Todays Boating

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Does that mean you will have to explain why you have still not built the kit they gave you on retirement?

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Hmmm…tough one that…

Ashley/

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Not quite so nice out hopefully the rain will keep off, esp as Richard wants to debut his new boat.

Stickers on my new boat great, so nice having the words on a backing strip together, rather than sticking the letters on individually. The name is not long, about 75mm so the individual letters are quite small.

Was worth respraying the hatch they are on, its almost perfect now. The bonnet is good but not perfect and I am going to let the paint harden for two weeks before deciding what to do. It might T-cut but will that give me a different shine compared to the hatch?. Or will car polish make them the same….or even, just a bit of polish might bring the front bit up to standard. Loth to respray the one section as I know it will just give me issues elsewhere where the paint is good, you know how it goes!

Nice drinks in “ye old Watling” pub, in Watling street, (one of the little bunch of leftover small medieval streets in the city) with a view of St Paul’s cathedral just down one end of the lane.Perhaps 40 people in the pub lunchtime, Dozen or so (including us 5) after lunch…dozen or so outside, and not many more when we left to find solid sustenance at 6 ish. This compared to two years ago when we stood outside with probably several hundred people (several establishments in the street) and when the sun went down it silhouetted St Paul’s and the whole street turned to watch for the 20 mins or so that it was fabulously lit.

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 01/08/2021 08:24:58

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Great boating Sunday. Got quite hot, and no rain despite the wonderful stormy lowering cloud over the other side of the park.

Only took the Mintanic (4 boats in all!). No probs weed much.

Richards new boat nice but not much breeze. He has some wicked play mobile pirates on board..awesome!

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Sun is shining in the sky,

there ain’t a cloud in sight,

it’s stopped rain’in everybody's in the play,

And don’t you know,

it’s a beautiful new day. Hey hey

ok, as I tap the iPad screen…..it’s a bit breezy but v sunny. Need to test Stingray for current draw/snaps.

Fishy, Tup poss…. lander

Ashley. (Get the quote??)

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

….but rain stops play.

did receive yesterday the 100mm clear shrink wrap and re wrapped the ex 12v Nimh (now 9.6v) and it looks super.

Fiddle in the shed I suppose. Possibly tues am if nice for testing.

i do need to get some black polish (pigmented car polish) for new boat. This polish is jolly good stuff and really does Hide scratches and brighten the colour …OBV not needed for new boat but I want to stop watermark spots appearing.

Ashley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Ashley

After all these years of perfect paint work and now the secret is out.

You will be telling everyone how to build their own battery stacks next.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Its jolly good stuff that. The Suzuki is scratched to bu**ery, but a few goes with that stuff (in green) reduces the scratchiness by some margin. Needs renewing after a while, nut nonetheless.

At the front of the new boat the paint is good but not 100% smooth but I am afraid to T-cut it as this is likely to produce a different shine to the rear sprayed hatch. I hope a bit of the black polish will assist and make it all better.

An interesting theory was advanced to me regarding the action of a front mounted air prop, if you were to use one obv, in that there would be a low pressure area just in front of the prop and this would encourage the development of spray to be sucked up. Sounds plausible or does it?? Not sure.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Have you ever thought of how an extractor fan works?!!!

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

This theory was more in conjunction with CREATING spray, and that’s the bit I struggle with.

Photos show spray, caused by the propellor draft acting on the bow wave on the hull, but does the low pressure make this spray worse?? That’s the Q.

Ashley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Richards analogy is a perfect example of what happens, this can be seen on some smaller float planes.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Posted by ashley needham on 09/08/2021 11:52:22:

This theory was more in conjunction with CREATING spray, and that’s the bit I struggle with.

Photos show spray, caused by the propellor draft acting on the bow wave on the hull, but does the low pressure make this spray worse?? That’s the Q.

