Pecos45
Posts: 324
Joined: 1/19/2005
From: Schertz,
TX, USA
Status: offline
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Thanks, Andy, and for sure I'm eager to go out again. I didn't sail but about an hour and half this time as I decided there were some things I need to tweek. But I think I'll save my specific questions for the Seawind Resource Center and not bore everyone here with my musings.
A few things that struck me about this little shake-down cruise. First was the accelleration of this boat!!!!!!!  The wind today was pretty flakey and went up and down like a yo-yo. From 0 - 6 with gusts up to 12 mph. Everytime the wind almost died, a gust would follow and this boat was GONE like a dragster. Everytime a gust hits my little Victoria, it seems to bob around, act like it's going to roll over and sink and then shake its sails and go. The Seawind doesn't mess around. One minute it's in front of me and the next it's gone, slowly rolling down a bit from the push of the wind as it accellerates.....but it's just gone. I tried a few times to get a good picture of this action but by the time I'd fumbled around and armed myself with the camera, either the boat was too far away or I'd screwed everything up and turned the boat and was now racing for the opposite bank. So no "fast pictures," even though there was enough wind a few times for this boat to blast off. I was too busy holding on when it did it. 
Secondly, I'm not sure I've got my rudder servo and linkage adjusted right. I've never seen a sailboat turn as fast as this one does. When it's moving thru the water at a good clip and I move the rudder pretty hard, the boat almost swaps ends. I'm WAY to heavy handed on the rudder control just now. A little rudder input seems to go a long way with this boat.
Finally, I've read so much about the hatch leaking on Seawinds that I was totally paranoid about the boat filling with water. And rather than build one of the new and improved hatches that a lot of Seawind skippers make, I was lazy and simply reinforced my stock hatch and replaced the sealing strip with some good waterproof weather stripping.
As I sailed, I kept watching for the boat to gradually get lower and lower in the water. But it didn't happen. When I finally took it out of the water and pulled the drain plug, I seriously doubt I got enough water out to fill a table spoon.
So far.....it's a remarkably dry ship. Only thing about my hatch is I've got to PAY ATTENTION and make sure it's on correctly. It's easy to drop it on, turn the latch and THINK it's ready to go. I know. I did it today and when I did my double check, I found it wasn't on properly. So I did it again and did it right and had no problems.
All in all, I'm mighty happy with how everything went. The things I see now that I can improve are very minor tweeking. She's gonna be a good boat and the Seawind is such a delightful kit to build. I'd build another one right now just for the fun of it. 
< Message edited by Pecos45 -- 5/17/2005 12:43:50 AM >
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I have abandoned my search for the truth and am now looking for a few good fantasies.
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All Forums >> RC Boats >> RC Sailboats >> Maiden Voyage - Seawind 51 
Maiden Voyage - Seawind 51 - 
Always a traumatic experience but then I'm just an over-protective old fuddy duddy. Anyway, after using every delay imaginable, including "too windy" to "not enough wind" I finally did it today. 
