I have been very pleased with my copy of a Sea Commander, but it does exhibit a strange desire to “dive” if it should turn RIGHT into choppy water or the wake of another boat.
Ken Mears took a lovely picture of my “Kopy Kommander”. (the name I gave to my copy of a Sea Commander) when he visited our Southport Club open day earlier this month, but he also took another picture that I had not seen before that shows the boat about to enter its nose down attitude.
The next stage after this is for the nose to push itself down into the water as if it was trying to submarinate, when the water covers the front cabin top and the wave deflector is called into action.
I do wonder if all Sea Commanders exhibit this same trait after being sharply turned RIGHT into a wake or choppy water - and maybe that is why Les Rowell included a wave breaker to the front cabin of his Sea Commander design?
If that was the case, I wonder why he omitted it from the enlarged (Sea Queen) version of the same boat?
[{"id":"175664342172","name":"175664342172","caption":"","url":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/175664342172\/l","thumbUrl":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/175664342172\/s","isImage":false,"ext":"file"}]
I have been very pleased with my copy of a Sea Commander, but it does exhibit a strange desire to “dive” if it should turn RIGHT into choppy water or the wake of another boat.
Ken Mears took a lovely picture of my “Kopy Kommander”. (the name I gave to my copy of a Sea Commander) when he visited our Southport Club open day earlier this month, but he also took another picture that I had not seen before that shows the boat about to enter its nose down attitude.
The next stage after this is for the nose to push itself down into the water as if it was trying to submarinate, when the water covers the front cabin top and the wave deflector is called into action.
I do wonder if all Sea Commanders exhibit this same trait after being sharply turned RIGHT into a wake or choppy water - and maybe that is why Les Rowell included a wave breaker to the front cabin of his Sea Commander design?
If that was the case, I wonder why he omitted it from the enlarged (Sea Queen) version of the same boat?
Hi zooma, Bob,
Now you say you have cured the strange handling of your Kopy Kommander, will you be adding some new video of her running on the water.
Both at slow and high speed.
Also turning in both directions.
It would be great to see he out performong now behaving heself.🚤🚤👍
I would be happy to make a video of my Kopy Kommander running and behaving perfectly now that the original (perfectly standard kit size) keel has been cut off.
The boat now turns equally well when turning left or right and when running fast and at a more moderate speed.
As soon as I am able, I will make a short video to share with you.
I have not been able to do too much with my model boats this year following an accident that has left my right arm short of power and movement, but I have enjoyed helping (mainly advising) Adam to get his Sea Commander kit put together and I am looking forward to seeing it on the water alongside my Kopy Kommander in the not too distant future .
I have brought the Kopy Kommander with me to the caravan and hope to get it wet sometime in the next few days on the Southport Club lake.
Adam will no doubt come along and hopefully we can get a short video of the boat running again for Boatshed to see.
Bob.
I have not been able to do too much with my model boats this year following an accident that has left my right arm short of power and movement, but I have enjoyed helping (mainly advising) Adam to get his Sea Commander kit put together and I am looking forward to seeing it on the water alongside my Kopy Kommander in the not too distant future .
I have brought the Kopy Kommander with me to the caravan and hope to get it wet sometime in the next few days on the Southport Club lake.
Adam will no doubt come along and hopefully we can get a short video of the boat running again for Boatshed to see.
As soon as Adam has completed his Sea Commander kit build, we do intend running them together , and with the same choice of motor we hope to see if the strakes that I fitted have helped or hindered the performance of the boat.
I really like the way the strakes look on the boat, but that is only cosmetic, a direct comparison alongside each other on the water should help to identify any performance or handling differences.
We ran the Kopy Komander today in beautiful but windy weather - perfect conditions for Classic Model Power Boats IMHO.
The water had a nice ‘surface texture” that I really enjoy seeing the boats running over, and the boat ran very well.
A short video was taken by Adam today as promised for Boatshed.
Bob.
[{"id":"17838603737","name":"17838603737.mp4","caption":"Kopy Kommander at Southport today.","url":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838603737\/l","thumbUrl":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838603737\/s","isImage":false,"ext":"mp4"}]
I never removed the wedge from the rear of the hull, even though I am not at all sure that it ever did anything, it is part of the boats colourful history - so I have left it on the boat.
I did re-shape it to make it look a bit better - I will take a picture to show you later.
@zooma Nice to see the results of that hard work and development. All of which I shall copy on my sea commander under construction lol.
Also nice to see the sea commander in the water showing off its design and pedigree. Like a vintage sports car should be driven and enjoyed as intended.
I followed this unusually painted orange Perkasa for a while so I could run across its wake.
This was good fun and again I found the boat to handle it nicely enough, but not in the same league as any of my other boats that have the benefit of deep vee hulls……although as always, the Vic Smeed designed Remora performed flawlessly - without a deep vee hull !
Bob.
[{"id":"17838834504","name":"17838834504.mp4","caption":"","url":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838834504\/l","thumbUrl":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838834504\/s","isImage":false,"ext":"mp4"}]
I followed this unusually painted orange Perkasa for a while so I could run across its wake.
This was good fun and again I found the boat to handle it nicely enough, but not in the same league as any of my other boats that have the benefit of deep vee hulls……although as always, the Vic Smeed designed Remora performed flawlessly - without a deep vee hull !
Bob.
The Wedge.
Hi Boatshed,
During the many experiments that were tested on the Kopy Kommander to try to correct its strange desire to dive when turning right into a wake (or rough choppy water), the good old fashioned technique of sticking a wedge on the rear of the hulls underside was tested.
This idea came from the time of ic engines and was used to counter the torque that these engine developed, and as the “dive” was thought to be caused by torque - the idea was tested on the Kopy Kommander.
No obvious gains were noted, but since I had made too good a job of fixing it to the hull, no easy way of removing it without a lot of work came to mind, so I filed a round slot in it to make it look nicer (and maybe just a little bit curious) and left it fixed to the hull as part of the boats long development history.
Bob.
[{"id":"17838879497","name":"17838879497.jpeg","caption":"","url":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838879497\/l","thumbUrl":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838879497\/s","isImage":true,"ext":"jpeg"},{"id":"17838879495","name":"17838879495.jpeg","caption":"","url":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838879495\/l","thumbUrl":"https:\/\/model-boats.com\/media\/17838879495\/s","isImage":true,"ext":"jpeg"}]
During the many experiments that were tested on the Kopy Kommander to try to correct its strange desire to dive when turning right into a wake (or rough choppy water), the good old fashioned technique of sticking a wedge on the rear of the hulls underside was tested.
This idea came from the time of ic engines and was used to counter the torque that these engine developed, and as the “dive” was thought to be caused by torque - the idea was tested on the Kopy Kommander.
No obvious gains were noted, but since I had made too good a job of fixing it to the hull, no easy way of removing it without a lot of work came to mind, so I filed a round slot in it to make it look nicer (and maybe just a little bit curious) and left it fixed to the hull as part of the boats long development history.
Now you say you have cured the strange handling of your Kopy Kommander, will you be adding some new video of her running on the water.
Both at slow and high speed.
Also turning in both directions.
It would be great to see he out performong now behaving heself.🚤🚤👍
I would be happy to make a video of my Kopy Kommander running and behaving perfectly now that the original (perfectly standard kit size) keel has been cut off.
The boat now turns equally well when turning left or right and when running fast and at a more moderate speed.
As soon as I am able, I will make a short video to share with you.
Bob.