Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Pleasure boats, Sports, Race, Power and Leisure Boats: => Topic started by: Andy M on April 24, 2021, 12:39:10 am
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I liked the look of the Sea Rover, and as my friend was wanting to try building a boat, I thought the Sea Rover would be a straighforward build for him. He had looked at kits that I sent links to, but they were expensive and pretty small for the money.
Sea Rover is a decent size of model to build, and should be quite inexpensive the way I am planning on doing it.
A request for a copy of the plan was quickly answered (thanks very much Harry) and I started tracing it from my laptop, liking the look of it more and more.
I decided I wanted to build one as well, it made sense really!.
My budget is limited, so I picked the cheapest material I could find that would still be strong...... Liteply, very nice quality, a bit harder than all my old liteply scraps. Also very light coloured, appearing closer to birch ply than my liteply bits from years ago. . Anyway, I thought 3 sheets (1ft x 4ft) would be enough, mmmm, not really, I have had to make 3 of the bulkheads from my scraps box. Not an issue, they are inside and shouldnt be too noticeable. I might have been able to get them from whats left after cutting out sides and bottom skins, but I wont know till after I have built the hull up to that point!
My 'bitser' bulkheads will do the job, but I should have really got another sheet. My friend had already bought his 3 sheets before I realised my estimate was out. He will be getting bitser bulkheads too.
3 sheets of liteply was £23 delivered, so 4 sheets would be around £30 including delivery. From Hobbies.
This is turning out to be a challenge to get all the bits drawn on the wood as tight to each other as I can. Then cutting them out, my spiralux saw has about 12 inch reach, not ideal on 4 ft panels. So a bit of jigsawing with a fine metal blade, followed by sanding has got the panels cut into a pile of nice parts. Biggest single part is the deck, which I cut out first, opposite to how I would do it if I had ample materials. Next was the keel, 2 layers for each front section and rear section.
The cabin sides were next biggest bits, and they werent going to fit on my remaining ply, as I am keeping a full sheet which should do 3 of the hull skins and a bit wide enough to do the remaining one. I will have some leftover bits after the skinning but no idea how much.
Back to the cabin sides, I decided to leave off the projections that make up the sides of the cabin well, I can get this later, and they fitted on my remaining ply without these bits.
I want a decent propshaft on this boat, M4 rather than the weedy 1.7mm ones I have been using for recent builds, I will probably fork out for a nice rudder unit too.
Having cut out my pile of parts, I set about refining them to their final shape.
As I had no suitable lengths of wood for the chines and inwales, I decided to use 2 strips of liteply for each one, not really the usual way of doing it but the end result will be the same. I cut these with a jigsaw clamped upside down in my workmate bench. After cutting the 8 strips required, I gave the edges a light sand to take off the hairy bits. These will be refined a bit more when the time comes for fitting them.
Bulkhead 3 is shown as a plain flat panel, I want to simulate a door and maybe a window in it. I will be having a look at other models for ideas before I start cutting any holes.
Still a lot of trimming to do as I go along.
I am not sure how the liteply will cope with the bow section when it comes to skinning, it should be fine but I can always switch to another material if they wont bend enough.
I really need the propshaft before I can get the keel finished, the rudder can have a pilot hole/channel left in it and be drilled out later, but I would prefer the propshaft to be fitted as I join the front and rear keel sections.
I found the propshaft I need online, not bought it yet. It is M4 with a 6mm diameter outer, 0.5mm more than the outer of the cheapo thin shafted ones I have been using recently, so I decided this was within filing distance for fitting the shaft later or a custom kebab stick with sandpaper glued on.
I made up the keel joiner pieces, remembering to chamfer the lower edge to accept bottom skins and the angle changes between B3 and B4 so this had to be faired in nicely. These were then glued in place with my 5.5mm shaft in there to space it correctly. I started work on B3, the cabin door, drivers position and a window are on their way, a lot of tidying with files required before I can proceed.
My spiralux fretsaw died yesterday, while my friend was cutting out his Sea Rover parts, it overheated and blew a fuse. He had drawn round all my parts and cut them all out in one go, whereas I had been drawing one bit on and cutting it out, tidying it up with a sanding block, then drawing another one on etc.
My fault, just never thought about it.
The pics show my friends one, just recently started, and my one which is a bit further on, it has windows and bulkheads cut out. The 'held together' pictures show that at a seemingly 'small' 29 and a half inches, this is quite a substantial model. I am thinking about a detailed cabin interior but that can come later, maybe tinted windows to start with? Anyone got any old tinted visor tear offs? I thought I had some... Or was it my brother that had them? Lol. Might just end up with closed curtains.
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Nice to see another Sea Rover on here Andy.
I will follow with interest and, watch as your progress overtakes me very quickly, you don't seem to take long building boats, fair play.
Will
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Hi Will, I think it was your one that swayed me towards building mine.
This build may take a bit longer as i have something else to distract me from buildin boats.... I will still work on them, I love doing both things.
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Hi Andy, hobbies are important, equally so a variety.
I've never been into bikes myself, I feel more comfortable in a car, but if I ever did get into to them, it would be classic bikes.
Classic cars and sailing/boating are my other hobbies.
I grew up around Saabs, so they've always been in my head.
Currently, I have a 1964 Saab 96 saloon with the 841cc 2 stroke engine in, a 1976 Saab 99 EMS, their 1st semi sporting saloon and a 1971 Hillman Avenger 1500GL, with a modified/tuned 1600 in. It's now a genuine 120+ mph car.
Will
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Yes, my model boat building slows up at this time of year as well. Hardly used my bikes last year but will tax them from the 1st May and try and remedy that. Got a soft top that didn't get much use either. And then there's photography!
Chris
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Hi. I have a Sea Rover that I built from the SLEC kit.
Suggestion: If you're going to put the front bulkheads in (not in photos) make largish holes in them first.
Mine sprung a slight leak where the side skin is glued to the stem. Because I had put holes in the bulkhead I was able to hold the skin firmly in place and squirt epoxy resin through the hole to seal the leak and hold the skin tight. Without the holes it would have been difficult to get inside the sealed chamber.
Cheers
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Definately a good idea, I did think about holes in front bulkhead to allow some varnishing in there, but it would also help for the skinning phase to allow glue to be run down these seams.
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A bit more progress on Sea Rover, I cut access holes in front bulkhead (B1), B2 is one that I made up from scraps of liteply so it has a large hole in it already.
I also cut out the 10 keel doublers, and a set of 'triplers' ? for the rudder shaft area. It will be a bigger diameter than the propshaft tube, cutting well into the doublers so I wanted some extra strengthening in this area.
My friend's build is coming along slowly, but surely. He will get the benefit of any modifications I have to make to mine, and seeing mine progressing will give him a better idea of how the numerous different parts go together.
I have now ordered my propshaft, rudder and a selection of props to try.
I will be trying the Sea Rover with a brushless motor on 7.4v, there will be plenty of room in the hull for experimenting with various motors if I need to.
I have glued B1 to the keel, and the upper pair of breast hooks for the inwales, I have not glued any of the other bulkheads in place yet, it will be easier to trim them for a good fit if they are not glued on... and my friend was drawing round them for his build. Glueing will have to happen soon so that I can progress with my build though.
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Making decent headway there Andy.
My Sea Rover is up in the loft for now and needs lots of surgery[/size][size=78%]. [/size]
I'm sticking to working on the Sea Commander and maybe the Sea Urchin at present (now and then) as the Urchin needs the least work and the Commander I've done quite a lot on (in my eyes at least).
It will be nice to see what a tidy Sea Rover should look like though.
Will
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Thanks, it has been progressing quite slowly due to decent biking weather distracting me from the build.
I am setting aside time to work away at it though, I decided to glue bulkheads 2 and 3 in place in place, using the underside of my deck which is marked with bulkhead positions and centre line to align them. The deck is already cut to accept cabin sides, these were trimmed and also glued in place, the cutout in the deck holding them in correct position. Once glued, the assembly was removed from the deck, it will get glued in place later in the build.
My propshaft and rudder and prop selection came, not bad prices, considering covid price hikes everywhere else. The propshaft is m4 with 6mm outer tube, I had used a 5.5mm shaft to space the front and rear keel parts when I joined them, a bit of filing and it dry fits very nicely.
B3 was drilled for propshaft to go through.
