Hi Tim and thanks for the link. I’m very familiar with Gary Webb and his designs. I recently completed the sloop, Emma. If it wasn’t for the fact that all Gary’s designs have keels which are much too long for the lake that my club sails on, I’d be building more. I am drawn back to building a reduced scale Irene, as it’s a design I’d really like to build and it has already been done successfully at a smaller scale.

My reason for building the Hans-jolle was that I wanted to build a tried and tested design with port and starboard sheets for the jib to see how it went, and currently that’s not going too well. Gary’s method of controlling the jib sheets on his boats look very straightforward and based on current experience with one of his designs, I’d say it was well thought out. Unfortunately, try as I might, I can’t make any sense of the Hansa-jolle’s jib sheet arrangement and I don’t think that familiarity with Gary’s designs is going to help. (Well, it hasn’t so far.)

Part of my problem is that I don’t know what to expect; for all I know, what I’ve got so far is as good as it’s going to get. I will continue to search YouTube for relevant videos, but what I’m really hoping for is that somebody who’s built the Hansa-jolle to give me the benefit of his/her experience. Yes, I know that, basically, I’m hoping for the solution to my problem to be handed to me on a plate, but while I’m waiting, I will continue to work on it.

Thanks for coming back with advice; I will carry on searching YouTube and Google for ideas.

John the baffled

After a great deal of playing around with the jib sheets as per the design, I eventually decided to sidestep the whole business by using a sail winch servo. This has worked out fine, so I’m no longer looking for ideas on this problem.

Thanks,

John Jones

I prefer winch servos for several reasons: they tend to have more torque than a servo with an extended arm, they need less space in the hull than a servo with an extended arm, and because they take longer to change position, to me, they look more realistic in action. I’ve watched several videos on YouTube of multi-masted boats, where the sails take a fraction of a second to move to a new position. I prefer a slower movement. Obviously, this is a personal preference; others may not agree with my views. Each to their own.

Additionally, Kingmax do a programmable winch that can be set to move anything from 1 turn end to end to 6 turns end to end. I bought the programmer last year, and it’s very handy, although I had some trouble getting it to work to start with.

John

Yeah, my first experience of a winch servo was in a DF95. Sold me on the idea. And it was Mike Weston of RC Yachts (where I get odds and sods like bowsies, Dyneema cord, servos  and other Joysway parts) who told me that the servos used in the ’65 and ’95 were re-badged Kingmax servos. And it just went from there. If you’re interested, The Component Shop sells the programmable winch (SW6114MD) and the programmer; the latter cost me £14 last year or so. It’s not always in stock, though. One thing to be aware of, although the guys at The Component Shop are very helpful, I got the impression that it’s been so long since they installed a programmer and related software on a PC (they offer to set your winch to whatever number of rotations you need), that they’ve forgotten what’s involved. It took me a good while to get mine up and running even with their help. But I’m there now.

I use a FlySky FS-i6 setup which also enables me to adjust the travel on my winch servos (down to zero, for what it’s worth), but, as you say, it’s always good to have options. Also, I just like messing with techy stuff.

Interested in the Fisherman you mention; is it a kit? Presumably, it’s a sailing boat or you wouldn’t be using winches. I’m always interested to find about model sailing boat designs.

Cheers,

John

You’re a true modeller, then. I wouldn’t know where to start, so I’m dependent on others for plans and/or kits, which isn’t a great position to be in because you can’t rely on somebody designing and possibly kitting exactly what you want to build. I keep thinking about taking that plunge, but that’s as far as I’ve got.

My choice of boats is also very much influenced by the depth of our home lake. As far as I’m aware, it’s about 17 – 19 inches deep all over, but that’s not wholly based on personal experience; it’s mainly what I’ve been told. I have a DF65, and I had to use the shorter keel fin that RC Yachts offer: with the longer fin, the weight hits bottom. My Bearospace Emma just about sails but the keel weight hits what seems to be every rock on the bottom and that’s with the keel shortened by 6 inches.

I doubt if I’ll ever create a plan and build a boat from it, but I’m very glad that there are people like you who do. Without you, there wouldn’t be any plans or kits for people like me to build.

Respect,

John