Todays Boating

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

DG. I will bear this in mind, however the ply was free ! and the boats do not weigh that much.

I will scout around and see what correx costs, I do have other items to be boxed or covered up, and as per your entry in the other post, the stuff is waterproof, could be useful.

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Gave up at the pond and went round the car boot sale too – did not spot you there Ashley.

Managed to only come away with an Action Man.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Only got a couple of tyres for a Briatains 25pdr gun. needed two tyres for my Crescent gun but sadly not in stock on the stall.

Did see an "action figure" fast motor launch and picked it up with a view to doing some plastic magic but the underside was unsuitable. i have in the past seen and amphibious jeep type thing for action men (bby Cherilea) and wondered, but its difficult glueing that sort of plastic properly.

5 boxes now with new fronts on, a new box mostly made for the Glorious and still 6 part sheets of ply left

Do I make a box for the Invincible though ??? it could do with one wot with all the aircraft and bits on deck, but then it would not fit on the shelf and I would have to considerably rearrange things….. This is Bobs conundrum, big boats require big boxes and for all the ebifits do require a bit more space.. I do plan next year to reroof the shed, raisng the back up a bit to give me roof storage for the various flying boats and ecranoplans which really do take up shelf space..may wait yet.

Storage is always an issue. I have had several rearranges over the years and released space/compacted boats etc but what you really need to do is clear the whole lot out and start again. When I reroof the shed the boxes will pay for themselves as all the stuff will have to go on the lawn and be covered in a tarpaulin for a few weeks….no issue for boats in boxes.

Trevor. Action man (or part of) handy for the rjegar bzvt….eh!!

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Yup, that's the guy.

Awaiting a couple of vital components before I amaze or amuse the assembled crowd of onlookers (depending on whether the thing works or not).

Still 15% under budget.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Dont think I mentiooned this, but there are a few pale edges and also non-veneered bits under the hatches on proj no2, and I was going to mix some veneer coloured paint up, but then spotted i had an old tin of mahogany varnish.

What a brainwave. oddly enough the varnish is more or less the same colour as the veneer and so all the pale edges have been so treated and they look good.

All done now, drive re-glued up with Loctite and waiting for a weed free day and some sun for stunning photos…

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Sunday. 0900.

a ) even more weed that last time

b ) Sunderland. No probs. 30mins .

c ) nice walk around the 3 ponds/lakes beforehand.

d ) Beautiful morning.

e ) all 5 cynets have survived so far and are quite big.

f ) took proj no2 down but NO ONE THERE ! (sniff sniff)

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Popped down with a bag of bits for the latest water craft for consultation.

The pond seemed greener than the grass !

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Trevor. Sorry geezer, was away by 0950 ish.

you can always pop round for a conflab y`know (as the pond is likely to be unusable for the forseeable future.

Unfortunately our garden pond is only big enough to float test items though (dont tell the Mrs!)

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Eh?…..What`s with the Sunderland mention?

Don`t tell me, you`re a Man Utd supporter?

I was told by the Etherow Warden, yesterday, that once a pond gets infected with the green algae……..It`s there for ever!

Luckily, we`ve got a powerful lake outlet into the river……and there was talk of using it to drive a turbine

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob.

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thank you, Ashley……That explains it nicely

Have you thought about making a weed clearing machine/model?

It should be just up your street?

Similar to an Ice Breaker or Snow Plough……..You could tow a barge to transport the weed/algae

Or a Bulldozer to push the stuff somewhere

You could modify an existing model as a trial effort?

Just a suggestion

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob. The weed is mostly the floating duckweed, but if you clear a patch you can see that the entire depth of water is full of bits. A dredger and floating scoop would be required. there must be lieraly tons of seed in the lakes. An impossible job to clear even if the parks department allowed it !!

I am afraid that air powered models are the only option. Hovercraft would get covered in the floating stuff.

BUT even then the Ecranoplans would struggle , I cant imagine getting up to any sort of speed over the weeded surface.

Worth a thought though.

Paddle wheels….the only things no one has tried yet. On me list, but a way down yet. Trevor is working on something that MAY show pomise (assuming he gets it to work in the first place, and you will see what i mean later!!)

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Bob, plans (and prototypes) are afoot.

The floating weed is not too bad for a boat however about an inch below the surface is the dreaded stuff that binds around the prop, So even where it looks clear it is not, as I found out last time and Ashleys 10m pole was just long enough.

As Ashley said, we may have to resort to airboats next year.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I was just wondering about macerator units, like you have in sinks and…loos !!

They chomp up anything (and everything)…but would they produce any thrust??? they are pumps of a sort.

Imagine a boat with one of those as a drive unit. weed… what weed! it would just leave a trail of finely diced green stuff ouit the back. No clogging thats for sure..?? or not?

