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What to bring to the beach?

Which RC to bring for a beach run?  

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We have an upcoming beach trip this weekend and I thought of bringing along one RC with me to run but just not sure which one.... What's your take? I rcognize majority of the choices ar buggies. Note that none of the kits are built ot be water resistant/proofed. Also, if I were to run them on the beach, what precuationary measures do I need to keep in mind and after maintenance that I need to perform? Will it be a complete strip down to clean of micro-sand particles? Thanks much!

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You will have to completely strip them down afterwards. Sand and salt get everywhere, and will cause corrosion if not removed.

My advice would be to remove all grease from the gears and run them bone dry. This will minimize damage from the sand.

Seal gearbox halves/covers with continuous beads of grease. This will help prevent sand from entering, and any that does will get flung outwards by the gears and hopefully stick to the grease.

The sand is incredibly abrasive on motor brushes and comms. So avoid using expensive brushed motors.

The good news is there is no danger of impact or rollover damage on sand, just accelerated wear on moving parts.

Driving on the beach is ace. Any of your choices will be fun.

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Also, don't use a nicely painted shell - the sand will blast off the paint from underneath.

If you can keep it dry, then most of the sand will brush off. If it gets wet you'll probably want to rinse as many parts as possible with clean water and dry thoroughly. 

Whatever you do, clean it as soon as you can. If you leave it, it will corrode and rust.

 

 

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Looking at the advice above and thinking of some ground clearance, then the GF01 would be my choice.

I’d prefer to take the GF06 but the prospect of cleaning it and sand getting into every component put me off 😂

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Thanks for the input. It looks like the Dynahead is leading but not by much... just to be clear, the Dynhead is built to do crawl and trail, so not a lot of speed there. The GF01 on the other hand, runs on a hotter motor and has suspension arms widened... 

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Take the one you like the least. The salt water corrodes everything. The sand with get everywhere. My go to beach runner was my Rough Rider

TamiyaSocal1.jpg

But now it’s my Slash

001(31).jpg

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The GF01 gets my vote. I wouldn't take a crawler to the beach. Most fun is when the sand is flying from acceleration.

Have fun!

IMG20210601144652_02_compress19.thumb.jpg.2614a4a4eb305f2eb0e0654ff59f74d3.jpg

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You seem to not have an SRB on your list.  The correct answer is SRB.

Not just #becausesandscorcher but also because the sealed radio box and motor cover keeps all your electrics free of sand, the gearbox mating is very good so your gears stay fresh, and most of the metalwork isn't steel, so there's less corrosion to worry about.

From the above list, I'd be inclined to say GF-01.  The gearbox should stay mostly sand-free and it will look cool bouncing around on the sand too.  Depending on how big / busy the beach is, you may get a lot of attention (positive and negative).  If you turn up with a 6S E-Maxx or a brushless-powered Blitzer Beetle then you might get more negative than positive, if people feel it's disturbing their peace or threatening their kids / dogs / sandcastles.  If you have something fun and inoffensive like a GF-01 then it seems less threatening.

I usually take my Blitzer Beetle (with an Acto Pink), G6-01 (mid-power brushless) and my Bear Hawk (17 turn double) for fast-without-being-offensive fun and my Sand Scorcher (black sport tuned) for traditional thrills.  The beach I go to is around 6km long and a few hundred metres wide when the tide is out, so if it's a quiet day I'll take the E-Maxx too as it's the only place where it can really stretch its legs.

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23 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

Not just #becausesandscorcher but also because the sealed radio box and motor cover keeps all your electrics free of sand, the gearbox mating is very good so your gears stay fresh

I have taken my Sand Scorcher and Fighting Buggy for days out at the beach several times, but never driven them through water.

The day after they were completely stripped down to their kit components, and casings were removed from ESC and receiver. There was nowhere that the salt and sand hadn't reached.

Personally I love this kind of maintenance, it's like building the kit all over again. But if you don't, the beach might be a mistake. SRB's are too expensive to be allowed to go rusty.

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Waterproof electronics is important. 

You may not drive through the water, but after driving, a quick hose down is essential to getting all the big chunks of sand out...

Terry

 

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1 hour ago, Frog Jumper said:

Waterproof electronics is important. 

You may not drive through the water, but after driving, a quick hose down is essential to getting all the big chunks of sand out...

Terry

 

I’m nowhere near a beach, but I drive through mud occasionally and thick snow in winter. Hose down is crucial after getting that wet or muddy.

