I've just been given this fiberglass hull and am wondering if anybody can recognise what it might be please .
It's 71cm overall with a beam of 23cm.
Any information appreciated
Chris
This is my tug Alte Liebe. it is a Caldercraft kit and is almost 1 metre in length. I have installed an MFA 540 motor with a 2.5:1 reduction gear and operate her on 6 volt SLA's. With ballast she is fairly heavy coming in at about 15 kg.
I have just added a photo of my tug breaking the Ice on our lake a couple of weeks ago.(December 2012)
Just rescued off ebay seller who had it in storage since he inherited it in 1976, it is a Fairey Huntsman, scratch built sometime in early 60's by his father who used to sail it near Manchester. its fitted with a SANWA 2F-2M RC system which seems to be still functioning. I will be doing restoration over the next few months, as there are a few cracks showing along most of the seems and I will need to sand and seal and repaint.
Believed to be scratch built, evidence of old 1 gallon REDEX oil container forming main deck, bits of Mecano used as stiffening and support.
It has a Basset Lowke model 1461/u (motor, stern tube, prop shaft and prop) Set.This dates from the mid 1930's and would have cost 7/- Shillings for those old enough to remember, that would have been abut a day and a half's wages. The photo's show what the motor looked like as it came out and then after cleaning and testing, and yes it runs very smoothly in forward and reverse, from 3 volts up to 12 volts, seems to be quite good at 6, so will probably use when rebuild complete.
As you will see from photo's there is a lot of restoration to do before sailing again.
Now you've stopped laughing, can you identify the type of ship it's meant to be, I thought a Coaster.
Just got back from lake and had some fun with my son. His Veron Swordsman that I bought from a second hand shop £30.00. Flew the Canadair again against a stunning sunset, and a shot of my Veron Fast Patrol Boat with its new motors (555's) running on 10v A123's, very scale speed but could do with a few more volts to really bring it on the plane.
HI Ian, yes Phil did start from a very young age. I've seen photos of him at the Great West Aerodrome (now Heathrow) with free flight petrol in the 1920's.
If your going to I of W it's worth calling into Westbourne Models on the way that's if your going along the coast.
If your going brushless be warned that the ESC's are a lot of money. I would recommend the Graupner one. I have one and cannot fault it. its a bit strange to program at first but once I got use to it no probs. You can have it for planes, cars, helicopters or boats, it changes the start up differently, I had nothing but trouble with some cheap ones until I went to Westbourne emptied my wallet and put it in my Huntsman by Precedent, the slow speed is fantastic you have so much control and when you open it up it is smooth. I put a water jacket on it and it is always cool no matter how I drive the boat. if you do go to Westbourne let me know, if you like, and you could come in for a drink (tea!) would like to meet you,
speak to you soon, Brian
Sometime back I posted pictures of my Fireboat questioning it's heritage. it is not a Vosper Mk II but could be the elusive Mk I.
I gave her a makeover earlier this year and thought I would post some pics.
Alan
HI Ian as promised some more photos
No 1 My First landing on water last Thursday eve.
No 2 Modified funnel, 2 extra vents on top and vents at side to allow the fan to push air out
No 3 Bow of boat the gun base is a CD with 1/8 square glued on sprayed Ford Dove Grey
No 4 I took this one Thursday Eve hence still in water!!
Hope they are OK for you
Brian
HI Ian, thanks. As regards LIPOs I use Turnigy 2200 $40-40c Discharge. I have doubled them up in the boat 4400 11.1v. So good capacity, no more power. No problems with the brushed engines. On my Veron Huntsman, 52" again, with a brushless no problems, but I have used 20-25c discharge and they puffed up, I can still use them on low powered aircraft, flying time is just down a tad. So get the biggest mAh battery you can afford, with the biggest discharge available you shouldn't have any problems, just don't get salt water near them. As far as costs a re concerned go for reputable supplier, I only use Turnigy, in the early days I used various suppliers but I was Ignorant and did most of the damage myself!! so I can't blame the battery, but I do know that Turnigy are pretty bullet proof, but if you want a recommendation I would go for A123's but make sure you can charge them from your existing charger, (LIFE4 is how I charge mine), good luck
Brian
Thanks for the info Brian- just gathering as much info and opinion as I can before I part with hard earned cash. The Turnigy Lipos seem to get mainly favourable reviews and they seem a bit cheaper than some. I suppose in the end I shall just have to try some and see what happens. Not sure whether my charger would charge A123's- I'd need to check- it's a Sigma intelligent Charger- pretty standard I think.
1959 kit built, restored two years ago,removed the ganette 15cc 4 stroke and replaced it with a bruhless motor which is a EMP 5065 410kv with a 100amp ESC and 4cell 5000 lipo turning a x70 two bladed prop, runs times up to 20 minutes, and a very good but over scale speed, will take a video of her next time a I take her out.
Second decent run with this boat- rather sedate I think. At the moment it's drawing 33amps (stationary, 16.5 amps each motor) with both motors running from a 12v Nimh pack. I want to get each motor running off a separate LiPo and then I could probably increase the prop size- still well within the esc rating and the motors are very cool after a run at the moment. it seems a bit back heavy and I'd like to get it running flatter- so will try moving the batteries more amidships.
HI Ian
See you are making good use of the wattmeter 😀
Like the video and agree the balance could benefit with a bit more weight amidships.
Listening to the video sound suggests your motors are not developing full power so I suspect the NiMh's are not capable of delivering the amps required.
You could try smaller props with the NiMh's to see if the performance Improves, could be your motors are working just below the optimum.
Dave, I found that the Nimh batteries were dropping off to around 9v at full power when measured with the wattmeter and this is why I want to go for Lipos, one on each motor. At the moment I'm taking everything from one pack and I think this is the limiting factor.
When I get my Lipos I will stick them in the middle and try larger props, probably 40mmS types to begin with, having measured what's going on with the wattmeter first. it may be that the existing props will do better if the batteries are delivering up what the motors want. You're right, there is still plenty of headroom with this setup.
Just got to rake up the cash for two largish capacity Lipos!
The wattmeter is a splendid purchase- I'd say essential for this type of thing.
Anyway, glad you liked the video- she still looks quite good toodling around at that speed.
First trial run after purchase off good old Ebay. Running 26kv motor and 11.1v lipo. its a little bit "skippy", but after returning to shore, it looks like it may simply be the height of the prop shaft, so now adjusted, ready for a second trial shortly....more to follow.
They can be very stable and get a higher level of speed over a mono hull. BUT ...... yep, there always has to be one............ I find that a mono hull can sail in any type of water condition, twin hulls, or tunnel hulls are better suited for calmer water. the main risk is for the hull to flip over backwards if thits the crest of a wave and the wind gets under the bows, the centre section then acts as a sail , wind catches it and lifts the hull nose up........... and over !
If you get the chance to sail one.......try it, they are good fun to sail, take a bit of concentration to get the best speed out of them, especially on turns.
Its like any boat, there are good things and bad in all of them to a degree.