dauntlessfan

Rich has glassed his windows... Rich to the podium please...

dauntlessfan

You fellas bringing up lettering here are a few versions she displayed over the years...

kokaneezer

Geo-
1/16 plexiglass works for me. You can find it at Hobby Lobby or your local Michaels or hobby store. I would leave protective film on until mounting is finished. Rich imports his from Tanzania but that is a proprietory and licensed source. Callie graphics is THE source for transom decals. They have Dauntless on file...
Lester

dauntlessfan

Rich404

bump bump..tap tap..ahem..

i'm here captains...LOL.. sorry for slacking on this site, I am going to tune in more..promise..

I ordered my lettering years ago for a kings ransom. I used a water slide decal and after it cured I lightly sprayed the stern with a satin finish clear coat. After each coat I sanded very lightly between coats. The result is a finish that looks and feels like the boat was manufactured with the lettering in place. I posted the name of the company that made the decals in the early pages in the forum. Look around pages 20's 30's or so until you see the photos of the decal and my commentary on it.

The super duper easy solution is Callie Graphics. Her prices are much more reasonable but they are stickers, great quality ones may I add. I used Callie's lettering on my life rings and I also had a custom set made up for my Brooklyn tug and they came out awesome.

My boat has windows installed. For the windows I used Crystal Clear Plexiglass about 1/16" thick. To secure the glass I used canopy glue which dries clear. For the bridge shelter corners I made up a jig for it and heated the glass with a blow dryer to take the shape.

I hope this helps a bit..

-Rich.

Rich404

Great post Dauntlessfan!!

-Rich.

machinist007

DF, where is the rest of the upper right picture? I don't think I've seen that one before, and I've looked on-line and read this forum at least twice now.

As for my boat, I'm waiting for parts so I can upgrade a few things, like the horn, navigation lights, and a few other small things. I say small, but we all know that it starts that way and gets really big fast. Also I'm holding out for the weather to be warm enough for me to slide the Dauntless into the Chesapeake Bay region, but the ice has been anywhere from 1-4 inches thick.

Question for all, has anyone had any luck running one control for the motors? A while back I noticed that several guys had to go to one control for each motor so they wouldn't get burned out while using 700's. Any change?

John

dauntlessfan

Wow, good eye John... That pic is a recent discovery, take a look... the gentleman who shared this picture is the son of Paul Miller, Dauntless' second captain during the Rockefeller era.

Rich404

Hi all,

Today I took the time to sand the deck along with the toe rails on my boat. It is smoothing out but still needs plenty of sanding to go. I am hoping to have that work completed in the up in coming weeks. I decided that I am going to repaint the hull. My hull is satin blue and I am going to change it to flat blue. Also, the blue on the Dauntless was very specific and I want to try to nail the exact color down.

With this said I am going to redo the lettering. My lettering was done before any real examples were available. My lettering was done using the scratched white hull above as an example along with a reference from the book "Thousand Dollars Yacht". I am going to redo it based on Dauntlessfan's photo above. I will post more pics soon.

Also for the toe rails, I have a full commentary on the RCGroups forum.

-Rich.

machinist007

Thanks For sharing DF. Tonight I preform surgery on the cabins. I'm going to try an sperate the ownerscabin from the rest.

Rich404

I love this pic!! . A noteworthy mention is that the exhaust was relocated to below the waterline. I wonder if this was done during the Detroit 671 conversion?

-Rich.

Rich404

A common theme is that each 700 size motor can dish out a good amount of amps on its own compared to the SC rating on most brushed speed controls which are 30-40 amps. If a motor depending how it is propped is averaging 20 amps and the prop catches debris such as a plastic bag, seaweed other other debris, expect the amps to spike. If it is fused properly it will pop and your boat will be S.O.S.

Double the motors on one SC and you could be running 35-40 amps on average and if the speed control is 30-40 amps can't take it, a short life is expected. It will always run hot and will eventually fail on a run. If it is fused expect it to pop constantly and give you grief.

Using 1 speed control will cost more $$ in the long run. When that SC dies, the original cost of that mistake is the cost of one speed control and then to do it right will be the cost of 2 additional speed controls. The total is 3 speed controls!!

