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[hama]

..or you could try to fit a "rope cutter" that are fitted to 1:1 boats to protect the shaft seal.
By the way, I love this thread and what you're doing with that tugboat. Many years ago I had a slightly smaller version of a Raebosch CP propeller, never got around to install it and sold it.
All the best!
Hama

[1967Brutus]

..or you could try to fit a "rope cutter" that are fitted to 1:1 boats to protect the shaft seal.
By the way, I love this thread and what you're doing with that tugboat. Many years ago I had a slightly smaller version of a Raebosch CP propeller, never got around to install it and sold it.
All the best!
Hama

A ropecutter would be an option too, but is a bit harder to make and a bit of a danger to the fingers whenever I have to work on the prop (which is often, since it receives a regreasing after every outing).

Thanks for the compliments! I hope to show that IC engines and scale boats CAN go together, even in the day and age of "no noise" and "no pollution", and that there are alternative ways to power an RC model boat.

It seems that many of the Raboesch CP props never were mounted. I VERY rarely see boats in the classifieds with one, but I have seen quite a few of those never mounted props offered.
Only a relatively small number were made, approx 2000 all sizes together... No idea how many were made by Rivabo.

These props were a bit of a faillure in the sense that they were not user servicable, yet users WOULD first try and dismantle them, subsequently unable to put them back together, and the aftersales hassle (at least in the case of Raboesch) was what did them in.
Which is a shame, really, since they actually work perfectly fine once you figure out their quirks.

[1967Brutus]

Today was a nice day....

31-10-2025: Tug ALESHA


First minute slightly overexposed due to low sun and wrong cameraposition, but otherwise great pic quality...

By the way she passed 20 runhours...

[1967Brutus]

Alesha is an old boat, and not very pretty, but over time, we keep trying to improve some aspects of her appearance.

I did not like the handrails on the wheelhouse deck. They were way too thin, not very straight, and portside was in very bad condition.
I replaced portside railing a few months ago, and because that was an all new construction, and both sides were due for renewal, it was not too important HOW portside railing was built.

Replacing starboard took a bit more effort, because suddenly you need to replicate a piece of freehand building as exactly as possible.

Not bad, even if I say so myself:


first the loose parts, fitted to best "achievable"

Once satisfied about fit and appearance, soldered


pretty much symetrical.

Remains only painting...

[1967Brutus]

Does anybody know where I can buy a good sparkplug glue?

[1967Brutus]

Ordered Saturday evening, the plane carrying the new plugs just landed 1,5 hrs ago in Amsterdam...

[1967Brutus]

No vid in the short time availlable between starting and coolant temperature run-out (boat not in the water), but dang.... four new plugs, properly gapped, make quite a difference in how an engine starts and runs

[DBS88]

Good job on the railings, hope the new spark plugs work out well

[1967Brutus]

Thanks...

Added the towing daymark as well, tried to make it look a bit realistic, battered and dirty.




Might have overshot that goal a little, but with a bit of distance it doesn't look too unrealistic...

[1967Brutus]

Alesha always conspicuously looked like a ghost ship with her empty wheelhouse... So a chubby little fella was 3D printed...



Which still leaves a LOT of work to be done, because to begin with, there is no wheel for the skipper to cling on to, and let's face it, he still looks a bit like a ghost himself...

I also did not like the rather rock-hard fendering on only the bow and the stern, which really did absolutely nothing to dampen any impact, and was pretty slippery as well, making it hard for Alesha to push something.
Also the sheer strakes/rubbing strakes were just painted wood, and one of my sailing locations is a lock built out of bricks.
So I am going to fender the boat all around.

This was the old bowfender and strake:

The stern fendering was identical to the bow fendering, just narrower, and I won't be changing that, since pushing in reverse is not really a thing.

The new fendering is chosen strictly for practicality (realistic appearance would be nice, but ranked last in importance) consisting of some heavy duty hollow D-profile out of foamrubber, very soft, grippy and cushioning, and the strakes are covered by Raboesch part no 104-74, a 90 shore massive rubber D-profile out of NBR, wear resistant and I won't be scraping off the paint when mored or coming alongside. But I think, looks are not all that bad either.

[1967Brutus]

Glueing the fenders is a time-consuming job... Segment by segment, applying a contact-clue (in my case Bison Tix) on both parts, waiting for it to settle, then pressing it together...



The big advantage is that the joint is not only between the segments and hull, but also between the segments themselves, resulting is a pretty resilient yet soft fendering.
But every segment needs to cure for about 10 minutes before pressing together, so 9 segments is about 1,5~2 hours in total... Oh well....

The rubbing strake fendering is a bit quicker but also a bit more labourious...
Since waiting the 10 minutes for the adhesive to settle, the tack is so immediate that small corrections and shifting are not possible, a shorter settle time is necessary, but that makes the initial tack less strong and clamping becomes a necessity...



It's a crappy job but hey, it is not going to do itself...