Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 [6]   Go Down

Author Topic: Racundra  (Read 60456 times)

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #125 on: July 23, 2014, 11:39:53 pm »

Pictures? I'll be plugging a USB cable to the box brownie tomorrow. Expect some by lunchtime!

Mast hoops - maybe it is the size. Checking one of the spares here, I've five laminations on a 21mm ID circle. The final ring material ends up as 1.5mm wide and 3mm deep.

I can compress the ring between thumb-and-forefinger, and could squash it, but it wouldn't be super-easy, at all. Medium-tough, say. Given I've eight of these on the mainmast taking the force of the sail, I suspect I'm a long way off damaging them in normal use.

Andy
Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #126 on: July 24, 2014, 10:29:55 am »

I'm on another forum where a regular cry is "This thread is meaningless without pictures".

And so, without further ado:



Notes: the mizzen's set a little high here, the main and mizzen gaff outhauls aren't in place and the jib's a little low. But she has sails - albeit ones held in place with thread and blue tape.

Length 44" (112cm), height 48" (122cm).



I've the cabin roof to finish, clean up and paint the hull's sheer, a splash of paint on the cabin and that's about it. Mrs Andy just asked "How long?" I suggested twenty hours.  :embarrassed: Then it's off on an applied course of Practical RC Sailing.



That formerly bizarre-o super-rotund hull now doesn't look so bad with some height above it. Oh, and the cotoneaster has done really well this year!

Andy
Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

vnkiwi

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,593
  • Location: SE Asia
Re: Racundra
« Reply #127 on: July 24, 2014, 10:39:34 am »

Beautiful  :-))
Logged
If it ain't broke. Don't fix it !

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #128 on: August 21, 2014, 11:54:04 pm »

"What about the dinghy?"

Oh gawd. Forgot that.

Now, it was possibly this dinghy that spawned Racundra. Arthur Ransome approached a Riga boatbuilder for a small, lugsailed, fishing boat around 1920, and got a dinghy made. Feeling super-confident that anyone who could make a small dinghy could build a 30-foot boat, he offered the plans of the cruising yacht to the same builder.

Eventually (and 92 years and a day ago) Ransome took Racundra, half-finished, from the boat builder in order to get some sailing in. The boat builder (referred to as "the swine" in Ransome's later letters) was seemingly happy to never finish the yacht, and simply fleece Ransome until he ran out of money. Thus, by a sort-of theft, Racundra's First Cruise was written, and Ransome started to earn a bit of cash.

But what of the dinghy?

Well, she was short enough to store on board Racundra - perhaps 8' or 2.5m long. She was clinker built. And that's about all the info I have. And so...

Scaling down the plans for a Chapelle dinghy of the early 20th century, laminating a kelson of ply, and moulding the strakes in 1mm ply (and blimey "lands" are tough in 1mm) I now have this:



and this:



It took about four days from start to finish. Length = 1 foot, beam 5 inches. Surprisingly symmetrical! Should be finished by the end of the weekend.

Andy
Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #129 on: May 11, 2015, 05:22:57 pm »

I've looked hard into the deepest depths of the internet for my photos. And lost. But I can tell you there's some weird stuff in there.  :o

Ok ... so this thread requires a brief photographic reminder.

1/ Boats need a hull:

























2/ They also need stuff inside them. Details are good, and wires obligatory.















2a/ Ballast helps keep things the right way up.



3/ To keep the wires dry, some sort of lid is in order.











3a/ Little lids are particularly cute. This could get soggy:



...but not with this:



4/ The little things. All boats need the little things.















4a/ Some Little Things, like the above, need even Littler Things:



And the boat's even got a little friend.



5/ Last Summer:





6/ This Spring:

(To be continued)


Your Google images do not show.

ken

Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #130 on: May 11, 2015, 05:41:27 pm »

Last fortnight Racundra went for a motor on the Forth and Clyde canal.

Her batteries were charged and, requiring assistance, I was ably assisted by an assistant.

She motored for the best part of an hour, though in reality the best part was only her outer hull got wet.

Her top speed under power is a moderate walking pace: it feels about right. There's not much effective braking from the prop, but I see this as a bonus, since it suggests there's not a lot of drag from the prop, either. Tracking is great - that long keel means she drives like she's on rails, with no tendency to turn off a straight line with the rudder centred. She's almost rubbish in reverse.

Steering? With +/- 25 degrees of rudder, and no unscale extension, I thought it might not be enough, but she responds well to her helm and has a turning circle of about 3m. I can see this being a lot less with a small centreboard down to pivot around, and - by backing the jib - she should be able to tack well. There is no steering in reverse, but then she hardly goes in reverse, so that's not an issue.

She needed a pile of lead to hit her waterline - I guess the hull's about 15kg (two and a half stone) when fully loaded, which gives her loads of inertia and momentum. Small waves were shrugged off with a "mind? I'm coming through" attitude that's quite endearing.

I brought her in a few times during her run to measure battery charge and check for leaks, and have to report that the battery's phenomenal: plenty of life in it for a good few hours under power and, I think, all day under sail. Not a drop of water in her, with the propshaft quite dry. The big Buhler motor not at all warm.

Next up? A secret sailing test at a secret location, before I report back.

Andy
Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

JayDee

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 957
  • Model Boat Mayhem is the VERY Best !
  • Location: Warrington Cheshire.
    • JOHN DOWD
Re: Racundra
« Reply #131 on: May 11, 2015, 10:10:01 pm »

Hello,

HOW do we view the pictures ??????????

John.
Logged
My Projects, Photos and Videos
http://www.john-dowd.

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #132 on: May 11, 2015, 10:49:43 pm »

Hmmm. This worked on the preview option. And on a browser on the same PC with no access to that google account. There's something wrong, I think, with my use of the 'share' settings on Google's Drive. :embarrassed:

Will kick it tomorrow night: got to be up for work at 4am.  <:(
Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #133 on: May 12, 2015, 07:59:42 pm »

This might work.  %)

























Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #134 on: May 12, 2015, 08:11:55 pm »













































Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,892
  • Wood butcher with ten thumbs
  • Location: Airdrie, Scotland
Re: Racundra
« Reply #135 on: May 12, 2015, 08:19:50 pm »

Thanks, Photobucket. Take that, Google Drive.













Logged
Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 [6]   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.113 seconds with 21 queries.