Hi, newbie here!

[Nikki TomasParticipant @nikkitomas35833]

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently acquired an old rc boat, and I’ve even managed a few reasonably succesful runs with it!
It’s a wooden Vosper RTTL, it’s leaky, badly painted and missing bits from here and there but still good fun.
I’ve had rc cars for about a year and I’m quite confident with all they entail now, but boats present several new difficulties, to say the least!
So, a few things I’ve encountered already are-

Weeds choking the propeller (Very bad)

Cracked paint leaking water.

Torque roll from too powerful a motor.

If anybody can offer a few tips for a newbie I’d be grateful! I’m female and not particularly experienced in engineering things but removal and replacement of defective parts is something that rc cars has taught me.

Thank you! 🙂

[Nikki TomasParticipant @nikkitomas35833]

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hello Nikki and welcome to our little corner of the interweb.

The problems that you are describing are not unusual in an old boat and some are fairly easy to overcome however the weed choking is something outside most model boaters control.

The leaking and poor paint job can be resolved by stripping off the old paint and checking the strength of the hull joints, some old resin glues can fail over time and you might have to re-glue any joints that have failed. (its time consuming but not to difficult)

Changing the motor is also a fairly straight forward task.

It would help us enormously if you could post some exterior and interior photos of your model.

Paul

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Hi Nikki

Welcome to the forum.

If the boat is the Aerokits Vosper RTTL 68foot (model 34&quot with a double rear cabin.

I have a free plan as a PDF which can be printed out to the required size.

A 35mm brushless motor about 1100kv would be a good motor for that size boat.

Regards

Harry Smith

[Nikki TomasParticipant @nikkitomas35833]

Hi, and thanks for getting back to me.

The boat is 28 inches long, Ive no idea what brand.
I’ve also no idea of the motor it’s running with at the moment as it’s not marked with anything, I would imagine it’s a cheapo Ebay motor.
I have a very old made in Hong Kong motor too, and the boat is pleasant enough with that one fitted but lacks zip and doesn’t respond quick enough for my liking.
Somewhere between the two would be perfect 😆

I do intend to paint stripper the boat over the winter, also to remove the decks and inner compartment for a proper waterproofing and repainting.

What sort of glue and paints would I need? I’m hoping to spray paint as I’ve had good results with aerosols before.

Sorry, I don’t onow how to post photos yet! 😁

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Hi Nikki

The size of the boat is a big help.

Drop down to a 28mm brushless about 1500-1800kv around 500watts with a 30-32 mm 2 blade prop.

3S lipo about 2650mah.

Regards

Harry Smith

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Harry is the man for fast boats! His suggestion seems very reasonable to me, and the small prop will help to relieve any torque roll.

As I have just posted to another newbie, everyone has their own preferred method of hull finishing. There are several methods using glass fibre cloth and resin, or glass cloth and an acrylic resin (Eze-Kote ), ordinary tissue and dope, followed by paint.

For an older boat, a layer inside the boat of, say glass cloth and Eze-Kote could be useful to bind everything together. Some like to leave the interior untreated to let the wood `breathe` in case it gets wet.

Glues, and personally I use a waterproof PVA, epoxy (Araldite for instance) or superglue mostly. Others like more fancy products, but again almost anything will do once it is covered in paint.

Rattle can spray paint is perfectly acceptable to use.

Ashley

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Nikki

All I can usefully add is that you should beware of using chemical paint stripper. It soaks into the wood and can cause a whole load of trouble from then on e.g. softening glue joints, preventing new paint from drying totally. It's a pain in the elbow but the safest way to remove old paint is to sand it off.
O – and a finer-pitch 3-blade prop will go a long way to eliminate torque roll.

Dave M

[Nikki TomasParticipant @nikkitomas35833]

Thanks everyone for the advice, it's given me a lot of things to think about and get started on 😁

Nikki

[Byron Rees…(Ron)Participant @byronrees-ron]

Hi Nikki,

Welcome to the MB Forum, which I'm sure you'll find useful as there are a lot of very experienced model boaters on here who enjoy passing on their many years of experience.

I agree with what Dave M says about paint strippers, I wouldn't use them. Most models needing a brightening up will benefit from a good rub down all over, no matter what the original paint medium was. This may not find where the leaks are coming from, unless you are lucky. Wet and dry used wet will cut back several coats of old paint but I wouldn't expect to remove all vestiges of previous colour, just get a good smooth matt finish all over.

We don't know exactly what actual model it is, you say wood, is that plywood skins or balsa? I think Glynn Guest did a couple of plan/features for this type of hull a few years ago, certainly a Vosper 72 foot Torpedo Boat and I think a Higgins, they were 28 inches long and were skinned in balsa. Most kits tended to be plywood I think.

While doing this clean-up, follow Ashleys recommendation and give the inside a coat of a 2 part resin like Zap Z-Poxy, or even Glassfibre resin from a car spares shop, which is a bit cheaper but harder to rub down.

Deluxe Materials Eze-Kote is also good and as its an Acrylic single part system it will cover most things and maybe repair any small leaks as well.

If it was me I would use some lightweight glass cloth or nylon tights and skin the outside with the Eze-Kote as well after its rubbed down, once again this product should bond well to previous coats, whether Enamel, Cellulose or Acrylic. Its fast drying and washes out in water. This is not just to strengthen the hull, they don't usually need to have this done, but will stabilise the previous coats and give you a good base for subsequent painting.

Final rubbing down with wet and dry before normal Primer, undercoat and topcoats sprays and a lot of us use the very reliable Halfords range of spray cans, buy all the finishing products from the same system as they are all matched to work together.

Other than splits in hull skins or holes which need patching or filling, most infuriating small leaks come from the rudder post or sealing around the prop shaft entry into the hull, these often only show up after the model has been run in water. (Under Load) A simple and useful test is to wrap or place any one of the small feminine products around the rudder post etc and hold it in place with an elastic band. These will absorb any moisture and once removed can tell you exactly where the leak is. Then you apply extra sealant or epoxy or remove the unit and refit it properly.

Hope all this helps you.

Cheers…………Happy boating………….RON R.

Edited By Byron Rees…(Ron) on 27/07/2018 11:39:26

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Ron has highlighted a good point here, in that Eze-Kote will stabilise the previous coats of paint/filler, and as a bonus, will seep into very small cracks and splits effectively sealing them

You can also spray Acrylic onto Eze-Kote, so its great as a sealer enabling you to use whatever paint system you want on top of your hull (when ready to spray).

Ashley

[Nikki TomasParticipant @nikkitomas35833]

Hi again, thanks very much for all this information!

I haven't had much time for boating these last few days, but I did carry out a sort of leak test by pouring a glass of water into the boat and leaving it for a few hours. Almost nothing leaked out so it seems the water must be coming in from the motor cooling pipes, so it seems my dodgy plumbing is to blame!

Nikki

The boat is made from balsa with a plywood deck and hull skin.

[Empire ParkstoneParticipant @empireparkstone]

Did you get almost as much water back out as you put in and there would be little pressure with just a glassful

[Nikki TomasParticipant @nikkitomas35833]

Yes, a lot of water came out when I tipped it upside down.

I see what you mean about the pressure from just one glass being low, it hadn't occurred to me before. I guess I'll have to continue chasing leaks as and when 😁

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