Pecos45

Does anyone have any experience with the ABC Northwind Sailboat? Quality of the kit? The boat. How does it sail? Etc.

I don't have one and confess I've never even seen one in my brief foray into RC Sailboats. But I keep running across pictures of them and have to admit...to my eye, it's a beautiful boat.


It's a 36/600 and can race in that class but similar to the Seawinds, there is also a Northwind Class forming with AMYA. It looks like considerably more boat than the Victoria, yet the price of a kit is little more at $124 from Horizon Hobbies.

Boats of in and around this size range appeal to me as they are pretty easy to put in my little Ford Ranger pick-up and go to the lake.

Anyway, I'm just day dreaming if anyone has any actual time logged on this little boat, I'd like to read their thoughts.

Thanks - jim

pompebled

Hi Jim,

Man, that's a large picture, had to scroll up and down and left and right to see what it was....

Just kiddin'...

It seems to me that the boat in the picture has been "customized" to some extend, sails, rigging, etc...

To make it this way will take some time and efford, but she's a beauty!

Regards, Jan.

Pecos45

Yeah, you're right, Jan. I didn't intend for the picture to come out that big.[&o] If it were any larger you could hear the water lapping at the sides. I'll know better next picture I hang.

And I see I can't put anything over on you. You're right about the NW in the picture being customized with a CF mast and sail. The best picture I could find of the Northwind came from Brian Sims of Vision Sails. (The upgrade in the photo is his own design and sail.) I hope he will forgive me for shamelessly borrowing the photo. If he doesn't like it, he shouldn't make his boats so dang good looking!

But sails and mast aside, I just wanted to show the pretty cut of the boat. I think it's a looker stem to stern. jim

schmism

im very intrested in what anyone has to add. im this close || to ordering that boat. (as my first sailboat). I like the fact its a kit, and its inexpensive.

I plan to do my own paint on it, and my wife has access to mylar so i figured id try out some mylar sails.

Pecos45

Schmism - I think there is an AMYA club in your area. I'll check for you and report back. The best thing to do is always to find the club and see what the guys there are all sailing so you can get a similar boat and race with them. 99% of the clubs also use boats good for their area as well. You'll get your most intelligent advice from them as a result.

Check back in a bit and I'll see what I can find out.

Or you can do your own checking by going to http://www.amya.org/

This is the mother site and you need to get MIGHT familiar with it. Jim

Pecos45

Schmism - Ok, here is the link to AMYA clubs in St. Louis. http://www.amya.org/clublist.html#MO

I think you're in good country but the boat of choice seems to be various 1 Meter boats and some race the CR-914 which is a 36/600. Of the kit boats you might consider the Northwind is a 36/600 but to be competitive with the 914's would probably need some of Vision Sail's hop up parts. Or if you want to play with the 1 meter boys, the best kit boats are the Seawind and Voyager by Thunder Tiger. I'm just finishing up a Seawind and can tell you it's a fantastic kit. Very straight forward construction and very complete and well built. Plus the Seawind has it's own class as well that is growing rapidly.

Pompebled is the member here who knows the most about the Voyager and he has many good things to say about it as well. Plus he's getting lots of good experience in every sort of condition.

To learn more about Seawinds, check out their website at http://www.seawindrc.com/

But the main thing is get you a boat and join us! Hope some of this helps. jim

schmism

Hey thanks for the info, Ill have to check that out in my area.

Pecos45

I think you'll have lots of sailing buddies in St. Louis.

schmism

ok took the plung and ordered the boat. should be hear monday. now just have to get some radio equp for it. I may cheep out and use some left over radio parts from one of my cars.

Pecos45

Schmism - PA-LEEZE give us a full report on the quality etc of your kit when it arrives. Pictures would be super if you've got a digital camera and can do that. Thanks in advance and best of luck with the kit. jim

pompebled

I second Jim's request, please keep us updated with lots of pics.

Regards, Jan.

schmism

will do, yes i have a digital and have my own site so ill make shure to put a "story" together

Pecos45

Schmism - That sounds super. You can put it on your site or can directly upload your pictures here. I'm real interested in the quality and thoroughness of the kit.

jim

Pecos45

Also, where did you order your boat from?

DONS BOAT WORKS

My Feedback: (3)

Schmism,
I have the NW 28 it is a good kit, and good sailing boat.
I made panel sail’s for my Sunrise 24, and a jib for my North Wind 28.
Don M.

andy1499

We have 2 club members in the ACMSC that have had or still have Northwind 36's. They are a good value for the money, though in stock form they are a little on the low quality scale--kind of like the Victoria. They have plastic booms, and a slightly unusual sheeting system, but it is possible to get a stock NW 36 to perform fairly well if care is taken. I am intrigued by the idea of adding carbon parts and better sails to one... I think they would be a very able competitor if you did this. They are probably in the same price range as the Fairwind when modified, but I have a feeling if properly equipped they would out-perform a Fairwind, but I am just speculating.

Congrats on the purchase of your new boat! Taking parts from your cars is fine, but one thing to be sure of, is you absolutely MUST have a decent sail winch servo to have any boat perform well. A boat of that size probably needs something along the lines of a Futaba 3801 arm winch, because it has a decent amount of sail area, and a standard servo as you often see in model cars would not come close to having the torque you'd need.

Good luck, and happy sailing!

Andy
[link=http://www.acmsc.org]Air Capitol Model Sailing Club[/link]

Pecos45

I'll chime in with Andy that your gonna need a good sail servo and for 600 sq in of sail I wouldn't go with less than the Futaba 3801. It's best and easiest to build it right the first time than have to go back and try to take it apart and do it over. A little wind pushing on that big an area will exert a LOT of force.

Andy, I suspect you have checked out Vision Sails at http://www.visionsails.com/index.html as Brian Sims seems to be the godfather of this boat. Or more correctly he is the class secretary of this forming class. And he also sells what he calls "X Boats" that are of course modified Northwinds. I think basically he is replacing everything from the deck up with new CF mast, booms and vang, plus his sails. All of which makes a serious looking boat.

But it also brings us back to our beloved Seawind. I've slowly come to the conclusion there simply isn't a better value boat than the Seawind. It's a great boat out of the box and the class religiously keeps it stock so there are no hidden costs.