LtDoc

I'm wondering if anyone sails this boat. I'm new to 'sails' and have a few questions about what I'm probably doing wrong. This is a fairly simple model and not difficult to put together (~I~ got it going so it cn't be too hard). VMP's instructions for sailing the model aren't exactly the easiest or most complete, so almost any advice would be appreciated!
For instance. In fairly heavy winds, the boat will stick it's nose down into the water. Since there isn't any way to reduce the amount of sail, the only solution I've found is to make the boat 'tail heavy' with ballast. This helps but it cn't be the 'best' way of doing things.
- Lt Doc

Bill McW

Hello to Doc in McAlester.

What your boat is trying to do is submarine it's bow. The only way you can avoid this happening is to head the bow up to weather ( more into the direction of the wind). This will spill out the heavy air in the sail and give the bow more bouyancy. You can also rig your boat so it will tend to self-correct this situation by rigging some "weather helm" into it's rig. This is done by rakeing the top of the mast rearward toward the stern by easing out the forestay and tigheting up the backstay.

Bill in OKC

LtDoc

Bill,
HA! I thought I saw one of your posts here but wasn't sure. Odd how you meet the same people in different places? Or is that 'odd' people in the same places??

I knew about raking the mast, but didn't associate it with the 'submarining' thing. Now I know (if I can just remember it). The couple of ounces of lead in the tail of the boat helps too, not that much difference in weight or performance, so I think I'll leave it for a while. If the truth be known, I didn't have any busness having the boat in the water on the days with the high winds. But, I learn best by mistakes. Just wish I could afford them. I'm having fun though, and with the way the weather is acting I'd better enjoy it while I can!
Anyway, good to see you here, and thanks for the advice...
- 'Doc / Paul

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

I've built 5 of the VMP Snipes and have found them to be good light weather boats. Haven't had one at the dock for a few years now but I seem to recall that they didn't provide for sail battens. The sails do not lie right without them. They should lie in the water with the deck level, both fore and aft and thwartship. A small increase in weight won't hurt at all unless you are into serious racing. Very nice fun boat for all ages.

LtDoc

ballgunner,
"They should lie in the water with the deck level, both fore and aft and thwartship." ?? You've lost me. I'm pretty sure I know what a sail batten is, but how you're describing the sails and water has me confused (you gotta remember that most of the 'thingys' on a sail boat are a complete mystery to me, not to mention the finer points of sail adjustment!). I'd appreciate it if you could simplify things, as in 'Sailing for Dummys'.
- LtDoc

RobStagis

A boat sitting in the water with no wind should be level or close to it. He's using salty nautical references (arggghhhhh, mehearty). Remember that the sails are the 'engine' of the boat. When a breeze blows, the 'engine' is gonna try to move forward and the boat will follow. If the hull (or bulb, in my case) is draggy/lumpy/not smooth it's going to hold the boat back. My Star 45 was horrid at first, but I didn't, at the time, realize the importance of a smooth-smooth-smooth bulb and fin. It'll make all the difference. My dad has an older Laser, and looking at the blob showed lots of pits and holes. I spent a couple hours with Squadron green putty (scale modeler's stuff) because it works easily and can be brought to a super-smooth finish. The sailing difference was amazing.

For what it's worth, my club (Paderewski Model Yacht Club AMYA 101) will sail on stoopidly windy days and go for 'longest submergence' or 'quickest stop' or 'deepest submergence' or even, on wild days, 'best endo (end-over-end)' better known, if salty references are being used as 'coolest broach'. Take a look at the cover of the EC12 manual for a wild broach. I've had my EC12 broach so wildly that it's been called 'violent'

Fun is

LtDoc

RobStagis,
AH HA! I don't know why, but it suddenly dawned on me how I was reading that wrong, about lying in the water. I thought he meant the sails and couldn't figure out how that would work. That's a relief! (I have good days and bad days, sometimes, and then, some days when I get confused on which hand is really the left one.) That really had me wondering.
As for the 'salty' stuff, I now know where the term "shiver 'me timbers" comes from!
Rob and ballgunner... Thanks
- LtDoc

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

Simply put fore and aft is front to back or from the pointy end to the blunt end. Thwartship comes from what they used to call the seats in a small boat. They usually ran from side to side so that became athwartship. If you think that's fun do a study on square riggers, brigantines, yawls, ketches, Barnegat sneak boats, flatties and skipjacks. Just a bunch of trivia to collect on cold winter nights in front of a log fire. It won't make you a better sailor but it will confuse the wife when you go to buy parts for your yacht at the hobby shop. They used to tell me that any pleasure boat was a yacht, and a boat could be carried on a ship. If that's true why does the Navy call their subs boats ?

LtDoc

ballgunner,
I know the answer to that one! Ships are only found on top of the water. Ships under water are called wrecks, unless they are boats and then they are bailed. Hey, I used to be a government employee, I can explain or 'justify' almost any silliness you can think of!
- LtDoc

RobStagis

Flat fore and aft.....Heh. Sailing on a stoopidly windy day last week my buddy's EC12 was knocked down so fast that you would've thought a bird landed on its mast..... Of course, the gusts were so violent/quick that we also suspected radio glitches..... Fun day!!!

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

I envy you your EC12. It's on the top of my list of someday I'll have one of those. I've sailed full scale in everything from an 8' Sabot, my daughter's boat, to a 66' schooner owned by the tenor in one of my Barbershop Quartets. We used to go for a quiet day sail, tip a few cold ones and sing 'til we got hoarse. The owner and I were the only ones who knew how to sail but we did have a few deck hands for the hardwork. At this late stage in my life RC sailing is still a lot of fun when you have a pond available and you live in the mountains.