Part 1. ideal conditions; nearly 30°C, cool Bier at hand😜
Sea Scout built by Dad in the early sixties with a Taycol Target and 6V lead acid wet cells (very wet😡). Renovated and dragged into the 21st century over the last several months 😉
See Build Blog 'Sea Scout 'Jessica'' for details!
Motor: Propdrive 2830, 1000kV, 30mm 3 blade Raboesch prop. Quicrun 16BL30 (30A) ESC with BEC.
Tested with 3 battery types, all started with 99% measured capacity-
1. NiMh 4.2Ah 7.2V, nom. 408gm.
Result: Speed sedate (OK 😉scale river cruising!) No planing.
Max current: 3.6A
End status V / capacity left: At end of short run ca 3 mins. 7.78V 99%.
2. 2S LiPo 4.0Ah 7.4V nom. 257gm.
Result: Speed still sedate but due to lower batt weight at least the forefoot came out of the wet stuff! Max current: 4.1A
End status V / capacity left: At end of short run ca 3 mins. 8.25V 93%.
3. 3S LiPo 4.0Ah 11.1V nom. 315gm.
Result: Now we're getting somewhere!!😁
Good speed, manoeuvrability and planing 😊 Max current: 7.5A
End status: 11.95V 74% after several long runs, ca 20 mins total.
Estimated (extrapolated) endurance on a 4Ah LiPo around one hour - mostly 'full bore' - 'Pedal to the metal man' 😊

See also:

The competition!

Final run. (Beer was getting warm😁)

Cap'ns log entry:
Boat dead-weight w/o battery: 1.8kg.
Spray rails to be added!😲
Slight list to port to be trimmed.
Rudder servo to be reversed!!😲
Keel protection to be added: some scratches and flaking from stony sloping shore 🤔
Summary: much as expected👍 Forget anything less than 3S.
Anyone want to buy a batch (4) of new 2S 4Ah 45C Lipos? 'One careful owner'!
Happy boating people, Cheers Doug 😎
PS Many thanks to Camera girl Gisela 👍
Recorded in 1080p HD.

" Elsa ", is a steam dredge barge built by Buxton Model Boat Club member Dean Ratcliffe.
She is roughly 1.24 scale, approximately 43 inches by 8 inches and is made from recycled and up cycled materials wherever possible. She has a single rudder and propeller, powered by a single motor from a drill, and two 6v lead acid batteries. She is a totally freelance design.

About 10 years old, currently with a DC motor setup Hectoperm but complete base plate can be swapped for a 2 cylinder cheddar models Proteus boiler and steam plant. With ABC boiler control. Lovely detailed model, cruses well on 4 Lead acid batteries in parallel lots of power from the MARXX motor and 60 ~ 70mm I forget, 4 blade brass prop. Actually needs more weight in the back already 4 lumps of lead in the back and some plates of stainless steel. When it gets moving the bow wave is huge. 😁

I acquired this boat part built some months ago through Dave M.
I have not put too much scale in detail but I am quite pleased with the overall finish. it is powered by two brushless 1250KV out runners and in the first sea trials I used 12v lead acid batteries. (That video was posted a few weeks ago - mdlbt.com/26793).
This video shows its second sea trial after I was persuaded to use lipos. The difference in performance is very pleasing.
Thank you Dave M for your help and advice during the build.

I have just completed my Puffer and am quite pleased with the outcome. The components are quite good but do need a bit of fettling but this is what our hobby is about. This is my third Caldercraft build so I am used to their quality and sparse instructions.   As usual for Caldercraft you need to have your thinking cap on as the A0 plan and the 'instruction book' do not match up but of course they do expect you to have a little bit of experience in model building. it has taken me about 6 months to build working on and off over this time. it has a large hull which is easy to house the motor, ESC, RC and batteries, etc. (I installed 2 lead acid 6 volt batteries, one on each side amidships) which gives stability and ballast. Being a large deep hull it needs a lot of ballast, even in its short length.I have only tested her in the big white nautical test facility at home so do not know how it will perform on our lake but hope to try it out on Sunday if the weather is set fair. Tried her out Wednesday and she sailed really well - maybe a little more ballast in the bow but not too concerned.

