Maine three masted schooner by Bedford - Radio - 1:54

[qwerty2008]

 Be careful when sailing in a lake and if at all possible go when there are boats and personal watercraft on the lake so you can flag someone down if your boat gets away from you. When I sailed my footy for the first time the wind was blowing towards me but that didn't stop my little boat from sailing strait out into the lake and out of receiver range.

 

 

 

 

Lextin.

[Bedford]

I hear you qwerty, the lake is about 130 metres wide and 3 or 400 long, most of each side is easily accessible but the dam wall end could be disastrous and the inflow end is all reeds etc so I would need a canoe to retrieve it from there. They do have some for hire at the lake. 

 

If she went down she would be lost forever.

 

Check it out on google maps, Lake Canobolas near Orange NSW.

 

I wish I had the kind of sailing lake Floyd has, 1 metre deep!

[Bedford]

After a lot of googling and researching I have bought a UBEC that can deliver 6 volts and 8 amps with a peak of 15 amps. The device is designed for LiPo batteries which are quite a bit lighter than the NiMH battery I had and the connectors are new and different so I decided to bite the bullet and go LiPo.

 

I bought a bunch of the new connectors too and re-fitted the whole system, they are gold plated and should make better contact than the old ones but the wires have to be soldered on which in my case is no problem as I am an old hand with a soldering iron.

 

She is starting to get a bit busy below decks now.

 

 

This is the UBEC

 

 

The new battery jammed in to the port bow area

 

 

 

I know we have all seen her with sails raised before but this is the first time they have ALL been raised by the radio and it is running very smoothly with no dramas thanks to the new UBEC and when I plug the ESC (speed controller) back in its supply will add to the available power so I am feeling pretty confident that my electronic problems are behind me.

 

Edited October 23, 2014 by Bedford

[captainbob]

Happy for you.  Sounds like you have a winner.  Now to button it all up and go sailing.

 

Bob

[michael mott]

Steve all that electronics and wire just baffles me, the sails look great and that you can now controle them well is very good news.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

Thanks guys, Bob there is still a long way to go yet.

 

I will drop a little bomb here and say I doubt she will sail before I sail from Sydney to Hobart aboard the replica Endeavour in late Jan/early Feb next year.

 

A 10 day voyage aboard that magnificent bark culminating in the wooden boat festival in Hobart which is a big deal for wooden boats, both 1:1 and scale so I am really looking forward to that !! They also have r/c sailing there so I will be keen to pick up a few tips...

[captainbob]

Yes I know, “button it all up” can sometimes take a while.  But you’re a lot closer now.

 

Bob

[Bedford]

Here is the last sail raising video you will see until she is in the water, 

 

It is a great relief to finally have all of them done, all that remains now are the sheets for the stays'ls which will pose their own challenges.

 

I have tried to show how the rings work to raise and lower the stays'ls through differing ranges of travel but I can't do slow motion. Basically I have made the outer stays'l the master since it travels the furthest, I tied a ring into that line and another into the other two lines at the appropriate places and ran each line through the ring of the next so that when it reaches the next ring it pulls it down and raises that sail etc. I did the same in reverse to lower the sails. 

 

When the sails are all the way down the top ring goes above the cross tree so I had to thin and fair the timber on one side to allow it to slip through without catching and you will see at the 14 second point that there is a loop that forms above the cross tree, this was prone to catching on the cross tree when being hauled down so I added a brass wire guide to keep it from doing so. You will see that in the pics below.

 

 

 

 

This pic shows the slack line that was catching on the cross tree, the wire guide did the trick!

 

 

This shows the faired cross tree timber.

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Marvellous work, there. Well done!

[Bedford]

Today has been the first real time I have had on the schooner for a while and while I am achieving a little I am taking about 5 steps back for each step forward.

 

Firstly I have commented in the past that when I power up the radio system some of the winch servos travel in and out which causes great concern because it is all at once and I have no control. While the extra BEC I bought to supply power to the system has cured the glitching that was occurring with all the servos connected it has not stopped the servo "reaching" that occurs on start-up so I went and bought a few more servo extension leads of different lengths so now I have the joins in accessible places meaning I can stow her with these servos disconnected and when I power up the system I can connect them one by one with no misbehaving. Problem solved.

 

However!

 

In trying all this and making sure it all worked the main gaff lazy jack gave up and broke, I can't see why, there was no big harsh snap like before, it just seems to have failed so I will have to replace it and am still considering whether or not I will increase the size of the line which means replacing all three of them but may be worth it I think.

 

 

And then!

 

I tried the motors just to make sure all is well...................................dead as the proverbial Dodo!

