Hi y’all. So…worked all day yesterday…didn’t do Church today, got groceries and built up the mast. Now, it’s SUPPOSED to be a piece of obechi or basswood that you trim down and the round off the leading edge….I had a strip of medium balsa that was way easier to work. Instead of using the supplied wood parts for the supports for lamps and the like, I made them from 2 mm plasticard. I also made the base about 3mm longer, so instead of sanding the mating edge to match the curve of the mast I notched the mast to accept the base, giving me a better join. After that it was a simple matter to add the top spreader, primer, paint, paint ladder and install, then add the mast to the top of the funnel. I used a piece of brass wire as a connector and to add a little more strength to the joint, as I’m clumsy and that’s the first thing I’ll break in handling. Now I just need to install the funnel and lockers, and it’s on to the winch and sundry other details.
Cash

Hi y’all. I spent an hour or so after work finishing up the funnel/mast assembly. I had to build the…whatever it is that goes on the aft side of the funnel. There’s no drawing of how most of the fittings go together, but there are pics of the finished product. Kind of. Anyway, this fitting is made up of 2 brass hoops and a base. At first I was going to drill them, then run a brass rod thru the rings and the base. What I ended up doing was dry fitting the rings, soldering them then soldering that assembly to the base. After it all cooled I took a piece of scrap brass wire and potted in the bottom with ca, then painted the assembly. I then made a small shallow hole in the masts platform, cut the wire so I had a scant 1-2 mm protruding, and uses that pin to center the assembly as it was glued on.
I then mounted the funnel. Now, I had to cut the railings where it mounts on the upper deck, and sure enough they were just short. That actually gave me some “wiggle room” to make sure I had the funnel straight and true, but once the funnel was mounted I’d have a little gap, so I took some tiny brass eyelets and prepainted them, slid them on the rails with the base facing the funnel. I taped them back to stay out of the way. Once the funnel was glued in place and cured, I slid the eyelets against the funnel and used a tiny drop of ca to secure them. Might not be exactly scale, but to my eye it looks good and takes care of any gap.
Now it’s time for more rails, the anchor winch, towing reels, etc……
Cash

Hi y’all. Got the anchor winch built and installed today, along with the chains and ports for the non existent hawse pipe. I also added exhaust ports to the top of the funnel. Oh…I had a lipo that looked a little sketchy when I charged it. I put it into a fire resistant lipo bag and tried to save it, ended up shorting it out on the back patio so I could dispose of it safely. Usually these things die with a little smoke, maybe a lick of flame at the end, this one was different…..
Cash

Hi y’all. Got a little more done past few days. I built up the rails that support the towing ropes across the aft deck, and am almost finished fitting out the aft hatch. Nothing earth shattering here, all pretty basic, except the last rail took a little soldering. Now, I have a a mild complaint about the Billings instructions as they apply to the aft rail. There’s no pic of this thing mounted on the boat except for the plan view, and there’s no pic of the soldered on supports until you get to the last page. There is a pic of the finished rail with a soldering iron above it…I had no clue at all what this was about till I saw pics of finished boats…and every one of of them are installed a little differently than what I can glean from the “plans”. Anyway, they’re installed. I made the bitt on the aft part of the hatch from 2 plastic bitts that I modified and glued together, as I’m tired of dowels.🤣
Now, I need to make up some more railing, install the fire monitors and tubes, lockers, hatches and rigging..oh!! And ballast.
Cash

Hi y’all. Got more done this weekend and last week. Installed the tow hook, what I assume are robe winches on the side of the cabin, fire monitors and upper rails. Now, I had to make a command decision when it came to the fire monitor feed lines….they are SUPPOSED to run from the monitors, across the upper cabin, down the backside of the cabin and aft to just about the funnel. The parts in the kit that one makes the piping from are very stiff insulated copper wire. I intended to do just that but….there’s no way on Gods good green earth that you can bend the wires to shape and feed them under the railings, I tried for about thirty minutes. The Banckerts “manual” shows where to install, but no sequence. I installed the rails first, in essence, I muffed it…so I ran them down the backside of the cabin, terminating at the upper deck. If anybody asks, I’ll tell them that maritime law states that any ship in Texas waters can not have a tripping hazard on deck, and the pipes were rerouted straight down to the below deck pumps.🤣
I have a few more things to do. Some lockers, hatches and doors, a little rigging and the rudder linkage hatch..then it’s ballast, touch up and maiden.

Hi y’all. I took Friday off, had a couple of things to do, so after that was done I spent the rest of the morning and Saturday morning on the Banckert. She has doors, life rings, and sundry other items painted and installed. I need to make up the tow lines, then ballast and leak check.

Hi y’all. I did the ballast and leak test today…oh, and I damaged the superstructure! I hadn’t come up with a way to secure it before I did the ballast check, and sure enough, as I was walking into the living room I knocked it off and it hit the floor. Thankfully, the damage wasnt too bad, mostly the compass was knocked loose, and the upper part of the mast was damaged. I rescued the mast and ladder, and touched up the paint. The upper antenna mount and aerials were a total loss, I’m going to have to make a new one, repaint and secure, but that’s about it. I now have 2 pins coming down from the very forward deck of the superstructure into holes on the upper deck. I have to secure the aft part of the superstructure and that will keep the cabin in place.
I used large empty spice bottles filled with bb’s for the main portion of the ballast admidships, there’s already bb’s permanently epoxied aft, and 2 pill bottles with bb’s strapped together forward. I still have room to shift the battery to fine tune the boat.
A little repair, touch up and she maidens next Sunday!!😁

Hi y’all. Took the Banckert out for her maiden run today, and I’m pleased with it!! For and aft ballast was spot on, but she had a slight list to starboard. I decided to go ahead and run her that way for the day. Had her in the water well over two hours, probably a little less than an hour and a half run time, she used just over 50 percent of charge on a 2 cell 5200 lipo. She handled well, and the after maiden inspection showed below decks dry as a bone. I figure 1/2 to 1 ounce of ballast port side should be enough to correct the list.
I’ll post a pic and vid in a few. Thanks for the words of encouragement and comments, y’all are the best!!
Cash

A vid of our last run this past Sunday with some vid of the Banckert.

Hi Colin. I admit she’s got a bit more punch than she should have…but consider this: Carrol Shelby, a Texan, makes automotive history by shoehorning an American V8 into the AC Ace, thus transforming that car into the Shelby Cobra. I, a native born Texan, basically did the same thing with the Banckert.
Coincidence? I think not…😁
Cash
PS…I meant to add a comment, but I hit new blog post instead. On my IPad, when I try to delete the unused post it shuts down this website, so I used it to return a comment.