Monday, October 09, 2017

First sea trials

 

Down to the lake with the speedboat for its first proper sail. I hadn't wanted to do this in the bath as I hope it will fly away so fast the length of the tub could be traversed in micro seconds.

Sadly, pretty much as I had expected, the model moves, but not very fast. Certainly nothing like as fast as it looks like it should. As soon as the motor revs, the model sits down at the back and cavitates like crazy. This is not good.


Scratching my head and taking it back in the clubhouse, I decide that there are two potential issue. The first is that the prop is too large. When this is the case, it simply can't move enough water and blows holes in it. No problem, I bodge a fix by taking the tips off with a pair of scissors.

Second, the rudder support box is filling with water and acting like a parachute. With my pen knife, I open a crude hole in the back.

On the water again and things have improved, but only a tiny bit. We are a long way from being more looks than operation.

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