John Richardson - My Fleet
I have a number of boats and photographs, in particular my RC Sailing boat about 1 metre long constructed to own design from kitchen cabinets and broomstick ! Cheap enough for a good sailing cruiser.

Would this be of interest on Mayhem -
( Yes! All types of boat welcome. Mayhem)

Regards and best wishes.
John

I should say that I am a ' loner ' aged 75. I sail my boats on Penn Pond and the Wycombe Dyke often
accompanied by my son and grandsons. I have been enjoying model boats for 60+ years. I don't profess to be a scale modeller.. more like a stand-off modeller, building models for fun...I save my exact scale activities for my traction engine and locomotive construction ( 3 1/2", 5" gauge and 1 1/2 scales....1000+ hours for the latest model ) "Wow!" - Mayhem.


Sea Hornet

The launch is a Sea Hornet kit started 40 years ago, now fitted with a 540 motor it planes happily on a freshly charged battery.
 

RAF Crash Tender

The crash tender is an Aerokits kit built 40 years ago and now being refitted, as I remember it the kit cost £3-7-6d (£3.37). All my models employ 6V gel batteries although I am going to 12V for the crash tender.

I also sail 2 x metre sailers both RC ( Cruising models, scratch built ) I chose to build these and sail them (RC) in the way most typical of the real thing. As a full size sailor, I don't much like the way a lot of sailing models tear about in non-scale fashion.

I have a Clyde Puffer which was kit built and languished in a friends wardrobe for 10years before being gifted to me. This as with all the other models is fitted with electronic speed control. It performs beautifully on a 480 motors and is the favourite of the waterside folk.


I have been more work on the crash tender recently and carried out some trials.

From Wycombe Models, a super model shop and the best for many miles around, I obtained a 540 motor and an MTronics speed controller, these have been installed in the rear compartment along with the steering servo. As I have a number of 6V gel batteries I have installed one of these, the 12 Ah size. (.in the wrong place as it happens.) The speed controller is installed in the rear deck space as I like to air cool the thing, it will be sprayed grey and hopefully will look like a bit of naval hookum to the uninformed.

So to the sea trials. February, a wild day  with near frozen water on the Dyke at High Wycombe, a friend and I sailed my Pusher. My friend lost control and in an effort to save the boat from crashing into the concrete edge, in I went ' Head over heels ' into 5 feet of water which is enough to thoroughly wet one, also to disable ones car clicker and pocket radio !

Eventually I got the car going and, although I couldn't stop the alarm sounding and lights flashing, made my way home. Folk that I passed must have thought that, at 75 years of age, I must have been the oldest joy-rider in existence !

Back to the trials of the crash tender. 10 Amp fuses blew in successive launches and convinced me that there were problems (Thank goodness for the article in Model Boats that advised the insertion of a fuse in the circuit) P.S. Fancy a fry-up?.. then connect the Speed Controller with polarity reversed !

A change to a smaller diameter prop and a 15 Amp fuse got things going but immediately demonstrated that the trim was wrong. The battery was too far forward, and the thrust of the prop combined with the battery weight caused a bow-down attitude prohibiting achievement of the intended speed.

Simon at the Prop Shop has prescribed a different prop and currently I am, like Billy Bunter, avidly watching incoming post, he waited for a postal order to enable him to buy more buns, I await a propeller for improved performance!

When the boat finally proves satisfactory performance-wise I will send the actual details of the final set-up....until then I am literally stranded !


Regards and best wishes
John Richardson

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