Hi All

I have just acquired my very first RC Yacht and it is what I think is a Voyager I 1m. It is complete except the the radio gear (it is second, maybe third hand but in good condition bar what look like a home made set of sails (I also race 14' dinghies (for which we make our own ails anyway so should have a few offcuts) up to 72' Challengers, am a bit of a sailing nut))

So my first question is what radio gear would be best, I did a bit of RC car racing in my early teens and I remember the old 35-75 Mhz bandwidth, apparently this has changed to 2.4 Ghz now which seems much better reading the material

If anyone could give me any pointers on what receiver unit and transmitter unit would best suit that would be grand.

Just looking to get on the water to start off with.
I am based in the UK

Many Kind Regards
JohnJack

JohnJack

welcome !
I can give you a couple of basics,then let the experts chime in...
yes - 2.4mgz IS the way to go, even if your the only boat on the pond- why take
a chance of losing your signal, there are asian knock-off units that are $22.
what you DO want is whats called a "mode 2" model - that way you have the
left thumb working the sail servo, moving up and down. right thumb is for
rudder, move side to side, helps you settle in to steering that way.
I wouldn't get to worked up about "range issues" - in general, if you can see
you boat, you will have a signal to it.( as long as all batteries are up)
battery packs will be another discussion - you will find proponents for all the
current types ( NiCD's, NiMH, Life, Lipo's, rechargeable AA's, std. AA's.....)
you will have to decide on a charger for whatever system you choose.

one thing "we" usually recommend here is get some hands on help -find a
local club, attend a meeting,bring the boat,ask questions.
being across the BIG pond, check out
modelboatmayhem dot co dot uk-those guys are awesome, and could help
you find someone in you area..
hope this helps
Allan

Welcome JohnJack - how about a few pictures of your new boat. Getting started is really pretty easy and the radio Allan suggested are offered by an international company - Hobbyking.com they have reasonable prices and decent products for the most part.

I posted a picture of one their radios under the $30 price. It comes with a matched receiver, so you just add batteries and your are pretty much ready to go.

Here in the States Tower Hobbies sells Thunder Tiger boats of which a Voyager is one, and may be a possible resource for you should you require any parts for your boat. Big outfit with good prices and outstanding service in my experience. Here's a link to their web site http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...7p?CATEGORY=BC

The current Voyager is the Voyager ll - not sure how much difference there is between the two? A replacement set of sails sells for only $13.00USD - be hard to make a set for the price. Worth a look.

The website Allan mentioned is a terrific resource for you as well as this one.
rcgroups.com has the most active RC sailboat forum of all of them to the best of my knowledge.

Good luck.
Boomer

One thing that's not absolutely clear is whether the boat still has its servos. For the rudder a "standard" servo will be OK, but the boat has enough sail area for you to need something with a lot more muscle (torque). The boat I think was orginally supplied with a drum winch and there was a thread on here a while vack, http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1548452 which should help. The other alternative is a lever arm servo of which there are plenty to choose from; the only thing you have to look for is the torque rating whch should be at least 10kg/cm. The Cirrus CDS751/MG http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk...xd.asp?id=5644 is probably the lightest analogue servo of the type. This will entail you making an extension the output horns supplied and probably resiting the servo to provide sufficient free movement. Also to get sufficient sheet movement for sail control a double haul system would have to be used. The alternative is to use a Hitec HS815BB Servo with its extra arm movement and sail arm provided http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=754 when you will not need double hauling.

I have a Voyager with ODOM sails, the stock sails are junk.
I stay up with the ODOM's in our club and have won some races.
Almost all sailboats need some modification's to sail good.
I love my Voyager.

Wow, great response, Thankyou!

Here is a picture, I may get a few more later today

Picture.......



The sails are 'sheeted' on a yoke, like what is shown on 'Millertimes' pictures, the yoke looks the same as the newer one.

I have the servo's. Its just missing the receiver unit and the transmitter.

Looking online it looks like there are a few 'marine' versions, guessing these are waterproofed in some way, but seem a little more expensive. (the ones I have seen are built by Spektrum). Is it not possible to put the receiver in a 'snappy' bag with the antenna and wires hanging out, or is it a bit more complicated than that.

I have seen on another forum that the Voyager take on water through the steering well (slowly). So obviously electronics and water don't mix too much
I also am going to be sailing at my local sailing club where I already race full size dinghies. It is a Lake however close to the coast so the water has an ever so slight salt content, more reason to cover things up.

Millertime --> What receiver do you use?

From comments of others, the Voyager has a habit of burying its bows when running downwind. It's apparently faster to tack downwind than to sail wing on wing. Btw, on the opening thread (see post 12) of R/C sail boats here, there are the definitive upgrades for the Voyager from Pompebled who sails his much modified Voyager in the Netherlands.

