RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

just ran across these under graupner motor on e bay<span class="seed_image nume_rvi nume_image ">http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/m/mtO0...gpQJuBg/96.jpg</span>they are new item<div class="u-flR">230912201545 700s 12volt if anyone is looking</div>

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Hi captains,

After the Dauntless was removed from the Hudson we went back to our cars and decided that we wanted to launch my Dauntless at another site on the other side of the Tapanzee bridge. What we were hoping to do was be further away from the bridge so that the Dauntless might look more scale in pictures.

So when we gathered back at our cars I hooked up my 3 LIPOS up to the charger and while they charged we had a show and tell on another Dauntless. This is Gary's Dauntless. He built it 30 years ago and at some point decided to go back and add more details to his boat. He then went online and found this site where he read and printed every paqe in the forum and bound it up in a book. Since then he was inspired to build an interior for his boat using the S&amp;S drawings which he is currently mapping out. The boat won't be a faithful reproduction but rather he has gone his own way and planked the entire boat. His interior and much of his exterior will be done in finished wood. The way that the boat comes together is likened to a chinese wood puzzle. The craftsmanship is really cool. Many of the details will be similar to Dauntless but much of it was inspired by other earlier commuter designs.

Gary has had difficulty logging onto the site so he hasn't posted yet but i'm sure that once he does get logged on he will join us and post updates on his boat.

Below are pictures of Gary's Dauntless.<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

And a few shots of both boats. :)

-Rich.

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Once the batteries were recharged we were ready to go for another mission. We ended up settling on a park on the Hudson River south of the Tappanzee bridge. It had a small canoe launch and it was protected being that the park jetted out on the Hudson. This makes it easy for launching because you don't get swept by the currents as badly.

Once we got there the fog rolled in pretty hard and the tide started going out so the currents were moving fast and we could look out and see where the current was rushing south. The Hudson also pushed in much debris with the current so we saw straw, chunks of wood and other debris making it's way around our launch point and we had to wait until the current took it all away which didn't last long...So we also had another dilema..We couldn't see the bridge at all because it was blanketed by fog. So I went to switch on my navigation lights and they didn't work, then the cart slipped and the weight of the Dauntless broke a support on her PT boat cradle..I pushed forward and still put her in the now moving river.

Once she was in all was fine. She cruised nicely but the debris was stirring around...I wanted to push my luck and run her in the current but the debris field was getting so long that I didn't want to risk it so I kept her away..Then I hit the throttles and after a moment heard a loud clunk...She struck something under water. At this point she lost steering and when I accelerated a large rooster tail kicked up because the stbd rudder was sideways. Had I ran the boat on only one speed control or did not have duel independant throttles along with powerful motors I would have been 'UP THE CREEK WITHOUT A PADDLE' as the saying goes...

Because I had independant throttles I was able to easily shake this off and use the throttle thrust rather than rudders to steer the boat. Now I was able to turn the boat on a dime and pilot the boat safely back to the launch site..Being that the boat was christened earlier in the day "the gods" of the sea protected her and guarenteed a safe return. (Christen your boats guys)

Overall this turned out to be a great mission!!!

Captains, I really risked it all on this day. I sailed this boat in the Hudson River knowing that in a moment my boat could have been lost forever but I never waivered. I had faith that with careful planning I could successfully pull this off. Also, with her being strongly built and very good electronics she was being groomed for this day all along..I am so glad that I took the opportunity to push the envelope and put this boat to through the ultimate test and do this historical run. It felt as if the Dauntless finally came full circle, first being the full sized boat and then the rebirth in the form of a model. The Dauntless lives on in my model and in yours!! :)

In the 30 years that I have been running RC boats ...THIS DAY.... brought the best RC boating experience of my life!!!

-Rich.<br type="_moz" /><br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Powerful stuff Rich (there's a pun in there about your motors somewhere)! Glad it all went well. The fog adds a hint of mystique. Did you have a RC rescue boat there in case your Dauntless got away?

Nice woodwork on Gary's as well (and welcome if you're reading this, Gary). Love that wood mosiac on the main deck!

Did Gary run his? How about Bill?

