Hi Dave, good to hear from you (sorry to hijack thread). 4 footer came out two years ago, Huntsman once in 2016, its over 3 years since the 3 footer got wet! Orca once in 2016. I did build the PCF which I really liked, but it went immediately as too many people messaged saying they wanted it, so it funded some RC plane gear, which I am really into now. I sold a load of bits and bobs at the Blackpool show a few months ago, didn't renew with St Helens in 2015, or 2016, and wont this year.
However.... Robs excellent blog has got me interested again, and Stephen kindly did a bespoke 3 d printing project on something rc related, info and pics to follow when its finished!
Back on track...
George, I'm going to advise only things I have done, or used, I'm not one to say do this, or that, but actually I have not done it myself. No doubt others will disagree, but this is my opinion only.
Best performance in terms of speed is brushless, and lipo. Forget fear of fire and explosions, this only happens with abuse, and they are the common use with rc planes, helicopters, cars, its only boats that are really stuck in the dark ages with technology that have this big fear of brushless systems and lipos! However, to get initially set up, they do take more understanding and initial cash outlay, as you need a specific charger for one, and you do need to understand what you are doing.
Brushless motors will unlease the power far more than brushed, and are usually lighter.
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-t600-brushless-outrunner-for-600-heli-880kv.html
This motor is an example, there are much cheaper ones with similar specs, but I have used this motor in various applications, the most similar to your boat being my large Huntsman, with this motor on 6 cells lipo I achieved 25mph, but speed might not be what you want. So if you have the fast engine in your car, say a v12 Ferrari, if you run it on cheap fuel, it wont perform, same here, nicads and nimhs batteries are easy to maintain, you can drain them dead flat, but will give cheap fuel performance, like a bath tap trickling when the shower is on at the same time, and as they are dying technology, are expensive for what they are. Lipo is like turning up both bath taps and the force floods out, but now the tank will empty quicker, so you have less run time π
If brushless, its a specific speed controller,
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-50a-boat-esc-4a-ubec.html
and you pay extra for reversing (other rc disciplines don't need reverse) and a marine esc might need to be water cooled, however, decent brushed motor speed controllers are not exactly cheap, so now you know why budget is important to give advice, you could be spending Β£100 here just to get up and running.
Look at my 4 foot fireboat build blog, as its twin screw (personally a boat this size is better twin screw) you can get by with cheaper motors, mine where Β£30 the pair, I use lipo for all my boats, so I have the batteries, and are familiar with using them, the speed controllers where about Β£40 the pair, and if I was buying batts then probably another Β£40, so it all adds up!
Single screw, less batteries. You could power with nimhs, and it might be acceptable ,performance for you.
If your location is Ellesmere Port, have a Sunday morning drive to
hoylake
, then New Brighton, and maybe take in St Helens Liverpool, and Runcorn, see boats in action, see what sort of performance suits you, and rethink the budget, what do you want to spend? Then you need the transmitter and receiver (if you don't already have these) the fittings (see Robs build blog) a prop shaft, and a suitable propeller
I am North Wirral, you are more than welcome to come and have a chat and see some boats, but unfortunately I'm deep into another rc project for the next few weeks, once that is done I can share some time, if you want! Don't worry, I'm not all about speed, I can do brushed motors and nimhs and get a result,
Any questions, just ask, Paul
PS... Looks like a nice clean boat you have thereπ