Make me a battery and go for a sail

Mohan needs a battery. Plan A involved using a 6 C-cell lump like the one shown on the plan that came with the kit.

It didn't fit. Maybe if I hadn't put a propshaft in then it would, but looking at the plan, I'm pretty sure this hadn't occurred to the original designer.

Plan B. A much smaller set of 8 cells bought second hand somewhere. It had the wrong plug on and too much voltage, but both these are fixable with a soldering iron.

The plastic covering was peeled away.  The connecting strips were levered off the top of the end cells. You should be able to desolder these - I tried and it wasn't happening so brute force did the job instead.

Then I re-connected the end pair to give me a 6-cell set. Some soldering using a non-corrosive flux was required. Hot iron, in and out fast, don't worry how horrible the result looks.

While I was at it, a new Tamiya socket went on the end. Then I realised my mistake and fitted a plug instead.

The pack now sits in a tray over the spot where the prop exits the bottom of the hull adding valuable weight. 

With all the gubbins fitted, it was time for a first sail on the pool. My impressions are it sits too high in the water, but that's easily fixable. Speed and steering aren't bad although the turning circle is larger than I might like.

But - IT FLOATS!