I glued the keel doublers and triplers between B4 and transom, the triplers butt up to the transom. I only fitted them on one side, and with no glue on the area to be cut out for the rudder tube, once cut out with razor saw, I filed the now exposed surface of the doubler to let the rudder tube sit central on the keel. The other doubler and tripler were now glued in place and the doubler filed the same as the other one. Turned out pretty good, safer than risking splitting my keel apart by drilling it.
B4 and the transom were glued in place now, again using deck in place temporarily to line them up.
I am now at the stage of having to adjust the chine and inwale notches in the bulkheads, some are perfect, some are a bit out. Plan or me? 😁 Worst case is having to glue a filler piece in, not much of a problem.
1/8 square spruce deck supports have been glued to the cabin sides and bulkheads B1 to B3, the rest of these behind B3 will be glued in place once B4 and b5/b4a? have been trimmed, b5/b4a is a deck support and will need to wait till the inwales have been fitted.
I also made up my motor mount, it will be fitted once I get the bottom skins on. This will allow me to trim the motor mount to fit the bottom skin profile.
The build is progressing nicely, its an actual object now, rather than just a pile of parts. The bottom edges of the keel doublers were sanded to correct angles to accept the bottom skins before I glued them on, as the keel prevents sanding these easily once they are glued on.
Inwales and chines are next on the build list, I have made a start but lots to trim before these are finally glued in place.
Using 2 strips of liteply for each chine and inwale is a bit more work than using a single strip of wood but I didnt have any bits long enough, hence the liteply strips. It should all work out nicely in the end but I should have bought some spruce strips for these, to make things easier for myself. I was trying to make as much of the model as possible from liteply.
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Looking good and starting to resemble a boat now :-))
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First pictures show my friend's build progress, he is slightly behind, but not that much to be honest.
After some fettling, I got the chines and inwales on, the first layer of them anyway, as I am making each one from 2 layers of liteply. I have the 2nd layers to attach, which should be less stressful than the first ones. One layer would probably have been strong enough but my notches are already cut. It will just be mega strong. Getting closer to being able to start cutting templates for the bottom skins, just got a fair bit of chine and inwale sanding to do first. Quite a bit as this liteply is pretty tough.
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My friend's build gets a bit further forward, all doublers and rudder tube triplers glued, hole for rudder done, one more bulkhead to cut out, and some fettling of chine and inwale notches are his next jobs.
Mine has had the second layers of chine and inwale strips glued on. I can now sand the whole hull to accept skins. Its pretty tough for liteply but will be strong.
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You're both making great progress on the two Rovers.
Following with great interest and really looking forward to seeing them on the water.
Will
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I was looking at Sea Rover pictures and found that some of the ones I looked at had different cockpit sides to mine, they dipped down behind the windscreen, mine has a rounded bit. Looking at an original advert, mine is the same. I prefer that look.
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I noticed that about the cabin sides too, when I started looking at Sea Rovers after I first got mine.
The slightly rounded side, like yours and mine looks better in my opinion. Although, the canopy I'm undecided on at present.
Will
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I wasnt sure about the canopy either, I dont have much to make it from anyway.
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The end of the day, you could always add it at a later date if you decided you wanted to.
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I thought about maybe a cloth one? As you say, can always add it later.
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Cloth might not look so heavy, so yeah, you might be on to something there.
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I was thinking about adding 'fairey' type air intakes, as the side looks pretty big and plain and the curve would run roughly following the rounded bit of the side? Dont really know yet, can make them up and tack them on with blu tac to see how it looks.
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Hmm, I think a temporary mock up is definitely the way to go with that for sure.
I know what you mean about the sides being a fairly large and plain/blank area though.
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What about if the aft window in the cabin sides were a bit longer and came back closer to below the wheelhouse front? It would depend on the position of the bulkhead inside of course.
I can't remember who's picture this is, but I like it, because it gives an idea of what they look like both with and without the canopy.
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The lower one suits the canopy pretty well, might go for similar colour scheme for mine, kind of classic look. Cant quite make out colour under waterline, best guess is green, or blue.
They both look good though. So mine might get the canopy at some point.
I am undecided about the captain's seat, due to the size I made the dummy door on b3, the resulting size of a figure, would not allow seeing through the windscreen, if you know what I mean. I was going to build a raised platform for steering with a dashboard 'pod', This might look a bit odd though? I will probably just continue with that, can always build the canopy to cover it if its not good. 😁
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A bit more progress on both models, my friend has nearly caught up with me, he has the second layers of chines and inwales to glue on, and some sanding. Quite a bit. 😁 I dont think he anticipated so much sanding. I have tried to cut the bits as close as possible, but still leave a fettling's worth. Still a deck support to fit between the inwales, in front of transom.
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I think its the canopy that makes it a "Sea Rover" otherwise it looks like a grown up Sea Nymph O0 O0
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True, only real difference is double windows. After cutting out my hull skins, I have a decent bit of lightply left, I should/might? have enough to manage the canopy.
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Good progress today, both boats reached the stage where we could fit the first of the bottom skins on both boats, quite a tricky shape at the front, it curves and twists to fit, and has to stay tight to the keel, we managed this with the aid of a 3d printed clamp I made ages ago. It took a few test fits and some fettling but we managed to get them on satisfactorily. I dont know if the 1/8 lightply is easier or harder to work with than the 1/16 birch ply that was supposed to be used, it is twice as thick, but slightly less tough. Its not like my other scraps of lightply, its definately closer to birch ply in texture/hardness. It has a lot nicer surface anyway, so worth the extra sanding effort. The remaining bottom skin will get trimmed till we get a nice fit then glued on. I tried removing the excess sheeting at chine edge.... using a jigsaw, never went as well as I hoped, with a bit bursting very close to a bit I wanted to keep and the jigsaw jumping out of the slot and digging 2 small slots in my new hull sheeting!
They will be easily repaired but annoying. My boat is the one pointing to the right. The damage can be seen in last picture.
There is about 1cm of extra sheeting around the chine edge, as I wanted to allow enough for a few attempts at the keel joint if I didnt get the shape right first time. I thought sanding would take ages to remove the excess, hence the impatient jigsaw attack. I also found a nice track on my sheeting where the jigsaw footplate was pressing as I cut the chine excess off. I will try dampening the surface and ironing it, this works on balsa dents pretty well, I hope to lose the worst of the damage on the lightply. If not, it will be a thin smear of filler.
Well happy that we have reached the skinning stage, its a major milestone in the build.
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Looking good the two of them! :-))
Building without any mess-ups is tricky. It makes me feel better about some of my work to read your honest appraisal!
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I agree looking really good, nice work (go for the canopy.....sorry I still think it makes it....) and now I think I should build one...my original Rover went ....cant remember where, years ago and was fitted with a nice smelly ED bee diesel and no radio.......fond memories :-))
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Thanks, I am really pleased with my progress yesterday, I got the bottom sheeting finished, I sanded off the excess this time in preparation for side skins. I used a belt sander to take the majority of it off, then an orbital sander to get it real close followed by a hand sand to get it perfect, well, close enough for me. Next photos will hopefully have the side skins on. They should be much easier than the bottom skins, but harder to clamp in place.
Cutting the holes in B1 has turned out to be essential for glueing access at this stage.
Next job is to trim the side skins to fit nicely with the top edge of the bottom skins at the bow. I will do one and glue it on then trim last one to suit.
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I glued my first side skin on, it went on nicely, apart from not being big enough! After making card templates, I never thought this would happen. Ah well, it was only about 3mm short of the top edge at the bow, and tapering to nothing about 4 or 5 inches back, I have added a small piece of ply to replace the missing bit, on both sides..... Yes the other side was missing a bit too! This is the result of trying to get as much as possible from my 3 sheets of lightply.
Ah well, I was planning on painting the hull anyway as I dont have any varnish left.
Anyway, before I glued the 2nd side skin on, I took the opportunity to dry fit my propshaft, coupling, motor and mount so I could line them up from above and from the side before the skin went on. I superglued my mount in place and continued with fitting the second side. Resorting to fibreglass packing tape to hold the sheet to the extreme curve at the bow. Clamps and some masking tape too. I am now happy to report that my boat is skinned. 😁
There is still a lot of sanding to be done, and its tough. I am now preparing for deck fitting, sanding the upper edges of the chine rail and side skin. This is 3/8ths wide ply now, so it is heavy going.