JJ
Your are correct - it is easy to protect your receiver with a balloon or bag of some type. A little care is always a good thing when putting all the wires in there, but simple for sure - effective and very little expense.
I posted a few examples of the use of balloons to protect electronics in a few different boats. I put a piece of velcro on the balloon and on the underside of the deck to secure the receiver as far away from any water that might have found it's way inside the boat.
Doesn't hurt to monitor your electronics to make moisture doesn't get inside the balloon or bag.
Servos can be waterproofed or at least made more water resistant as well. There are a number of sealants you can use on the seams and around the fasteners if you are so inclined.
The best course is always to make your boat as water tight as possible - avoiding water intrusion is always preferred.
Boomer

"What receiver do you use?"

I'm using a Spektrum DX6 and AR6000 receiver.
I mounted the receiver under the hatch cover. I've never had trouble with water.
My Voyager runs great downwind, it never buries its bow.

I will post more pictures later.

Originally Posted by JohnJack

So my first question is what radio gear would be best, I did a bit of RC car racing in my early teens and I remember the old 35-75 Mhz bandwidth, apparently this has changed to 2.4 Ghz now which seems much better reading the material
JohnJack

35 Mhz is reserved for Model Aircraft use, it is illegal to use it for model boats or model cars.
75 Mhz is not a legal frequency here in the UK, maybe you meant channel 75 on the 35Mhz frequency band.

For Model yachts you can use 27Mhz, 40 Mhz or 2.4 Ghz.
The latter has the advantage that two boats cannot end up on the same frequency causing a frequency clash and interference.

Stay clear of limited range 2.4 Ghz transmitters that are designed for Park Fly models as range on the water is a lot less than range in the air.

Brian

johnjack , where are you in the uk please ? i too have a varient of this boat albeit the pre thundertiger mrp version which has the winged keel , the boat came to us without servos or radio and without its original mast or sails , its now rigged with an old mast and sails from a kyosho seawind , with a hitec sail arm servo for sail control , the rudder is controlled by a standard 3kg/cm hitec servo , depending on weather im operating the model or my brother in law is operating the boat it either uses a planet or spektrum 2.4 receiver , either of them are placed inside a balloon . jon , @ portsmouth hampshire

Originally Posted by JohnJack

I have seen on another forum that the Voyager take on water through the steering well (slowly).

Hi JohnJack,

First of all congrats on your Voyager, she is a great sailor!

Regarding water ingress through the steering well; if there's a leak there, there's something wrong with either the way it's glued in, or the tube, holding the ruddershaft, isn't positioned high enough up in the hull.
Normally this point is above the waterline and only sailing backwards would force water into the tube.
Also the shape of the rudderblade may need some work, so water isn't pushed up into the tube.

Granted, the ruddershaft isn't a very tight fit, so adding some grease will help keeping the water out.
I've been thinking of altering the sloppy fit of the rudder, but as it doesn't really interfere with sailing the boat, I haven't done anything about it yet...
After modding the hatch, my Voyager sails bone dry, with the exeption of submarining heavily running down wind, which always pushes some drops in through the jib fairlead and the mast hole.

Check out my mods over the years:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...5&postcount=12



Regards, Jan.

Thanks Jan,
Nose diving down wind is nothing new is typical to sailing with a sloop rig. I have done a number of offshore races in the Channel, running down wind with the entire crew sitting on the transom to keep the nose out of the water. (I have also pitch poled downwind on a small cat but that's a more painful moment). The center of force on the sail must be quite high up, added to the drag from the keel it creates a turning moment on the hull which forces the bow down. Once the nose is under the flat top deck forces further down.
One thing I have noticed, about how mine is rigged anyway is that the head of the sail is attach at the top of the roach (picture attached)



This wont allow any sail twist, effectively closing the top of the leach which makes a nasty sail shape high up. Not sure if this is the standard set up, may sail it like this first time, then change it if it doesn't look right.
The tack of the sail is the same too, the foot is tied to the boom about 20mm back from the tack which messes up the entry along the lower part of the luff and pushes the draft (and probable center of force further back in the sail)

The jib is a decent sail but I plan to make a new main at some point. For the dinghies we make out own sails anyway, so have some spinnaker material offcuts I can use, may even have some light dacron hanging around somewhere.

Do you have a template I can use, or measurements?

Having read your PDF there is a lot of good info in there.
Are there any pictures to go with it?

Jon --> I am up in Cheshire, the boat has a Turnigy TGY150 for the sail servo, and a HiTech R311 for the rudder. I want to sail it before I make many mods. I have an eBay tx and rx on the way which should work (both Spektrum 2.4GHz, it is a parkfly receiver which I know wont give me much range, but is a cheap start)

Hi JohnJack,

That is indeed a peculiar way to attach the main, resulting in an odd twist in the sail...
Now if the crane would be able to turn, it would be another cup of tea, but with the backstay attached, that isn't likely yp function either.

As you said, try it first, altering it isn't a big deal, as a test you could leave the line attached to the roach off and attach the top using the last eyelet with the ring and see if that results in a better shape of the main.

I do have pictures to go with the modifications, but they are stored on my old HD, from which I yet have to retreive the data.
When I get around to doing that, I'll either mail you the pics (due to the size) or put them up on the forum.

Regards, Jan.

Hi JohnJack,

I got access to the pictures, you've got a PM!

Regards, Jan.