Pecos45

Building a boat. Setting it in deep water and shoving it away is like childbirth to me. 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.

Here's the promised pictures of Seawind #51. The pictures were pretty stinko but I was trying to drive and shoot at the same time when I don't do either very well.

First, here is a picture for all you skeptics who didn't think I could actually build a boat that would float. As you can see, it IS floating.

Pecos45

The next picture is of my boat going really fast.......clearly out-running this albatros trying to catch it.

DONS BOAT WORKS

My Feedback: (3)

Looking Good Pecos!!!

Pecos45

The next two pictures are of the boat going the opposite direction, which I thought showed how well I can sail multiple-directions. And the last picture is of my little darling coming obediently back to me around the dock whereupon I was able to pluck it from the perilous seas without falling in.

andy1499

Looks great man. It must be nice to finally get it on the water! Now you'll be looking for every spare moment to spend time with your new 'arrival'. Good luck, and happy sailing.

Andy

ICE929RR

Nice... very nice indeed !

GL on your great sailboat !



ICE

Pecos45

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!!!!!!![X(] 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.

Larry Ludwig

Hey Jim, glad that you got it out on the water! That's great.... what it is all about. I sure wish I could have gone with you, but I am so covered up at the moment it is silly. There has been a lot popping... but I will get with you again soon I hope.

LL

Pecos45

Check your email, Larry. Next time you can drive and maybe I can get some better pictures. It's a wonder me and the transmitter AND the camera didn't fall into the water trying to get a picture.

Larry Ludwig

Well.. we can do better than that..... that crazy guy Ken has talked me into a new helicopter (he brought his over and I had too much fun flying it... of course without any AGM 65's on it I felt naked) but... we found one that comes with another wireless camera. I think that they are getting better resolution than the little one I have (that we used on the EC-12... don't know if you saw that video or not)

ANYWAY..... Ken bet me a plate of enchiladas that I wouldn't fly it complete with the camera out over the water to film the boats for the website... and you know me and airmachines and wagers.... at least I won't have to duck the FAA on this one....

So the plan will be to get some airborne video... and I guess if I can angle the camera correctly and slip the rotor, I could even give you a PUSH with the rotor wash... HAHAHAHAH

WHY NOT he says...

GRANT ED

Nice work you must be a proud parent.

Pecos45

Larry, tell Ken to stop squandering money on silly things like helicopters and get himself a BOAT. He's the only guy I know who's a bigger procastinator than me.

bart430

Looks great. I cant wait to finish mine.

DONS BOAT WORKS

My Feedback: (3)

Ken, Larry, & Pecos,
The next irregular meeting of The Procrastinators club has been postponed till June 15 th.

ICE929RR

Pecos,

Did you do the "hatch modification" to prevent water from geting in the sailboat ?

Regards,

ICE

Pecos45

Ice - all I did to my hatch was reinforce the plastic with my trusty popcicle sticks and I replaced the weather strip with some good water proof foam. Much more dense. So far, not a drop. But I'm not sure I trust it yet.

cwazywabbit

Sir, I am beyond beginner , I would go so far as to say crude novice. I am interested in building a r/c sailboat made entirely from popcicle sticks and overlaid with fiberglass or another suitable material. Can you advise me as to where I may find plans for such a project? I would like for it to be in the range of 48"-60" long.

TexasBob

Jim,
Looks good! Maybe one of these weekends you can make the trek up to Dallas. We're starting to get the makings of a real SeaWind fleet. Last week had 5 boats on the water. LLYC will be holding the SeaWind region 5 Championship probably sometime in October.

rcsailor

Pecos45

Nice job or should I say project. I know how you feel, I was the same when I launched my Soling 50 a couple of weeks ago. We had to wait
for the water to get soft. Winter is over here in northern Canada. Alought RC sailing is not supposed to be tence, I guess we can drop the word "not" on a first launch.
Nice pics.
What are the specs. of this Yacht?
Happy Sailing

full_circle2000

hiya's, I've recently had the urge to get into rc yachts & was looking at the kyosho seawind.I'm presuming,Pecos, your recent seawind offspring is of the kyosho bloodline? yes? Anyways I recently viewed some footage of my cousin's home made yacht sailing alongside some guys seawind, & the seawinds perfomance was far from impressive, to say the least. The thing was porpoising more than Flipper did in the tv series whole history! At the time the weather was far from heavy, & the owner had trouble controlling it & steering in the direction he wanted to go.Is this a trait of the seawind due to the rather less than meaty hull fore of the mast? His mast was raked forward considerably as well. I'm keen to hear from any owners out there( that means you Pecos45) lol on how there yachts fair in varying winds, before I go & lash out the spondoolies on a boat thats gonna give more frustrations than pleasure.Cheers & fair winds to all

andy1499

I disagree respectfully fullcircle..

