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Just what I needed today...

Actually, the cameraman was ME. ;)

I figured that I'd give my bro first shot at sailing her because he has some experience with it. It wasn't getting the camera to record, but getting it to STOP recording. :) I was using my phone and kept hitting the button that I thought stopped recording but it kept going. I'll get a better cameraman next time. :)
 
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John Pollman said:
Actually, the cameraman was ME. ;)

I figured that I'd give my bro first shot at sailing her because he has some experience with it. It wasn't getting the camera to record, but getting it to STOP recording. :) I was using my phone and kept hitting the button that I thought stopped recording but it kept going. I'll get a better cameraman next time. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was just yanking your chain. I was laughing out loud when I got to the end of the video...because I could relate. ;) :D
 
I'm pretty sure that the problem is solved!

When I installed the batteries in the transmitter and receiver pack, I thought that they were all brand new fresh batteries. I popped them all out and checked them. The transmitter ones were pretty good, but two of the four in the receiver weren't. In fact, one of them was flat out BAD. I went out and bought a brand new batch and swapped out ALL of the batteries. Everything seems fine now. I didn't realize until yesterday that I assembled the rigging and never put a coat of sealer on the mast or booms. OOPS! I just broke it down and put a coat of spar varnish on. I've got it drying now and before I go to bed tonight I'll put a second coat on. It should be ready to reassemble tomorrow and she'll be ready for a proper shakedown cruise! :)
 
John if you aint already this is a good time to think about using rechargeable batteries. Otherwise battery costs will soon start to add up. :) There are some great rechargables around now.
 
That's what they recommend in the instruction sheet that came with the radio gear. But I'm a little hesitant to try it. The transmitter batteries (8) should last a while. But the receiver battery pack (4) has a lot more current draw so those will probably need to be replaced more frequently. When I pulled each of the four batteries out of the receiver pack and checked them, the first two were fine and the third was like 1.4V. The fourth one was only 1.2V. The servos were acting very strange and jerking around and not stable. All of the new batteries I installed checked in at 1.6V and things seem fine. The problem with rechargeable batteries is that they're only rated at 1.2V. I'm afraid that they won't have enough power to make the receiver and servos work reliably. I'm going to start with the regular alkaline batteries and see how it works. If all is well, I'll buy a set of rechargeable batteries and see if they work. If so, I'll use those. A bit more money up front, but MUCH cheaper in the long run. :)
 
John, I agree with your concerns about the rechargeable batteries. I personally have not have good luck with them, either in performance or duty life. New alkaline batteries perform better than the rechargeables in my book. Does the manual say anything about the use of Lithium batteries, i.e. whether or not you can use them? They are more expensive, but from my experience with them,they sure last a lot longer.
 
There's a world of difference in batteries once you start up with planes. Some of the gliders I used to fly used pretty much the same setup. A receiver, 2 servos, and a 4 cell battery pack.

The servos and receiver really don't use that much power, and will last a pretty amazing long time. I used rechargeable, which at the time were pretty limited in terms of milliamp hours.

The rechareables would literally fly that plane for hours and hours and hours.

Get some nice little rechargeables, they'll work fine.
 
Hi Al,
In fact I'm waiting for a call back from the guy that actually designed this particular boat! It's a pretty good company. In the end of the assembly instructions, there is a paragraph that gives you a number to call for any questions or concerns. It says "ask for Will". Well Will is the guy who designed it. When I called yesterday to ask him about the radio problem, he wasn't in because he had done a show over the weekend and wouldn't be back into the office until today. He's going to call me back. When he does, I'll let him known that I got the problem fixed with fresh batteries and I'll ask him what type of batteries he uses in these boats. If rechargeable batteries will do the trick, that's what I'll do.

I just finished re-rigging it after putting a couple coats of spar varnish on the mast and booms. I then decided that I didn't like the placement of the 1/4" white stripe, so I stripped it off and reapplied it. I moved it down about 3/16" and there's now a narrow blue stripe just above the white. It looks much better now.
 
I took her back to the lake yesterday. Unfortunately, the wind conditions were less than favorable. :(
But I did get an occasional breeze that was sufficient to make her move right along. Once I get a nice breezy day, this is going to be a ball! She handled very well.
 
It's an absolutely GORGEOUS day here in Michigan. Finished cutting the grass and there was a good stiff breeze, so I decided to head to the lake for her first real shakedown cruise. She sails beautifully!

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