Regretably I have decided to part company with Kathryn. The boat that is, not my wife. I am looking to dispose of the larger, less manageable boats from my collection to make life a little easier for me. The Sea Queen has gone to a new home in Southport, and now the Thames Bawley to a member of Kirklees Model Boat Club. The new owner has exciting new plans for her so I will be keeping a watch on developments. It is quite sad to part company with a model that I have spent so many hours in making and sailing but comforting that she is now in good hands.

Can anyone help me with this issue please. Cabin cruiser 1m long; 4240 x 740 brushless motor; 5S lipo; 55mm prop. Cruised happily for 15 mins, then made noise (not dissimilar to slipping coupling) and powered down to a stop. Would then only creep along. On inspection found all three fuse holders and 25A fuses had melted, but fuses not blown. The motor was not hot, nor was the ESC. Out of water seemed to operate OK. It was suggested that the prop might be too large, and caused the motor to go out of sync after a while. So, what do you think might be happening ?

I had intended posting videos of Kathryn under sail but cannot find out how to put videos onto the site. Can anyone help please ?

Finishing details There are a few details to describe that could be of help to other builders. The first two pictures show the jib sheet emerging onto the deck, then passing forward finishing in a simple loop to which each of the three jib sheets connect. Some explanation is needed here. Firstly, I wanted to be able to withdraw the sheet for maintenance or replacement purposes so I terminate it with a simple overhand knot that can be easily undone. Each of the three jib sheets attach to this loop with a lobster claw hook. The three jib sheets control : 1. the staysail, 2. the jib, 3. the flying jib. Each of their sheets is passed down to the deck thence to the loop. Pictures 3 and 4 show where the main sheet emerges onto the deck. It passes through a lobster claw hook on the transom horse and then to the boom where it is tied off. Again, I like to have the sheet removable for maintenance etc so a simple knot is used, and not tied too tightly so it can be undone when necessary. Also in these pictures can be seen the green cord which operates the rudder. A small sawcut was made in the hatch coaming each side to allow the cord to pass, and so far does not seem to have let water in. The next three pictures show cleats and blocks. These are all hand made, some more carefully than others ! Initially I tried making blocks using the method Gary from SailTails suggests but I found it quite difficult to finish each block identically. These are on the bottom row of the first and second picture. The cleats were made by taking a length of wood, shaving and shaping it to the cleat profile, then cutting each cleat off the length, and finally sanding off the edges and drilling a pilot hole. I used long shank screw eyes to screw and glue these to the mast foot. (see earlier pictures in Blogs 8 and 9.) My preferred method of block making is shown top left of the first two pictures where a group of four blocks is seen. Also seen in the third picture. The top three have a simple wooden dowel (bamboo skewers) whilst the bottom one uses a brass sheave and axle. The one with the brass sheave was the most fiddly to make. The others were made a dozen at a time from strip hardwood. The first strip was placed on the bench, then using spacing blocks each insert piece was glued down and the top strip glued on. When the glue was fully hardened each block was cut from the strip, sanded to shape and a screw-eye screwed and glued into place. With practice I found I could make these quite quickly, and could even scale them down to suit smaller needs, eg. on 1:32 scale boats. Next I decided to improve the gaff uphaul. The before and after can be seen in the two photos. The cord now passes up and through a block, then down the mast to a cleat. Much better ! Finally, a few pictures of Kathryn on the water. In the final blog I will post some videos of her under sail in various wind conditions.

I wrongly entered my last post in the 'how to' section where, it seems, you are unable to respond. So here is my query for which I am seeking your guidance. I have a motor circuit that comprises : 5S 5000mAh 30C Lipo; 40A fuse; 90A marine ESC; 3 x 20A fuses; 46 x 50 870KV brushless motor. There are no switches in the circuit yet. 1.Should I have a switch serving the battery ? 2. If yes, what rating ? 3. Should I have a switch between the ESC and the receiver ? Any advice or guidance gratefully received.

