Taking a detailed look at the UDIRC UDI023PRO Inkfish Turbo-Jet Simulation Personal Watercraft

[BlackSeaRC]

I have been driving RC vehicles of the wheeled kind for 40 years but I have never owned an RC boat.  Recently, I was attracted by the new ProBoat Jetstream Jet Boat but it is a lot of money and never seems to be in stock anywhere, so I never took the plunge.  Then, along came the UDIRC UDI023PRO Inkfish, a so-called 'jet boat' in the style of a personal watercraft and at a much more reasonable price.  I liked the scale-realistic look of the product and it is quite an unusual subject matter so I thought I'd give it a try.  There are two versions available, the standard brushed motor variant with a 2-in-1 ESC/receiver (UDI023) and the upgraded 'PRO' variant with 3500KV brushless motor, 80A marine-grade water-cooled ESC and separate waterproof receiver unit.  I went for the 'PRO' version as I thought the 30% premium was worth it to get extra performance.  Although the manufacturer describes it as a 'jet-drive' boat, it doesn't use a jet pump but has a shaft-driven impeller.  It has a 14" hull that works out very close to 1:10 scale.  Power comes from a 7.4V 2000mAh Li-ion battery pack.

 

It took a while to arrive from China but I have now had the opportunity to unbox it and look at it in detail.  I also found a suitable realistic rider figure and a few days ago, the weather was nice enough to take it out on its maiden run in proper water conditions.  For this I chose a fairly shallow river so I would have the chance to recover it if anything went wrong.  It was rocky though and quite fast flowing in places after heavy rain so I didn't quite know what to expect.  From the off, I was impressed by how the craft handled.  It was responsive and had plenty of power.  Now I am sure that those of you who are familiar with proper jet boats or high-speed propeller driven boats will find this rather tame but I had a huge amount of fun.  It has a top speed of around 20kph and felt reasonably fast for its size.  Despite some tight turns, the rider didn't fall off and the craft never capsized.  As it can operate in quite shallow water, I am sure it will get a lot of use this summer and all this is at a cost close to 1/10th of a ProBoat Jet Boat!

 

Please check out the video below to see the Inkfish in close-up detail, learn about all its key features, see what real PWC's could have inspired it and then watch it in action on the river.  I have also given a summary of good and bad points for anyone considering buying one.

 

https://youtu.be/oyywM79VgNM

BlackSeaRC

 

Plus a few images...

 

 

Edited April 5, 2024 by BlackSeaRC

[Stormbringer]

Good vid and cool subject plus it goes well 

Must admit i prefer your doll figure for it 

[BlackSeaRC]

5 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

Good vid and cool subject plus it goes well 

Must admit i prefer your doll figure for it 

I like the fact that there is no propeller hanging down from the back to bump on rocks or snag on debris in the water.  It even has a 'visibility spout' of water that you can sometimes see shooting upwards from the rear.  For scale realism purposes I think a seamless body figure with real clothes is worth the effort rather than a standard plastic action figure with visible joints and painted hair/clothes.