There was also the issue of the jigsaw damage to my bottom hull skin, the 2 dents from the blade had a small piece of balsa forced as deep as possible and trimmed off flush with a scalpel then a spot of superglue and sanded while still setting to avoid having a hard lump to sand later.
The long dents left by the jigsaw soleplate were soaked with water then ironed over with a covering iron, amazing fix, the dents have vanished, it took two attempts on the deepest bits but very good fix. I managed to just scuff the surface with my 4 inch belt sander in a couple of places while sanding the excess sheeting off, so I have replaced my dents with some scuffs now!. Using full sized tools on models requires extra care. But it does get the job done quicker. Photo shows jigsaw dents repaired and my sander scuffs.
One more thing... I managed to snap the cockpit window frame off. I have been careful, but turning the hull about while glueing the skins and sanding makes the windows vulnerable to damage.
If I was to make another Sea Rover, I would leave cutting out the cockpit windows until after the hull was finished, this would give them more strength until the windscreen construction was completed.
A few mistakes on this build, none of them serious, I do make mistakes sometimes, they are part of the learning process.
I checked my friend's side skins to see if they were missing a bit in the same place, nope, his is fine, close, but it will just make it. As he has only one bottom skin on so far, I can only check one side skin, I will check the other once the 2nd bottom skin is on.
If I had more lightply, I would have cut new side skins that were bigger.
Next time I make card templates for skinning, I will be especially careful to give them a bit extra.
Very happy with how both boats are turning out, it is interesting to see how a raw beginner to boat building manages with a decent sized wood build. He is doing pretty well, with some pointers from me and learning from my mistakes.........
He wont be trying a jigsaw for removing excess sheeting, and he is being extra careful with his windows.
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This is a very nice model your making, and doing a good job on it too. :-))
its a lot hard I think to make the smaller models look nice, with the big stuff you can get away with a few dodgy bits here and there, but at
this size it would show up big time , so this shows your doing a good job..
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The boats both look very nice in both open cockpit and hard top. Hard top definitely for the posh knobs ha ha
Both are exactly what could be seen on the rivers back in the 1950's and 60's and a good few carried on into the 1970's.
Mostly fitted with the old Morris 1,000 engines ( called vedette in boats and have to be B R Green) or the small ford 105 e engines (light blue painted)... these boats take me back to going up the Thames on holiday in my dads boats back in the 70's seeing loads of this type of boat..
Main thing that sets them back to that time is no window frames, just like the real thing....
proper classic little models and will always look good on any pond.
back in the day green was the colour for anti fouling and a yellow boot top with a thin white stripe in between was on the posh ones.
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I wondered if you had any photos of similar boats from that time?
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there are still loads of boats like this on the upper thames past oxfordand on the norfolk broads and some canals.
Most of what i have seen over the last 10 years have been fully resored or in excellant condition.
long gone was a company called bushnells at maidenhead that had loads of this type of boat on their hire fleet..
next time on the river ill keep an eye out and grab some pics if i see one.
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Yesterday was a nice day for outside boat building, mostly sanding though, there seems to be more sanding involved than I remember from previous builds. We both got our boats ready for the next stage, mine was prepared for fitting the deck, sanding the inwales and tops of the side sheeting and transom, my friend was getting his ready to fit his 2nd bottom skin, then his first side skin. These went on without drama, apart from trying to hold the sheets to the bow, very awkward but we got them on and he continued sanding in preparation for his final side skin.
I glued my deck on with pva to give me some working time to get the deck taped in place. Fibreglass packing tape was used to hold the deck to the bow as this was unsticking itself due to the deck curve. It is ideal for this purpose as it doesn't stretch.
My friend got his side skin on and we spent the afternoon sanding. Mine still needs some more sanding of the deck edge, I couldnt sand any more, my hand was cramping up.
I did manage to think of an appropriate name for my boat as I was removing excess deck sheeting........it will be called Sandy. 😁
Very happy with how far we got on both boats, they are both coming on well, my friend's one is only some sanding and deck fitting behind mine.
I hope to get my deck sanding finished at some point today if I get a chance.
They are nice little boats, I say little, but they are sizeable compared to my recent builds. Plenty of room inside and lots of scope for detailing if we want.
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The deck edge has now been sanded flush with the sides. The hatch frame was made up to accept the roof pieces, these were soaked on the top surface and set on a board with a spacer in the middle to induce the correct curve into the roof sheets and taped down with fibreglass tape until dry. The curve was a bit more than required as I knew they would spring back a bit once removed from the board. It all went well, the curved roof sheets went onto the frame nicely, but pulled it up at the front about 1/16 of an inch. I added small filler pieces to the top section of the front windows and also to the front top edges of the cabin sides and faired these in.
The forward sections of the roof were added to the tops of the front windows. The result is a decent hatch that fits well. I may have to sand it some more to allow for paint. I used card spacers to hold the hatch frames the correct distance from the cabin sides to allow for the window material thickness.
Very pleased with the cabin roof/hatch area. Next job was to add a centre brace to the cockpit windscreen.
The forward pieces of the canopy were now glued to the top of the windscreen. These stiffened up the windscreen area a lot.
The canopy frame was formed from a spine made from 2 layers of 1/8 light ply, 2 sides from 1/8 x 3/8 spruce and 3 small bulkheads. 2 the same angle as canopy parts on windscreen and a less angled one for the rear as it flattens towards the rear. No dramas while building this, took my time and got a good frame for the 1/8 light ply canopy skins.
These were sanded to meet nice in the middle and curved slightly at the rear to accomodate being pulled down into place. One canopy/roof skin was glued in place over the two front bulkheads, and then the other skin was fettled for a good fit then glued in place. Once the glue had set, I glued both skins to the last bulkhead and centre spine, holding the sheets till set.
Turned out well and stays in place even without supports. They will be the next job.
I also made a start on the floor of the rear well.
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Coming along really well Andy, very nice lines and really starting to look like a Sea Rover now.
Looking far more boat like than my Sea Rover.
Mine is back in the attic, awaiting it's turn as my Sea Commander and Fairey are far closer to being ready for rc and drivetrain to be installed.
Will
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Thanks, I have been trying to push on with it, I am liking the shape of it more every time I do a bit. I have gone a bit freelance with the canopy and the windscreen area. It really needed the centre brace and forward roof sections for strength. I was worried the lightply wouldnt bend easily to the rear shape on the canopy without cracking the frame but it pushed into place fine. The forward cabin hatch/roof halves had been soaked on one surface and dried overnight held in a curve. This worked well.
Very pleased with how it is going.
My friend's one has had its deck fitted and sanded to shape, he isnt that far behind. We have made a start on his cabin hatch. He has snapped his cockpit side windows too, they are very vulnerable while you build and sand the hull.
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I was looking at your one, and thinking how I would do it. I would cut everything off level with the deck, and build a new one piece hatch/superstructure as my edita motor yacht has. I think if I ever did another sea rover, I would do it that way. I managed my front hatch ok, the rear hatch (rear well) is going to be a bit more involved.
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I was looking at your one, and thinking how I would do it. I would cut everything off level with the deck, and build a new one piece hatch/superstructure as my edita motor yacht has. I think if I ever did another sea rover, I would do it that way. I managed my front hatch ok, the rear hatch (rear well) is going to be a bit more involved.
That's exactly what I have done on the damaged side, chopped it down to deck level and will feather the new one in to suit. I will more than likely do the same to the other side then, so they are both made from new timber and will both look the same (hopefully!).
My Sea Rover is an as and when project. I have others that need less involved work and that for me, not being the best with wood, or very experienced at model building, suits me best for now. I will work towards the rougher ones, such as this and my 2nd Sea commander.
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A bit of thought regarding rudder servo mounting and access for its adjustment or replacement resulted in my slip in servo mount, with only one screw to remove the servo. It will glue to the transom and bottom hull skin. It fits in lovely, the servo would probably stay in place without the cross piece on it. I am continuing to use up the offcuts from my original 3 sheets of lightply. It is lovely stuff, I havent done any weight tests but I think it is closer to birch ply weight than the liteply I bought years ago.
I have small lengths of various hardwoods that I have used in places on the boat, these could have been made from the ply too but it saved cutting and sanding bits to shape. I have had a few ideas about hiding the rudder shaft and steering arm as this is right on the bit I want to use for the rear wall of the well.