About the mainsail, topsail and large staysail. The gaff is lifted by the uphaul (Pic 1) with the halyard being tied off on a mast cleat (Pic 2) Note this is not how the real thing would be done, but is my method that works on a model. There are a number of cleats attached to the foot of the mast. These are glued and attached using long screw eyes ( see earlier blog) Pic 3 shows the gaff 'spreader' (my term) the halyard passing through various pulleys before travelling down the mast to a cleat (Pic4) More about pulleys in the next Blog. The following photos show the principle sails and how they are attached. I have made a number of other sails not shown here, including a smaller main sail and topsail, a smaller staysail, a jib and a flying jib. These can be set to suit different wind strengths. The mainsail (pic 5 ) is an old cotton sheet stained with tea. I have sewn reinforcement patches into the places that will come under stress or tension, and bias binding onto all edges. Metal eyes or hooks are then sewn into the clew (Pic 6), the tack (Pic 7), the throat (Pics 8 and 9), and the peak (Pic 10 ). Pic 11 just shows how the bias binding is used to finish the sail edges. Attachment points are shown in the next few pictures. Pic 12 the tack eye, Pic 13 the throat eye, Pic 14 the peak uphaul and Pic 15 the clew outhaul. Pic 16 shows the main sheet emerging onto the deck, passing through an eye on the travel horse and heading for the main boom. The topsail is shown in Pic 17, already stained with Colron dye, corners reinforced and bias binding sewn on. The following five pictures show the topsail foot, clew and peak in detail. Pic 23 is the large staysail, with the tack, clew and head shown in the final pictures. None of the methods used for attaching these sails is authentic. My aim is to be able to sail the boat and enjoy seeing it on the water. I therefore need to be able to attach or detach the sails quickly at the pondside. I use a variety of attachments, principally eyes and hooks. I try to make these as neat as possible, and not detract from the appearance. We often talk about 'passing the ten foot test', meaning if it looks OK when ten feet away, then it is OK. However, viewing these photos I can see just how poorly I have finished off sewing in the sail corners. There are too many ragged edges and untidy hand sewing. In future I must remind myself of this and do better. (Sounds like my school reports - 'must do better !')

All about the masts, boom, gaff, sails and standing rigging. The standing rigging are those parts of the rigging such as shrouds, stays etc that may be set up permanently. Having prepared the masts and spars the next job was to assemble them, add the necessary fittings and fixtures and then to add the standing rigging. Photos 1,2 and 3 show the mast foot set into the cabin roof; the cabin chimney; the boom and gooseneck with parrel line and beads, and the elastic kicking strap. Also, the black wire seen crossing the deck from the hatch and heading up the mast is the aerial wire for a 27MHz receiver. The gooseneck (or jaws) is made from ply which is slotted and glued into the boom. The parrel line and beads (chrome was not the finish I really wanted) hold the boom onto the mast whilst allowing it to move freely. The gaff is arranged in the same way but is finished off at an angle where it meets the mast. (photos 5,6 and 7) Photos 4 and 9 show the chain plates and shrouds. The cord chosen for the shrouds is nylon. Nylon cord stretches and this enables tension to be exerted by use of bowsies. Should non-stretch cord have been used then bottle screws would be needed to tension the shrouds, and this is a much trickier job to get right than using bowsies on a stretchy cord. In addition, bottle screws are many times more expensive than home made bowsies. Bowsies for the shrouds were made from black 4 x 5mm strip nylon. Smaller bowsies of clear perspex are used for outhauls and uphauls which are under much less tension. Photos 5, 6 and 7 also show the arrangement where the topmast is supported at the head of the mainmast. Photos 8, 11, 12 and 13 show the arrangements used on the bowsprit, the boom, top of the topmast, and peak of the gaff. There are three sets of shrouds, the foremost passing through the spreader and on to the top of the topmast. The other two sets are attached to the top of the mainmast. In photo 14 I have shown the various screw eyes used. Mostly I have used the 10 x 5 size, but where there is little stress or tension I have used the smaller sizes. In all cases I drill a 0.5mm pilot hole first. There might appear to be a lot of screw eyes in some of the spars, but each one has a purpose. Lastly, for the eagle eyed amongst you, photo 10 shows two cleats attached to the port gunwhale used for tying off jib halyards.

You will have gathered that I spent a lot of time planning how everything should be; where it should go; its size; the sequence of work to be done; how I wanted it to look; the compromises made; how it should operate; the convenience etc etc. That's not to say I was happy with things first time around. On the contrary, some items were made and re made several times before I was satisfied. Working to the sail plan (see photo 1) I decided which sails I would like, and which would not be needed. Throughout this build I was mindful that this was to be a sailing model rather than an accurate and detailed model. I wanted to be able to attach sails or remove them easily at the pondside, and to accommodate different wind speeds opted for two sizes of mainsail and headsail; a staysail, one jib and a flying jib, also a large staysail that would take the place of the last three sails. The mast is made from 18mm dowel; the topmast, boom, bowsprit, and gaff from 12mm dowel and the spreader from 6mm dowel. Dowels were first shaped and smoothed, then stained and varnished. (photo 2) The foot of the mast was shaped (photo 4) and in the bottom of the hull a 'mound' of car body filler created with a matching socket. This prevents the mast from turning or swivelling whilst in use. A wooden ring was made and slid down the mast where it was glued into place. Beneath this and reaching down to the deck I glued vertical timbers encircling the mast with brackets supporting the ring. This ring supports the jaws of the boom. (Photos 5 and 6). In photo 7 can be seen the cleats and mouldings below the ring for tying off various sheets and ropes. The cleats are made by shaping a long piece of wood to create a shallow 'C' section, then sawing off each cleat to the desired thickness, and finally sanding to shape. They are attached to the mast with both glue (PVA), and screw eyes. I use these because they are available in very small sizes, are simpler to screw into place than normal screws, and also provide an additional eye to which things can be attached. Hidden from view is an 'O' ring on the mast that prevents water getting into the hull. Photo 3 shows some of the sails laid out. Sails are made of cotton (old bed sheets I believe). The material was first dyed, the light colour using tea, the dark brown using Dylon fabric dye. Full size patterns for all sails were drawn up. From these drawings patterns were made of stiff paper, the actual size of the finished sail. After marking out the material was cut using a steel straight edge and sharp knife. These 'proofs' were then checked against the drawings before proceeding. The first operation on the sewing machine was to cut out and sew on the corner reinforcing patches. Narrow bias binding (5/8" I believe) was sewn onto all sides and the corners trimmed off. Small eyelets were then put into each corner.

