Popping across the lake

pop pop on the lake
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Having passed it's trials on the pool at home, the next test for the plank is on the competition ground (water) itself.

The evening was perfect, still and warm with no-one else around. I fired up the burner, primed the engine and set the boat off. After about 10 feet it died so I retrieved it and tried again. Same result. Various attempts were made with gradually improving results.

After charring the wood with excess meths from I tried a tea light. This was OK but underpowered so it was back to the burner.

A few attempts later and success - the boat made it across the lake. OK so it was in a series of hops as the steering was rubbish and I had to keep pointing it away from the bank but it worked.

Buoyed by this, the rudder was bent around and another trip made. This helped and only one re-direct was needed. A third attempt was even better, although the model paused in the middle of the pond for about 10 minutes.

The trick seems to be to let the coil get really hot. Then prime it and don't put the plank in the water until priming pushes steam out of the coil.

I'll see on Sunday if this works for real.