Pootle's back!

With a spare radio receiver in my hand, I thought I might as well put it into my very first boat kit - Pootle. 

This George Turner kit was cheap, but also where I learned that bigger boats designed for radio control were easier to build than tiny ones that weren't. Eventually I managed to work something out and even wrote the results up for Model Boats magazine. 

Swapping the receiver was easy, and again, I replaced a couple of 2XAA packs with a flat 4XAAA version, and a bit of lead to restore the waterline. All the stuff you see above is hidden by an interior that slides in over it. 

On the water, sailing lasted about 3 minutes. The the boat wouldn't respond. Back on the bench, one of the batteries was weak, presumably dropping the voltage too low for the receiver. It might also be that RadioLink receivers don't like bots powered by a gutted servo. More work required.