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

In preparation to the Hudson launch I finished up the bilge pump system. The discharge outlet was placed on the port side on the boot stripe. Then I put duct tape on the rectangle boxes because I didn&rsquo;t set time aside for the lids.<p class="MsoNormal">Then it was off to the cockpit. I believe there was a wood cover on the bow cockpit so I made one up. I did it to seal the cockpit closed so that water can&rsquo;t get inside. Then I took my white fabric boot cover and glued it on using canopy glue. This way, if a wave went over the bow she wouldn&rsquo;t take on any water. I happen to love this detail because I don&rsquo;t worry about water getting inside and when it is removed it reveals the entire cockpit. So, this is one more detail scratched off the list..</p><p class="MsoNormal">Then it was off to the aft cockpit. It was time to make those step-seats I have been chatting about and I also cut the rear quarters off so that the tubing flows to the exhaust pipes. That went beautifully but it was a lot of work for one night. I took some pictures but it was late at night and I didn&rsquo;t follow through with finishing pictures. This was also because I was covered in epoxy by the time I was done.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The step-seat thingy was painted white on the sides and sea gray on top. There was a hole on the side which I recreated the detail. When I was talking to Gary G he told me that it was for a light and he quickly showed me where wires were hanging out of one of them. So eventually I plan on installing some wheat lights in mine and it should cast a glow in the cockpit at night.</p><p class="MsoNormal">On Saturday morning I woke up and decided to cut the wires for the pwr dst panel and relocate them further aft because I have been having problems with the way the owners cabin sits. So those were extended 6&rdquo; and got them out of way.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Now since I wired up the waterpumps I have been having issues with the way the LIPO wires sit because there is now an obstruction. This pushes up the owners cabin floor and ultimately the cabins don&rsquo;t sit right anymore..So I am going to cut out a section of the floorboard under each bed to hopefully remedy the problem. The bed frame will become a support of sorts much like how the step seat now supports the aft cockpit.</p><p class="MsoNormal">My cousin visited me from New Jersey. He was there when I joined the bow to the keep back in 1998. We had a blast that night working on the boat. Anyway, I mentioned that I want the superstructure to fasten to the cabins and he had a great solution. Banana clips. He says that I could put the male plugs on one side and put the female on the other and just plug in the cabins to the hull. I think this might do the trick so I will start looking for them.</p><p class="MsoNormal">On launch day we drove the boat to the entrance of Tarrytown Harbor when Bill &amp; I decided it was time to see how the water pumps work. So it was there when I decided to flip the switch. The pumps came alive and nothing happened&hellip;Later when the boat was removed from the Hudson I opened her up to find water inside&hellip;The rectangle boxes at the shaft was dry as a bone so I think the cooling system may be leaking&hellip;When we launched her in Irvington (the second spot) I didn&rsquo;t engage the pumps and no new puddles were found&hellip;so now I will start some tub tests to see what is going on in there.

One final thing...note the trim that is along the back wall there. I finally had a minute to add that too..</p><p class="MsoNormal">-Rich.</p>

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Gary is a seriously talanted woodworker. The mosaic is wonderful, I wish I had better pictures of it. I was using a Nikon camera with a huge cannon type zoom lens so I had to go far back to take simple pictures...I can't wait for him to get on this forum and update us.

Gary's boat is now in serious overhaul so he didn't have it fitted with motors and Bill didn't bring any boats.

I did have a rescue boat. I had my Brooklyn tug on standby. The day before I outfitted it with a 15' high visibility white rope and at the end I had a rescue orange boat key float from Nautica. This way if the Dauntless was stranded I would run to the car, get Brooklyn and toss her in...Then All I would have to do is sail to the Dauntless and circle her...This would ensure a good snag and bring her to shore..

Now, when we went to Irvington to sail (named after Washington Irving of the Sleepy Hollow fame) had she got caught up in the fast current I don't think Brooklyn would have been much help. The current was way too fast.

-Rich.
<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

hey Rich, a couple of these would look good on the foward cabin. :):)

Bill

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

OMG..A couple of those would be gorgous on the forward cabin!! You are the man, man!!http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...ades_smile.gif

Hey Captains, Bill was kind enough to make me boat hooks for my Dauntless!!! I'm very grateful!!

-Rich.
<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Thats one but i didn't have enough dowel for the second. Need to go see Raul.

Bill

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

<font size="3">Deep,

Thanks for the heads up on the Graupner 700's. Just for giggles I looked up the Specs on those motors and here they are. Note the "<u>Permissible motor direction</u>" I think that might limit it's use in larger, multi-motor boats.