My assistant in filming the operation of the sail winch is Kathryn, after whom the boat was named. Please see the attached videos. These videos show the sail winch in operation, but without sails, just the sheets that operate the sails. The sheet emerging just astern of the hatch is for the mainsail. That emerging off to one side of the hatch is for the staysail and jibs. The 'closed circuit' or 'loop' is what we call the cord that starts at the sail winch, passes along the length of the 'rack', around a pulley and back to the winch. The winch has two sections. The outward leg is attached to the lower section whilst the inward leg is attached to the upper section. Watch for the knot on the jib sheet appearing. When it reaches a nearby screweye it stops. At this position the both sheets are fully extended. When the sheets are hauled in you will see the knot on the mainsail sheet appear and travel up to the sail winch when it stops. At this point both sheets are fully inhauled. The travel distance of the sheets is about 30cm. That distance is enough for the mainsail to be let out fully, but more than sufficient for the staysail and jibs. So their sheets pass through an eye or pulley on the clew of each sail and lead to an anchoring point back on the opposite gunwale. If you would like to see detail of this arrangement please let me know and I can post a futuyre blog on the subject.

How the sheeting loop and rudder operate. Pic 1 shows the general layout as seen inside the hatch opening. Top left is the switch; mid left is the receiver (This is an old Acoms 27Mhz) with protruding crystal carrier; immediately beneath is a brass tube which carries the main sheet towards the stern (just to keep it out of harms way); mid left is the rudder servo and arm; then to its right is the sail winch, drum and servo (Kingmax Sail Winch Servo, 4 turn); the sheeting loop can be seen passing around the drum and going forward where it passes around a large pulley; the battery pack is stowed in an alloy box and neatly goes into the slot in the wooden 'rack' ; at the bottom (disappearing from view)can be seen the sheet which serves the staysail and all the jib sails. Pic 2 much the same as the first picture but slightly different angle. To the left the main sheet is seen emerging through a sheeting eye (from P J Sails). The rudder servo and arm are seen with the cord leading away to the tiller through saw cuts in the top edge of the coaming. Pic 3 Shows the battery pack which goes into an alloy box mounted beneath the centre of the sheeting rack. Pic 4 Shows the battery pack slotted into place. The leads can be tucked away. At the top the jib sheet can be seen emerging from a sheeting eye (from P J Sails). The cord is terminated in a loop to which all sheets from individual jibs and staysail are attached. Pic 5 This is a video showing the rudder winch in operation. A little more explanation of the sheeting loop. A knot is tied in the cord each side of the loop such that when one knot reaches the end of its travel, the other knot does so at the other end, ie. one ends up near the forward pulley whilst the other ends up near the servo drum. The main sheet is attached to one knot and the jib sheet to the other. When above deck the jib sheet ends in a loop to which each of the sheets for all the forward sails are attached. So for example, if only a staysail is in use then just one sheet is attached to the loop. If a staysail, jib and flying jib are in use then three sheets are attached to the loop. Adjustment to trim each sail is achieved at the sail end of each sheet. I will give more detailed information and pictures of the sails, standing rigging and running rigging in future posts.

