Topic: Monsoon 900 build (Read 80095 times)

tigertiger · « **Reply #75 on:** February 18, 2011, 01:06:34 am »

Hi Old tube.

I believe that the Monsoon may have been modified. I am thinking in particular of the keel bulb.
Can you confirm if this is the case?
If so, is there any chance of an update and perhaps pictures?

Old Tube · « **Reply #76 on:** April 27, 2011, 03:23:25 pm »

Apologises for the delay in coming back, major bathroom and ensuite refits to fit in and the garage completlely out of bounds for a further couple of months. Now back in and restarting the build.

The bulb has been modified, now being a two part moulding with weight material bedded in so unable to say what it is. The two parts are top and bottom whch are supposed to clip together. Alas the resulting bulb had (in my case anyway) a nice gap down the edge all the way round about 2-3mm wide at the worst parts and the about 2 mm deep.
Filled that with two part resin mix and sanded back to shape, which then takes off the nice polished moulded finish so then had to spray paint. This in some areas had an adverse reaction to the base material so it has had to be fair off lightly again and resprayed.

End result is much the same as the photos shown but now a nice red finish and several hours of work over a couple of weeks. Now on to the next part of the build based on the excellent material above. Will let you know how it goes.

Old Tube :

bobjeffreson · « **Reply #77 on:** May 31, 2011, 10:46:09 pm »

I thought that I should get back on here and thank TT for all the upgrades that he suggested. The only problem I encountered after a few sails was that a chain plate broke while the boat was sitting in my family room....must have been a strong breeze blowing through....

... anyway went to my workshop..I'm a jeweller by trade and made 4 replacement 'plates. All fixed now.
Thanks again TT.
For a guy that is used to racing 1/4 scale dirt sprintcars .......these RC yachts are just so relaxing....until a 2nd boat appears on the pond...

...HAHAHAHA
BTW.. I've discovered that a large RC yacht, gracefully sailing across a pond, will attract more ladies than loud, dirty, smelly racecars...can someone explain why????

Edit colour change

tigertiger · « **Reply #78 on:** June 07, 2011, 01:22:03 pm »

You're welcome Bob

tsenecal · « **Reply #79 on:** May 06, 2012, 10:36:18 pm »

Just wanted to add a thank you to TigerTiger for his thread here. I recently bought a "lightly" used Monsoon on Ebay for a dirt cheap price. It had all the usual problems, tangled mess for lines, busted servo tray, busted main keel tube, no receiver or transmitter... but i payed considerably less than $100 for it, and have 30 some odd years experience building boats... but never a sailboat, so i had some concerns.

TigerTiger's thread here gave me all i needed to know to get the boat in the water in about 6 hours work, with zero leaks, and a correctly functioning jib and main sail that didn't catch on anything, with proper rigging and lines. It was an enjoyable error free 20 minute maiden voyage.

my apologies, but i didn't get any photos taken... but then, the boat looks just like all the rest on the thread here anyways... :)

again, thanks for all your assistance on this.

ps, for informational purposes...

I am using an Assan 7 channel receiver, a 1200mah lipo w/BEC set at 6 volts, and a futaba 9c radio with the stock rudder servo and sailwinch servo. the sailwinch servo end point has been electronically adjusted (at the transmitter) to feed just the right amount of line out...

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #80 on:** June 29, 2013, 09:11:23 pm »

Hi to everyone. I must admit, I've always planned to have RC sailboat, but as I could not afford on Stockmaritime inventions, I have bought Monsoon from Hobbyking for just as low as 125$ including postage. I got the old TX from some of the earlier crushed helis, so there was no need to buy any. When boat came, I started to make necessary adjustments and replacements.

1. All fixed rigging was replaced with 0.5mm 61kg Mikado X-Plode fishing rope. I was amazed by its strenght - it was extremely difficult to cut it with razor sharp scisssors! I also made the garden swing for my wife using just four pieces of that rope! Shocking... half of milimeter of diameter...

