that is very low and now has one of the most efficient use of hp to weight ratios in the biz. Fountain on the other hand has a slighly high drag co. but makes up for it in the hp range by having unlimited combos of engines and space to do it who cares about .2 when you have the avail of three 454's ;) Now cause of this thread I have got a some new things in the works that are directly related to this
Thank you for this great resource that I never knew existed
Hi My Name is Frank and I am seriously a boataholic,speedaholic,anything water aholic...;)

[Chris LaPanse]

15%? Current riggers run FAR less than 15% wetted area. The record holders in straight away speed actually fly just above the water, with only the rudder and prop touching water.