A few screen grabs from 2 cameras from Saturdays attempt at a launch and retrieval video in the Waiwera River a few creeks north of my place. A number of things didn't quite go according to plan (trying to use 2 cameras, driving a boat and a vehicle using 2 TXs all at once by myself,- a bit like a one armed paper hanger😁) Got a couple of vids, but the main one is in QT MOV which I don't have an editor for yet, so I'll do that later. Nice day out despite the problems. Big sea fog till about 11am, and still a bit hazy during the day.

As you can see, the new camera is quite an improvement on the older one.
As I was using the boat ramp, I had to contend with the 100% boats a few times. Luckily it's quite secluded and not too busy. Funny bringing a model home and having to treat it like a full sized boat,- flushing it out and washing it 😁

After ripping the new coupling silicone tube a couple of times due to harsh starts from the ESC, (lot of torque going into it suddenly with the new 3650 2550kv inrunner ) I've replaced it again and added a couple of small cable ties to clamp the tube tighter on the splines. Also managed to get it starting a bit smoother with a bit of TX tickling, although not perfect (cheaper aircraft ESC on soft start but still a bit rough,- with an aeroplane it wouldn't matter)

Hopefully it will be stronger this time. Might have to find an ESC with heli start (like the 'Mystery' blue series HK used to sell if this doesn't work)

Tested the new gear yesterday and it all went well till I was playing with the throttle trims and end points and had an unexpected full power no stop situation which ripped the coupling. Went like a fire hose till it did though, and took a lot of power to break it. I had not cable tied the tube onto the ends which were just pushed in, so it did pretty well to hold up like that. One end still had the spline marks, but the other had skidded then ripped the tube down the middle. Good anti stall safety feature for the motor I think.

Probably withstood around 1/2hp at 25000rpm for about 6 seconds before breaking, so a big improvement on the Mk 2 version. The new motor has a ton of torque and with the new 40/90c 3s 2700mah Hyperion battery is about double the power of the MK2 setup, - 3s 25c 2200mah zippy compact which was a bit tired after 10 yrs for any heavy stuff.

I had trouble with the sound unit not syncing with the throttle, which required allsorts of trimming to get it almost right. I'm using a one way aircraft ESC, but the sound unit works like a fwd-rev ESC and using a fwd- rev ESC, and needs a center point. I think I have got round it now by switching the siamesed throttle lead (with ESC lead) to the Aux hover pitch rotary on the 9X TX. seems to work just as well, but allows the throttle to be returned to full down-full up mode, and the sound controlled separately, which is good, as you can rev the 'motor' without the boat taking off.

Some vids of playing with the setup at idle power, and views of the jet mods in case anyone is wanting to do the same to the cheap jets without a reverse bucket.

I decided to change the Surpass 3650 3000KV in-runner for an XTeam 3660 2550KV for a bit more torque and try the heavy duty (hopefully) coupling I made on the lathe. The coupling uses 11mm OD x 6mm ID silicone tube and is a 3 piece unit with alloy ends with splined inner diams which are a tight fit in the tubing. The whole coupling is only 25mm long to fit in between the jet unit and motor mount, (not a lot of room for most std couplings.)

The previous experimental coupling was silicone tube with a firm plastic tube pressed on, which lasted for a few previous runs, but the last run shredded it completely, so I thought it was time to try my new MK 3 coupling. After I modified the jet unit, (better impeller and min clearance) the 3000KV motor pulled 30A static, and obviously had a bit of torque to shred the coupling. I like the silicone as you can't damage your motor if something jambs the prop,- it will strip or tear and stop the motor stalling. The smaller tubing obviously has its' limitations,- hence going BIG.

I've run the new coupling up to around 25000rpm with a shaft, and it's very smooth with no vibration. I might add small zip ties to the tubing to grip the splines better.

Forgot to check on the earlier runs, but the thermostatic fans on the motor (2 in the dummy motor and 1 in the battery compartment) worked well on this last run, which was good, and the fans cooled things down quite quickly, (battery gets quite warm). Both use a 30C thermo switch,- the battery one is just taped to the battery.

Another test due when the weather clears up, (rubbish at the moment).

Quick vid before the old coupling let go.

Just received my sack of infra red pick-ups today and had a crack at fitting an extension to the one on the board. The extension is needed as the BT/IR music board is now hidden under the front bunk, and the IR pick-up on it can't be seen by the remote. The extended pick-up is now mounted above the dash and should be in a good position to receive a signal. Works really well, even with the original still in place, (Graham was right, and no smoke😁) I did order a spare board just in case😊, but can now use that in something else.

Just fitted my small BT player under the front cabin roof to use as a radio. It plays through the BT board but requires an aerial. I have made a working aerial using a spring as a base (so it can be folded down) and a wire soldered to the wire aerial and fed through the spring and through a hole in the cabin. it is attached to an adaptor plug which plugs into the BT player. Works very well and does not require unplugging to remove the cabin. player will only need removing for charging.

I will now be able to play music from a micro SD card on the BT board using its' remote, from the card in the player via the BT board and the radio in the player via the BT board.