I thought about a dummy engine cover with the servo in there too, but decided to make up my servo mount to fit on the transom, thus avoiding needing to house it in an engine cover.
The rudder arm boss still protrudes into the well area, so I had to come up with something to cover it, only not as big as the engine cover was going to be.
I decided on a set of stairs, these will cover the rudder post and arm nicely.
Still tons to do in the well area, not least the driver/skipper's area. Still plenty of thinking and deciding to do......
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It took me a while to work out what I was going to do with the rear well area, it is a big area that needs some detailing as it will be seen. Even with the canopy on, it still looks pretty empty in there.
I decided that some seats, a drivers position and a set of steps were going to go in there. Not fully decided on what they will look like yet, kind of making it up as I go along now. I trimmed the deck piece to the shape and size I wanted, I also cut out side pieces for the well and a back wall. The steps were fitted in once I got the sides and back bit glued to the deck.
As the battery will be under the floor, I needed to be able to lift the rear deck section out as easily as possible but still have it fitting closely.
I think I have done not too bad, there are slight gaps at the sides but I hope that adding my seat structures will nip these up.
I am using 1/16 scale for my measurements, astronaut size😁 and also the scale of my cheap wpl 4x4 and 6x6 trucks and trailer.
Good for some photos, but I dont see them having the power to tow Sea Rover on a trailer.
There is loads of room under the well deck to take the battery. Pic shows 7.4v 10ah. There is enough room in this area for a 7.4v 25ah pack if required.
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It may look as if the progress is slow, but I have actually got a good few things done and worked out how I am going to do other things.
I made a stand, actually 2, one for my friend's boat as well. He can drill the holes and screw his one together himself. The propshaft is now epoxied in place, I want to leave it a day or so before I try sanding any excess off, it doesnt look too lumpy but I wont know till I sand it. The rudder servo mount is glued in place and the linkage has been made up. I also turned the motor 180 degrees to get the wires lower down and closer to the speed control. Quite a job in itself as the motor screws are not far from bulkhead 3, but I managed ok with help from a right angled screwdriver bit holder. I drilled 3 holes for the motor wires in bulkhead number 3.......ever wished you had done something before you glued something together? There wasnt enough space to get my drill in, so the holes are angled. I had to be careful not to drill into the hull skin.
I picked, well sort of picked where the speed control will go, it could go elsewhere but I didnt want to extend the motor wires unless I had to.
I have still to add bracing for the motor mount, I dont think it will need it but it is better to have it stronger.
I also made my seat bases and fishing areas either side of the stairs. These have storage areas under the seats and fishing platforms.
Plenty of little jobs done, canopy supports have been made up with sockets for them to slide into on the inside of the well sides. I spend a fair bit of time thinking about different ways of doing things, usually to make them look or fit better. There is also input from my friends, some of which I use in my final choices.
One of my own ideas is a removable 'mast' which I thought looked good. I have made it with a passage for wiring a light at the top. Only thing is that I dont really want to bore a hole in my windscreen roof for the wiring. And it has to be removable.
I am thinking about using magnets, with nickel strips soldered to wiring and stuck to magnet. I would need to sink these flush with the roof and into the base of the mast. I can do it, but dont want to risk ruining the roof sections. I will think some more about this. I would like to have a light on the mast bit, but its not critical, I dont want to spoil what I have so far.
I have also made up handrails for the cabin roof and also for the canopy as well. The original Sea Rover doesnt have any rails on the canopy but I think they might just look good. I wont glue them on till I am 100% sure they dont spoil its looks.
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I forgot to add that the louvres are made from coffee stirrers.
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Looking good there Andy. Loving the details you're adding to it.
I do think the spaceman looks a tad out of place though :D
Coffee stirrers are something that I have also bought a pack of, I thought they'd be an easy option for a few things on various models.
I haven't even looked at mine, but have been doing some work towards finishing off the hull and superstructure of my Aerokits Fast Patrol Boat. My 1st attempt at making templates from a 2 view plan, so will have to see how well it comes out :embarrassed:
Keep up the ggod work, really enjoying this thread (others too), because it's a model that I also have.
It also means I have something to aim towards, just like the various Fairey craft that Chris F is building.
Will
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The spaceman was only picked because he is the right scale. I will be doing a better captain.
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The spaceman was only picked because he is the right scale. I will be doing a better captain.
I was joking and guessed that he wasn't going to a permanent fixture.
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I am at the stage where I have to make some choices, what colour scheme to do and what details to add. I want it to be fairly robust, so I dont want to add things that can be damaged too easily during transportation. I usually park my car as close as possible to the bit of river we use but it is still a good walk to get there. Most of my other boats fit in a rucksack, with various amounts of them sticking out the top. This one looks as if it will need either a bigger rucksack or just be carried by hand.
Sea Rover has nice clean lines, which I dont want to detract from by adding loads of (delicate) details, the cabin roof handrails, which I have made carefully and am quite happy with, might not get fitted, they look quite breakable and I havent decided whether it looks better with them or without them.
The mast as well, not sure if its in keeping with the rest of the boat, it changes its looks quite a lot....but I like it.
I decided to make a fishing rod. Kebab stick held in a cordless drill and sandpapered till it was tapered. I must admit this took longer than I thought, its tough stuff. I could have used coarser sandpaper but I didnt want to score the surface, so I went for finer sanding for longer. The eyes were made from brass pins with a loop on the end. I straightened these out and formed eyes into proper shapes, at different diameters too, and bound them on with black thread and superglue.
I used heatshrink tubing for the handles, turned out quite good, considering how quick it was to do. Quite happy with my fishing rod. Still to make a reel, get to that soon. I also added rodholders to the rear well.
Seat cushions are strips of foam, I am still not happy with them but better than a bare space to look at, gives me an idea of how it looks. Its the same as having bits taped on with masking tape until I am happy with their position, or until I decide if I will use them at all.
Quite happy with the way things are going. I fitted curtain rails in the cabin and had a go at making curtains from an old t shirt but I wasnt that happy with how they turned out. The curtain rails work well though.
Last three photos show my sprayrails cut from a bed slat and sanded till I was happy with them.
Also shown is my pair of rubbing strips, laminated from 3 layers of coffee stirrers, They turned out quite well considering they vary in width, I have sanded them since glueing and am quite happy with how they turned out. I will be rounding the edges of the rubbing strips before they get glued on.
You may ask why I laminated coffee stirrers? I didnt have any tough wood of the size I needed and buying the right size would have been a bit expensive, mostly for the postage. I have made up 2 bits at the size I want and they were free. I thought the stirrers could have been used for the spray rails too but I had already cut out 2 sets from the bed slat.
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I finished sanding the rounded edges on my rubbing strips. They have turned out nice, the coffee stirrers are pretty tough so the strips should be pretty durable.
I tried a bend test to see if they would bend enough at the bow, not enough bendability so I soaked the first foot of the two strips in water for an hour and tried again, the strips followed the curve now so I taped them on with fibreglass tape and masking tape and left them to dry for 24 hrs.
Having made up the strips, I was still not 100% sure I was going to put them on, they will protect the edges but I liked the clean look of the boat without them.
After they had dried out, they had a decent curve on them so I decided I would have the rubbing strips after all and glued them on.
I wasn't that sure about fitting the spray rails either, but I thought I would be better with them fitted from a performance point of view?
I know this isnt a high speed hull but I would still like to make it as fast as it can be.
I did the same with the spray rails, soaking the front foot of them in water for an hour or so and taping them in place as well as I could manage.
Overnight dry in this weather was plenty, and I decided to glue them on, I also decided to make a curved rubbing strip for the top edge of the transom, again using stirrers, laminated on sellotape on top of the transom. It held its curve nicely once set so it was sanded to profile and glued on. Nice protective edge and breaks up the flatness of the transom a bit, another little feature added. All helps.
I am enjoying this build, its looking nice and all the bits I usually worry about are done now, just some nice little detailing bits I can plod away at.