<span>Specifications</span> </font><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Operating Voltage Range</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 7.2 ... 19.2</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> V</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Current drain</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 43</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> A</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> &Oslash;</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 44</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> mm</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Free shaft</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 14</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> mm</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Body Length</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 67</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> mm</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Weight about</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 350</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> g</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Highest Efficiency</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 75</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> %</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> No-load current</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 2</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> A</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Current drain at max.</span> <span> Efficiency</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 12.5</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> A</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><font color="#FF0000"><span> Permissible motor direction</span></font></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><font color="#FF0000"><span> <u>R</u></span></font></font></td> <td><font size="3"><font color="#FF0000">
</font></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Idle speed</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 11600</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> U / min</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Voltage</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 12</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> V</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font size="3"><span> Shaft diameter</span></font></td> <td align="right"><font size="3"><span> 5</span></font></td> <td><font size="3"><span> mm</span></font></td> </tr> </tbody></table>

<font size="3">Bob</font>

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

hi bob i dont know why they do that i bought one just a couple of days ago thinking it was 9.6 come to find out it is 12v i tested it it ran fine forward and reverse so i dont know whats up with that all the web sights i see say its a great boat motor o well nice try

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

well i got the decks painted makes a big differance im having trouble getting the soder to stick on the capacitors on the motor case not enough heat i think ill get ithttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...sn/devious.gifanyway here is the latest

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Hi Bob &amp; Deep...Sorry I haven't been much help with the Graupners. I don't own a pair so it's hard for me to comment on what I don't know. They sure seem confusing with the conflicting specs.

Hi Deep, By chance is the motor case aluminum? If so solder doesn't like sticking to aluminum anything. Your boat is loking great though!!

Hi captains, I have an update on my own.

Last night I put her in the bathtub for a float test. This is because I had a lot of water in the hull from the Hudson run and even the Binney Park run a while ago resulted in big puddles. This is why I created the bilge system for the shafts..

Anyway I put her in and after a few seconds there was water in her stern, engineroom and under the salon. Then I checked the shafts and rudderposts and they were dry..This made no sense. Then I decided it was time to get to the bottom of it so I removed out the LIPO trays, aluminum plated bottom and began drying the interior to try it again. I did so but was paying attention to the aft section and it began filling but so did the engineroom and again under the salon which are both seperated by bulkheads..I pulled the boat from the tub and put it on my sling stand on a rubbermaid table for a look underneath. Then I see it dripping from the keel in several locations.I dried the bottom and it continued to drip...

I looked underneath and couldn't believe what I saw..The bottom of the hull had split on the bottom and ran long ways down the keel. The splits were in 3 seperate places ..I dried the interior first with a turkey baster and then with paper towels and then turned it over to see the damage...

This is a setback but I have ideas that will fix it once &amp; for all. I will likely get thin resin and fill the keel along the interior side. Areas where the keel was cut short will be buried in resin which will give her a stronger backbone... If it drips through the hull in certain areas this is fine because when it hardens any gaps will be saturated and filled. Then I will turn it over and all the paint along the keel will be stripped and fiberglassed and finally painted...I don't have time for this now so it will have to wait until my family and I relocate. So no Long Island Sound Mission...Oh well, she will be known for the Hudson run.

-Rich.

<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

i am sorry to here about your boat i think your right about the glass let her dry fill the cracks with resin and cloth and resin over the bottom side this is alot like we would fix cracks on the real ones

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Rich - glad you discovered the source. And you always find a positive lesson learned from such things. Admirable! I would have never guessed you'd have water coming in via that path. I should check my hull since it's been dropped. Do you remember how many layers of fiberglass you applied when you built the hull?

Deep - I have never had any luck soldering to the motor 'can' on RC boats. In fact, for the motors I have in my Dauntless now, I went to a hobby shop and asked them to solder the capacitors to the motor for me. They charged me $3 (included capacitors) I think and the owner of the shop did a great job. I remember he scratched up the motor can surface before soldering and used a pretty high wattage soldering iron.

Bob & Deep - Apparently on this Graupner model the motor brushes are shaped and angled to work in only one direction to gain a small performance advantage. If you run it the other direction, the brush angles will cause them to grind against the commutor and wear down more quickly.

Motors designed to be run both CW and CCW are often spec'ed as having "neutral timing" or "zero degree timing"... I think.

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

DF you are correct in that it is called "timing". Here is a good post about the subject. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238261

Bill

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Thanks Dauntlessfan! I think that through these lessons we could continue to build our boats better and stronger! I used one layer of glass when I built the boat. I followed Dumas's instructions as far as glass weight and all that goes. I am not going to bore you with my long theory but the boat will be just fine.

Hi captains,

Here is an update..

Below starts off with the cover for the cockpit. The smaller piece of wood fits inside the copit whereas the longer piece fits above so that when together it slips on the cockpit and seals it from water. Later it was epoxy coated, sanded and coated with canopy glue. Finally the fabric boot cover was puled over and glued in place. Now the boot cover can't slip off and the cockpit is sealed against water but it is easily removable revealing the cockpit.