2. Stays and backstay were rigged to the hull via stainless eyebolts and brass turnbuckles. backstay was partially divided into two dependend lines.

3. The keel bulb was filled with lead pellets of a diameter 2mm to the 1.7kg (3.8lbs)

4. All what could be loose, was fixed by epoxy - keel bulb to the keel, keel to the hull, keel rod to the top socket on the deck. You can see on one of the pix, what I have done to replace original top cap of the keel rod...

5. I have replaced original deck lid with the sheet of PMMA plastic lacquered downside. It has seals around, but it is also taped to the deck for sailing. Works well.

6. I plan to replace original mast strainers to the forged alu parts (I have such possibility), but so far originals keeps well.

Today I have sailed on the pond, where all around the lot of trees were holding the wind, so the wind was not stable, gusting from 0 to even 15 knots, from many directions. Difficult area to learn for the first time. I did not sunk, I could return, no single drop of a water under the deck

and I have to admit, that's the piece of a quite good boat for a really small money. Just to say, how much the modifications cost looke like in my case, the fishing line, eyebolts and turnbuckles were only 60$ expense. I plan to make a bowsprit and frontstay to have a possiblity to bend a mast better - bending it on jib ropes is useless.
Here are some photos of mods. Sorry for my poor english - greetings from Poland, Gdansk

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #81 on:** July 01, 2013, 06:17:03 pm »

Hi

I know I am boring you having fun with my boat as a small child... But I have found, that at Monsoon on weak winds the mainsail leech has a collision with backstay when changing the tack. I have decided to make a new top for the mast. Here is the project - will be cut off with laser using aircraft aluminum of 2mm thickness. Extends point of fixing for a backstay of about 30mm back. That will avoid the collision and a new top will be much firmer than original plastic.

Boomer · « **Reply #82 on:** July 01, 2013, 08:37:20 pm »

Sir Gorg
Nicely done! If you haven't yet strengthened the mast at the joint - be sure to do so. I posted a photo of how I reinforcement the mast on my Monsoon - simple and effective.
Boomer

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #83 on:** July 02, 2013, 03:56:13 pm »

Boomer - I saw your great advices, not to tell I have used most of them

but I did not make any strenghtening of the joint - in my mast the joint is strongly placed and has completely no any clearance. When I made new rigging, the mast is stiff at that place as rock.
Here is my today laserwork, pure version in aircraft alu and the same part after painting. Project was perfectly measured and it fits perfect inside the mast. After placing it, I will fix it with epoxy filling the empty space between mast walls and the top foot plate.
I also got the carbon rod today, so soon I will start to make the bowsprit with frontstay adjusted with the turnbuckle.

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #84 on:** July 02, 2013, 08:13:16 pm »

Tadam!

Mast top fixed. Who wants a piece? I have one alu (8g of weight), painted black, with holes for rigging and two pcs of Hardox 700 (20g of weight), no holes, no painting - will need maybe some grinding to fix to the mast. This is how it looks like.

Boomer · « **Reply #85 on:** July 02, 2013, 08:38:53 pm »

Nice to see craftsmanship is still alive and well. Nicely done! My fix for the mast required only four new fasteners and a drilling a few holes. The plastic insert the factory provides was not able to keep the mast form bending at that junction. Thus the through bolting. Your set up looks terrific and should provide all the support you need.
Thanks for sharing the pictures!
Boomer

strathie · « **Reply #86 on:** July 09, 2013, 10:26:03 am »

Hi All
I am a newbie to Mayhem and, being on old Aussie yachtie well and truly grounded, have recently bought a Monsoon 900 to play with in my retirement.
I have read some of Tigertiger,s posts re strengthening etc. and have just about got the boat ready for the water as it comes in the box but I would like to upgrade the rigging - backstay, shrouds etc. Could someone please recommend suitable cord and its source for this .
Obviously this boats faults and their fixes have been well documented in this forum and I would be thankful for any assistance .

strathie · « **Reply #87 on:** July 09, 2013, 10:36:14 am »

Strathie from Aussie again
Just further to the main in the backstay problem ,I have the same issue but plan on simply trimming some off the leech of the sail. I trust the fabric will not fray and the slight trim should not affect performance.

