Having just completed an aircraft carrier, I needed something a little less demanding for the next model. Luckily last years holiday photographs came to the rescue. We had spent part of the holiday visiting friends who lived next to the St Lawrence Seaway. Their town's small dock contained several boats which where quite naturally photographed as possible building projects. Looking at these photos again and the idea of a simple model based on the sports/utility/workboat types could be the modest challenge I desired.
It took a fair amount of drawing, rubbing out and redrawing plus some experimental sheet bending before a likely design was produced. It did seem awfully "boxy" but hopefully the subtle bends and curves might fool the water into flowing smoothly around it. The basic structure was built from balsa and liteply to give a light but surprisingly strong hull about 24 inches (60 cm) long and 8 inches (20 cm) beam. Power was to be a mild 540 type of motor connected to a Graupner combined gearbox/motor mount driving a 45 mm dia two bladed plastic propeller through 2.5:1 gears.
The completed model with RC and a six cell Nimh battery pack only weighed in at 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) and the model appeared to sit "on" rather than "in" the water. The driveline only drew a current of 3.3 Amps at full power, a modest value that ought to ensure long sailing sessions. The top speed proved to be around 5 feet/sec (1.5 m/s) at which the bows are clear of the water but not quite fully planing.
The handling, which I was initially worried about, proved to be good with no bad habits at any speed. The simple gently curved hull bottom working surprisingly well. Moving astern was something else as once the model started to turn then there was nothing you could do to stop it. This was not unexpected as the model had a large flat transom and substantial skeg, both features which tend to make models have poor astern steering in my experience.
So, easy to build, relaxing to sail, a perfect way to while away the time whilst thinking about what to build next
Glynn Guest