All in all, it is much better having two speed controls for this boat to begin with. Also, if one motor or speed control experiences issues, mechanical or otherwise, the second motor and SC can bring her back to shore under her own power. I had several instances where this saved me from an otherwise stressful moment.

-Rich.

kokaneezer

Captains-
Micromark (www.micromark.com) has clear decal making stuff including fixatives and finishing materials. I've not tried these products but it is worth looking into. Will work with inkjet and laser printers.. You guys could put your avatars onto your rescue boats. The possibilities are just endless
Steve

geo8498

Is this considered better than the Dumas hardware setup?

Hydro Junkie

Dumas hardware is, generally speaking, more of a "bargain Basement" type of hardware. While it is serviceable, it's not going to hold up as well as some of the other brands. Speaking from personal experience, I had nothing but problems using the specified Dumas hardware set while building one of their hydroplane kits. I've built several hydros since and found no where near the issues using Octura, Aeromarine and Speedmaster hardware that I had using Dumas parts.

dauntlessfan

I originally installed the Dumas Dauntless hardware kit. I think their kit was designed a long time ago, for the low current Dumas-branded Pittman motors they still sell today. The Dumas kit hasn't been updated for higher-power electric motors. When I had smaller, low-RFP motors, the Dumas hardware kit worked well. When I upgraded to 700s, one of the Dumas white metal shaft struts shattered during a bench test. Dumb of me to spin the props so fast out of the water but still... Then the plastic Dumas dog bone couplers gave out next.

Since then I've switched to MACKs brass struts, and kardan couplers from Harbor Models. A worthy upgrade for sure. The Dumas stuffing boxes are still working fine for me but Rich has had one of his olite bushings shatter recently I believe. Then again his motors are rated by horsepower like a lawn mower .

Hydro Junkie

Nice to read that it wasn't just me that has had issues with the Dumas hardware

Rich404

Yep' the Dumas hardware is lower quality compared to Mack. The stuffing box that had the Oilite give out was always a bit problematic. The shaft never moved as freely as the other one, even with other shafts it was always a bit sticky. It was defective since new but finally gave out.

Rich.

geo8498

Good to know. I'll keep that stuff in mind when I consider my hardware choices.

machinist007

Everyone,

I've got a bit of a interesting question regarding RC boat building. Does anyone know of anyone that has built a Chesapeake Bay Deadrise Boat? Either as a kit, or from scratch? I've got the idea of building one as my safety boat. Plus my boys could run it if they want to come with me. There is one at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael's that I think that I could study, but if someone has done the leg work and is willing to share it would be nice.

John

dauntlessfan

John I haven't seen a model of that boat but from the pictures I found online it looks like it would be a fun build. You might want to ask the question again as a new thread here and maybe over at RC Groups Scale Boats as well.

machinist007

Well, the temperature here finally got high enough to melt the ice on the river. So me and the boys took the Dauntless out for a spin. Things went fairly well, considering that she would only go a bit above slow. Not sure if that is due to the batteries, or motor size. I'm beginning to wonder if the motors are 500's not 700's. That aside, the boys and I motored around a small beach on Stoney Creek for about 20 minutes. All was well till we brought her in and we found some underwater rocks that I hadn't seen yet. The starboard prop is now bent that it bangs against the rudder. So I'm going to try and fix the prop most likely with a blow torch and a wrench, if not it looks like I'll have to buy some new props. The joys of boating.

machinist007

Thanks DF, I've posted here and on RC Groups this time with pictures. So we'll see what happens.

dauntlessfan

John the boat looks great and has come a long way already. Love the new paint on your hull too. I need to paint mine someday...

Also really like the shot of the boat with the factory smokestacks on the horizon. That could easily be mistaken for a picture of the real Dauntless at idle.

machinist007

Ok, I saw that Rich was putting toe rails on his boat, but I started looking at some of the pictures and realized that there are more than just along the edge of the Dauntless. There are two on top of the owners cabin, and then another set just in front of the main windows in front of the helm. Just my 2 cents.

John