scale model boat-dock with slips...

pkrankow wrote:That also seems to add convenience in the boat is restrained on 3 sides and cannot drift away as easily.   Did this work in practice?

My experience is limited, but I know some speedboat people use a carpeted plywood ramp to "beach" the boat where they can safely walk down to it.

Phil

Hi Phil, The dock and slips did help to keep the boat from drifting.. but they were built mostly for show. My Dumas Short-Stuff (DV-10) and a Shinsei "Voyager" Cabin-Cruiser were the boats that I used with it.




I haven't had the boats out in a long time. It would be fun to run them again. There's a reservoir within walking-distance from our house. We've lived here six years now.. and I have yet to run a boat. I'm always nervous about running just one boat.. in case there's a problem, out on the water. The Short-Stuff "flipped-over" on its maiden, because its aftermarket "Graupner" rudder ran deep.. and had a lot of throw. I turned too tightly at a moderate speed.. and she flipped upside down. I had to "windmill" its prop.. to get it back to shore. This wasn't an easy task.. because either the bow or stern needed to be facing me. Several pulses on the throttle; in either forward or reverse finally got her back to shore. The rudder is a "flip-up" design.. so I trimmed the angle from straight down (90 degrees) to a less-aggressive 60 degrees.. which will handle a full-speed turn at full-deflection, without flipping.

I'd build the "Short-Stuff" differently.. if I had it to build again. The deck is one-piece of Lexan that has 10 screws/anchor-blocks holding it in place. Then the seam needs to be taped to keep water out of the hull. The deck needs to be removed to "swap/re-charge" the battery-pack. I made custom "saddle-packs" for the model. Sub-C NiCd's in 7.2V and 8.4V configurations. 3 cells either side of the 540 Graupner motor. The 7-cell pack had the seventh-cell going over the stuffing-tube for balance. It wasn't the ultimate set-up.. but the boat ran very well with some trim-tab adjustment. Bent-down slightly.. they stopped the hull from "porpoising".. which was a problem early-on.

Thats pretty cool Roddie

Nice work Roddie! Boat dock and slips, yeah that's cool for sure. Why ya worried about finding a pond, don't you have a pool in the backyard??

I use a fishing pole and rubber practice casting weight to protect the boat.
When running without a retrieval boat on site I just stick to doing shore
line passes. Elect. boats run a much lower risk of going dead in the water
compared to nitro / gas boats. I try to not get greedy and avoid running
out of fuel, about 12 speed laps and then bring it in works for me. Gives
the heart rate a chance to calm down

Ya gotta find the rest of your Barbie Doll and set up a realistic diorama, something
like this:

1/2A Nut wrote:I use a fishing pole and rubber practice casting weight to protect the boat.
When running without a retrieval boat on site I just stick to doing shore
line passes. Elect. boats run a much lower risk of going dead in the water
compared to nitro / gas boats. I try to not get greedy and avoid running
out of fuel, about 12 speed laps and then bring it in works for me.  Gives
the heart rate a chance to calm down      

I was lucky not to lose the Short-Stuff that day it flipped over. There were "falls" on that side of the pond where I was running it. Luckily it was calm that day.

I remember you mentioning the fishing-pole retrieval method. I'd also read similar in a model marine "tips" book that I have, except that a tennis-ball with several J-hooks protruding was used to snare the model.

I had my own idea for a powered rescue-craft with a "Y" shaped Styrofoam bow (actually more like a goalpost..) with two arms to capture a distressed/stalled model.

I haven't done much with my little rigger project.. but I did obtain some surface-props that are close to the size of the Dumas ones for the .049 engine. Adapting one to a drive or coupler that will work, is what's got me vexed.

I like the floating dock Roddie , has a nice scale look to it , ya'll got me wanting some boating action now Have some older radios that would work in something maybe 18" or so ? And there are places not to far away that would work for running . Heck if noting else might end up getting rid of some old equipment LOL !!

getback wrote:I like the floating dock Roddie , has a nice scale look to it , ya'll got me wanting some boating action now Have some older radios that would work in something maybe 18" or so ? And there are places not to far away that would work for running . Heck if noting else might end up getting rid of some old equipment LOL !!

Hey man! Thanks for the compliment! I've noted your interest in "Lieven's" recent Hydro-Bat air-boat. Why not throw a simple airboat together? Something on the idea of a swamp-buggy...

I built an obscure air-boat years ago that was made from a Styrofoam "ring" that was approx. 14" diameter. I think it was for making a small wreath. (a common item at a craft-store) It was powered by a 540-type stock-brushed can-motor and had an air-rudder. The battery-pack was a simple 7.2V NiCd flat-pack that was Velcro-stuck to the deck. The receiver and speed control were stuffed in a plastic bag on the deck.. and secured to the motor-pylon. The deck was just a circular piece of styrene-sheet.. stuck-on with 2-sided tape. I made a pylon approx. 6" high to swing an 8" prop and clear the deck-equipment. The servo for the air-rudder was mounted high on the pylon.. and there was a hard-wire "hoop" surrounding the prop.

You may ask yourself "why"... but this was something that Roddie made, which should answer that question. Actually.. it was designed as a "river-craft" for use at one of my favorite trout-fishing spots years ago. It could handle the currents without being "swamped".. and there wasn't a submerged-rudder to foul on the rocks. It was very buoyant; having that Styrofoam ring for stability. There were "pools" and "rapids" as can be found on many streams. Control was erratic without a directional-hull.. but it was still fun. I wish I'd taken pictures of it.. but it was back when we used "film" in our cameras.

I may still have the shell of it somewhere.. but it utilized my only radio-gear at the time.. and was dismantled for another obscure Roddie-project. The radio was/"is" an old Futaba "Magna-Sport" 2ch FM surface-set (early 1990's vintage).. pistol-grip that came with a single standard servo, speed-controller.. and BEC receiver. That radio set was used in all my boats. It uses standard alkaline batteries.. and still works.

It's the set on the left-side in the below photo.



The Kyosho set on the right-side is still NIB.. never used. Both are old 75MhZ outdated radios by today's standards. They'd probably "still" work fine.. because nobody uses those old sets anymore.. and any RF interference is unlikely.. especially if you're operating alone in an isolated area. Also.. a "surface-model" wouldn't normally pose as high a risk of property-damage.. if control was lost.

A few years ago, I invested in a "Tactic" digital SLT 2.3Ghz radio adapter (RX/TX) which is supposedly compatible with my newer Futaba "Skysport" T4YF FM 4ch. radio.



The Tactic radio-adapter came with a harness to fit most modern Futaba FM radios having a trainer-connection jack/plug. Other harnesses were available to fit "Hitec, Spektrum and JR" FM radios. I'm sure that advances have been made on this technology.. since I bought mine.. I'm just mentioning these things to give you some ideas Eric. That Skysport radio is 10+ years old.. and didn't cost much $. The Tactic 2.3Ghz radio-adapter and 6ch. receiver was less than 1/2 that cost.