I checked the switch and it isn't the problem so the speed controller itself must have died for no apparent reason.

 

Anyone want to buy an unfinished schooner?

 

Seriously though, it is more of a challenge than I was hoping for but one day I will win.

 

Oh and I floated her just to see how the weight is going and she is heavy in the stern as I expected because of all the servos down there as well as the motors and she is listing a few degrees to starboard which I figure is mainly due to the location of the servos in the aft deckhouse with the rudder servo being in the centre so I have relocated it as far to port as I could. You can see the holes where it was mounted right beside the winch servo.

 

 

Now to really plan where everything else gets mounted because I want to level her out with essential hardware rather than with added ballast because that would mean less weight for the sailing keel. I have read that you want such a vessel to ride a bit high in the bow, makes them sail better, so it is heading in the right direction.

 

I MAY however decide to ditch the motors as they are quite heavy and if I learn to sail the yacht I may not need them in the schooner.

[Walter Biles]

Bedford,

 

Great model.  Very interesting mechanisms to make it work. 

 

Walter Biles

[fnkershner]

Does this mean you will become a true Rag bagger? come on over to the dark side you will like it here. We rag baggers look down on those stink potters and all that noise. We rely on mother nature for our power.

[Bedford]

Well Floyd I always wanted to rely on sail but with no-one else around here sailing I thought it was a pretty good idea to include auxiliary power. I am still looking at it but since I will have to buy a new speed controller I might just as well get two smaller motors too. Much less weight and the 540's are big enough to drive a much larger vessel.

[fnkershner]

You know that most sail races begin with an upwind leg. I suspect this is because the finish will be a dramatic downwind leg with chutes flying. you can adapt this concept to R/C. We often start by sailing up wind so that if there is an issue the wind will bring it back to you. Our club has had very few occasions where the boat is not retrievable. The club does own a R/C tug just in case. But, the tug is most often used to place markers instead of recovering Sail boats.

 

Don't get me wrong, Most of us when we begin R/X sailing are concerned about how do we get our boat back. I am just suggesting that you need not worry.

 

FYI back before NY City became a mega city. Sailors used to ride the morning wind out and the evening wind home with no aid of a motor. This is due to the relative difference in heating and warming of land vs water. Today there is so much asphalt that the lad does not heat like it used to and the tall buildings block the wind. So no more day sails without power to bring you home. 

Edited November 24, 2014 by Floyd Kershner

[Walter Biles]

I too am building a tow tug for recovery.  I figure if my lines for boom control get fouled, I better have something with hook and tow capacity so I can exert enough force to get it unstuck, and with enough power/speed to drag a capsized boat back against the wind and drag.  I fully intend that even if it fully fills the hull, that it will not sink.  The same with the tug.  The tug won't have to sail like a tug as long as it can do the job I need it to do.  I live out where some good sized cow ponds are the most likely to be where it will be sailing, and I need to be prepared.  I hope I'm not being paranoid.  I just figure-- Be READY.

 

Walt Biles

[michael mott]

 

Seriously though, it is more of a challenge than I was hoping for but one day I will win.

Truth be told I bet many of the members of this site have felt the same way at one time or another.  I know I have felt this way at times.

 

Michael

[DBorgens]

Bedford,

Just stopped by and noticed you are using a LiPo battery. Be very wary! These batteries have (had?) a habit of burning violently during recharging. While it has been a couple of years since I researched LiPo batteries, the videos were impressive warning. The problems arose from imbalances between cells during recharging. I hope I am overstating the danger as they have likely become more reliable over time. Check with the RC flyers nearby for tips.

 

I simply loved your video of the sails, impressive!

 

Dave B

[Bedford]

Hey Dave, yes I was concerned about LiPos in the early days but as you suggested, they have come a long way especially in the charging. My charger is computerised and constantly checks and maintains cell balance. Having said that I still charge my batteries on the sink or similar metal surface. I was sticking to HiMh but everything these days is geared towards LiPo etc so I gave in.

 

Thanks for the compliment on the sails.

 

Floyd I know, I know but it hasn't been cheap or easy and I want to know that if something goes wrong I can drive her ashore in a hurry.

[fnkershner]

Please don't read into this any criticism, its an honest question - Which would have been more costly & time consuming building an R/C Tug or making your very fine schooner into a motor sailor?

[Bedford]

I suppose when you put it that way I probably could have bought a RTR tug and had it moored at the bank ready to go, It would have cost more than the auxiliary power in the schooner. Much less headaches though!

 

Still, what I have is in keeping with my goal of working it all out from scratch and making it all work.

