Hi guys

Just brought a CAP 9 radio for a model yacht, my design "Formula 100" (a French Class)
Its is 1meter long with a canting keel twin foil, swing rig and hoisting/gybing gennaker.

At this stage I am looking at using
CH1 for the rear rudder
CH2 for the mast rotation (using a RMG sail winch and a small tooth belt to rotate the mast). I have increased the size of the centre ratchet notch to indicate when the stick is in the center of its travel and the mast is on the centerline and to swing to port or starboard.
CH6 for the hoisting and lowering of the gennker. The gennker retrieval tube is part of the swing rig
CH8 for the genneker sheet, the double sheet will allow the gennaker to be pulled around the forestay for gybing.

Now this is where I need the help to program
Can I use VR(D) to control the canting keel, the keel to be swung to any angle to port or starboard. As keel is swung up to windward it increasing the right moment of the boat.
CH 5 the 3 position switch SW(E) to control the front rudder. Middle position rudder on centreline and the other 2 positions the rudder to port or starboard.
What I an after to the switch the rudder to a predetermined angle (say 3 or 5 degrees of the centreline) to right or left for sailing to windward on the port & starboard tacks. Also to have it fixed on the centreline for downwind sailing. The feature of using the front rudder in this way is to compensate the increasing leeward compoment as the keel swings up to windward.

Sailing to windward I am control the boat (and tacking) with the rear rudder with my left thumb, and when tacking I can swing the keel from port to starboard or starboard to port and switch the front rudder across to the other side.

Here a couple of photos.

Hi SloopJohnB,

I will be happy to check on some of this info for you, you may also want to post this in the general radio forum to see if anyone else can help you with this answer.

I will get back with you as quickly as I can.

I hope you find this information helpful. You can also reach our Futaba support technical team at 217-398-8970, or via fax at 217-398-7721.

Sincerely,
Krysta
Lead Futaba Customer Service and Programming Technician

SloopJohnB,

I apologize that this has taken me this long to get back to you on this and after it was off the first page, I didn't see it any longer.

Lets try this, since I am not familiar with your boating terminology and you aren't comfortable with airplane terminology, lets just forget the default settings and use Pmixes to get you set up.

What I THINK you might have set up is:

Channel 1=Rear Rudder
Channel 2=Mast
Channel 3=empty
Channel 4=empty
Channel 5=front rudder
Channel 6=Genniker
Channel 7=empty
Channel 8=Genniker Sheet

Now you are wanting your VR(D) to control the canting keel, so I would plug this into channel 7 on your receiver, then go into AUX in your basic menu, once there you can select channel 7 and then dial in VR(D). This I think should take care of your keel for you.

Next if I understand correctly you are wanting the channel 5 (front rudder) to work in three positions off switch E with the center position of the switch having the rudder on its centerline. To do this, go again into the main menu into the AUX channel and make sure that channel 5 is assigned to switch E. Then go into an available Pmix, and do a mix with gear (channel 5) as master to gear (channel 5) as slave. Make sure that this is assigned to switch E in the Center position and on the next page the percentages need to be +100% both ways.

Give this a try and if it does not work for you, please let me know and I'll see what else I can come up with for you.


Thanks for your patience, Krysta

Krysta

Thanks alot, it worked great.

John