This is my replica model of the Sirius Star designed by Max Coote of Ripmax, around 1954.
I found the drawings on the internet, and built the model from scratch. The boat is 41" and I have fitted an electric motor taken from a childs ride on car, 50 amp Chinese controller, 50mm prop, and 12 volt 7 amp lead acid battery.
It also has a Murco diesel fitted in the wheel house to give the boat a 50's appearance!
Sea trials soon!

First time in the water and under power. to get the correct trim (ect) I built a test tank from ply and lined it with polythene. To stat with There were two 12V lead acid batteries and the weight of the two motors, she just simply sat there, even the props were above water. After approx 30lbs more weight the correct water line was reached, the white line on the hull follows the sheer line of the main deck and isn't the true water line. So with the two batteries hooked up in parallel, the 12V Proboat Speed controller and the two Duma 12V motors as can be seen quite a good performance.

Completely scratch built using balsa wood and Mahogany strips for the decks and bridge and the free plan by James Pottinger issued in Model Boat Magazine November 1996. The plans were well drawn at a scale of 1:93 how ever I doubled the size by just transfering each measurement directly onto the wood and a few card patterns were made when panneling the hull.
Powered with twin 12 volt motors, two 12 volt lead acid batteries and two 1 3/4" props I am well sattisfied with the end result. A full build log with pictures can be found on the ''Leith built Ships" web site, or look under ''The Loftsman"

Police (Scotland) 1.12 scale. made from a Semi-Kit by Models by Design, built 2014.
This is modelled from the interceptor42 range by Safehaven Marine. This is my first full build of a model, having only done restorations previously.
Model length is some 42 inch, beam of 12 inch. (106cm x 31cm)
Power is by twin E-Max BL2826 Brushless motors and 1, 80amp speed controller running on 2 NiMH 7.2 volts.
Fitted with Action electronics Police siren, and with detailed rotating blue lights and searchlights.
I sail this at Cold Knap Lake Barry Vale of Glamorgan, and I am the Founding member of the Vale Of Glamorgan Model Boat Club.
Also included is my Portland Pilot interceptor 42 which was the original prototype from Models by Design which I purchased and added lighting etc, this runs on Brushless motor running on 12Volt lead acid.
Visit our website at http://vgmbc.org/

This 1/12 scale model is based on the Aerokits Solent Class lifeboat. Over the past 5 months it has been under going a major refit. I originally built the boat about 35 years ago and got the "bug" again last September. I've done the best I can to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Its powered by two MFA Torpedo 800 electric motors. power comes from two lead acid batteries, each rated at 12v 7Ah. Control is provided by two Mtroniks Tio ESC. The twin spade rudders are linked to one servo. Each ESC has its own receiver. I found that one receiver, using a Y lead, could not continuesly keep the two ESC supplied with a signal and they kept going into Failsafe mode alternately. I got round it by binding two receivers to the one transmitter. Within the engine compartment is an automatic bilge pump. Two probes detect if/when the water level rises to a certain amount in the bilge and activates the pump.

The model has working radar scanner , navigation lights, search light and blue flashing light.

If you want to see the boat in action please go to my You Tube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/coljacktonvale

This was a very beat up and plain model when I bought it , but has cleaned up well . Original Power was from a Torpedo 850 and heavy 12v 7Ah lead acid battery giving run times of around 20 minutes of plod along performance . Now however Boat is powered by Thumper motor and 4 cell Lipo's giving over an hour of entertainment . Cut's a fairly mean wake too . Needham lake in Suffolk is it's home surf 👍

An electric conversion , was originally I.C powered believed to be from China . it has since been stripped out again and is awaiting another rebuild , possibly water jet drives as this is what the hull was designed for in real life . Model is 56" long and at the time of these pics weighed 15 kg five of which was lead acid batteries . I have however become educated in the dark arts of Lipo usage now