DH-02

I normally do nitro or fast electric boats but i wanted to get into the slow and steady boats to use when it is to windy to use the nitro boat and saw this great looking yacht and wondered if it looks good to you [link]http://www.boysstuff.co.uk/product.asp?id=11986#[/link] this one has an outbord motor on the back if the wind dies down and also you can haul in the sail tell me what you think please.

pompebled

Looks like a dreadful toy to me...

If you want a serious sailboat in the same size, get a Graupner Micro Magic.

"Sailboats with outboard,...yukk"

Regards, Jan.

DH-02

ok whats wrong with the yacht then.

SJN

It just looks too cheesy

you might not get the "full" sail experiance, if you buy something like that.

Pecos45

DH - We don't mean to be harsh but to an RC sailor >emphasis on SAIL< I'm afraid this boat would be an abomination. First off, it would not be good as a powered boat and it would be horrid as a sailboat for a lot of reasons.

It rarely, rarely gets so windless that a sailboat can't sail. They may not break any speed records in light crazy wind, but they will come home to you and then you can pack it in to the house until you have a better day. If such a day did ever occur, I doubt you would be out there with your sailboat to begin with.

With all due respect, you may be suffering from a bit of the notion that all RC Sailboat guys are really closet motor boat drivers. We have the hardest time in this sport convincing people that we sail STRICTLY by wind power. There ain't no motor. EVER. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

But we'd love to have you join us in the sport. Once you see what is really possible with a sailboat and wind alone, you'll never think about a "motorized sailboat" again.

Go to AMYA.Org and click on "About the Boats." You'll get the idea real quick. Let us know if we can help you with a real sailboat.

DH-02

So if the outboard came of would it be a good yacht or not.

Pecos45

DH - I doubt it would be much of a sailor at all in anything. The boat itself is extremely small. Ditto the sails. And the keel and bulb are short and light. In much of any wind at all, it would be almost un-controlable most likely.

Things that are designed for two different features are usually not very good at either one of them, ie power boat/sailboat.

Please don't consider anything anyone has said as a "put down." You came asking about sailboats and we've given you the straight scoop.

A decent sailboat design does need certain things to be very sailable. I don't feel this boat has much of what's needed. It WOULD sail around a bit in light airs if that were all you wanted. But to get any more serious than that, I fear you'd be sadly disappointed.[&:]

DH-02

Well as that boat is a complete load of rubbish are there any boats of the same amount of money and have a good design.

Pecos45

DH, I hesitate to tell you what would be the least expensive way to go as you are across the pond in England and I know there are several boats available to you over there not commonly seen here.

Probably the BEST thing you could do is NOT begin your quest by looking for a boat. Rather I should START by looking for sailors and sailing clubs and hobby shops. Take what the hobby shops tell you with a grain of salt as they usually preach whatever they want to sell most. But at least you can become acquainted with what they carry or can readily get for you. Then when you've had a chance to talk to some of the chaps in your area who ARE sailing, you'll have a much, much better idea what you need to start with. RC Sailors are friendly guys and will delight in helping you any way they can, I'm sure.

That's the direction I would go to avoid the most mistakes and start off right.

Lennie

OK! Well my wife bought one for my son, (in good faith), thinking it would be easier to use! However the outboard is only really any good if he gets stuck... (It is very slow and the sails take over anyway.) My son is 8 years old BTW...

We have tried to sail her and struggled... A fellow RC-Sail guy helped us but he was quite new and felt the issue was the sails were too Loose and caught too much wind, etc. He suggested tightening the sails and cutting them down a little... In theory it should be quite a nice little !QUOT!toy-sailboat!QUOT! you can adjust the Sails and use the rudder, (indeed - towards the end we were able to sail her after a fashion, (the wind had died down). so if anyone has any advice? Clearly these don't come !QUOT!out-of-the-box!QUOT! and need some adjustment! (I am learning - I just want to see the smile on my son's face when he sails properly! We are nearly there but not quite!)

Thanks in anticipation!

ICE929RR

Hi Lennie,

If your son loves it, then go for it !
On Sunday I'm going with "the guys" to a lake near Lisbon and my son (14 years old) will go too.
I hope he likes it !

So I can give him my actual sailboat and wait for the new one... LOL

Send pics plz

Tks

ICE

Silverhawk

My Feedback: (1)

ICE, I think people forget to have fun with a hobby and get too involved in competition and speed and things like that.

I just picked up a Robbe Rainbow for my grandsons to go out with me. I stripped the stickers off and am in the process of painting it to look like Spiderman. You know, red deck, keel and rudder with a blue hull and then webbing on the red deck. It won't have to be competitive until I get the Sunrise next to it. He already wants to know how fast it will go compared to mine.

