Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[Edward Pinniger]

I've been wanting to try out R/C sailing for a while (with the hopes of eventually building a larger scale sailing model) and bought this "Sea Lite" RTR yacht last month on eBay. It's basically the "University Club" RTR yacht (which has been around for a while) with the addition of an optional outboard motor. Not worth anything like the £80 RRP (better to spend about £50 more and buy a kit like the Thunder Tiger "Victoria" and a radio set), but, for the £30 I paid for it, isn't bad as an introduction to R/C sailing. It has "proper" radio, despite the cheap-looking transmitter unit, with proportional control over the sails (not the rudder), and the outboard is useful for getting away from the shore and for getting out of calm patches, though it's incredibly low-powered and useless for sailing against the wind. Speed and manoueverability aren't up to much, but it sails well enough, and is stable enough, that even a complete novice like me was able to sail it without too much trouble.

Anyway, my question is - What designs/classes of full-size yachts is it closest to in appearance? It looks like a reasonably in-scale representation of a modern racing yacht, even if it isn't based on an exact prototype. I'd like to repaint it and possibly also replace some of the flimsy plastic fittings and details, but really need some reference photos to work from.
I did try looking online on yachting websites, but there are so many different designs that I really didn't know where to start.

[Edward Pinniger]

More by chance than anything else, I've discovered that it appears to be based on the "Adams 13e" 13-metre cruising yacht - there are quite a few close-up photos of one here: http://adams13e.blogspot.com/

The University Club/Sea Lite is the same design as the one Lidl were selling cheap a year or two ago.

[Dreadstar]

I'd been debating myself whether or not to buy one of these yachts,but then I found that there was a Kyosho Fortune 612 up for grabs,so I went for that instead. Like yourself,I fancied dabbling with sail,but most of the yachts available as RTS were quite pricey,and as I've other irons in the fire R/C wise,I couldn't justify the cost to myself. If it turned out that I didn't like sail,then I would have wasted a lot of cash for something that I'd never use. I'm quite happy with the 25" yacht that I managed to get,though yours has the benefit of the little outboard to get you out of trouble.
  Have fun with it Edward,and if you like it,then you could always upgrade to a better one,or even build yourself a wee Nip.

David.

[Edward Pinniger]

After a couple of test sails with mine, I have to say that I wouldn't recommend it unless you can find it very cheap (£15-20 at the most) at a car boot or on eBay; definitely not at anything near to the RRP of £70+! I actually considered buying the "University Club" a while ago at near to full price, having no idea how poor it was compared to even a low-end "proper" kit-built yacht.

It does have a proper proportional crystal radio (though the sail/rudder servos are fairly basic) and can be sailed at the same time as other boats with crystal radio - unlike other cheap RTRs - but sailing performance is very poor. Going by my experience, the advice of other club members, and what I've read about this boat online, it has too much sail area and not enough keel ballast; in even moderately high winds it will be blown over on its side and uncontrollable. Also, though the hull is theoretically watertight, there are some noticeable gaps where the battery casing meets the deck, and water is likely to get in here - as there's no buoyancy material inside the hull, it may end up sinking if heeled over for any length of time! The plastic mast is also rather flimsy and flexible and some of the moulded-on "eyebolt" fittings are easily broken off if you're not careful.
Finally, the outboard motor, whilst theoretically useful for getting away from/back to shore and getting out of calm patches, is virtually useless, it's so low-powered that even in a dead calm it moves the model at a snail's pace, it can't compete with anything but the lightest winds! The added weight of the motor and its lead counterweight at the bow just add to the boat's top-heaviness; the propeller also adds drag. (I suspect the original "University Club" incarnation of this yacht - the one sold in Lidl - sails at least somewhat better out-of-the-box than the Sea Lite, as it doesn't have the outboard)

As the Sea Lite doesn't appear to have much second-hand value on eBay (saw one priced at £15 go unsold a week or two ago), I've decided to try modifying mine into something with a bit more sailing ability and possibly also nicer-looking. Modifications so far include removing the useless outboard + its counterweight (which reduces the top-heaviness quite a bit), deepening the rudder, and replacing the masts + spars with 25% shorter (sails also reduced in height) scratchbuilt wood ones and metal eyebolts. Potential leak areas around the battery tray were filled in with epoxy.
The yacht will also get a repaint - probably white topsides with red or blue lower hull - and some basic scale detail (nothing too fragile or too heavy weight-wise) to replace the flimsy vinyl fittings + stickers. If I manage to get it to sail reasonably well (or at least better than it does out of the box) I'll post some photos and a more detailed description of my work on Mayhem; if not, at least I've gained some experience which will come in useful when I eventually build a proper R/C yacht.