What am I missing here?
So it's pretty much done ready for birthday😍 changed the rudder servo from a mini to full size one, the small one was struggling. Fitted a better water pump motor, and managed to work out a way of turning mast lights on and off, with a switch, and using a button to operate the pump. I had to seal the deck and hull with silicon as it was leaking, so hope nothing fails inside I doubt the hull is coming off again!
I'm still working out the best battery, the issue I have is balance, it rolls very easy. I've tried extra weight in the hull, but it sits low in the water already, and I've moved everything low as it was top heavy. Not sure if more weight in the hull is the answer, any thoughts on this welcome? 4 year old fingers won't feed the rudder in nice and smooth like 63 year old ones! He will slam it over😮

https://youtube.com/shorts/bK2rJblNg20?si=DwcJrJv87Hz87vK3

Progress is a lot slower than I wanted. I've got a load of lights working on a switch, and a little water pump to replace the faulty one in the boat. I need to see if it works OK. I've got it to operate on the transmitter trainer button, so grandson will need to press the button to get the hydrant to pump water. Thus will stop him having it permanently on😁 annoyingly the water pump is mounted a few millimeters too high, so this will need to be altered. It took a lot of messing around to get the pump to work. I've made up a switch, a servo arm moves, and makes the circuit, simple really, but a load of faffing around.

I had same bust. Opened it up n did a servo on rudder. The water pump I took all apart n cleaned. It did work. See if a seal is bad? Redid led lighting and it worked with spektrum receiver n a solid state switch from eBay. I used an old Esc I had and replaced motor. Once back together it looked ok n ran well. Sold it on eBay a year back.

https://youtube.com/shorts/LPfbVj40dKI?si=F56AJ2QT45suoPNY

The grandsons birthday is creeping up, and I still have a box of untested bits. So for a 3 yr old, there needs to be a novelty factor. I need to get the hydrant pump working, and it would be nice to have a load of lights switch operated
So yesterday I took it to a lake to see what and if it ran, and didn't leak. It went OK, and probably a correct speed for a youngster. I tried a 9.6v nimh, 7.4 v nimh and a small 6v lead acid, and there was no noticeable difference. The lead acid might have been a bit heavy, but would give best run time. I am staying away from lipos because when I'm not there, there is a potential for over discharging.
The water pump makes a lot of noise, but it doesn't pump, unfortunately, and the transmitter isn't a done deal. The throttle range wouldn't set as a none running centre stick. Reverse was useless, I wonder if I can alter the esc settings.

Sorted the transmitter to have a sprung centre throttle stick on left. This was an aero transmitter, so would not have a reversing throttle. It was surprisingly easy once I worked out all the springs etc where there, they just needed to be adjusted. Using same principle, I was able to lock the up/ down if the right stick, do only now have left right for rudder. Got the rudder working with some mods, someone else has been in here so everything needs checking👍

😂......its a screw driver.......🤣

It's a screwdriver!

What is that orange thing sticking out of the bottom of the SPECTRUM tx??

For young kids i buy the $60 BASS PRO boat that uses 6-AAs, has a 2-stick controller which has spring-loaded throttle & rudder sticks & differential steering.

I'm sure that's what it was called 10 yrs ago! We had one for my young kids, then sold it as they grew up. So now my 3 yr old grandson is asking for a boat😀
His birthday is next month, and at that age too clumsy for a proper model boat, by pure luck one of these tugs came up on fb for £40, it was local, so I got it. I've stropped it down, it's had a life!, but motor runs (very small!) I've got the rudder thing working and the hydrant pump that wasn't working now is👍
The rebuild continues, I've just got to figure out how to get the throttle to self centre on the transmitter