Sunday in the park

[Prins Willem]

I really enjoy the reports from other clubs posted on the forum. I thought I should reciprocate. Yesterday was the first real nice Sunday we have had this year. Spring may finally have arrived. A couple of locals new to the hobby showed up with some FEs and were asking lots of questions.

Randy F brought out his BIG tug the Les Walczak. He was having trouble keeping fuses in it. The problem was traced to running a Minnkota trolling motor on 6 volts. He tried hooking the two 6v batteries in series to provide 12 volts and the torque destroyed the universal on the prop shaft.

[Aerominded]

Looks like a nice day at the park, Prins!

The paperwork that came with my Vantec claims their model RET713H can take a continuous 33A at 12 volts with an 85A starting surge.... Might check vantec.com for additional information... :)

[green-boat]

I second the Vantec speed control. The resistor type speed control has a high in-rush current that will blow fuses. The Vantec ESC is a Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) type. It turns the battery voltage on/off at a high rate of speed allowing for some some very smooth control. :D

[Greg_Vincent]

You might consider the Electronize FR30HX. 30 amps continuous, 90 amp short term stall rating, and up to 24 volts. These are designed for large scale ships. If you order directly from Electronize (http://www.electronize.com) your cost would be just over $85 shipped. From what I can see online, the Vantec goes for about $160. Also see this thread (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=809891).

Greg

[nick_75au]

I don't think the Electronize has the "headroom" but is a nice controller
personaly for that big motor i would look at victor controllers or one of the others designed for robot combat.
I have a pair of Victor 885 controllers that have seen quite a bit of abuse where the electronize they replaced did not work.
Regards
Nick

[Hoghappy]

Nice job on the report Prins!

That is a huge tug...very cool! :cool:

It took me many outings to get mine to work the way I expected...seems modified boats create the biggest challenge.

Look forward to more posts. :)

Capt Crash

[Kmot]

That is a beautiful park setting you guys run in. The tug is a fine looking boat.

[keith S]

Looks to be a great place to run and and fun day was to be had.

[Prins Willem]

Keith,

Yea, Sheridan Park is a good model boating site. It was originally built in the 1920's as a model boat pond and swimming hole. Milwaukee County Parks is one of the largest park systems in the nation. The county is 1100 square miles and 23 1/2 square miles of that is parks. For a fee of about $165 per year they let us install our dock, supply us with picnic tables (as many as 8 during our club picnic), and the pond has a water inlet so they keep the level up for us. We also try and accommodate them when they request we exhibit at the Mitchell Park Domes ( we are doing that on Father's Day). The club feels very fortunate to be in this situation.

[Prins Willem]

Today we participated in a Father's Day event at the Mitchell Park Domes. It was a little windy but thank goodness NO RAIN!!!!!!! Besides us there was a grilling demonstration (with samples), and local restaurants serving sample sizes. The Domes will be closed all summer for renovations and delayed repairs to damage done by the Falk Corporation explosion on 12 6 06. We normally do a event in September but this worked out well too.

[Hoghappy]

It's good to see more clubs reporting in. Nice job Mr. Willem... ;)

Capt. Crash

[Kmot]

What a great place to have an event! Thanks for the pics. :)

[pompebled]

Wow, lovely weather and lovely boats, it doesn't get much better doesn't it!

In my opinion, Randy's Tug with the huge motor needs a solid coupler in order for it to stay in one piece. Anything else will just snap or be twisted in half...
I couldn't see in the picture if this would be at all possible due to possible allighment issues.

Another option would be a centrifugal clutch.

Regards, Jan.

[Prins Willem]

Randy is making a coupler from a 1/4" drive socket Universal joint. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for Sunday so he used the Dumas dog bone. If he breaks the 1/4" coupler Sears will have to replace it I guess :D .

Once he gets the coupler sorted out he can start running the boat on 12 volts instead of 6 and maybe keep the fuses intact. We are looking forward to getting her back on the pull gauge at Kohler next month. Last year on 6 volts she only pulled 11 ounces. Should do better than that with Minnkota power.