I have been trying to spend more time on my Sea Rover but the weather means I have been out quite a bit, motorbikes taking up a bit more time just now, riding and maintenance. This also means my modelling budget is limited.😢
I was going to paint Sea Rover all white as a base coat and see where to go from there, mainly due to me wanting to hide some of my patched bits of sheeting at the bow, turns out the rubbing strips cover most of the repairs. I am now thinking of varnishing it to see how it looks but....... no varnish, need to submit a request for funding to my wife, model related stuff is at the bottom of the list right now. I just got a new set of tyres for my bike, might be wise to wait a while. 😁
I also made up a battery pack for Sea Rover, it is 7.4v 12600mah. Should last a wee while. 😁
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That looks quite wonderful Andy! :-))
(https://i.postimg.cc/62MCqWSs/IMG-20210618-020653.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/62MCqWSs)
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Thanks very much Martin, much appreciated.
I have loved building this 'little' boat, I have to say it has quite a big boat feel to it even though it is under 30 inches.
I have been glueing lots of little bits of wood together to make bigger bits too, just like your matchstick kit.
I am quite impressed with results from using coffee stirrers, laminating them is fairly easy and they are quite uniform in dimensions, not needing an awful lot of sanding if laminating is accurate.
I love this little boat, it has lovely lines, and nice proportions. It was also a nice build in the Hobbie's lightply, which isnt really lightply, it has a very fine grain and is about 75% weight/density/bendiness of birchply.
I never checked what the original Sea Rover was skinned with, I am guessing 1/16 birchply, using my 1/8 'lightply' was a bit more of a challenge, but I managed to get it to meet up fairly nicely at the bow with no noseblocks, which I did consider, when I found out how tough it was to bend.
Anyway, I have changed a few things from the original but I think they look ok, some are for durability, some for performance and some just for looks. I am sure everyone adds their own little touches.
I have started on a smallish side project... Lifebelts. I have painted 6 curtain rings white. More to follow...
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Looks great. All the details make it work really well. Ingenious wood reclamation/alternatives use as well.
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Thanks for the comments, they are encouraging me to keep putting the time into the Sea Rover.
I have lots of other stuff happening just now so I am happy to have a break from it all and just plod away at the boat, it is relaxing compared to my list of other tasks, which at the moment is mostly related to my motorbike and involves getting bolts undone that haven't been touched for 20 years. My wife's bike is even older at 23 years old, so it has much the same problems/things needing fixed or replaced.
Anyway, back to the enjoyability of working on Sea Rover, I have a good few more jobs to do on it, but it is heading in the right direction and no pressure on me to rush it means I can take my time and make sure I really like bits before they get glued on. The hull is close to being finished(apart from painting/varnishing) , just needs a tidy up around the propshaft area, might need to do a bit of filling with more epoxy but it doesnt need much, I was careful not to make much mess when I fitted propshaft so that is helping now.
I am still not sure about the handrails on the canopy, it looks much cleaner without them, the original Sea Rover never had any, so that might be a good excuse to leave them off. The cabin roof handrails were used on the original, so I want them on it, they will get glued on at some point.
Recycling bits of wood was mostly to save having to buy wood and wait for it arriving. Up until I glued the sprayrails and rubbing strips on, I still had the option of buying wood if they didnt turn out as nice as I wanted them, I am happy with my home made bits though and would not hesitate to consider them in future builds.
My lifebelts are ready to have the red painted on them, I have 2 for myself, 2 for my friend's boat and a couple of spares. I made lifebelts for my Vivacity model years ago and they turned out pretty good, hope I can get these looking as nice.
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I did a few jobs on Sea Rover last night, I made up a template for the cabin door window and then fitted framing pieces. Windows will be made and fitted once exterior is varnished or painted.
I also filled in the small gaps in the front of the well 'tray' (hatch?) that had to be left to allow tray to be angled to lift it out. These little bits are attached to the front sides of the lid on the raised helmsman's area and the passenger area on the starboard side. They are pretty snug fitting and help lock the whole thing in place. Final sanding of these will happen when I finish working on the rear well area.
I intend adding seats to both sides, just not totally decided on the best shape to use, I have a design drawn up and will make one to see how it looks. I may have these screwed on instead of gluing in case I change my mind about them.
I also made a start on the dashboard/wheel area. Glueing coffee stirrers together for the backing and a piece of 1/32 ply for instrument mounting and a 1/16 ply area for wheel to attach to. I am still making it up as I go along but seems to be going together nicely, I spend a lot of time just looking at it wondering what to do next or what to make next.
The cabin handrails have been glued to the hatch/roof, I am very happy with these, quite a bit sturdier than I expected. The canopy handrails have been ditched for now, the canopy looks a bit cleaner without them.
The canopy will probably be the last bit to get varnished or painted, I can still fit the handrails up till that point if I decide I will have them on it. They are an extra feature and do look good though. Plenty time to decide, lots more still to be done first.
Last job of the evening was to paint the 6 lifebelts with their first coat of red detailing. I wondered about leaving them kind of faded and patchy looking for an aged look, then decided I will go for a second coat. I will hopefully get a chance to do that later.
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Also shown in the above pics are my fake cabin door hinges from scored brass wire. These are superglued in place. I am not too bothered about how good my seats look just now, they could do with refining a bit but they are better than a bare space so they will do for now....
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More coffee stirrers! About 80 of them, or bits of them. This time I am making a floor for the cabin. First I drew out and adjusted a card template and used it to keep checking how many more stirrers I had to select and hold in place then superglue. First pic shows template and how much I managed to do in the first hour. As some had curves, these had to be forced into shape then spot glued, then full join with superglue and wipe off excess. Took a few hours, in 2 sittings but I am happy with it, theres a few gaps but I think that helps to show it is made from individual planks.
The strangely shaped cutout is for motor mount, motor and propshaft coupling. I will be building a table/cabinet or something around the motor.
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I discovered my floor was sitting on a slope, even though I had already added a riser piece to b2. I added a further 6mm square to bring it level, I used a straight bit of wood to ensure floor was level then marked where the front support was to be glued to B1. All good, apart from the fact that raising the front of the floor has put the floor well above the propshaft, so that portion I cut out was glued back in place with a sliver of balsa to make up for the bit the saw cut takes.
Looks not bad, I wondered how I would cover the hole in the floor anyway. The motor doesnt stick up as much through the floor now. About 6mm, but I wil be putting a higher table in, with plenty airspace for motor cooling.
I want seating in the cabin, hopefully I can find better seating material but the other stuff is ok, not the best but I have enough of it.
Main job I have now is making sides and a front for the cabin, I dont know if I have enough stirrers left to manage them. I have taped together the best ones out of my selection, these bundles will have the rounded ends cut off and the ends sanded square on my mini sander. Some of them will be unsuitable due to bends or thin ends etc. About 25% have been like this so far.
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I made a start on the front and sides of the inside of the cabin by making up templates from card. I thought the sides should be planked vertically as the sides curve a lot here. They cant be glued to the floor either, as the floor wouldnt come out for motor servicing. I might use screws to hold them in place on the cabin sides, there is plenty space inside for screwdrivering. I dont see me needing into the motor very often but I need to be able to. Getting the floor in is quite tight anyway, I had to remove bits of b2 to make it go in without having to flex it in the middle.
For the sides, I made up horizontal bits for the vertical stirrers to go onto, these will need to be curved the same as the floor side edges which now had a double layer of stirrers to make a lip for the sides to butt against. It was too wide so I had to plane one layer of these off to get it in the cabin. It is still extremely tight tho, requiring some bending and flexing to manoeuvre it in or out of the cabin. I prepared a batch of stirrers and 4 double length horizontal stirrers with 3 inch joiner piece on rear.
Using my templates, I made up my side pieces and a front piece. These were test fitted and adjusted to fit nicely. I fixed the sides in place with 1/8 light ply 'clamps' screwed to b2 with the front screwed to a hardwood block glued to b1. Getting there steadily. I need to plank the front of B3, with a door and framing for my louvred vent. This will also be holding my floor level at the back. Once that is all done I can move onto a table or something to cover the motor.
I didnt originally plan on doing any cabin detailing, but I am enjoying the coffee stirrer construction, just a pity they vary quite a bit. Its not much but at these sizes its noticeable.
I havent done as much as I would have liked over the last week or so. Changing tyres on my motorbike revealed that they needed the wheels sandblasted and plastic coated as there was lots of bead sealant around small patches of corrosion. This means removing wheel bearings, on inspection, they needed replaced anyway. A set of front bearings is £20, rear set of 3 is £45. Add the plastic coating at £150 and the new tyres puts it well past my modelling budget for the last 5 years!
