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LewZ
Admiral
Suncoast Scale Model Boat - March 15, 2026 meet
Stunning weather most model boaters would be jealous of. Warm, but not hot! Very gentle breeze. No rain! But not many showed up. Wait 'till the summer comes" No complaints about it being too hot for model boats!

Anyway, I wanted to get back to my trawler with another video. This time on board with my old GoPro. Had some issues with the battery packs slipping inside the hull. I'm going to remove the one for the lighting as I don't use them anyway. Then I will add some fixed ballast in the bottom. The video with the camera (and waterproof housing) on the top of the pilot house made the boat heel quite a bit. Going to try for some more on board videos in the near future on my other boats.

Got the 4 minute YouTube link here:
I hope you enjoy it!

Lew
Liked by Wolle and jrjandcole and
2 comments
  • jumpuglyAdmiral
    Lew! This is great!!!
    When you have a moment can you post a picture of the rudder and prop set-up you've used Elena? Or is it in your harbor or build blog? I have a trawler in my future.
    Many thanks!
    👍
    Liked by hermank
  • LewZAdmiral
    Nothing fancy about the prop and rudder. The rudder pivot axis is about 35% back from the leading edge. This way the rudder forces more of the prop back wash to the side to help the boat turn sharper.

    Lew
    Liked by hermank
LewZ
Admiral
1 / 2
Suncoast Scale Model Boat Club - March 1, 2026 meet
SSMBC - although a little windy, only four members showed up. The wonderful temperature and no rain was great. I decide to run my trawler, "Elena", which has not seen the pond in over five years. It handled the wind quite well and is perhaps my best operating boat for rough conditions. I know there is a limit with that much above the deck to catch the wind, but I must admit this was a very good run with a little challenge!

I hope you all enjoy the short video.

Lew
Liked by muddy and Mike Stoney and
5 comments
  • LewZAdmiral
    Ronald, the reason I built this boat with the nets up is I wanted it to show it in action. The net is loaded with fish and two men are working to bring the catch aboard. See photos.
    Lew
    Liked by Mike Stoney and chugalone100 and
  • LewZAdmiral
    Yes Dave, is was the Helen kit. I bought it (2016?) partially built (up to the deck) but had to rip it apart to get the big dead battery out.

    Worst part was the entire hull was covered in masking tape for many years. What a pain it was to remove it. In the long run it worked out.

    I renamed it "Elena" after my wife. It sits in our front room and is the first model one sees in our home. Still uses the old FM radio. Runs perfect as I have alluded to.
    Lew
    Liked by DWBrinkman and hermank
LewZ
Admiral
1 / 7
Suncoast Scale Model Boat Club
Finally our first meet of 2026! Very unusual weather for us, like the rest of the country. Normally we might miss 1 or 2 weekends during the winter season but this was our first meet since December.

This would have been a great perfect day was hampered by wind, a little much for many smaller boats. Also a lot of dead fish around the pond, probably caused by a lack of oxygen because of a lack of rain. We are in the middle of a drought, but it is supposed to rain tonight.

Lew
Liked by Mike Stoney and GARTH and
2 comments
  • PhilHLieutenant Commander
    Great to see a young face doing sailing need more other wise the hobby will die
    Philuk
    Liked by LeeA and hermank and
  • LewZAdmiral
    In case anyone missed it, that bridge to the floating dock is the one in the video (recently posted) of my towboat pushing the barge under it.

    Lew
    Liked by hermank
LewZ
Admiral
Towboat pushing a large barge.
Got a new tablet and when I placed my SD card in it I found this old video (~8 years ago) video of my towboat pushing a barge under the bridge between the dock and shore.
Lew
Liked by LeeA and jbkiwi and
3 comments
  • Mike StoneyRear Admiral
    WOW!!!!
    You guys are simply amazing, no . . more . . . Your work is just fantastic. It's a treat to see such beautiful models.
    I looked at my Aline (shrimp trawler) and noticed that there's still quite a bit missing. Yippee! More work to do!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    Michel-C. 😍😍😍
    Liked by hermank
  • LewZAdmiral
    Did the giant foot on the dock give it a way?

    I enjoy watching the real towboats pushing their "tow" LIVE (hence "towboats in the US) through the locks, especially Lock 19 on the old Mississippi River.

    Towboats straining to push 1,000's of tons with the turbos screaming . Too bad I live so far away.

    The video link show one of the towboats pushing 42 barges on the river. Each barge is 200 feet long. (Copy and paste the link in your browser.)