We have a fleet of 15 boats (Seawinds) in my local club, and while sailing in winds about 15 mph can be a bit tricky--it is far from impossible. The Seawind is a great beginner's boat--easy to build, great to look at, and easy to sail. Our club has been racing Seawind for the past 3 seasons.

I have 2 other model yachts, all of which have active class associations in the AMYA (American Model Yachting Association), the CR-914, the Victoria (both are also extremely popular) and neither sails any better than the SW in most conditions. I like each boat for different reasons.

It's been my experience that in higher winds--15 or above there are very few model yachts that perform without some negative side effects. Some of them (depending on wind strength) can be compensated by tuning the boat different (mast rake, sail shape, etc). For the really high winds, you really need a boat (class) that allows reducing the amount of sail you have. Most one designs (with the exception of the RC Laser) do not allow this though.

Just my opinion, but I have sailed the SW for almost 4 years--in the windy plains of Kansas, and that's my experience. It should also be noted that over 400 skippers worldwide have registered their boats with the Seawind Resource Center ([link=http://www.seawindrc.com]www.seawindrc.com[/link]) and the AMYA has an official Seawind class, with over 90 boats registered. In adddition, 3 regional championship regattas for the class were held in the US last year, and a national championship. The same is planned for this year. It's unlikely that all of those people are mostly frustrated with their boats. Quite the contrary.

Just my opinions though.

Andy

IanHB

Hey full_circle, I see you are from Adelaide.
May I suggest that if you are interested in getting into Radio Yachts you approach your local club to find out what they sail in your area.
If you just want to "Windel" (sail around on your own) don`t bother, but if you want to race model yachts then it will save you a lot of heartache and expense to make contact before you spend any money.
The Seawind is fine, but if you are serious then it is not suitable, IMHO.

andy1499

Ian,
Again, I must respectfully disagree.

"The Seawind is fine, but if you are serious then it is not suitable"

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I know, that's just yours, just like this is mine. But I offer this: I'm not sure what 'serious' means, since we're all essentially 'playing' with these 'toys' (and they are all toys--from Victorias to IOM's... some just cost more than others)... The Seawind is a great entry level boat. It certainly has it's limitations (the rudder is a little small, and there isn't a lot of bouyancy built into the bow) but I don't know any boat at this price range that doesn't. Now, anyone can go out and spend some considerable bucks, OR a lot of time building an IOM, EC-12, etc. that will probably outperform the SW easily in many ways, which is also fine. You could even pick a boat up used somewhere for a good price--again, that's fine. However, the SW (at least in the US) is a strict one-design, so that every boat is virtually identical structurally. As you probably know, this drastically evens the playing field and makes it the best skipper making the best decisions (and adapting to the conditions) that wins races. So, I guess it's not as expensive, and probably doesn't perform as well as expensive/build intensive boats, but it's important to remember what it is: a $400 (complete) boat that in my opinion is the best out-of-the box one meter boat out there.

I'm a bit biased, but like I say... my club has raced them for 3 seasons (or we're on our 3rd), and we're about to host our second AMYA Regional Championship Regatta in a couple of weeks. I've had lots and lots of experience (and know people with even more) sailing them. If you're looking for a boat that gives you a nice introduction to model yachting--this may be it.

I promise I don't work for Kyosho--I'm just a very satisfied customer!

Andy

Blues.man5

My Feedback: (5)

Just thought I'ld pipe in. Have been sailing boats for 25 years, and rc boats for 10yrs. The Sea Wind is my 2nd boat. And with it set up properly and a couple mods, they don't porpois. I'm on my 3rd season with my Sea Wind and it keeps getting better! There are 6 SW in the club now and more of the Victorias are switching every year. Any questions let me know.
Thanks, Gene

IanHB

Hey there Andy and Bluesman.
You are of course correct about the Seawind.
A fine craft that handles well and responds to tuning.
I have sailed one and know of their popularity in areas of the USA.
It was not my intention to "diss" your class but simply to point out to our friend Full circle that it is best if he checks out his local clubs first.
My limited knowledge of the Adelaide area tells me that they sail 10 Rater, A class, IOM, Marblehead and EC12.
They are into racing these classes and if someone turns up with an orphan of any design they may feel discouraged.
That is not desirable, we are here to foster the sport not alienate potentual sailors.

Andy, it does get "serious."
Whilst you may think of them as "Toys" perhaps they could be put in the same toy category as Indy Cars or maybe VOR Yachts.
I have witnessed at international regattas just as much intensity as in those other events.
Maybe not the monetary outlay but certainly the commitment and concentration as for any other world class contest.

The other side of the coin is what is ideally termed the "Hobby."
This is where the big boys playing with toy boats is true. Some race, some windle.
Maybe there is a fine line between the madness.................[>:]