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[Dave_S.]

Thanks, Bob - motor mounting has been the bane of my life since returning to the hobby a few years ago - these look ideal and Prestwich?Dave Marles have long had a good reputation.


I'll order a couple right away!

[zooma]

Thanks, Bob - motor mounting has been the bane of my life since returning to the hobby a few years ago - these look ideal and Prestwich?Dave Marles have long had a good reputation.


I'll order a couple right away!

Funnily enough I ordered two more of them first thing this morning as well Dave!

I like to keep a couple in stock at all times.

Every time I refurbish or build a new boat the epoxy "side cheeks" of the mount gets bonded into hull permanently and so they will always stay with the boat, but every motor gets screwed onto its own alloy mount so I can swap motors between hulls or change to different types at any time.  Especially handy as this works just as well with all the out-runners and in-runners that I have ever wanted to use.

The only thing that can stop total interchangeability is when the side cheeks are bonded into position to take a rear mounted brushless (aero type) motor.  The mounts still work just as well, but it restricts the type of motor that can be readily exchanged to other rear mounted motors of the same (aero mounting) types.

[Dave_S.]

That's four they've sold this morning at least, then! Looking forward to trying them out. I had to swap motors (twin motors & shafts) in a 3 ft Robbe Police boat a couple of years ago and it was a hell of a job!

[tonyH]

And.....

[Dave_S.]

That looks like a lot of motor for a little Waverider! The instructions in my ancient kit box say the original was 'extremely fast' with a 1.5cc diesel! According to contemporary power tests of the Snipe, it produced approx 99 PHP per litre, which I make to be about 0.15 bhp, or 110 watts in electric terms (I'm not any kind of an engineer so I might be out by a mile!). I used to own a few little diesels and they didn't have much in the way of power, that's for sure.

[zooma]

That looks like a lot of motor for a little Waverider! The instructions in my ancient kit box say the original was 'extremely fast' with a 1.5cc diesel! According to contemporary power tests of the Snipe, it produced approx 99 PHP per litre, which I make to be about 0.15 bhp, or 110 watts in electric terms (I'm not any kind of an engineer so I might be out by a mile!). I used to own a few little diesels and they didn't have much in the way of power, that's for sure.

Hi Dave,

The motor that is shown in the pictures was the first one that I picked up with a mount fitted to it, and when it is taken out (so I can finish the inside work), it may not be the one that is put back in it again!

Considering your comments about the power and it being a bit of a handful if the motor was too powerful, I have taken a good look at the hull on my Wave Rider and decided to make a couple of small changes that may help.

The bow had a nib on it where the two chine spray rails came to meet in a point. I never like to see this and in theory it could dig-in and upset the handling, so I have sanded it back to blend-in to the bows and knocked up a quick little gauge to space the strakes that I have decided to fit.

I have started to scrape away the paint in the areas where I am going to fit the strakes.  I am going to fit two full length strakes on each side of the hull underside.

The strakes have been cut and I am past the point of no return so I am committed to fitting them.


What could go wrong...............................

[Dave_S.]

Thank you for putting my fears for the safety of your Waverider to rest - and I shall incorporate some of your ideas into my build when I get to it (still haven't got my bench back yet!). Bringing these classics back to life, or recreating them, is a very worthy path to follow. I also have a partially built Lesro (Slec) Arrow and unstarted kits for a Sea Comander (modern re-issue) and a genuine Aerokits 46" Crash Tender kit (plus one I bought ready made). Basically still trying to fulfil my dreams from 50 years ago or more!

[zooma]

Thank you for putting my fears for the safety of your Waverider to rest - and I shall incorporate some of your ideas into my build when I get to it (still haven't got my bench back yet!). Bringing these classics back to life, or recreating them, is a very worthy path to follow. I also have a partially built Lesro (Slec) Arrow and unstarted kits for a Sea Comander (modern re-issue) and a genuine Aerokits 46" Crash Tender kit (plus one I bought ready made). Basically still trying to fulfil my dreams from 50 years ago or more!