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #88 on:** July 09, 2013, 10:38:18 am »

Hi!
In my first post here (a little higher) I have made a few comments on the cord I have used - it is Mikado X-Plode 0.50mm 61,4kg fishing rope. I name it rope instead of cord, as it is two times stronger than Spectra

As Mikado fishing equipment is quite popular all over the world, I think you should have no problem to buy it. But if you will not find it, I can cut off a few metres from my roll and send to you by post... I have bought 150m, such quantity is enough to rig ten Monsoon's

I can send you also a new top for the mast - you will move the backstay back...

strathie · « **Reply #89 on:** July 09, 2013, 10:58:07 am »

Thanks for that Sir _Gorg
Very kind of you and very prompt -I'm surprised
I am sure if I can't find Mikado I will find something similar but I might take you up on your offer of the masthead fitting.
My email is brian.strathmore@gmail.com to arrange delivery and any costs
Thanks Again

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #90 on:** July 09, 2013, 11:48:06 am »

Quote from: strathie on July 09, 2013, 10:58:07 am

I might take you up on your offer of the masthead fitting.

That's good choice - better than cutting the sail - it can start shred on the cut edge. Please drop me the shipping address on radek.cholewinski(at)wp.pl. Do not worry about the cost - masthead fitting is free of charge

and the letter to Australia will also be cheap - the fitting weight is only 8 grams.

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #91 on:** July 26, 2013, 08:20:14 pm »

Finally got the time to sail a while. My wife took some shitty SD camera to make some shitty movie

The quality is... well, bad? Hahaha... But seems boat was worth some tuning. The speed on the best tack was around 5 knots (!), the boat also survived 30 knots wind gust. The area I sail is surrounded by trees, so wind is unstable, has many reflections from the trees walls. But the fun is great.

Here is nice pix of sailing

and the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtSaueWvmA

Boomer · « **Reply #92 on:** July 26, 2013, 10:25:02 pm »

The photos and video were fine! Sorry we didn't see any of the 20 to 30 mph wind conditions - that might have made for a more exciting video!

Looks like you have nice location to sail in - Just need a few friends to sail with you now!

Looks like the boat sailed well, so congratulations are in order.

Boomer

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #93 on:** July 26, 2013, 10:47:58 pm »

Quote from: Boomer on July 26, 2013, 10:25:02 pm

Sorry we didn't see any of the 20 to 30 mph wind conditions

You will not see such conditions on that water surface, as pond is small, surrounded by trees and waves do not create. Today the wind gusts were sometimes appearing along the axis of the pond and as I have anemometer, strongest measured was 58 km/h, what gives 36 mph or 31 knots. That gust collapsed our picnic table, so it was strong

I saw that pond during heavy storm (120km/h of wind) and waves height was just about maybe 20cm...

mrpenguin · « **Reply #94 on:** July 26, 2013, 11:39:28 pm »

@Sir_Gorg:

Thank you for sharing - many of us sail in ponds with shifting and swirling winds, it can be tricky. I also have a Monsoon and they sail quite well.

You may be able to improve the performance a bit by adjusting the sails and booms. Both sails look quite flat, letting a bit of tension off would allow a bit of twist in the sails and provide more power.

Also the angle of the booms needs adjustment - see if you can get the jib boom a bit further out from the centreline relative to the main boom. This can be hard to get right, as the jib sheet tends to catch in the winch a bit especially in light winds.

