The TV news tells us that the country is about to be hit by a storm of apocalyptic proportions. The weather people are a lot more circumspect but still say we are going to get wet and windblown. However in Warwickshire, the are blue skies and very little breeze. Just the sort of conditions to test a model boat on the lake.
I had the water to myself today. That’s good ‘cos any problems can be found without the gaze of a hoard of “helpful” experts. The water was a touch choppy, enough to recover the model to the bank if it stopped entirely. Plenty of water was available too, I hardly had to reach down from the landing stage to launch.
First impressions were that I’ve still got too much weight in the hull. An extra 5mm above the water would be nice. The depth made me immune from listing in the breeze or tight turns though.
Drive was good with a slightly stupid top speed but enough spare power to overcome most winds I’m likely to sail in. Turning was excellent so I ought to be alright for the steering competition. Even in reverse there was control which is good news.
The only problem was radio reception. More than 20 feet away from the bank and the motor starts to chatter. Splodger managed a trip to the other side of the water but I’d like to improve this as the motor is pretty noisy so you can hear the problems even if they aren’t apparent in lack of control. Some suppression on the motor and perhaps an aerial tube into the wheelhouse should solve the problem but both of these can wait for another day.
After half an hours sailing the boat was dried off and put back in it’s box. There was a tiny amount of water in the hull which I quickly sucked out. As maiden voyages go this was OK. I’ll look forward to more sailing in the future.
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