That is cool!
Sure looks close Dave.

You had me at "beaver" !

Originally Posted by JPcat

In that version, it could also deliver lunch.

Or steam rice and/or vegetables.
Favorite combo food/boat.

Originally Posted by Steve Bad

You had me at "beaver" !

I'd have bet money that was going to show up from somebody.

I am actually doing some more work on the Beav.
Here are the upper and lower hull parts made from 1/8" sheet fiberglass.
They are held together with carbon tubes for alingment. Then the side skin made from 1/32" sheet fiberglass is wrapped around.
This makes for a very easy to build and strong hull.

Hi Subdave,

What a (hideously) beautiful boat! And small enough to run in the neighbor's koi pond! Where do you get the fiberglass sheet, and can you work it with the same tools as plywood?

Pete

Hi Pete.
I get the sheet from McMaster Carr.
It is not real $$ and comes in many different sizes and thicknesses.
The only problem is like any fiberglass it is death to most tools and cutters.
You really need carbide.
I finally found a carbide blade for my Dewalt scroll saw.
I was going through two many standard blades.
Other than that it is great stuff to work with. Dave.

I have been working on how to mount the the control servos directly to the Voith drive instead of off the drive which is normally the way it is done.
But I am not normal so I am trying this.
I probably don't need the full sized servos either but I am not sure how much torque is required under load when running. Dave.

Dave, As one that plays with Voith drives you do not want do the direct connect as the tourqe will short out your servosand will want full size with servo saver ends. Being that is the older drive by Gruapner be very carefull with it as they have a tendency to blow up internally if over powered and servos mnot mated correctly. Cool build and interesting choices for construction with the glass panel!

Hi Keith,
Thanks so much for the tips on the Voith drive.
I will add some servo savers and stick with the full sized servos.
I am running the stock motor so hopefully I will be OK.
I have sealed the bearing in the motor a little better too as I hear they tend to leak.
Running mostly subs I know how that pesky water can find its way in.
Dave.

I am almost done with the servo mounting and linkages.
Thanks again for the tip on the servo savers. Dave.

Subdave - The way that the kinematics of the Graupner VSP unit work makes the two servos fight each other during certain maneuvers and longer servo rods enabled a little bit of "give and take" during the servo wrestling, hopefully your shortened servo rods don't put too much stress on the unit because like Keith pointed out, they will grenade if over-torqued.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, check out the IVSP simulator about halfway down this page; http://voith.com/de/produkte-leistun...ler-10002.html

If you select "joystick" as the control, it should be a reasonable facsimile of how your single unit boat will move.

It works!
And seems to work well.
I am sure it would not have been the case without our help guys.
Thanks.
Watching it work I can see it is very similar to a helicopter swash plate in operation.
Except the linkages need to move not only back and forth but side to side as well.
The servo saver I made uses 1/4" sections of fuel tube as a bushing.
Like a rubber flex joint.
It lets the linkage still be positive enough to move the connection point on the Voith but also give enough to keep the unit from imploding.
I will post some photos later and maybe try to do a short video.
BTW Just holding the unit in the water and trying the controls it seems to have more thrust than I would have thought. Dave.