A while back Bill was generous enough to build me a life raft for my boat. It was a bit wide so last light I finally got around to adjusting the width to fit on deck. So I removed 1/4" from the center and it is perfect! It was epoxied back together and it ready to get mounted on deck once I make up the supports.

Then, take a look at the step-seats i've been chatting about.. (There has to be a better name for these) Anyway here are some pictures of them. I stil need to go back and give them another coat of white paint.

Now, take a look, there is a sm sitting on the seatall black rock in the photo..I found this rock in St. Croix when my wife and I used GPS in our rental car to go to the spot where Dauntless was laying on the beach. We visited the site and while there I saw two small rocks in the dirt just behind where Dauntless was. I took them back with me so that I could one day put it inside my Dauntless. The second rock was sent off to Dauntlessfan for his boat. Now we both have little souveniers from that site. I am actually going back there at the end of the month for a photo shoot with Dauntless's lifeboat &amp; raft.

So here are pictures of the dinghy being built. A long time ago I wanted to make a new dinghy but more recently I saw some potential with the Dumas one. So I began building it but not without the inspiration of a Grumman dinghy to help me along. The full sized Dauntless had a Grumman Dinghy aboard...

BIG SURPRISE!!! The Dumas dinghy was slightly modified the Dumas dingy to be more Grumman like. Dumas had two benches about 1/4' in from front to rear making it a 2 man boat. Now, I made it a solid 3 man and with a motor we could probably squeeze 4 men on there.

I still need to paint the dinghywhite and touch up the orange on the liferaft and make up the deck cradles for both. The dinghywill be treated to a removable fabric cover.

Here are those pics.

-Rich.<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

A continuation from above..

When I spoke to the late Don Marshall he was very energetic when he spoke about the dinghy. He said that it was one of the best little boat's he had ever seen. When I asked him the color of the inside he said it was all 'Gray'. So I used sea gray so that it ties together all of the hightlights on the Dauntless. Now it looks like it belongs to the Dauntless. Once the outer hull is painted flat white she should look good.

-Rich.<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Hi captains,

This is very interesting.

This looks a lot like the dinghy that was on the Dauntless..

-Rich.

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Rich that would be an awesome find! Love the name of that boat too! Also the rock you sent is kept in the storage compartment under my Dauntless' aft cockpit bench seat ;). Not sure if I told you that or not.

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

I check it out when I go to St. Croix.

-Rich.<br type="_moz" />

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Darn you Rich!!


Before and After


Bill

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

Rich I just was rereading some of the early pages of the forum and thought i would clear up something in case it never has been. There was a pic of the Calypso with a round circle in the windshield that wasidentified asa device for aiming a course. Not so. What that is is a self cleaning windshield area for rough weather. The inner circe is motor driven and spins at a high rate thereby throwing off spray etc. It is used commonly even on lobster boats in Maine. As for the loop on the deck, I think I explained previously it was an RDF (radio direction finder) antenna that was rotated to the stongest signal of a known radio transmitter tower. It had a compass reading and so your heading could be found on a chart. By tuning to 2 differenttransmitters you could draw 2 headings and you would be located where those 2 headings intersect (triangulation). It is somewhat like current GPS units that find many satellites in order to pinpoint a position.
Just wanted to share that.
Now if you wanted to visually aim your vessel the simplist way is using the bow flag mast as the foward sight and another mast on the center line closer to the helm. Then you can line up just like the gunsights on a rifle. The benefit to this is that if you are viewing the target from your eye not on the ceterline of the boat and using just the flag mast to aim you will not make good your mark. It is parallax like on a camera that is not viewing through the lens.By having the eve and 2sights aligned you will make good your mark. In one of the photos of big D it appears at one time there could have been an aiming mast or pole on the centerline atop the forecastle.
Bill

RE: the unofficial home of the dumas dauntless
 

The only problem with the RDF loop is it's BIDIRECTIONAL. If you're not familiar with the area, you could end up going in exactly the oposite direction as the strongest signal will be from either side of the loop, not just one side or the other. For this reason, when trying to pinpoint a transmitting antenna, it's best to have two loops a considerable distance apart to triangulate the antenna's location. This caused problems for the British when chasing the Bismarck back in 1941. They had two RDF sites lock on to the Bismarck as it was sending in an action report but, due to the lack of separation(one loop in the north and one in the south of the British Isles and almost in line with the Bismarck), the fix was almost inconclusive and interpreted incorrectly. The result was almost a day of steaming in the wrong direction by the British heavy units and, except for a very lucky torpedo hit by a Swordfish torpedo plane, the Bismarck escaping to Brest to fight another day instead of being sunk, unable to manouver or run