I will feel better knowing the bearings are new and that the tyres arent glued onto corroded beads.
Anyway, I am looking forward to detailing the cockpit, even if it ends up a bit basic, it should still look better than the bare hull and motor.
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I needed to make the interior side of B3, as close as possible in appearance to the outside. I used stirrers for that, so stirrers it is. I made a cardboard template, marked my window on it, then made window frame parts to dimensions of the existing frame and started building outwards from that, I made the whole assembly slightly oversize, compared to the template, this allows for some adjustment for a nice fit around the window. The louvre and window lined up nicely and I drew on the cut lines based on my template with small adjustments made to tighten joints up a bit.
I am not sure how I am going to fix the panel to B3, maybe door handle? It will probably be quite hard to remove once it is in place anyway, if I can manage a good fit. A handle would help for getting it out. Once this bit is done, I will probably make a start on cutting out the windows from my selected plastic. I had 2 choices, one was slightly thicker and it would have been hard to get 2 boats worth of windows from what I had, the second was given to me today and is plenty for the 2 boats and some left over. There is still a lot to do before I can start varnishing, but I cant wait to get started. All the fixing points for my interior walls are in place and I have added 2 braces for my motor mount.
In preparation for varnishing, I have been sanding virtually all of the exterior, apart from chine rails as I think they are fine. I did more sanding on rubbing strips for more 'roundness' I dont want to varnish the cockpit yet, not finished in there yet, I may be able to catch up with my woodwork while varnished parts are drying (once I start)
Last bit to be varnished will be the cabin roof pieces, as I have still to figure out how I am going to mount it, I have left it a bit late but I like a challenge. It has to be removeable, and possibly have a light, though not essential. I left a channel inside my mast to take the wiring, but...... No such channel in the window frame/lower mast section. I could drill through, but it would need a long 2-3 mm drill and a lot of luck to not split the 2 layers of 3mm ply apart. Also I want the wiring to separate without unplugging, thinking towards magnets and nickel strips stuck on underneath, let into the ply roof bits either side of mast. A base to the mast would let me sink magnets and contacts in there. I just havent drawn one I liked that can take the magnets I have. My friend suggested using the lighting plug (whichever type I choose) as the mast fixing. Very good idea, but a bit hard to do now without major surgery. Should have planned that earlier in construction, as I should have done with quite a few bits, nothing that didnt have a solution, but still better being done before gluing stuff together.
I have now gone round all my chine rails and rubbing strips and along both sides of the keel/hull join with waterproof pva to seal these before varnishing. Also to make up for areas where superglue wasnt thick enough to fill gaps. These were left to dry and done again as most of the glue had soaked down the gaps.
Approaching varnishing stage so what else needs done first?
I spotted my cabin floor had bowed since I made it. A lot. I noticed it when it was raining outside, I glued the underside of it which seems to be sealing out moisture, the unglued top surface is swelling up and bowing it. The next day was dry and it was flat again, its now bowed, and raining. I need to varnish the whole thing next time it is flat. Hopefully sealing in just the right amount of moisture😁
I also managed to get one lifebelt finished, I need to find more of the binding thread.
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Varnishing has started, a slightly thinned coat first, then a normal coat. The outside of hull has 2 coats so far, cabin roof 2, deck and cabin outside have had one thinned coat and the inside of hull has had 1 coat unthinned. Still loads of bits to get to, up under the deck mostly. I need to make a bendable brush.
I also finished another 2 lifebelts for my boat. I also did one for my friend's boat then he did another one. He has one more still to finish.
His boat has seen some progress, with the cabin roof/hatch frame made and finished off with 1/4 balsa gussets and the pre bowed roof panels shaped and glued on.
Front windows will be next then the two small roof pieces. His rear well floor has been trimmed and will be getting bits added to it soon. He has also ordered his propshaft. He is not going for detailing in the cabin. He could always add that later. He can come up with his own ideas for detailing the well area, or copy mine.
I hope to get a few more coats of varnish on mine over the next few days, at least one more inside, and 2 coats on underside of deck and maybe 3 or 4 more on hull and cabin and roof. Lots to do still, well area needs finished off but I can get things done on that as my varnish coats are drying.
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Coming along nicely Andy. What sort of varnish are you using out of interest?
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Thanks, I am using this stuff, 151, pretty cheap and seems good, certainly smells enough. Kind of diesely overtone to it. Dries nice and hard though.
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I bought the 6 tins to do our 2 boats, some sellers are selling one tin for 5.99.
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Not done much varnishing recently, I needed to catch up with some stuff before I could varnish any more. I made up a measuring device to get the widths right for my cabin rear wall panel. I brought the rear part of the cabin sides in a bit using the bits I cut off the sides of the floor to allow the floor to go in past the windows when they get fitted, I hadnt allowed for the window thickness. No problem though, it ended up looking quite good. Still not got any furniture for in here yet. Working on it though.
I did the final fitting of my rudder tube and cut out and made up the captain's seat, and a throttle, complete with moving lever. I also made up a panel to fill the area under the helm.
The canopy supports were drilled so they can be bolted to the canopy, these are made so that they fold for less chance of being broken off when not on the boat.
I didn't have enough of the (new) light ply left to do another seat, so this was made from my older liteply. I will probably be painting them anyway.
I am trying to get things to the stage where I can varnish all the well and cabin bits, still got a few bits to do before I get to do that. I have still to decide what I am going to do with the inside of the cabin, I may have to leave varnishing the 'liner' bits until I decide in case I need to glue seat supports or other stuff to them. No rush for the cabin though, I can get on with other bits and get the boat up and running before I need to finish the cabin. The hull has now had a coat of red on the bottom, I dont know what else I am going to do yet for a colour scheme. I quite like the pale wood colour, but some more colour would be nice?
I will continue working on it, and thinking about a colour sheme. I think a session on photoshop is due, try a look at a few different options.
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As I had been concentrating on my four ways cargo ship and crane for some time, I decided to do a bit on the Sea Rover.
I had misplaced (lost😁) the servo, rudder and a few other parts.
I eventually found the box they were in and fitted the servo, rudder and speed control. The motor, coupling and propshaft were next, followed by a test of the rc. All working as it should, so a launch was planned with a friend,
I had to wait till my wife was finished using the car though....... and by that time it was too dark for boating........ Ah well.
Next day I booked the car and we went to launch Sea Rover.
I tried it on 7.4v and 11.1v, the latter causing the speed controller to heat up quite considerably, so once it had cooled, I used the 7.4v, which is plenty. Steering was very good, maybe a bit fierce at speed, I might try exponential on my transmitter to try and tame it a bit.
I will add a cooling fan to the esc and see if that keeps it cool. If not, I may have to use a higher amp speed control. It was supplied with the motor, which got just above lukewarm during my testing. I might have too big a prop on, but the motor isnt overheating, so I suspect the esc isnt rated high enough?
Anyway, very pleased with performance, its pretty nippy, a good bit faster than realistic scale speed, but fun.
It can cruise about very quietly at a more sedate pace, the steering is nice at these speeds, capable of turning quite tightly which is very handy as the river we use is fairly narrow with lots of rocks poking up, and a good few just below the surface that must be avoided.
I still have a fair bit to do before Sea Rover is finished but that can be done when I get time, no rush.
I decided the floor of the rear well needed planked so out with the coffee stirrers again and an hour or so had the floor looking not bad at all, definately better than bare ply, but not as uniform as buying strip wood for this purpose, ah well, it is supposed to be a budget build.
Sea Rover is a lovely looking little boat that has the feel of a bigger boat. I really enjoyed the build, and its not finished yet. I did notice during my test that the wake is very clean looking.
I dont know how far I will go with detailing, I would like to add some cleats on the deck, these may have to be made. I am going to fit my lifebelts at some point too, after I figure out the details of fitting my mast and fit it. This will allow me to complete the varnishing, I didnt varnish the area where this is going as I knew I still have to finish the mast first. It isnt esssntial, but I think it looks good.
Lots of varnishing to do on the cabin liners/walls and also all of the well deck/rear hatch. I have a wrist injury just now which is limiting what I can manage,so progress may be slowed for a while.
My friend's one hasnt seen much progress recently, it may be a winter launch for his! 😁
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Maiden voyage video here
https://youtube.com/shorts/k6gPbSjp4gk?feature=share
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Nice, thats got some ompf :-))
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That was only on 7.4v pack, its a bit quicker with the 11.1v pack but its not much. It overheats esc too, so will be avoiding using 11v in it.
