The LesRo Rapier has a very pointed bow end Chris - and to date it is (very surprisingly) the best handling deep vee hull I have seen or driven !

….and it will turn on the proverbial sixpence …..

Bob.

Like the Swordsman the Huntress is quite beamy for its length. Also the bow is quite blunt compared with the Huntsman 31. All this means that the hull is well supported and stable with predictable, controlled handling.

Is yours the bigger, scale 1:8, 34" Huntress, Roger?

I'm getting some paint on my 1:12 Huntsman 31 as I'm very keen to see how that performs. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first of my Faireys to require some ballast in the stern.

Hi Roger,

I have driven a friends well powered Huntress on the Bury Lido lake and it went very well and had that more typical Fairley Marine handling - very nice indeed .

…..I would certainly welcome a Huntress into my fleet of classic model powerboats!

Bob.

She looks really good.I have a huntress 90%built hope she goes as well

I can imagine that having twin motors etc. it does exhibit different handling characteristics to single because as well as one prop coming out of the water on hard turns you have the weight of the motor, prop shaft and battery on each side trying to level the boat off as you come off the turn or power which you don't have with a single setup which is acting along the centreline of the boat.

In the video the model probably isn't far off a scale top speed and as you say the handling is fine though we do like to go a little faster on occasions. 😀 With my Huntresses performance was OK on 2S and about scale but I wanted to go a little faster on occasions and have some speed in hand so now run them on 3S.

With the full-size boats it was the Huntsman 31 that was more performance orientated and more suited to racing with the Swordsman 33 being more "the country cottage" as mentioned before and yet with the models it's the other way round with the greater beam of the Swordsman being of benefit when running at above scale speeds. The weight distribution between full-size and model is also completely different with the former having two whacking great diesels sitting well aft along with diesel and water tanks!

As for sitting too high? Difficult to see with the choppy water but it looks similar to my ex-model. On the full-size the rear part of the chine rails is just below water level, so maybe a touch too high, but as per the aforementioned the weight difference is completely different. Once on the plane it doesn't really affect things.

Photo showing waterline above chine.

The ‘31 had a pair of Intronics “in-runner” motors, each fan cooled by a nice clip-on heat sink (I really liked that idea) and a pair of 80amp SHARK ESC that give a forwards and reverse function.

The water cooled jacket on my “in-runner” Surpass motor leaks slightly around the two end seals (an “O” ring at each end seals it and holds it in place), so I do have some interest in these electric cooling fans - especially as they are RED - my favourite colour !

Hi Chris,

The boat does not “knife edge” like my own deep vee hull models do, but flops back onto a level keel - just as the action starts to get interesting.

This makes it a very safe boat that keeps its decks dry - but not one that is very “exciting” to drive.

The Rapier and the Swordsman both exhibit the ability to “run on the edge” with the nearside edges of their decks touching the water surface during hard fast cornering, and that is something that I never tire of seeing.

When I was given the boat to drive and video when it was already in the water, but when I lifted it out of the water afterwards and looked inside, I immediately noticed that it was a twin shaft drive and this was probably the reason why it was such a “safe” drive.

As soon as the outer shaft raised about the surface it lost drive and the hull flopped back down level into the water again giving it a very “safe” and predictable drive - perfect for most owners requirements.

When being driven at a sensible speed (as in the video) it is a very nice good looking boat that looks very impressive, but it cannot “corner” in the same way as a single shaft driven model would do.

Does this boat also sit a little high in the water?

Bob.

Thanks Bob. I see the build was modified to form the Sport version I started off building.

Can't see any real problem with the handling. It's never going to be as stable as say your Rapier due to the sharp bow and deep vee hull.

Chris

Beauty mate!👍

Hi Chris,

Not sure why the video did not upload first time, but I think it has now!

I drove the ‘31 close enough to keep it within range of my iPhone to hopefully make a good enough video to illustrate the boats handling characteristics.