Any hobby is more fun when you have someone to share it with.

ICE929RR

Hi Silverhawk,

I agree 100 per cent with you.

This Sunday, I’m going with some “new� friends of mine, just to have fun with our sailboats.

One of those guys has 12 sailboat/ships and he is the friendliest person that I know.

He just loves the whole sailboat thing !

That is the kind of friends that I want to sail with.

No stress, no competition… just pure and simple fun

Best

ICE

Pecos45

ICE - Don't forget your keel OR your camera. Jim

ICE929RR

LOLOLOLOL

I won't !!

Everything is in one place now !

LOLOL

Best

ICE

DH-02

So do you think it is a good boat lennie or do you think it would be better to get another type of sail boat.

Lennie

It's OK...

Not that good... If you have time and a local club I'd go there and ask for advice, etc. Like I said, I am new to this and it's rather frustrating in that the instructions are poor, non-existent, and o am not convinced that the sails are set correctly...

I will persevere and hope my son stays with it... He seems to like!

More a !QUOT!toy!QUOT! than a boat for sailing which is a shame as they are not that cheap! (Good promotion on the box though, so you think you are getting more than you actually do get!) [&o]

pompebled

If you can, please post a few pics of the boat and it's skipper in action.

Regards, Jan.

DH-02

Yea that would be great to see a few pics of the boat in action.

Lee Morly

Hello All !
Few days ago on my birthday I got a present - Sea Lite.
I was in big surprise because it was my 40th birthday and I never before operate with any RC boats.
I try to use it on the lake near my house and got so big fun that i never got before for many years ! [sm=sunsmiley.gif]
It was incredible !
I love this kind of sport very much!
I understand that this is just a toy , or better to say, toy model, but it so great to filling myself as a captain of yacht, notwithstanding the fact that it just a toy
I have to say , that for newcomer, it's very very hard to operate this one using just a sail.
I tried hard and hope, got some success.
But I got some problems too.
1 it was very hard to keep it on course on the wind
2 practically impossible to go on contrary wind
3 it's very hard to operate in gusty wind
4 It's very hard to operate in lite wind
5 it's very easy to lay it on shipboard
If you count how many times I use word !QUOT!hard!QUOT!, you can trust me - I tried very hard

So, questions is:

1 How do you think, is the sail square enough for this boat? Can I do smt to enlarge it?
2 Is it use full to enlarge ballast on the keel to extend stability of my favorite toy? Pls, see picture above, immersion is big enough.
3 is it useful to enlarge mast?

I'll be very lucky if you can answer on this questions

PS: My 2,5 year young son learn quickly to operate this boat using motor, of course
PPS: English is not my native language so, pls , be indulgent
PPPS: My colleague decided to buy the Sea Lite after our sail 'evolution' and regading this- question
How we can use RC at the same time to make sort og regata, wil we impede each other?

Pecos45

Lee, I haven't personally seen a boat such as yours but I'll take a stab at some answers for you.

1. I doubt if enlarging the sail or mast would be a good idea. It would probably only add to your difficulties.
2. Increasing the ballast is probably not a good idea either. This would add weight and more drag for the boat. Both of which are bad things.
3. If your friend gets the same boat, he will have to have his radio on a DIFFERENT FREQUENCY from yours or neither one of you will be able to control your boats if you sail at the same time.

You say it's hard to operate using just the sail......I assume the boat has TWO control channels, one for sail and one for the rudder???
You should be using them both together. What does the boat use for rudder? Does it have a seperate rudder or just use the outboard motor for steering?

Anyway, I'm glad everyone is having a good time. Sailing is very addictive and I suspect soon you will be wanting a pure sailboat. Check out the Victoria made my Thunder Tiger.

Also there are many good sites on the internet with information about HOW TO SAIL. You'll get a lot of good information about the technical aspects of the sport there.

Welcome to the world of sailboats!!! jim

Lee Morly

Thank you !
My friend did buy the same yacht and we got big fun trying to operate our boats at the same time
it was funny .. really
But abs impossble to operate well ...
I know that this is not real model- this is just a toy but , did anyone try to change frequency at this models?

bart430

Lee, I would say as long as you are having fun, thats all that counts. I am still working on my boat so you are a step ahead of me. Have fun and good luck.

harrier81

Hi all :

I bought while ago a sea lite sailboat at Sam´s club, i bought it for 95 usd, it was my first boat so i tryed to sail it but you are right it´s really hard to sail it...we all know that, but i just want to know if there is any mods to do to the sea lite ? or it´s better to try it as a static model?.


thanks a lot.

atwinda

Get those stock sails as flat as possible. Poke a new hole in the clew (end of the boom corner of sail) to flatten out the foot of the main.