Ashley

Of course. There is a huge pressure differential when the aircraft is taxying on water, far more than when it is airborne. The massive area of low pressure in front of the propeller sucks water from the surface, which is far easier from the crest of waves so that is where the majority comes from.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Nice morning, again, so far…will pop down the pond.

Have sorted out the sound unit now so will be taking the noisy boat! Long time no paddle.

Re prop. The theory is top notch but I am not sure this is happening. Only a video will tell.

Ashley

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Ashley,

Are you coming to Silvermere open day tomorrow? It's quite close to you down the A3 ?

I have to get you into sailing somehow

Regards Ray

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Sorry Ray, busy tomorrow. Would have liked to come….is it sailing only? (Could have bought the London!!)

Boating today super. Hot, even. Good pics of the noisy thing.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Hopefully tomorrow will be super.

Will take Stingray/fishy, noisy thing and the two special secret projects…and perhaps the ferry for rescues….

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

It’s a good job Mr Wooley did not use the alternative brushless motor for his waterjet units as per his two part writing.

measured current in Stingray and got up to 25 plus amps on half throttle…on a 2s…way too much to consider.

Unfortunately it’s a faff to change the motor as the entire unit has to come out and be re-glued back in with silicone sealant. I will probably fit a 600, but need a high revving one really. Have a Graupner speed 600 eco but not sure it’s whizzy enough? No idea of the spec of the brushed 540s as supplied with the jet units as the alternative.

Disco boat letting in water from somewhere but massive fun otherwise.

Looking at the jetty when the boat is nearby is like the-scene from “the full monty” where they are in the queue at the job centre and the Donna Summer “looking for some hot stuff” disco number comes on!

Ashley Groovy, baby

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Also need to change paddle gearing on disco boat, as although the gearing is about right for cruising, the paddles go round too slow at “loitering” speeds and thus lose their effect. It’s a bit odd but there you are. It will mean the paddles thrash at any speed but the thing is meant to just troll along.

i have ordered a 15:1 ratio motor /gear unit (30:1 currently fitted). Perversely I had to up-gear the existing setup as the paddles were too slow to start with. It is tricky deciding what gearing should be used, partly because I am not using the paddles to actually drive the boat and for simplicity the paddle motor and main motor are off the same esc. I will be able to reverse the secondary gearing of course to “fine tune” the rotational speed if the 15:1 is just a bit fast.

Have also tamed the Mintanic by putting a 555 motor in and upping the prop size from 25 to 35mm as the 555 is very slow revving. It does mean the Mintanic won’t get on the plane like it used to, but hey ho.

Also…as I am feeling rich, an MFA 280/1 motor, the 12-24v one, to fit into the SansP. This as you will recall has a speed 280 in it which is way too fast, and the boat almost gets driven using the trim levers alone. Considering the free board is about 18mm it will take some of the worry out of driving it. The real things were painfully slow in any case.

Weather permitting a Tuesday session will be in order, but wait and see.

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 16/08/2021 08:57:45

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

555 in Mintanic and larger prop combo great. Lively enough on 7.2v and can simply whack the throttle full and leave it running quickly without any trauma, bit like the landers.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Ok. New gear/motor unit in disco boat, new motor in SansP. Test Sunday.

Stingray substantially re-engineered as no brushed motor I have would fit without the drive binding…presumably the brushed motor you can buy with the unit is matched or something?. I have used a double coupler and obv the motor is now “off mount”.but this gives me access room to change the motor for something else…even an outrunner or something. I have used a standard steel mount screwed to the floor so easily removed.

Will see what the performance is like.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Nice morning (Sunday). Just me and Trevor. An unfortunate happening prevented Trevor testing the bat-boat, nothing that money won’t solve!

Disco boat great, new increased paddle speed much better with paddles going round even when travelling really slowly. Source of free water in the hull traced to sloppy rudder shaft in tube. No idea why I didn’t notice but the rudder shaft is completely the wrong size. This was the larger rudder I made just to test paddle only operation, the first rudder has the right shaft. Will swap over blades as the big rudder is enabling very tight turns.