It sounds like you and I both have similar ambitions to try and fulfil our dreams from years ago - in my case more like 55 - 60 years ago!

Harry seems to have his Wave Rider performing well at high speed in Tasmania, so I think our Wave Masters should be able to go just as well when they are "the right way up" over here in the UK     

Thanks to your wise words of caution, some small mods been added to help stabilise the model.  If it needs more help, I will remove the small 'scale-like" chine spray rails and replace them with wider ones made from 1/4"  x  1/8" obechie strips - or even laminate two layers of these strips if extreme measures are needed (classic 1960's fix).

One classic model that I have not acquired yet is the Aerokits Crash Tender and I think that every classic model boat collection should have one!

I think I would like to have a go at the 46" version, so if I should ever see one at the right sort of pensioners price I would be very tempted to find it a place in my waiting room, but suspect that it may do a bit of queue jumping as I have never had one of these and would enjoy running one - although the scale fittings would add a fair bit to the cost 

Meanwhile - all 4 of the strakes and have been added so I just need to fix a water scoop and then I can finish-off the underside of the boat and start working on it when it is the right way up again! 

[Dave_S.]

Both of my Crash Tenders are 46" jobs - and they're really too big for my small modelling room. The ready built I bought from my local model shop has been left on a shelf since I got it, and I could do with the space back. I bought an unbuilt kit locally from a Facebook advert, and then added £100 or more in fittings before it occurred to me that it would take up as room as the pre-built one! Both have been for sale for a month or two now, neither have attracted any interest. Must be more of a niche market than I thought!

[zooma]

Both of my Crash Tenders are 46" jobs - and they're really too big for my small modelling room. The ready built I bought from my local model shop has been left on a shelf since I got it, and I could do with the space back. I bought an unbuilt kit locally from a Facebook advert, and then added £100 or more in fittings before it occurred to me that it would take up as room as the pre-built one! Both have been for sale for a month or two now, neither have attracted any interest. Must be more of a niche market than I thought!

The Wave Rider is a much more manageable size to store and transport Dave 

[Circlip]

Back in the day, a propshaft 'P' bracket was regarded as an essential fitting to support it rather than fairing the gap between the keel and the tube. Would have thought that it is more important with todays buzz saw lecky motors?


  Regards  Ian.

[zooma]

Back in the day, a propshaft 'P' bracket was regarded as an essential fitting to support it rather than fairing the gap between the keel and the tube. Would have thought that it is more important with todays buzz saw lecky motors?


  Regards  Ian.

I cut and fit a plywood fillet to do the same job as a "P" bracket Ian - it is at least as solid, and I think it looks nicer and give less drag - especially when it is faired-in.

As an additional bonus - any excess vibration caused by an unintended misalignment of the drive train quickly shows itself up with a faired-in prop shaft when small hairline cracks appear between it and the hull or the shaft itself and can be quickly inspected and corrected.

[Dave_S.]

The Wave Rider is a much more manageable size to store and transport Dave 

Yes indeed! I must impose a size limit on any future purchases - maximum length of 3ft (or one metre if I have to!).


Dave

[zooma]

The biggest size boat that I currently operate on a regular basis is my Rapier, and at just over 39" long it is as big as I would want to carry every week and to find space to house when it is not in action.

The  28" Wave Rider should be much more manageable.........and make space for a couple more when travelling to the club lake too!

Bob.

[Dave_S.]

I have a Robbe Police boat which is about 35" long and is a good balance between storage/transport size and being visible on the lake size!l


I have a couple of two footers in the build at the moment, but whenever I think of them more than 50 away, I lose enthusiasm for them. On the other hand, they will be easier to hide in a corner of the car when going anywhere that might involve a stretch of water.

[tonyH]

Some bottom bits!

[zooma]

The top picture shows the "nib" that was formed by the joining of the two lower chine rails that extended beyond the bows on the boat when I bought it from eBay last week.