Have a look at this video - this one is for tuning an IOM that has lots of adjustments, but you can get the same effects using the adjustments you have on the Monsoon, it is just a bit more difficult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JaeKpDvMl8

tigertiger · « **Reply #95 on:** July 27, 2013, 02:28:35 am »

I had a lot of fun sailing in a small lake between tall buildings, with canyon effects between buildings, and shifting winds. You actually get a lot of practice reading the wind and adjusting sails and tack to compensate. It really is a skills builder.

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #96 on:** July 27, 2013, 07:25:08 am »

@mrpenguin

Thank you very much for your priceless comments. You are fully right, sails are not trimmed well, what I have noticed already. The movie with IOM helped me much to understand, what to do. Well - that's right - on Monsoon those corrections are not easy to do, but I think, that I applied the corrections in the best possible way. I also decided to add one extra batten on the mainsail - in the middle between the boom and first original batten, looks, that it well corrects leech work.

@tigertiger:

Well, that pond has exactly the canyon effect and wind gusts from almost all directions. I have a lot of experience from normal yachts, but in that scale it seems more difficult as:

- I do not see the angles of sails well
- The model cannot sail so sharp to the wind as the normal boat
- Getting the proper sails trim needs critically small corrections on the radio stick, a milimeter of stick move more or less and I lose good wind

But - learn, learn, learn - that was the task for Monsoon. When I will fill myself more confident, new boat will appear for sure

tigertiger · « **Reply #97 on:** July 27, 2013, 05:16:26 pm »

Your stick work will get much more refined with practice, never fear.
I tend no to look at sail angles, as much as I do the amount of wind in the sails, and being on the point of luffing.
With a bit of tuning I sail very close to the wind. Sort out a bit of extra ballast and staying more upright may help with this.

Sir_Gorg · « **Reply #98 on:** July 27, 2013, 08:00:35 pm »

Thanks again for all your advices, folks. The ballast weight in my boat is max possible - I have put in the keel bulb 1700 grams of the lead pellets, no space for more. Anyway, after sails adjustments and booms adjustments, today the performance was - of course in my humble opinion - much better. Not to mention about freaky winds on the pond I sail, which casues some frustration, when after a good tack the boat gets stuck in calm. I also found out, why Monsoon loses the tack on deep heel - the keel fin is too soft and wobbles to the sides too much... Here are some of today made tacks... I did not expect, Monsoon will be so... fast. I did not speed up the movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flJM6ZbBtKk&feature=youtu.be

mrpenguin · « **Reply #99 on:** July 27, 2013, 11:44:10 pm »

@ Sir_Gorg:
Thank you for sharing the video. I agree the boat is going better than before with some adjustments.

A couple of things I will mention:

1) I mentioned the relative angles of the jib boom and main boom in an earlier post. In the early part of your video, the angles were good and the performance also. However after five or ten minutes of sailing, it is noticeable that the jib boom gets closer to the centreline than the main boom. This is typical of these Shunbo boats - the jib sheet tends to build up a bit in the winch compared to the main sheet, making the jib sheet up to 10-15 mm shorter. This is particularly a problem in light winds. You can fix this easily while sailing - turn the boat downwind (one boom each side is good) and let the sheets right out, then haul them tight again. This will tighten the jib sheet line on the winch drum and put your adjustments back to about where they were.
The only real cure for this problem is to move to a continuous loop winch with sheets on the deck. I rebuilt the winch setup on my Surmount (it has exactly the same winch setup) - you can see the alterations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWhI3F_MY74

2) The flexible keel fin does not seem to be a problem in my opinion.

3) Regarding your comment that small movements of the sail control stick results in large movement of the boom - I agree, this is particularly noticeable with the mainsail boom when sheeted right in. Raising the mainsail fairlead about 50mm will help this quite a bit. This picture shows a method I have tried that works well. The "horse" (yellow circle) I have made is a bit too wide and does not look very good; I need to make it narrower. I have also lowered the jib boom pivot point as well (other yellow circle), this helps with pointing closer to the wind and reduces heeling.

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Author Topic: Monsoon 900 build (Read 80095 times)

Old Tube

bobjeffreson