I had it out on the river again tonight, mostly low speed as the river has dropped a bit since last night, not had rain here for a while.
The esc was warm but not in any way hot. I am going to build in a fan to cool the esc, it was under the well deck floor with zero air movement. I am going to cut 2 holes in the floor of the well deck under the 'boxes' that the driver and passenger seats will mount to. The front face of the boxes will have big holes cut in them that wont be visible and the rear face will have a smaller vent under the rear seats, which will be hard to notice. I intend drawing air in through one side of the boat, across the esc and batteries and up out of the other vent. I have two 40mm fans but they dont move much air, both working together might be enough, one in one out. My other option is a 7 or 8.5mm quadcopter motor, they move a lot more air, not as quiet tho.
Or I could just go slower😁
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Hi Andy have you thought of water cooling? Some time ago I did simple cooling for an Electronize esc. I made a brass plate the same size as the base and soldered two tubes to it in parallel. I joined them at the end with neoprene tubing.and screwed them to the base.
I made up a water pick up from a slant section of plastic electrical conduit and this was let into the bottom of the boat with a plastic connecting tube. I made another underwater flat fitting that slanted towards the bow with a connecting tube. It looks oval when viewed from beneath. Joined them up with flexible tubing, so forward motion of the boat pushes water in and the flat section sucks it out.
This enabled the esc to go from very hot on maximum current (measured under load) of 15 amps to stone cold. it was driving 2 Graupner Speed 600's. I was surprised how effective a simple cooling system could be and of course no moving parts or separate power requirements.
This was in a Graupner Police boat about 40 inches long and she planed very nicely. The design of keeping the inlet and outlet of the water under water was because the cooling water also fed a fire pump which squirted about 10 feet via an electric pump. To prime the system you just had to give the fire pump a quick squirt.
All the best
Roy
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I did think about cooling the motor but didnt think the esc was going to be the hottest bit. My main reason for not fitting water cooling was that I didnt want any more holes than necessary in the hull. I have made a start on my air cooling mods, I will try that first, I had a lot of success with fan cooling in my atlantic yacht. The air cooling ducts wont be visible so no problem if it doesnt work and I have to change to watercooling.
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I cut out my cooling holes, not beautiful, but I have left enough wood to keep the structure strong(ish). My fans will fit in nicely, I will need to put a battery in for each one as I dont want wires anywhere apart from in the boxes under the seats. Not a problem, I have literally hundreds of my e-cigarette batteries at about 280mah each, 3.7v. I have used 2 cells each side giving 560mah.
I varnished a fair amount of the remaining bits, the cabin floor, well deck/hatch, the canopy and supports, seat base lids, fishing rod, rear seat bases, under helm filler piece, throttle and driver/passenger seats. I am still not happy with the seat cushions, very basic and foamy looking, I will need to come up with something better looking. I have a bag of leather scraps somewhere, but thick for making cushions. At this size anyway. I could try hand moulding them from something then paint them. Or whittled and sanded balsa? Not decided yet. The existing cushions will do just now. Better than bare seats.
The time when I have to really think about the best way of fitting my mast is nearly here, it is preventing me from finishing off the varnishing now. I dont know whether to try the mast tip light I was going to do, with complications of supplying power to it and still be easily removable.
I was going to use 2 magnets on the roof piece and 2 on the mast base with small nickel strips stuck on underneath with the wires soldered to them, this would mean excavating the roof piece to take the magnets and drilling a hole down through windscreen centre pillar to take the wiring down to a battery in the cabin. Not really keen on cutting my roof, the magnets will always be visible if I want to run power through them. Cant paint over them. I can if I dont need power though, but still not keen. I may just have the mast stuck on with blue tac to save drilling holes in my roof panels😁
Or leave it off, but I think it adds to the boat, doesnt look out of place to me.
After writing the first part of this, I fixed my fans in place, will have to do a river test to see if they are going to work well enough. I am still considering watercooling, it makes sense.
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I submitted a funding request to my financial manager (wife) who kindly purchased a very nice steering wheel for my Sea Rover. I had already made a start on my homemade steering wheel but it was going to be difficult to get it neat and uniform enough to look good, so a nice bought one was the best option. I also fitted glazing in my instrument holes on dash panel, still to find suitable instrument faces.
Orange item is my experimental seat 'cushion', 3/16 balsa cushion with t-shirt fabric stretched over and superglued to the back. Looks not bad, but there is quite a thick build up of fabric on the back. I need to try and find a way of glueing it on that doesnt leave a big rumpled bit.
I haven't decided on the colour I want on my seats yet, the orange t shirt I used was going to be curtains for the boat, but it wouldnt hang right, looked like a scrap of t shirt rumpled up each side of the windows.
I can plod away at all the details as I go, my main aim just now is getting the esc cooled. I will try my fans, but I am pretty sure I am going to watercool the esc , I already have a copper cooling coil for the motor, I need to come up with something for the esc. The heatsink has an area on each side that will take a cooling tube, I just need to find some tubing the right diameter. A couple of inches of it for each side. Most of my tubing that size is much shorter bits.
I fitted my throttle, and then finished varnishing the windscreen area and also the lifebelt hangers, not sure if I like the lifebelts, kind of spoil the clean lines of the boat, but I will leave them on for now, the hangers can just be unscrewed if I decide I dont want the lifebelts.
The cabin floor was bowed up in the middle when I got it out for varnishing, then after a short time in the sun, it flattened out, I varnished it and when dry it curved the opposite way!
I put it in between 2 bits of cardboard and left a 12v 12ah lead acid battery on top.
This worked well, it has ended up fairly flat, the rest of the cabin interior should hold it in shape. Still to varnish the underside of the floor and see what shape it goes.
I am not going to do the magnet contacts for a light on the mast, I think it would be hard to do it neatly and without weakening it. Drilling down through the windscreen centre pillar for wiring without splitting the ply apart is too risky for me, I am going to attach the mast with a piece of bamboo skewer. I still have to drill a hole at an exact angle to plug the mast into, but it doesnt have to be very deep.
I havent managed to do much due to being in hospital for a few days. I am gradually getting a bit closer to being able to resume building, I have made this my focus over the last week to get me through, a few small model bits shouldnt tax me too much and will be very therapeutic.
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Last 2 pics... Mast or no mast? Still not sure, any opinions?
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Try hollowing out the back of the balsa block for the cushions. This will allow the fabric at the back to sit below the level of the back and stop the bunching that you have.
Jim
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Hi Jim, great minds think alike.... so I hear anyway. 😁
Rather than hollowing, I was going to make a 1/16 top and 1/8 thick frame around the underside for each cushion. I will also try and neaten up my glueing too, contact adhesive might produce a neater result.
I was quite pleased with how mk1 looked from the front, I actually skimmed the back of the fabric clump with a scalpel then with the front of the cushion on my building board, I crushed the back protrusions into the balsa a bit with my scalpel handle, this actually worked but was pretty tough with the fabric/balsa/superglue sandwich. It looks good enough to convince me I am heading in the right direction.
I also thought that if I do 1/16 cushion top and 1/8 frame, I can use contact adhesive on the front face to keep the fabric attached then carefully crush the middle of the cushion a bit. This might give it a contoured look rather than a kind of pencil eraser look.
What do you think about my mast Jim? On or off?
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Couple of stills from a video showiing Sea Rover with the canopy fitted. Sorry for the quality, it was getting dark.
I also tried the fan system out, seemed to work a bit, but will definately need water cooling or more powerful fans, these ones are pretty poor, I may try one of my 7mm plane motors, they shift much more air.
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I had a picture that I downloaded of lots of aircraft dials, but I thought that if they were done on my friend's printer, they might not be very clear, so my daughter suggested that she get them printed by a free photo printing place, you just pay postage and any photos over your monthly limit. She was getting some printed anyway.
They arrived, she had got me a lifetime's supply in 2 sizes and they already had different sizes on the original pic too, so I have loads. They are pretty good quality, good enough for me.
I only wanted to give an impression of instruments, and these are way beyond what I could have painted, I know, I tried painting some dials on clear plastic. Terrible, even if I do say so myself. 😁
Anyway, avoiding the dials that looked 'aircraft only' , I selected the ones that showed best through my dashboard, fuel guage, clock, speedo looking one, and a digital readout.
