RE: sea lite
RIPMAX SEA-LITE
As this thread enabled me to have an excellent first day's sailing, I should paste a report, as it might be helpful to the folk who first asked whether the Sea Lite was of any use.
I "hit the floor running" with the trials, as I have some dinghy sailing experience, and also belong to a fairly respectable dinghy sailing club. The lunch table at the club proved invaluable, as a couple of people present had had model yacht experience with the standard model racing classes, and lots have off-shore experience.
Firstly, as to the hull and rig [excluding sail]. Consensus view was that it was an excellent model of a serious off-shore racing/cruising yacht. "Good enough to go on the mantelpiece". No-one yet has recognised the class/make, though it could possibly be one of the standard 40 footers. Boat Show visits might firm up on this. The designer has paid considerable attention to getting the detail correct within the limitations of scaling and of having a working model. In this, it is quite different from the model yacht racing classes, which are free-range designs.
Similarly, it was noted that it was small enough to fit into a car easily, whereas the standard classes usually had to be disassembled.
The outboard was noted appreciatively - it is, of course, much of a standard fitment on full size, and this can be tilted up, just as in big brother. In my tests, it proved scale effective, being used to move Sea Lite out of the way of a big dinghy sharpish, and backing out from under a jetty where it had hidden itself. Important for sailing on casual waters, where continuous access to the water all the way round is not always possible, and bushes overhang.
A discussion on how to control a second Sea Lite in a race. My local model shop sells these in red and blue, with different radio frequencies. Suggested that it was probably possible to swap crystals so as to obtain even more frequencies.
But as to the sails-
The as-come sails are very nicely screen printed, and must help sell the boat. They may work well enough in very very light winds, but the very valuable thread reports seemed to indicate that the yacht was very difficult to control in anything of a breeze. That is to be expected - the foot [bottom] of the sail is about 2 cm longer than the fixings, making the sail very baggy. If my dinghy was that loose, it would be virtualy uncontrollable except downwind. So, first to make a set of Heavy Weather sails. Off-cuts from a domestic window roller blind proved to be an excellent material for experimental purposes. Water-resistant, woven, cut with scissors without fraying, and capable of having small holes melted in with a mini-soldering iron. Semi-rigid, but then these are for heavy weather. Phase three will be to get some proper minature sail cloth from one of the suppliers. I am not going to give full details of the cut, as these are still very much in experimental stage, but the foot of the main now is 15.5 cm between holes, and clipped to the inner fixing loop on the boom. The jib is 28x13x22 cm between holes, with string to make up to the relevant fixing loops.
My expert panel tells me that it is not unusual for the serious model yachts to have three or more sets of sails to suit the weather.
Now for the sailing trials-
Gusty day, up to 4 on the clubhouse anemometer. Sail under the shelter of a shore and a ragged line of bushes, between two pontoons. The shore windshadow was very ragged, meaning light to sudden gusts channelled between gaps. However little in the way of serious waves.
Sailing little problem. Could be sailed on a pretty correct course, more or less where I wanted, upwind, down, across. The on-off form of rudder control meant that one had to keep paying attention, but once the principle had been grasped, it proved possible to place the boat quite closely. Reasonable turn of speed. When a serious gust hit an impressive [ just as in the videos] reaction, with the boom not quite hitting the water, and then a quick and satisfactory recovery. No entry of water.
However, the problem- Not impossible but difficult to go about [ turn across the wind] in a heavy wind. Just like big brothers, but that is also partly a question of sail balance, and that I have to get right in Phase 2. Also, the actual sail area could have been even a little less for the day.
But, in a word, yes - it is capable of sailing seriously well.
Conclusion-
Where does the Sea Lite fit? Well, for the UKP69 charged locally it is a gift. A cheap nice way of beginning. I am told that the serious model yacht racers are now over UKP2000 [ for which one could buy a real dinghy]. The nearest value would seem to be the Laser model, which is, I believe, about UKP400 and has club racing. The "Sea Lite Club" does not seem to exist, so you will have to make your own competition for the moment.
ianmcphsn