Vanya, thanks, I will check out your idea

Jacko, thanks for your helpful comments

I used a motor from a lecky-drill and a 30mm prop no gear box and used the speed controller for the correct speed but have to use more power to turn when required

Straight drive and one of those MMM multiple pole DC brushed electric motors. Ticks a long.

Re. my previous post. A real narrow boat has a standard size beam of 6ft10ins irrespective of length. So it depends what you are trying to do. If you are building an 18" model of a 70 footer, then the beam will be ten percent of that, just under 2inches, but you are going to have to accept the fact that it will be difficult, to say the least, to get all the RC gear in and will hardly be a sensible size to sail on a lake, a bath tub perhaps. But, if you want a boat that will function as a working model, you need to keep to the fact that the modern, holiday narrow boats are all sorts of lengths up to 70ft with a beam of 6ft10", so your model is just under 7ins. wide with a length whatever you want to make it. Most of the RC model narrow boats I have seen are to those or near dimensions. Working real narrow boats were of course 70ft x 6ft10".

Hi Jacko,
Beautiful narrowboat, thanks for the pics. Mine is not to scale. What gear ratio did you use to get the speed right?

Hi Vanya,
My narrow boat is not to scale, it's beam is 70mm so plenty of room for motor etc. What gear ratio did you use in your boat?

The poster said 480mm which I guess is the length he wants, thats 18 inches so 1/10th of that is about 2 inches beam.

The standard beam of a narrow boat, irrespective of length is 6ft 10". A 70 footer has a beam, of 6ft10", as does a 30footer or any other length boat. It doesn't go on proportions, it is governed by the width of a narrow canal, as most are, which is 7ft. The length too is controlled by the length of most locks, a 70footer just fits in. You will have no problems fitting RC gear, you are dealing with a long box, a tad under 7" wide and as long as you like up to 70". There are plenty of model narrow boats to be seen chugging around our lakes. They are an interesting boat too build, as they are generally fitted out more like a nautical doll's house than anything else.

Cheers, Nerys

A 57 foot long canal boat is 6'10" wide so its roughly a 10:1 length to beam ratio so 480mm will have about 50mm beam. Not impossible but will require micro RC gear I am thinking. Is it static display?

I built this one 6ft long at 1/12 scale hope this helps

I have built a barge but its 1200mm so if your planning a 480mm long canal boat you better check the beam first. I hope your not planning a 60 foot boat otherwise you will be lucky to have 1 inch of beam.