The BT board will be hidden under the front bunks once everything is sorted, (hopefully with an afore mentioned IR pick-up extension for the remote to 'see'. I've ordered a sack of IR pick-ups from AlExp to try, and another BT board in case smoke leaks out.

I've trial fitted a twin speaker BT module which is powered by a 1s LiPo. Speakers are 8 Ohm .25W (the board has a 3W max output) I was thinking of fitting a small amp to it, (as per Grahams suggestion) but it can produce some reasonable volume, depending on the recording level. If the recording was done at a high level, the volume will be louder, (as I've found with transferring my vinyl to flash drive, - tapes are a bit harder to do as they tend to be a bit duller- especially after 40 yrs 😁) I'll see how it sounds on the water.

Music is running off the micro SD card in the vid, but I can also use BT to transmit from the phone radio, - or music (on micro SD card) and radio from my small BT player (small red player in pics). The remote works with the card inserted in the board, and anything else is by BT. Quite a lot of fun playing with this. Had it running for around 5 hrs from the card and only used .2v from the 2200 mAh LiPo ((1 cell from a dud 3s) I have a 1s 2000 mAh from a vape machine which is a lot smaller and lighter which I would use on the water.

The board has a limited equaliser, volume, fast fwd/back, next track (by button or numbers, on off etc. Quite amazing for its' size. I have 170 entries on the card at the moment,(mostly album sides with a number of single songs) which took a bit of sorting out. The board sorts/plays them in a haphazard way, which didn't match the order I recorded them in (or alphabetically) ?? I have them all numbered on a sheet of paper now to make a song/album easy to find.

I was thinking, that once it's all tucked away in the boat, I might extend the IR pick-up for the remote, to somewhere more easily 'seen' by the remote (perhaps on the dash) I've found the same pick-ups on AlExp for a few dollars a bag of 10, (I'll need them, as the pick-up on the board will be destroyed if I take it off. Something else to play with if I get bored.

The speakers are hidden under the galley top and in the 'head' compartment, in wedge shaped boxes, which will be trimmed and painted before screwing into place. All wires are fitted with JST plugs in case things need removing, and board will probably be fitted in one of the forward bunk boxes (if I can extend the BT pick-up) otherwise the board may be disguised as a squab.

Roy Phillips (The Peddlers) is still living here (been here since 81 and he's cracking 80)

I needed to be able to carry everything together, to places I might like to try for a better launching video. Problem was/is that there is a 100m or so down a beach to a spot which I discovered, which looks like an ideal area to have a 'play'. If I couldn't carry everything at once, it would be too dicey to make a few trips,-leaving pieces unattended in a public area, out of sight for 5 mins each trip. Therefore the boat box was knocked up, mostly from bits I had left over from house projects. Mainly 5mm ply with 18x18 pine framing.

The trailer sits on blocks to raise it slightly so as not to flat spot the tyres when stored, and is held in place by a screw at the front and 2 notches at the back. There are Formica 'locks' at the back which turn over the trailer frame at the back to hold it in the notches. The boat is lowered in complete with the trailer, with the help of a cord with a 'spreader bar' at the back The trailer is 'locked' in place then the tow car and radio shelves are inserted.

The boat and tow car are held in place by sponge pads on the lid, (the tow car springs help hold it still as well, as the lid pushes down on the roof a few mm) There is a shaped piece of thin cardboard which slides down the back of the tow car and folds over the roof,-just to stop the lid restraint cord catching on the tow-bar. Everything fits in with 2mm to spare height wise. The box has a rope shoulder strap for carrying short distances, (needs some padding) but I am looking for some large pram or golf trundler wheels for 'long distance travel' ( some of the prams have clip on/off wheels which would be useful,- might have to buy a complete pram to get the bits)

Just tried the new 'handbrake' on the tow vehicle with the boat attached and it works 100%. Will actually stop the whole unit while rolling down the slope, and with a bit more weight in the back of tow vehicle, it should be good for another launching attempt at a proper ramp. Answering your question Steve, water seems to make little difference, (actually seems slightly better)

I know it's not a boat, but it's attached to one 😁 - I've been trying to do a decent trailer launching vid, but have had a problem with the vehicle having no 'handbrake' to stop it (and the boat) rolling back on the big boat ramps which are quite steep. It's also hard to find just the right spot where there are no people, nice slope to the water etc. I have now come up with a simple driveline brake (think Landrover) which works pretty well on the vehicle (yet to see if it will work with the weight of the boat and trailer,- could need a lump of lead for traction). The cord is wound round the driveshaft so that in reverse, once the servo pulls on it,
it automatically wants to tighten itself and grips quite well.

The servo is plugged into the rotary switch on the TX,but so the braking can be applied gradually for control when backing down the ramp (at least that's the theory😁) another turn or two on the shaft will multiply the braking effort if necessary. The vehicle is also very low geared 1000 RPM@12V geared motor and the diff is about 4:1 so will idle up the slope in the pic. Tows the boat and trailer easily ( about 8lbs) but could do with a bit more weight for traction (vehicle weighs 1.8kg).

Always something to play with, improvements to make😁