    Lew

    Liked by Ray and LeeA and
lukeH
Leading Seaman
1 / 14
Fishing Trawler build
Hi all built this robbe le courage a few years back and wanted to share a few pix...recently refitted👍 sails lovely and the trawl net and otter boards are a nice extra!
Liked by Northernflotsam and philcaretaker and
7 comments
  • Mike StoneyRear Admiral
    Hello Luke!
    Compliments, it looks fantastic. . .
    Lg Michel-C.
    Liked by lukeH and hermank
  • BruceMAble Seaman
    Superb refurb you have put my Deans Marine Tradition to shame.👍
    Liked by hermank and Mike Stoney and
GARTH
Commodore
1 / 2
Christmas theme
Tonight the Confederation model boat club is having the last meeting of 2025 and we are bringing models with a Christmas theme.
Liked by chugalone100 and philcaretaker and
3 comments
  • RossMCaptain
    so, does this mean Rudolph is outta job this CHRISTMAS😁?
    Liked by GARTH and hermank
  • BOATSHEDCaptain
    Hi Garth,
    That's great, Love the Christmas decorations.
    is that the naughty elf in the boat.
    Hope he'smnot taking with out consent.
    Out of curiosity, what model boat is that??
    Liked by GARTH and hermank
LewZ
Admiral
1 / 2
SSMBC (Florida) meet: 12/7/2025 military focus
Actually it was a "no meet" meet. December 7 is "Pearl Harbor" remberence day in the US. So I was up to 3 AM Saturday night preparing my PT61 to bring it to the park. Weather was 40% chance of rain.

Up at 9, I packed everything and went to the park. Only a few droplets of rain followed by the sun coming out and no rain. I was the only one there.

Ironically, people must have been watching weather radar on their cell phones and decided not to go. Contrast that when, on December 7, 1941, radar was manned and the impending attack was misinterpreted somewhere along the line and the US defenses decided "not to go".

It would have been a good meet. No fun sailing alone. I wanted the '61 to get in the water where it hasn't been in quite a while. So, I am posting photos of the PT61 (1/20 scale, 47+ inches long) in my SUV. More next time.

Lew
Liked by Wolle and Steves-s and
2 comments
  • Chum444Commodore
    Nice. Actually Lew I was interested in the second & the last boat pics from the 2 Nov meet. Builder/any details available?
    Liked by hermank
  • Chum444Commodore
    Well, these photos tell me the conventional bow workboat with push knees is your build. So, I deduce that the second boat that caught my eye is also one of your builds. I would certainly be interested in build photos of both. Is the “cruiser” based on an actual 1:1?
    Liked by hermank
LewZ
Admiral
1 / 10
SSMBC (Seminole, Florida) meet, Nov 16, 2025
Another meet with great weather. Perfect temperature with no wind at the start but a mild breeze came in for anyone sailing.
We had the docks (first time in many, many years). Going to work on a better and faster solution to fasten them together and use them more often.
Lew
Liked by ROBINS and philcaretaker and
3 comments
  • Chum444Commodore
    Thanks for posting Lew. Any additional information available for boats in second & last photo in your post of the 2 Nov outing?
    Liked by hermank and LewZ
  • LewZAdmiral
    Chum444, about the photo of the SSMBC docks. I am currently working on modifying these docks. I have a few more. Hope to be able to assemble them on land and slide them in the water as an assembly. I'll keep everyone posted on the details.
    Lew
    Liked by chugalone100 and philcaretaker and
LewZ
Admiral
1 / 11
SSMBC (Seminole, Florida) meet, Nov. 2, 2025
Absolutely stunning weather for this meet. It just doesn't get any better than this. After a long hot summer, the perfect day. No sweating, no rain, no clouds, no wind, just a gentle breeze. No bugs, snakes, gators, tourists.

Boats ran well, No need to have a rescue or get the long pole out. Perfect for scale model boaters (except for the guy that forgot his batteries.)

Lew
Liked by thadlietz and GARTH and
4 comments
  • philcaretakerCommodore
    Great meeting Lew ! - thanks for sharing pictures.
    Liked by hermank
  • Mike StoneyRear Admiral
    Hei Lew!
    What a pond! We would love to have something like that, but the local council is thwarting our plans.
    We wanted a little more inflow water, but even rainwater was not allowed. It could have been taken from the neighbouring houses at little expense and with little effort.
    Let's see what happens...
    There used to be three ponds for the mill further down. Unfortunately, the mills burned down completely in 1915. Oh well...
    Greetings from Switzerland
    Michel-C.
    Liked by chugalone100 and hermank

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