I realised I could have made the holes bigger as they are quite small and deep set. The dials are sized well to them though and you can see enough of them. Its done now, can always make another dashboard if I want to. I varnished my nice steering wheel, once it is dry and fitted the dashboard is pretty much finished, maybe add a couple of screws but it stays in place fine without any.
I need to decide on seat cushion colours, for the driver and passenger seats and the bench seats in the cabin well, I have decided I am not going to use the orange t shirt, the colour doesnt suit the boat but the concept was definately good and worth a try, I will make up the balsa frames for them and hopefully will have decided on material by the time they are done.
Would the cabin interior seating (not made yet) have the same colour scheme as the rear well seats?
No rush for the interior yet, the boat runs and I just need to finish off some bits in the well area.
I have ordered a piece of copper tubing that will run through the speed controller heatsink, there are channels that will take 3.6mm copper tube, I was only able to find 3.5mm stuff, and finding that took a lot of searching, there were lots of 3mm and 3.2mm (1/8 inch)
Need to wait till it arrives, it might turn out to be 3.2mm sold as 3.5mm.
It is coming from china so need to wait and see.
I have a few ships/ boats on the go just now, but I am really enjoying them all, I can skip onto a different model if I have to think about something before committing to it. Also as funds become available, I can resume construction/detailing. Some bits I cant make, I saw lovely aeronaut cleats, but they were quite expensive. They did look very nice and would compliment my Sea Rover, it looks a bit bare around the deck edge. Also what size would look right? Its sometimes hard to tell from just a measurement as opposed to it sitting on the boat, I might have to make a couple of balsa replicas in the range of sizes that might suit my boat. I hope to get the cleats but my circumstances wont allow that at the moment. They are £11....actually more expensive than my new plank on frame sailing ship kit, so I am still trying to decide if the cleats are worth it..... but they would be a nice finishing touch. The steering wheel was £6, but looks very good.
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A second attempt at seat cusions, not too bad, still to finish driver and passenger seat cushions. I also fitted my steering wheel.
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I have managed a bit of progress on Sea Rover, I added watercooling pipes to the speed control, it had channels on the heatsink that accept 3.5mm copper tubing, but it took me a while to find that size of copper, 3mm and 1/8 were common but 3.5 was rare, I found it eventually, and it arrived from germany the other day.
I have not decided on a water scoop yet, I may just use a bit of the copper tubing that's left. I never made any provision for watercooling, I will need to think carefully before I go drilling holes in my hull.
I made up seat cushions for the driver and passenger seats. Look not bad, will do for now.
I fitted my mast, a 3mm kebab stick peg holds it pretty strongly, while allowing it to break off rather than rip the windscreen out. I have given up on my idea of a masthead light for now, it was going to look untidy and involve drilling in places that I wasnt confident of getting a good result.
Anyway, I quite like the mast, it changes the look a bit and is easily removed to return to standard Sea Rover look.
I had thought about buying Aeronaut cleats, £11 for 10 of them, nicely made but a funny colour. I decided to get my 3d printer out and see what I could come up with.
Saved myself a bit of money and ended up with quite decent results. They needed sanded slightly and I painted them brass colour as they didnt go with the rest of the boat when they were unpainted, I tried red and black versions.
These will fit onto the boat with the headed pins I have loads of, from a pin sculpture device. They are 1.2mm diameter, I will drill 1mm holes and press them in.
I have to sit them in place on the deck and look at them for a while, to decide if I will fit them or not.
I printed a bigger version for non model use, nice looking wee print, I have been fine tuning my print settings and seem to be producing really nice prints just now.
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Absolutely loving those seats!
...I don't understand you inrunner motor choice or the quandries with water cooling but appreciate not everyone wants to take the easy path in life (brushed or brushless).
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Hi, I had bought the motors and speed controllers for another boat but ended up not using them. I know a lower kv motor would have been more suited to sea rover but I had them in stock so I used one of them. I had no idea what kind of seats I was going to make, they just turned out that way.
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Well the seats are superb anway. I think "Beckerther" in Japan is one of the few running inrunner motors on various models whith specs that shouldn't normally work. You should conect with him?
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My friend finished making his driver seat, he went for the black foam that I tried on mine before I decided to make my mark 2 cushions.
He still has a fair bit to do on his boat but at least the captain can have a seat while he is waiting.
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Seats look great, Andy! :-))
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I have managed a bit of progress on Sea Rover. My driver and passenger seats are now attached with magnets. Had to use a good few of my collection before they would hold through 2 layers of 3mm liteply. Happy now though.
I made a copper ring for my 3d printed anchor and attached a 'rope'.
I also fitted my 3d printed cleats, I think they look pretty good. I did 2 slightly bigger ones, one for the bow and one for the stern. I will be tying my anchor to the front one, once I design and make a bow roller/eye. I want it from brass so it is strong enough to be used for towing/mooring. And looks.
I also worked out how I am going to finish the bench seats in the rear well.
Will post photos once its done.
The trout is a fishing lure my late Dad had, I de-hardware-ified it a while ago. It is a whopper.😁 I have still to make a decent reel. The fish is actually on my friend's rod.
Its nearly time to move on to finishing off the inside of the cabin. Need to re-flatten the floor, it has developed a hefty curve again.
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Lovely detailing transforms your boat(s).
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Thanks, I hadnt planned on adding much detailing when I started building it, but I decided it needed something extra.
3d printing some details has saved a small fortune as opposed to buying fittings.
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I thought the mast needed a flag. 😁
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That's a good looking model you have build there Andy.
Have you had her on the water many times?
Will
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Hi,thanks, I have had a few sessions but they were a while ago, I have been laid up for about 7 weeks and havent managed out again yet. I have still to finish my watercooling system as the motor and speed control were getting quite warm. I need to make a water pickup and exit, then connect them up to motor and esc. Not got enough tubing at the moment, but I am not up for going anywhere just yet anyway.
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I was going to add an end piece to each end of the two bench seats but I had the idea when the canopy was off.
I had made 4 end pieces the shape shown, a similar shape to the driver/passenger seats, glued the front two onto the seat bases,sat the seat cushions on to mark where the rear one was to go, noticed the slot for the canopy support and quickly realised it wasnt going to work.
The seat back is tight to the canopy strut without the extra bits glued in. I pulled the bits off before the superglue had set properly and sanded them to remove as much as possible. They will need another coat of varnish now and the seats will be over the area anyway. Ah well. Worth a try.
I still have to make a reel for my fishing rod, and some other details for around the rear well area.
Not least of these is a suitable driver/captain figure. Still not sure what to do. Its definately not going to be the astronaut. 😁
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I have run this boat a few times now, it has been one of the ones that kept working.
With that fact in mind, and the other fact that some of my boats are not as reliable, I figured I need a rescue boat...... Sea Rover to the rescue, you have been volounteered!
How to rescue? Well first, I would like to try and solve the issues that lead to needing rescued, but I will need to run them to check that.
I thought about servo operated arms, or towing a float with wire hook bits sticking out to hook onto a string on the boat to be rescued.
Towing something was a bad idea, for the risk of it getting tangled in propshaft, so this is my best compromise, it loops over 2 cleats at the front and clips over the rear ones and is held firmly with 2 rubber bands.
Absolutely no idea if it will work, depends on lots of factors, like how far away,will I be able to see it well enough to pick up the tow, will it spear through my Balsa Javelin? 🙁 I have added heatshrink tubing to lessen the jaggyness.
If the boat to be rescued is in weed, then it wont work for that.
I have an inflatable dinghy but it turns it into more of an expedition than a relaxed rc boating trip.
Not that I would mind that, but I am nowhere near full fitness just now and the dinghy is pretty heavy to lugg about. Also paddling would be too sore just now.
Sometimes my son becomes disconnected from his playstation, if I time it right, I may be able to persuade him to help😁
If you are wondering what the horrible looking masking tape clump is for, it is an fpv camera and mount.
I havent tried it out yet, I have it looking through the front windows, but it could be turned to face the rescue device.
I will report effectiveness after I try it. I will practice somewhere sheltered and keep boats close to shore.
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Love it, who knew a Sea Rover could be so versatile :-))
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I meant to mention that the frame isnt fitted in final position on the boat in the photo, it is just sat on for a look.