[nativepaul]

They are very different the Tenshock is a stepped hull and the impulse isn't, sstepped hulls rule you out of Mono races in America but as you dont intend to race that doesnt matter, the stepped hull is a more efficient design but at the end of the day its a smaller and much less powerful boat, the Impulse has at least the capability of being faster even if it isn't with the stock prop, in race mode the Tenshock runs for 6 minutes on 2s and the Impulse runs 4 minutes on 4s but the more efficient design means it wont be much slower despite having 1/3rd the power. where the tenshock wins out is that its self-righting as it comes , which is an awesome feature to have as you can go out and boat even if the waves are big or its windy, the impulse can probably be made to self-right with the addition of a flood chamber (most Monos can) but it is a pretty big and scary modification for a newb. boating requires a certain amount of reading the water to how fast you can go in which direction with the conditions of the day and self-righting means you haven't got to get the boat or wait for it to come in when you get it wrong which speeds up the learning process.

What packs do you have? From the KVs in your signature you could be running anything from 4s-6s if you have a bunch of 4s packs from trucks and no 2s packs from cars it makes the Impulse cheaper, conversely, if you have neither the tenshock is getting better with its half price packs, and if your trucks are 5s/6s and you have some 2s packs from 1:10th touring cars, the tenshock is a much cheaper proposition.

Boats are not like cars where you need a local supply for arms, hinge pins, body posts, shock towers that you break frequently. If you maintain it well (grease the strut/flex before running, take the flex out at the end of the day, dry and oil it to stop it rusting, and a drop of oil on the motor bearings) you will need very little in the way of parts. Stock plastic props break, (but I wouldn't swap for another Proboat one, either a Graupner carbon (still break but a better prop while it lasts) metal from Octura, ABC, Prather (need sharpening and balancing) or a CNC alloy from ETTI, R2, Tenshock ( break less often than plastic/carbon but can still be dinged my debris, sharp and pre-balanced but expensive) (one and you will want new bearings in the strut every couple of years, and new batteries every year or two as well because the high constant currents of boats do stress cells more than cars do.