YPC Fast Electric rc Outboard - Weight Comparison Test

Woke up to absolutely stunning conditions today to run our weight comparison tests 💥

For those who didn’t catch yesterday’s post, today’s goal was to compare electronics temperatures and overall performance between two different all-up weights:

• Standard setup: 3.8 kg (4S 8000 mAh LiPo)
• Lightened setup: 3.35 kg (–450 g, fuselage removed)

The big question was whether reducing weight would make enough of a difference in temps and speed to justify lightening future production boats.

Spoiler alert (if you haven’t watched the video yet): the results were significant.

Over a short 1½-minute run, the lighter setup delivered:
• Motor temps 5 °C cooler (~10%)
• ESC temps 9 °C cooler (~20%)

That’s a meaningful reduction over such a short runtime.

To keep things fair, the course and turn radius remained identical, CG was adjusted to match trim, and the LiPo was swapped to ensure the same starting voltage. Post-run voltages were virtually identical.

Visually and on the water, the lighter boat looked and felt slightly faster. Logic suggests it would also have covered more distance in the same timeframe, making it not only quicker but more efficient overall (a reasonable assumption given the data).

Most importantly, the lighter hull remained rock solid — tracking extremely well through both left and right turns. That’s encouraging.

As mentioned in the video: yes, a lighter boat should be faster and more efficient — but there’s a tipping point. Too light, and you lose inertia and displacement when conditions demand it. Race conditions are a very different animal to flat-water speed runs.

A race boat needs to perform across a wide range of conditions.

Based on today’s testing — and what I’ve seen from comparable FE F1 setups — I’d say 3.0–3.5 kg is a very good target weight for a P-Limited FE F1 outboard running:
• 4S
• 3660-size motor

These results are more than convincing enough to push me toward building future hulls at least 500 g lighter.

Keen to hear your experiences and thoughts — and happy to answer any questions 👊