Remote Control Yachts

Zagato,

I think you'll have a lot of fun; several experienced sailors I know have R/C sailing yachts, though some of them get quite pricey if one gets into the racing classes.

If getting into serious R/C, a programmable failsafe system to bring the boat ( or aircraft ) back towards you if it goes out of radio range is handy but a lot more expensive that the one you posted.

- There is the old story of a couple of young boys who put their hamster in the model aircraft for a ride, lost radio contact, Hammy last seen heading into the sunset ! :)

Have waders or a small inflatable handy in case the boat gets caught up in trees or something, and beware some ponds have a bed of broken bottles etc.

If you get into the R/C magazines and / or racing, have your wallet on Red Alert !

Also most R/C boats don't like what we would think of as tiny ripples let alone waves, so from your Crabber would only be an idea on really calm days at sheltered spots.
 
I've got a Micro Magic...I built mine to keep me "sailing" after a mountain bike ride ended up in an air ambulance on a Welsh trail and I was off the water for a while!

They are good fun, however you are better off going for the "racing" version. You will also need to build some more rigs, I have 4, so you can sail in higher winds. If you go with the standard kit rig in bigger breeze, you end up going upwind on your ear, unable to tack or bear away. That said it's good up to about 10 knots...my extra rigs allow mine to go out in about 25. Surfing and pitch pole possibilities are good fun in that!

I did actually go to the MM nationals, there are some very good model yotters there, but to be honest it was all way too serious for me. I've not used mine for years (rudder servo broke...it's a £15 fix but just not got round to it) but keep meaning to do so and take it on next years summer cruise.

Mike, who runs the outfit you've linked to, is a very nice chap and will give you lots of help and advice.
 
1 rig...
3120442020_bf9bce6ce5.jpg


2 rig...
3119614501_24692f1378.jpg


3 rig...
3119614819_8efcc3f244.jpg


4 rig...
3119615109_fda329e634.jpg


Sailing with my mate's Yamaha RTW yacht (surprisingly, very little in it speed wise!)
3478965187_5091f1a39f.jpg
 
Zagato said:
Christmas present time :D These look fun http://www.rcyachts.org.uk/epages/S...e3.Shop2540/Categories/"MM MkI Original Kits"

We have a lake 5 mins walk away and wanted to get something for the boy (remote control cars don't last 5 minutes and eat batteries!) does anyone know about RC boats?
Click to expand...

If you want to see some RC yacht racing in action (and talk to the guys who really understand this stuff) try Gosport model boating lake (Cockle Pond, near the Haslar marina car park) on either a Thursday morning (practice day) or Sunday morning (racing day). They even let me have a go and it is great fun. :)

They usually get a turn out of 15 or more boats.
 
I raced my 1 METRE class self built r/c yacht at Gosport; this class is probably the larger sailed there, but the Marblehead designs are much larger and very expensive. We had a R/C section at our sailing club for a few years which sailed all self-built 1Metre class yachts,from a design by one of the members.
Construction was hard chined, (similar in appearance to an opened banana skin!) without any frames; I think as much fun was had in the building of the hulls and fitting them out with the servos. At the time I had access to lots of Melinex drawing film and made several sets of sails for each of the boats, in itself an interesting job.

Later I read some books by a Harold H.'Dynamite' Payson who lives in Maine, USA; he is a boatbuilder of the Maine dories and builder of many of the late Phil Bolger designs. He actually recommended the reader to photocopy the lines plans and drawings in his book and copy to whatever size was required. The beauty of the drawings were that they were directly transferable in their developed shapes from the plans to the wood, 1mm ply and obeche or balsa, and I made several models including a small schooner(actual full size was 23ft LOA) the only change needed was ballast for keel instead of a centreboard, but still using the casing as its support and location. It sailed very well.
More recently I've seen some Laser style yachts being sailed in and around marinas but I think these are quite expensive and a fully manufactured one design.


ianat182
 
Last edited:
Prefer helicopters-only problem is you reach a point if you can afford the £500 or so when the CAA gets involved and you in theory need a drone licence and have to contact air traffic control
 
Model yachts

The Australian official book Racing Rules of Sailing contains a section on radio controlled yacht racing.
A sailing friend recently visited a RC model yacht regatta. He was quite amazed at the agressiveness of competitors and the skills. Starboard and water cries are a bit different when it is from the guy standing next to you. (duck if it takes a swing at you). No I don't think it was that bad.
However he did note that some of the boats cost new what you can buy a nice little 19ft real keel boat for.
olewill
 
Shame you don't have time to build one - it is so satisfying. I built a One Metre a good few years ago - just following the instructions, and unlikely to be anything like competitive, but it sailed well. Used to sit on its stand in my office and get taken out to sail on the lake on our campus whenever I got bored with work. Got damaged in an office move and I haven't got round to repairing it. Some aspects of the build were a bit botched, and I'd like to build a new one sometime.

If you do decide to build sailsetc are the people to get parts, advice and information sheets from. I'm pretty sure they can also sell the hull moulding ready to fit out. They will actually sell you a race-ready yacht with the approved three rigs, but I suspect you're talking a couple of thousand quid for that - without the radio gear!
 
The Micro Magics really are good fun to race and cheapish to buy.I belong to a model boat club and we race Micro Magics and bigger 36inch class.It is very competitive.
It started as a winter thing for me when the proper boat is laid up but now it is all year round (when I am not proper sailing).
Having a go on the pool at LIBS started me off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top