Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Steam => Topic started by: GG on February 07, 2020, 02:49:36 pm
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Just heard a sad tale from a friend. His steam powered tug model was given it's final ballasting and trimming trials successfully in the bath. Alas, on the first sail it promptly rolled over and sank, luckily it was safely recovered.
You might have guessed what went wrong? Yes, the trials in the bath were made with an empty boiler and adding water into it raised the models C of G high enough to make it unstable when heeled.
It might seem obvious to check the stability of a steam powered model with a full boiler, not sure if a full load of fuel or not would make much difference though?
The moral has to be to always carry out a final check on trim and stability with the model in it's ready to run state. Also, after any changes have been made...!
Glynn Guest
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Bonjour Glyn,
Bad luck indeed...
This is why I ALWAYS test ALL my boats in my bathtub, as soon as they are less than 1,37m... That prevents possible leaks and let me measure a first autonomy.
Examples : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDvZ6-ZPFE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDvZ6-ZPFE) or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5R6fVEhZko (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5R6fVEhZko)
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Thanks for the reminder Glynn! {:-{