Picture 2 shows this 'nib" sanded away and what the lower chine rails look like now after sanding them back to a more normal position.

The last picture shows the first strake glued in place after scraping away the paint in that area to expose the wood surface that is needed to make a secure bond to the newly cut strake.

I made a very simple gauge from the end of an old Venetian blind slat to enable me to judge where to scrape away the paint and then where to place the strake.  This same simple gauge was used to space the second strake away from the first to keep them parallel to each other and at the same spacing.

The second side of the hull bottom was treated in the same way, so now the hull has four strakes added (two on each side) - hopefully to help with the handling when running fast with a suitable out-runner motor - and partly cosmetic to improve the looks 

[tonyH]

Sort of how she looks now!

[zooma]

The first two pictures show all four strakes fitted with the prop shaft "support" in place.

The new re-cycled M5 prop shaft has been cleaned-up and a 50mm prop has been fitted to check that it has enough working clearance with the slightly shallower shaft angle, although I doubt I will need to use a prop quite this large.........but you never know!

A water scoop has been added (the model never had one previously) and a new rudder has been fitted.

The original rudder was quite small, so I have fitted a standard Medium sized rudder to give a little more steering authority as I don't think the original one would give me the steering that I would like......and it just looked too small.


A 4mm shaft was fitted to the old rudder and the mounting tube was also cut quite short and could actually be below the waterline, so the new rudder has a 5mm shaft and the mounting tube was left as high as possible and only just clears the underside of the aft deck. This will make fitting the steering arm a bit of a squeeze, but it will be an improvement.

The old and new rudders are pictured together for comparison.

Now I need to do some filling and sanding prior to giving it a good couple of under-coats of paint to prepare it for its gloss finish.

[canabus]

Hi Zooma


That's one great set of strakes.


Canabus

[zooma]

Hi Zooma


That's one great set of strakes.


Canabus

Thanks Harry,

They should look good when they are painted - and hopefully they will work well too!

Stay safe.

Bob.

[Dave_S.]

Hi Dave,

I use these alloy water-cooled motor mounts on all my model boats as they are "as cheap as chips" and offer a "plug-in" motor system that allows me to swap motors in just 2-3 minutes - almost as easy as Lego.

I buy mine from a UK supplier via eBay but they can be bought from a number of different sources.  Here is a link to the ones that I use:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361330720797


Hope this helps,

Bob.

Hi Bob, I ordered a couple of these minutes after you posted this on Tuesday and get them in this morning's post. They look like they're well made, too. Another problem solved!
Dave

[zooma]

Hi Bob, I ordered a couple of these minutes after you posted this on Tuesday and get them in this morning's post. They look like they're well made, too. Another problem solved!
Dave

Good news -  mine arrived this morning as well Dave.


I am pleased you are happy with them - I always worry when I recommend something - just incase............


Bob. 

[Dave_S.]

Your recommendation was much appreciated - except that I'll now have to replace the simple plastic mounts I've been using with these. I'll only change the builds in progress, not worth digging mounts out of perfectly happy models.

[zooma]

I have been a lot busier over the last few days with things I hadn't planned to get involved with, but in-between other jobs today I sneaked into the workshop/shed and bunged a very quick coat of paint on the underside of the hull.

This is a sure-fire way to highlight any problems with wobbly or poorly spaced strakes so I was keen to get this first coat of paint covering them so I could see what corrective work may need doing prior to sanding down and building a better paint finish.

I took a quick snap of the hull as soon as I had put the paint on it so I have not had chance to give it a "good coat of looking at" yet - but the initial thought is that it does not look too bad, so given that this is just a quick refurbishment job - it looks like I will not be doing any more construction work to the underside of the hull.

Thank goodness  - now I must get the stand painted so I can add some rubber feet to the underside corners and and some pipe insulation to the tops of the ends to protect the strakes as I bash on with the topside and hull interior.