Thank you Brian is that a good starting point for someone wanting to get into yacht racing maybe later.
Do u have to upgrade the servo winches on the seawind at all
Paul
Hi Paul,
This type of inquiry generally yields some good suggestions from the guys on the forum. I wanted address your question regarding the Seawind - Sadly, the manufacturer has for the moment put the production of these time tested yachts on hold with no estimate on when or if they'll be back. Once in a while you can find one on E-bay. A company in Germany Stockmaritime may have some but they sell a modified version and get a pretty penny for their version. Here is a link to their web page
http://www.stockmaritime.de/modellboote/vo/index.php?modellbau/320Kyosho offered this boat at one time as a kit and as an RTR (almost ready to use) included a radio and servos etc. The sail servo they specified for this boat was the Futaba S 3801 which is my personal favorite for boats of this size (1M + or - an inch or two) Those to have been discontinued by Futaba. The specifications for this servo should provide you with a good point of reference for a good servo for this boat or other of similar size.
If you'd like that information just let me know and I can provide it for you. If you'd like to learn more about the Seawind check out this link:
http://www.seawindrc.com/ Since the Seawind is going to be very hard to find for most, the good news is there are a number of other choices out there. The Shunbo products were mentioned as a low cost starting point - noting that they do require some tweaking to bring them to a fully seaworthy status.
Kit boats are great way to get started! They are not hard to put together and typically yield a very good result. A few brands to consider might include: Tippecanoe :
http://www.tippecanoeboats.com/rc-sailboats, Victor Models
http://www.victor-model.com/ and Thunder Tiger's Victoria
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKF85&P=7These links are for US based companies - there may be local sources there, but I am not familiar with them. Both Tippecanoe and Victor Models make a varity of sizes and styles - a visit to their web site should be worth the time. Prices are attractive - and shipping for kits shouldn't be too bad.
Like many of the forum members, I support the idea of finding a local sailing group - they are great to get you started and most are super friendly and are likely to let you sail one or two of their own boats - RC sailing offers a lot of ongoing fun for the money! Can be done solo or in group settings.
Either way, the result is a lot enjoyment and relaxation!
There are some decent RTR boats out there, some are discussed on this forum - reading is a great way to get you up to speed before you invest. Welcome and good luck.
Boomer
Posted pictures of a Tippecanoe T 37 , Victor V 32 and a Victoria