seeing these videos i`m tempted to recommission Somers.
She´s still around but has sat on teh shelf with a broken foremast and busted servos..

Do it. There's nothing quite like sailing a square-rigger. The only thing better than sailing a square-rigger is sailing several square-riggers with friends...

there is definitely NOT enough sailing action on this forum thats for sure!
Brooks, how about you reactivate Dos Amigos too

Hey, MB, I'll try to get out on the water this summer :-)

Nice videos of wonderful boats! Can any of you multi masters tell me what radio you are using?
Thanks.

yachtflame

Yachtflame - I use an old Spektrum. Any 4 channel radio will do, I imagine.

I modified mine so that the sticks controlling the sails would not spring back to center position if I took my fingers off them. The throttle stick already has this feature, using a serrated half circle with a tension arm.

There is a simple alteration for the self-centering "flying" sticks, although it requires opening up the Tx box. You remove the centering springs from the stick(s) you want to stay put. Then you wrap a small piece of fuel tubing around the axis of the joystick frame so as to provide friction when you move the stick. The tubing is tied in a horseshoe shape with a piece of thread or string running thru the tubing - this keeps it in place while the sticks move about. There are photos of the alteration on RCGroups Scale Sail forum, but I don't have the urls right off the top of my head.

For a multimasted ship, you need separate sail controls for the sails fore of the CLR (center of lateral resistance) and sails aft of the CLR. For my 2 and 4 masted squareriggers, 3 channels are sufficient - sails fore, sails aft, and rudder. So, jibs and foremast square sails use one servo (ie. one radio channel) and one stick motion, while mainmast+mizzenmast use a separate servo/channel. The sails can be on the same stick (eg. fore and aft stick movement= foresails, left and right movement= main+ mizzen. The rudder is on it's own stick; the throttle stick is convenient since it already has a device to hold stick in position. Keeping the sticks straight in your head will require practice, and maybe some labels on the TX initially.

Brooks,
Thank you!! I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this for a while. I have a Spectrum DX7. I called and talked to people at Horizon Hobby but they told me it couldn’t be done with this radio...I needed to buy a new model and then pay for their tech to modify it.
I’ll search around to see if I can find the post that you mentioned.
Thanks!

Wayne

Brooks,
Well, I searched for two hours and my eyes are burning but I wasn’t able to find the posting that you mentioned. I did find a lot of interesting posts tho! I’ll look some more tomorrow. If you remember how to find it, let me know.

Wayne

Wayne, I could not find my stock of RC squarerigger & tx photos on my current computer. I'll try looking on the old computer later today.

The procedure is not hard. Here's what I remember: Remove the tx batteries, then remove the back of the tx. The 2 plastic shells are connected by the battery box wire, so don't tug the wire as you set the tx half with the joystiks on the bench, joystick posts down, electronics up. As you wiggle the sticks, you will see plastic frames (attached to the stick and near the potentiomenter) move (this was the construction of my Spektrum radios, your newer models may be different)

Remove (and save) the centering springs for the stick(s) you wish to modify. You will only need springs if you decide to turn tx back into airplane style tx.

Find the axis of the pots which allow the sticks to rotate. By observation, you can see where you could stick a horseshoe of blue fuel tubing between the moving frame and the stationary parts of the printed circuit board or other stationary part of the radio. (tubing assumes horseshoe shape when you tie the string that holds the ends together)

Cut a trial horseshoe, and put a piece of string or strong thread through the tubing. Place the tubing between the moveable part and a stationary part. Fiddle with it till it works as a friction hold to keep stick from flopping about. The friction of tubing against moving part will not be as solid as the ratchet on the throttle stick, but will be enough to hold the stick from flopping when you let go of it.

After you are satisfied with the horseshoe placement, tie ends of thread together and trim the excess line. The thread will keep the horseshoe in place so it does not wiggle out as the sticks move. If the horseshoe legs are too long, you won't be able to install the back of the tx. But if they are too short, it will be hard to tie the knot...so experiment :-).

If the tubing method does not work in your tx, you can still reinstall the springs you took off and restore tx to original configuration. Maybe a rubber washer would work better than the tubing, if you can find a way to keep washer in place. Anything you use will have to be secured in place somehow so as to not 'walk' out of where you placed it. Maybe a medium sized rubber band could be wound around the pot axis and tied to itself. Maybe a contraption outside the tx box would work, once you removed the centering springs.

One of the guys here made his own throttle-like wipers to do the same job on non-throttle sticks; check if there are ratchet-like arcs that would work with wipers like on the throttle stick. It does not matter which stick or which axis you modify, as long as you label the sticks on the outside of the tx. Of course, once you have a few cruises under your belt, your fingers will remember what's what. Worst case scenario - use throttle stick to hold one set of sails in place (I suggest foremast sails), and then just use a regular spring-loaded stick for the other mast(s). And a spring loaded stick for the rudder - not as easy as fixing sticks to stay in place, but at least it's an option.

Spektrum tech department is full of "you know what". This was a relatively easy mod on my Spektrum tx. The only hard part is threading the tubing through the gap, and then keeping the tubing bent so you can tie the knot. Patience, and ingenious use of clamps and tweezers will help you there.

Hope this helps.

Ok, that explanation will help greatly. I’ll try it this weekend and let you know of my success (gotta think positive!)
I just packed everything up on Sunday and drove 20 hrs from west central FL back home to Western MA. Everything is still in the crate but at least it’s off the roof of the Jeep where I can start to unpack.
Thanks for all the help.
Wayne

Brooks,
Ok, after some fiddling around I was finally able to do what you suggested. Thank you very much for the idea and instructions. This is gonna work great!

Just had to post this magnificent drone video of the clipper Stag Amsterdam doing some kind of turning maneuver.

Stad Amsterdam - B.V.I. 2015 (7 min 52 sec)

The YouTube description says, "She holds while a tender clears customs before making way to Jost."

Its called..."Heaving to Or Hove to. Stopping a sailing vessel by backing some of the sails and lashing the helm to leeward. In a fore and aft rigged sloop, this involves backing the headsail and allowing the mainsail to fill somewhat (the precise arrangement varies from one vessel to another). The vessel will gradually drift to leeward, the speed of the drift depending on the vessel's design. In a powered vessel, heaving to simply means stopping the engines."

In the video, it takes a while for the vessel to slow down to a virtual stop. This traditional maneuver was used for a variety of reasons. Like the video a small boat could safely be lowered to communicate with the shore or another stopped ship. In the age of whaling ships, the communication period between ships Hove To was called a Gam.

Thanks for the explanation. I could see that she lost headway. It requires real seamanship to run one of these rigs ! I'm always amazed by how the big P line cargo carriers were able to get the job done without any auxiliary power onboard.

...