BlakeVegas

I have a 78" long by 74" tall model schooner ship. Its completly made of wood. Is it possible to make it r/c? is there like a keel i can put on the bottom or something with a engine in it or something? Do i need to glass the hull? Any suggestions or has anyone done this type of thing before?

mfr02

Solid wood or hollow? If solid, no chance, if hollow, maybe, depending on how much damage is acceptable doing the modifications needed for fitting radio control.

rgburrill

BlakeVegas, do a search here and the other RC forum which shall go unnamed for Emma C Berry and America. They are around half the size but are also all wood schooners and are RC. There are several build threads. Some put fin keels on them while some do not. I'm not putting one on my Emma. I'm using about 5 pounds (or more) of buckshot in the bottom of the hull for ballast. Some fiberglass the hull, some do not - I'm not. There are various methods of controlling the sails.
One guy has even done the USS Constitution and I think it might even be that big. The other site seems to have a lot more info.

BlakeVegas

Its hollow. It really doesn't need to be sail driven ill put a little engine on it if need be. I really just want it to putt around. So i should just weight it and drill a hole for prop shaft and rudder? Any ideas on amount of weight. Would a keel be easier or no. And ill look up who you where talking about thank you much appreciated guys

mfr02

If the sails are left on, if the air is moving, they will power the boat and it will need to be arranged as a sailboat. If enough internal heavy ballast can be fitted, on a boat that size, a fin might not be needed. Something to do with scaling factors of wind strength and sail area. If motorized, it will need enough motor to overcome the sails.
If a weighted fin is needed (to help cope with heavier weather) a lot of thought needs to be put into mounting it to spread the loads, which will be considerable. You can't just stick a fin to the bottom of the hull.
Have a look for a "scale sail" forum, you will likely find a lot of similar examples.

Appowner

Something that size is going to start running up the amount of weight (lead) used. From the standpoint of simply being able to transport, carry and handle it on dry ground, you may want to make sure any keel weight is removable.

Just for comparison, the J class boats run between 80-110 inches long and weigh 80 to 100 pounds or more. Most of that weight is lead in the bottom.

John Schall

I built a scratch built R/C schooner about 2 yrs ago. I didn't want a deep keel because the only available place to sail is rather weedy, and a deep keel would catch weeds. I looked around till I found a ship to model. It was Wawona, a west coast lumber hauler. I didn't like wawonas hull shape, so I used the below waterline hull of Cutty Sark with a few changes. The result is a hull about 37 in long, with a 12 in bowsprit and three 20in masts. Draft is about 3in, displacement about 8lbs, beam about 8in. The hull is made of 0.07in produce crate wood, fiberglassed. Ballast is a solid lead plug made to fit. It sails rather well, but with two defeciencys. One is that it does not turn well despite a large rudder, so I have plans to enlarge it more. The other is that I wish I had made the masts 3in taller, for more sail area. She needs a good 12ft to turn about and at least a 10 knot wind. But, she points pretty well and gets a lot of attention and is fun to sail.

Some years ago, I tried fiberglassing an existing hull. The hull was made of fiberboard, the same stuff clipboards used to be made of. Not very waterproof. Water got to the fiberboard in spite of the fiberglass and it swelled up and split the fiberglass at the seams. Should have just kept it as a display model. I eventually scrapped it, there was no saving it. My point is that what the hull is made of is of vital importance. The produce crate wood works because it is real hardwood, not glorified reinforced cardboard. If you fiberglass your boat, you must strip off any existing finish down to bare wood so that the resin can soak in good for good adherence. Make the fiberglass good and thick so it won't crack. Regardless of what you do on the outside, polyurethane the h.. out of the inside of the entire hull, esp the bilges. The right amount of lead shot for ballast will probably work, but just in case, line the hull with saran wrap in case it just is not sufficient and you have to go to an add on deep keel. Hope this helps.

kzimmerman

mfr02

This is a rather old thread now. I would hope that if it had been practicable, it would have been started, If so, it would have been nice to see some of the progress. If not, again, it would be nice to know.

kzimmerman

mfr02

............even so, just putting resin on a non-porous surface rarely does much good. It needs to have glass cloth to give it strength. Resin on a porous surface, on the other hand, does seem to work. Balsa boats benefit a lot, the ability of the balsa fibres to soak liquid up seems to provide the fibre element that is needed. It needs to be part of the surface structure rather than something hanging on to the surface.

[email protected]

Blake, do you still have the tall wood model schooner ship? My husband's was badly damaged in last military move and he's heartbroken, so I wanted to see if you'd want to sell yours? Thanks, -Christina

[email protected]

Blake, do you still have the tall wood model schooner ship? My husband's was badly damaged in last military move and he's heartbroken, so I wanted to see if you'd want to sell yours? Thanks, -Christina