If you’re thorough enough with spraying silicone lube and high press it a compressed air in all the nooks and crannies you might be able to avoid a full tear down afterwards.

WD-40 is not a great lubricant but it works “as advertised” to displace water. 
after a beach run I would clean everything with fresh water , to flush  salt , then WD 40. Then follow that with a good oil or silicone lube . Liberal blasts of compressed air  between each step. 
that is how I’ve cleaned my G6-01 after winter runs in heavy, wet slushee snow 

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Blitzer isn’t in the poll but hard to beat for ear to ear grins. 

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I would probably choose the GF-01 out of those but really any would work except the Dynahead maybe being a little slow.

In my experience, if you avoid the soaking wet sand and stick to the slightly damp stuff, cleanup isn't bad at all. I let it dry off overnight then scrub the worst of it off with a stiff paint brush. Then I wipe metal parts with a rag and fresh water then wipe again with some 2 in 1 oil or just a little squirt of WD40. With that method, I've only had the odd rusty screw or spring after years. 

I tend to go when it's a low tide and it's fully out. That way you should get a big expanse of smooth sand that's just damp and not dripping wet. 

Better still, if you have an area of dunes at your local beach, I find the totally dry sand needs no clean up at all really apart from tipping it out at the end of the day. Most of it just falls off easily and it doesn't lead to rust like wetter sand will.

One very important thing IMO is to make sure the little card plate is fitted between the motor and chassis, especially if its a brushed motor. Sand can easily pass through the motor vents and directly into the gearbox. I also like to put a little bead of grease around each half of gearbox cases or chassis in the case of vehicles like the GF-01, does a great job of keeping stuff out.

Those are my general rules anyway. And I seldom have to pull anything apart unless I missed something during the original build (my DT-03 for example, had some massive gaps between the two halves of the rear gearbox where it fits against the rear bulkhead, it's amazing how quickly sand can find it's way into places that seem quite well protected. I fixed that with some silicone sealant though and it's been clean as a whistle since.

If you want to go in the wet sad or even the water itself, in that scenario, I would definitely recommend a full strip down ASAP after the run because the corrosion can set in with a day or two with direct exposure to salt water. I seldom go in the really wet sand but when I do, I either make sure it's a fully waterproof rig so I can just rinse it all off with fresh water or I use something incredibly simple like the Grasshopper which can be torn down and rebuilt in an hour or two once you've done it a few times.

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I choose whatever is the most simplest, most basic, most plastic design for beach running which is why I always go for a Lunch Box, though it isn't in the poll. Big tires help with sand and keep the electronics higher up out of harms way. The tub chassis also helps with this even more so than the Madbull. The gearbox is simple, strong and fairly well sealed with no dogbone/drivecups to get worn or corroded. Very little metal present other than hardware and I can tear one done completely for a total cleaning in minutes.

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Agree with everything @nowinaminute says. Only issue I have with a GF01 is the motor is almost directly behind the front wheel, and it's 4wd. If you can get a sponge motor filter or make a shield so sand isn't flung into the motor vents, then I would take it to the beach.

Rwds are the most fun on the beach. Don't think I've ever taken a 4wd tbh...

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Lastly, I use old cheap bearing in my wheels and cups. And when I come home, they get replaced with new.  We make an annual beach trip and I use the post beach recovery day to give my car a good clean up, lube, and general maintenance…

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Another thumbs up for WD40 to clean bearings.  That is what I use restoring 35-40 yr old M38's bearings.  Even if all rusted and some time seized inside, I can get them to roll again (can some times take 30+ applications). 

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Thanks for all the replies! In the end i asked my son which among the GF or Dynahead… He picked the GF… 

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I read on TC a member would just used the kit bushing instead of bearings when he took any RC to the beach and I thought was a smart idea 👏

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3 minutes ago, Grumpy pants said:

I read on TC a member would just used the kit bushing instead of bearings when he took any RC to the beach and I thought was a smart idea 👏

I used to do that to save bearings but I realized the bushing would grind against the axle whereas the bearing would just grind against itself.  

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1 hour ago, Frog Jumper said:

I used to do that to save bearings but I realized the bushing would grind against the axle whereas the bearing would just grind against itself.  

Absolutely. One of the main benefits of bearings is they are a self contained sacrificial failure point. The whole idea of using bearings, aside from performance, is to protect other parts from wear so switching to plastic bushings in the environment that can causes the most wear makes no sense at all as it's the situation that most benefits from bearings. 

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