Hi y’all. Well..shoot. Still stuck in the house. PT15 is ready for re-maiden, I’ve done some motor changes to the SAR and the Dolly..what’s left to do. Oh, let’s build another boat🤣!!!

I like to trade. Love it, it’s fun, and I’ll trade what I’m not using or going to build either up or down for something I really want. That’s how I got the PT15. In with that trade came a just started Robbe Paula III. I decided to build her. Now, the newest version of this boat is the Paula IV, which has a much simpler system for the boom and winch. The original uses a small geared motor for the winch, actuated by a relay or reversing switch, and uses a micro switch to cut power when the boom reaches a predetermined position. The boom uses a spring loaded “hydraulic ram” to extend the boom, and on the other side a servo actuated 3 position locking arm. To bring the boom back to stowed position you unlock the boom and reel it in with the winch. The Paula IV uses an under deck servo driving a large double ended lever which is connected to the boom, and a sail winch servo for the winch. Guess which system I’m using?
Only problem is I didn’t have the parts for the lever and I don’t have a sail winch servo..so I made them. I defeated the stops in a standard servo gear train and glued the pot in neutral, and used 3 servo discs to make a pulley. The boom lever was another matter. Robbe uses what looks like a rudder tiller like the ones in their kits, or the Caldercraft units. On arm is cut off and it uses the brass insert as a bearing. I made one out of stacks of scrap Plura, used an 1/8th i.d wheel collar for the bearing. The hole for the bearing was drilled slightly undersized, the the collar was drove home in a vise and ca’d into place for good measure. I made a mounting plate out of plura and a piece of 1/8th piano wire and I had my lever!!! Woo-hoo!
I installed an 8.4 volt Speed 600, mounted the rudder and tube, made a support for the tube out of hard balsa,got all my under deck work done and bonded the deck and hull together with Stabilit. Hull paint is done. The Paula comes with a radar unit, I decided to do the same thing with and old micro servo that I did for the winch, made the radar housing a little taller and now I have a working radar that runs direct from a receiver channel. It’s mast mounted, and the mast is aluminum, so I made a slot whereby I could run the wires down. It’s painted now. Next thing on my list is the cabin.
Cash

Hi all. For the past few days I’ve been focusing on paint and fitting the boom. The cabin is painted, as is the roof, and the mast and assorted piping are done too. I built the boom, however one of the few things missing from this kit was the boom material. The original square tube is a thicker tube than what I am using, my buddy Larry, who trades the kit to me, realized the boom tubing was missing when he got the kit on a previous trade and added a pack of square section styrene. This tubing is a little thinner both in size and thickness of material, so I’ll probably replace it down the line. There was one piece of what I’m assuming is the stock boom molding in the kit, I used it to make the deck mounts. It’s a little cobbled together, but I tested it and it works, so tomorrow I’ll work on the winch.
Cash

Hi y’all. Past few days I’ve been fitting out the Paula with her mast assembly, the winch is installed, I built up a hook and did some odds and ends. I mounted all the rest of the gear, and everything worked...except the radar.. it wa working yesterday..but no more. Deader than the parrot in Monty Pythons skit years ago. Deader than Chivalry. Oh, I did all the checks, made sure I had in the right channel, swapped channels, used a test servo to verify, checked plug, even went to the trouble of taking the pins out of the connector and installed them manually, all to no avail.
I had used an old Hitec Feather servo as the drive, and I’m pretty sure this was an old combat model servo as the lugs were cut off. Anyway, it’s dead. And it’s glued into the radar housing, no way to replace it without major surgery. I may try it again, but for now the leads are cut and the radar bar is glued in place. I’m thinking between the conversion to constant rotation and my heavy handedness performing the conversion, that the motor simply gave up. But. I have learned something, and I think I can make it work more reliably in the future. Skippers going to have to have a good set of binoculars and keep an eye on the weather..🤣

Hi y’all. I need to tidy up my wiring, and build a housing for the boom bell crank, but I’d say she’s a couple of hours out from her maiden. I got the radar fixed, I found some servos on Amazon that work well. They are Feetech FS90R continuous rotation servos, 13.89 for the pair. They are closer in size to mini than micro, so I had to modify the radar housing to make room. They also have long leads, so instead of making up a lead, I took the pins out and was able to run the wires down the mast and use an extension to the receiver.
Bouts are made up, I also need to put her Texas registration numbers on her..
TX0000BR549 🤣
I’m linking a video, see what y’all think.
Cash

Y’all may or may not get this...🤣🤣