Just possiibly, and I have not surfed yet, they are will not be available in compact sizes to suit a boat, but pwrhaps using the …impeller…or whatever they use could be an option??? food for surfing thought…

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

We did have one guy down last year with very fast speed boat, sharp brass prop spinning at a gazillion rpm. It seemed as if the weed was finely chopped before it got to the rudder.

The rest of us just stood and watched for the five minutes before his battery ran out.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Was that the one that got trapped in the weed and started to burn (LiPo) ???

A quick surf shows that the macerator is just a vane pump with sharpened blades rotatiing at "high speed" (cor,,,,up to 4000 rpm !!)

So….just possibly a jet drive arrangement, with sharpened blades, ONLY running at full speed…ie no going slowly…MIGHT stand a chance. Perhaps we are not using big enough blades?? perhaps we need to be thinking of 50mm or larger pump blades, at a slightly more modest rpm than would be normal for a modern jet drive…say 8000 rpm

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

A standard jet drive set up would clog at the intake.

Flat bottom hull for shallow draught, sharp blades running fast exposed in a partial tunnel with tank steering ?

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Interesting concept…..

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

wont be boating tomorrow, weed, played with planes enopugh, dont want to get hovercraft covered in the stuff. Ecranoplans not suitable fopr this amount opf green stuff.. car boot until about 9- 9.30 then home.

Anyone wanting a chat can pop round I will check e-mails early before leaving…

Boxes all made and painted.

Hovervan fixed…simple wire unsoldered off (redundant) switch. More powerful but slightly lower Kv motor swapped into project no1, from proj No3. Need to make a steering wheel for driver in proj no2…couldnt be botherered today. Might cast around for something to adapt tomorrow.

Propulsion system for proj no3 taking shape , not what I envisaged but thjats the way it goes.I have a vague idea as to what i will do but then when I see the items "in the flesh" as it were, something else suggests itself. Theres always a way round your issues. A good few days thinking and chatting to other chaps normally sorts it out.

Ashley

[peter ward 9Participant @peterward9]

i went over to black park as bushey appears unusable at present.there were about 10 chaps with a varied selection of craft 3 submarines various tugs destroyers cruise liners and sailing craft (though not much wind available) they seem quite a friendly bunch and the lake it self is vast in comparison and of course luckily completely free of weed only fly in ointment is that its a bit of a way away about 18 miles as opposed to 5 for me to bushey and you do have to pay for car parking £3.50 on sundays !!

still its worth a visit until our weed problem abates

peter

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Peter. yes a thought indeed. As you say a bit more of a travel and parking expense.

Will have to see how long the current situation lasts.

Ashley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hi Ashley

Is it the parks responsibility to tackle the weed problem?

Simple aeration usually gets rid of the weed or put some young grass carp in the water as they love to eat duckweed.

Failing all of the above you could make a clandestine visit to the lake and treat it to a good dose of Diquat herbicide (Tumbleweed, Resolva)

Paul

Usual disclaimer relating to criminal acts apply and these comments are in no way linked to the management

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Probably the easiest option is to remember that this happens each year and build "weed proof" craft early !

Ashley – note the use of the word craft, hardboard and string prototypes welcome.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Went for a nice walk 3 weeks ago and the weed covered probably 3/4 or 2/3 onf the big leg-of-mutton lake that joins on to the boating pond I think I will write to the parks dept. It cannot be good for wildlife or anything really this much weed. It will only elicit a "budget" response.

Will recce the pond before Sunday to see if any changes, Have a couple of thing to test out…

Popped round to Trevor`s on Monday evening to cogitate on a motor for a substantial little vintage milling machuine he has. Conversation turned to large lengths of puxgstjz on the wall that are going to be turned into a spirograph craft (gosh, excuse my spelinge). Another interesting avenue of exploration, along with the still not-quite-there puffin craft (or was it cormorant??) which is still being modified, but may simply need a bit more oomph (and the leaky bottom fixing) (leaking due to the deliberate adjustment slots left in the hull which we thought had probably served their purpose now and having twiddled with the adjustmens could be glued up, another method of adjustment involving just having the motor on a pivot being used instead)

All three Ashley projects are well on the way to being finished and photographed, well two of them, and thoughts should be turning to the next little item…what is the question…what to do. Some serious surfing is called for.

Nothing involving varnishing though!

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Well, didn't get to recce the pond, but will bung something in the boot and nip down anyway. Never know. Only 10 mins away.

Drive train is in for proj no3, and was easier to fit than expected! shaft not long enough though by about 3/4 inch so some purchasing needs to be done..I do have a length of ally rod which may do but may not be stiff enough..

Ashley

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