 

I will say that if I ever build another such vessel there will be no RC reefing, been there done that, and if it has an auxiliary motor it will probably be in the ballast bulb at the bottom of the keel and powered independently.

[Bedford]

I have done a bit of machining today, I needed to make easily removable posts to stand her on. 

 

I will use the sailing keel attachment posts as the stand posts by screwing extension posts into them which will then locate into brass bosses in the display stand. I think this should make the change between sailing and displaying pretty easy.

 

The boss will be epoxied into the display base and the post will just slide into it.

 

 

[michael mott]

Hi Steve that is a great solution to the keel issue. I find it interesting that we all seem to have these "if I had to do it all over again what would I do" conversations going on in our minds. Ask any builder on this site that same question and there would no doubt be some very interesting answers and solutions to the challenges we set ourselves.

 

Michael

[Shazmira]

Whew, all caught up! I am hoping your were just joking on selling a half finished schooner. You have approached every step of this methodically, and as problems arose worked out solutions for them, I have no doubt you will continue to do the same with the current issue. Now the real question, since the schooner will in fact be sailing soon.....what is your next project going to be? Others have suggested the scratch building side, and I see you are more than qualified to tackle that new challenge as well. So just wondering?

[Bedford]

Thanks Michael, it's that "thinking outside the box" I do, I'm always looking for simple solutions and that generally means coming up with something completely different.

 

Robbyn, welcome back aboard! 

I was joking about selling her but to be honest I'm not sure where she will make berth in the long term because I don't have a huge house.

I do keep working out the issues and as I have said before, that's why I am building her but they just keep coming so I sometimes tend to just walk away from her for a while now and then.

 

As for my next project I'm tossing up between an RC square rigger or an RC 2 masted schooner called Altair, you can see her if you do a google images search, she is rather pretty. I also have the Royal yacht Caroline (kit) that I must do for reasons shown in my "signature", I think she will be next.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Bedford

[Twister]

If I may be so bold, Altair is probably one of the most beautiful yachts in the world and I'm sure you'd do justice to this stunning WM Fife design.

 

Actually, scrap that, it really isn't necessary for you to go to the trouble of a scale replica. The original is for sale for a mere snip at Euro6,000,000 - that's about US$7.5 million or Aus$8.75 million. I'm sure we can arrange a whip round if you come up a bit short... !!!!

 

For details, see http://www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk/details/403/William-Fife-III-Gaff-Rigged-108-ft-Topsail-Schooner-1931/yacht-for-sale/and I can assure you that Sandeman are an incredibly reputable company to do business with, not forgetting delivery to Australia - I'm a qualified professional skipper and very cheap ( according to my admiral!!).

 

Enough of that, whichever you decide, I'm sure she'll be beautiful.

 

Regards,

 

Row

[Shazmira]

yes, we discussed the Caroline a long time ago...I think maybe it is time

[Yambo]

 

As for my next project I'm tossing up between an RC square rigger or an RC 2 masted schooner called Altair, 

 

I have the plans for Altair up in my workshop cupboard - not sure if it'll ever get started let alone finished.  

[Bedford]

So are you offering to send them to me, that's very kind of you    

[Bedford]

Hey Floyd, DEFINITELY keeping the auxiliary power in the schooner.

 

I just took the yacht out to the lake for a little sailing, took ages to find the right place to launch to guarantee she would be blown back to shore in the event of failure.

 

I launched her and had about 5 minutes of nice gentle sailing before deciding to bring her back because the wind was failing. I just got her on line with enough momentum to keep her inching forward with the aid of gentle rolling waves from astern.

 

I held her for 10 or 15 mins before I thought the breeze had come back but only did one circle of about 6 metre diameter to bring her back due to the wind failing again. This time she almost didn't make it. I packed up and came home.

 

Still, it was a beautiful afternoon to be out there.

 

On a different tack.

The new motors and speed controller have arrived from the UK. She will lose 100grams from the stern with these motors which will help raise the stern closer to level while still (I'm sure) having ample power.

 

Now to make a new motor mount.

 

Edited December 9, 2014 by Bedford

[JerryTodd]

Amen brother

 

My projects always seem to be about how I get something done I should have done before I carried on with something else, case in point, installing the daggerboard box for my Pride's fin keel.  Part of the reason I document my projects publicly is to broadcast such mistakes as warnings to others that might be about to make the same ones, and so I don't forget on the next project - sort of like marking a minefield. 

Hi Steve that is a great solution to the keel issue. I find it interesting that we all seem to have these "if I had to do it all over again what would I do" conversations going on in our minds. Ask any builder on this site that same question and there would no doubt be some very interesting answers and solutions to the challenges we set ourselves.

 

Michael