Didnt take SanP, and the water wasn’t “bright” enough to take first shots of the new shiny boat…will keep an eye on the weather Tuesday for sun.

Tup good, small bottom mods perhaps making a difference, perhaps not…a bit marginal. The steering did seem to be a bit better due to the removal of a bit of strake just before the rudders but the thickened centre strake? Not sure if help or hinder.

As usual ended up playing with the ferry, a crowd pleaser due to the ice cream van and figures on it (and the hidden minions!).

will have to think about the Xmas top soon. We discussed mods for it to enable my noisy thing to be accommodated to lay Xmas carols, and although a bit of a lump, when p,aced on board did not affect stability that much.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Had taken the plunge to rectify some tiny paint issues on the front of the bow of the new black shiny boat. Initially it all looked goo but over a weeks drying out and presumably shrinking, there were some very small glitches. SO.

I have rubbed the bow down using 1500 grade wet and dry to a babies bottom finish, and lacking any T cut, went to Halfords to be confronted with any number of products. The assistant suggested jut polish after 1500 so I went home and did so, but it wasnt good.

Lacking T-cut, I did have a very old tin of rubbing compound (oo er missus) which although broken, was still moist (etc etc). I had always thought rubbing compound was rougher that T-cut but I think its just a brand thing, as polishing the bow has resulted in a dead shiny finish. There was a slight colour issue viz the as-sprayed black shiny hatch, but this has disappeared after some coloured polish was applied..

Summoning my everything else together I then tackled a small bit by the cabin that was very slightly oversprayed, and this is shiny to match the rest.

No doubt ordinary polish may have matched the rubbed and non-rubbed black finishes, but these dyed polishes do certainly help.

Unfortunately although Sunday was a nice boating morning, the lack of rain has left "dust" for want of a better word, on the surface, and so i didnt have a photo session as the water surface was not very nice. Some weed about underwater as well not helping.

Have also re-done the front of the ferry, as the foam rubber "tyres" at the bow are just too low to prevent wood contact with the jetty in a front end collision (ie when kiddies are driving it) so the bow flap was chiselled free of the horizontal bars and new vertical bars have been added, and 6mm foam strips on top of these.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Odd day yesterday. Overcast a bit but quite warm. Water surface much better and not too many weed issues although this may well have been due to the choice of boats!

i had the saucer, Sutcliffe, Tup and ferry. Tested new ferry front by bashing it into the jetty a few times but apart from moving the ice cream van, all was well and the new foam strips were protecting the front a treat. They also look the part and actually look better than the original landing craft horizontal strip arrangement.

Trevor had a bad day with a dead servo on his Tup (after a few runs) and the propeller blades on his jet drive decided to fall off. Upon examination it did look like there was not enough meat at the blade/boss junction and the prop appeared to be just a cheap and nasty plastic affair, not up to a 4375Kv motor on 3s….

This unit was the same as Mr Woolley used in his current jet boat article, but he has used the brushed 540 option and so should be ok.

It is easy to take the very short propshaft out, and it is a dog drive affair. Trevor will be replacing the prop with a two blade racing one which will be more suited to the role. Better/more expensive jet drives come with metal three blade props and it would be possible probably to buy a 4mm dog drive metal three blader of the correct diameter from a specialist supplier if you were that keen.

As I have changed to a speed 600 on the Stingray I shouldn’t have a prop issue however I might look around for a more efficient prop at some time. The original prop had round paddles, so looks like the manufacturer simply used a normal boat prop rather than something more suitable??

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Lovely morning for boating. Should be able to take nice pictures of those things that need photographing, including the shiny one.

Hat/sun block a must.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

pond surface still a bit mucky for great photos but I did take loads, so have a feel for what to take next time.

Stingray disappointing, performance wise with speed 600. Too much weight now up front and not enough woosh. Have fitted a mount for a 28mm outrunner, 2200Kv for whizz and some weight loss. However…it didnt leak after all the dismantling which was good.

Ashley

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