Hello my one is still in the white I have not found a colour scheme and deck detail I would like to use. They do sail very well I remember talking to the designer before he re-kitted them for RC.
Which reminds me I have the Trimarran somewhere in the garage.
regards
Roy

I use a little "plug in" voltage alarm on my lipo's. it simply plugs in to the balance charge plug connector. so give you an initial volt test,usually with a few bleeps and a set of green lights, then as the batteries drain, the led's turn red and an alert buzzer goes of as they approach low volt limit, which is set on these alarms at 3.2v, so no damage done to the batteries.

Its a quick search on ebay, loads of sellers, cost around £2.50 each.
very useful bit of kit poolside as you can check all your lipo batteries, even after being used and left to stand, the batteries do recover a bit and possibly ready again for a further shortened run time too.


Happy sailing with your boat, the setup's brill !

Those are the alarms I intend to use but they seem to be taking a while to come. They are so cheap I intend to install them in the boat with velcro and extension leads on the balance connectors. The lipos certainly give a weight saving too.

HI Ian
See you are making good use of the wattmeter 😀
Like the video and agree the balance could benefit with a bit more weight amidships.
Listening to the video sound suggests your motors are not developing full power so I suspect the NiMh's are not capable of delivering the amps required.
You could try smaller props with the NiMh's to see if the performance Improves, could be your motors are working just below the optimum.

Dave, I found that the Nimh batteries were dropping off to around 9v at full power when measured with the wattmeter and this is why I want to go for Lipos, one on each motor. At the moment I'm taking everything from one pack and I think this is the limiting factor.
When I get my Lipos I will stick them in the middle and try larger props, probably 40mmS types to begin with, having measured what's going on with the wattmeter first. it may be that the existing props will do better if the batteries are delivering up what the motors want. You're right, there is still plenty of headroom with this setup.
Just got to rake up the cash for two largish capacity Lipos!

The wattmeter is a splendid purchase- I'd say essential for this type of thing.

Anyway, glad you liked the video- she still looks quite good toodling around at that speed.

All the best...Ian

I would try and leave the cooling slots fully open, to allow air to circulate through the motor internals. Same goes for any air slots in the front face of the motor, always try and make a hole on the motor mount [if none in], to aid airflow through the motor.
if you cover the slots up, you are only adding to the internal temperature of the motor you are trying to cool.

Thanks. I suppose it's obvious when you think about it. The motor mounts do have slots in the front face.

Hi" thank you for your kind comments on my rebuild stiletto speed boat.I have a passion for the older classic boats. it did have a older smaller 500 motor unknown make when bought.But I upgraded to a johnston 600 which are used in diy power drills and are very fast but don't over heat with a built in coolant fan .A Prestney 😉

I believe this was the smaller version of the Lesro Rapier. I think they are fine looking boats - future classics. Your restoration looks fantastic and it seems to be going well too. My Rapier had it's maiden voyage recently. When I bought the kit from Lesro they told me it was the last one they had!
I too like the older style wooden boats.
Ian

Very sad the fishermen have taken over Crealy lake. No more model boats.

It is indeed sad and these videos remind us of happy times spent there. We srtuggle to find a suitable alternative. As the old song says-'You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone!'.

Lovely looking boat , well done