Designing the sheeting loop was perhaps the most important single item beneath the deck. It needed very careful planning to make the travel distance on the loop as long as possible whilst maintaining sufficient space beneath it to mount the winch servo. I also wanted the facility to remove the whole thing as easily as possible, and this was done by locating the front end in a 'socket', and the rear end retained with a single screw. Careful calculations were made to determine the travel distance required, whether the winch should be 2,4 or 6 turns, and placement of the nylon grommets through which the sheets emerge above the deck. The servo is mounted on slotted holes so the right tension on the sheeting loop can be achieved. The rudder servo is also mounted to the underside of the deck using two strips of aluminium. Operation of the tiller is by thin cord which is led through screw eyes back to the servo arm. The cord passes through shallow saw cuts in the hatch coaming immediately beneath the hatch itself. Location of the 5 x AA battery pack took a while to sort out. None of the locations shown in the photos was used. Eventually I made an aluminium box which is slung beneath the sheet loop platform which enables me to insert or remove the pack through the central slot in the platform. A switch is attached to the hatch coaming, and covered with a piece of latex glove to make it watertight. The receiver is also mounted on the coaming with velcro. Detailed design of the sheeting arrangements was done after all the mast, spars, rigging and sails were planned.

My latest Turnigy brushless motor, a 4240, 740 has banana type plugs moulded on to the three leads which connect to the ESC. See picture. The pins of these plugs are 3mm diameter. I would like to know what these are. Are they 3mm bullet connectors ? I need to know what they are so I can buy the other half, otherwise I will be snipping them off and using a Wago connector block instead. Thanks for your help

This section of pictures is slightly out of order because prior to this stage I spent some time designing the internal installations. These comprised the sheeting loop, the operating sail servo, the rudder servo and a battery box. To start with the whole installation had to clear the keel box and struts. These can be seen in the last picture. In this picture the interior has also been treated with flow coat. Not only does this provide a waterproof coating but the light colour makes it much easier to see the interior when working on it , making adjustments or simply baling out. The first three pictures show work on the deck progressing with the main hatch, the forward hatch (which is fixed) and the hole for the mast. The foot of the mast is shaped with two flat sides so when it is in place in a socket created in resin in the bottom of the boat it is not able to turn. The old lead keelson was removed, the vacant space filled with wood with a slot left into which a keel box is fitted. The box is made of sheet aluminium, superglued together and clad with fibreglass. (see photo). This was then secured in place with car body filler and fibreglass. Later the box was further strengthened with internal struts (see last photo). Externally the box projects to the same depth as the keel so when viewed from the side it cannot be seen. Where the original brass strip chain plates emerge on the boat sides I attached wooden blocks to more closely resemble the real construction. These blocks come in very useful to support the boat in place on the carrier/stand which was simply made from scrap.

After doing a bit of research into Thames Bawleys I discovered they were built in a number of different lengths, and this enabled me to adopt a scale of 1:16 for my boat. Once this was settled it allowed me to progress with the build. The original deck was in a terrible state, and totally unrepairable, so I removed it completely whilst retaining sections of it around the gunwales. The new deck would then sit on these sections. The bowsprit supports (the two vertical members) were left in situ, so I decided to have a join in the deck at this point, the small section forward being fixed in place, whilst the main deck piece was planned to be screwed down and removable. This was to allow access to the inside of the hull which would otherwise only be accessible through the hatch. After making a card pattern for the deck and adjusting it for a close fit the new ply deck was cut out and the edges smoothed. Screw positions were marked on the ply, holes drilled and countersunk. The planking was then drawn on using a black pencil. A simplified (ie. rectangular) hatch was then cut out and coamings glued into place, with supporting battens on the underside of the deck.

Amongst the model boat magazines from Ernie was a copy of Marine Modelling International, February 2010 in which Barrie Griffin had written an article about construction of a Thames Bawley model, including some very helpful plans, diagrams and photographs of his model during construction. Further research brought to light other plans and sketches which helped me plan what to do with the boat hull, and formulate the sail plan. From the outset I intended that this would be a sailing model, and that accuracy would therefore be compromised in order that it would sail in different wind strengths. One such compromise was the addition of a boom, where the real boats had no boom but the mainsail was loose footed. The photographs show the respective plans and sketches studied.

In 2020 a fellow member of the Leeds & Bradford Model Boat Club, Ernest Birch, gave me a model of a Thames Bawley he had been making. He had tried sailing it a few times but each time it had capsized. In addition to the boat he also gave me a number of model boat magazines about Thames Bawleys, plus plans and other articles. This blog is all about the work I have done to get the boat into reasonable sailing condition. Unfortunately I have no photos of the boat prior to my taking it apart. I decided to scrap all the sails, mast, rigging, decking, bulkheads, internal blockings and lead keelson. It took quite a time to grind out all the superfluous fibreglass resin (about 1.5lbs in all !). The hull was stripped, the lead keelson removed and the whole interior cleaned out. Any holes in the hull were stopped with polyester resin at that stage, and the surfaces sanded and smoothed ready for painting. In the attached photos the lead keelson is still in place.

Sea plane tenders have always attracted me. There is something very pleasing about the shape, and the jizz when on the water is wonderful. Here is the story of SPT 409. After purchasing a Deans kit for SPT 441 I decided to make a facsimile (which I later called SPT 409). The first job was to prepare plans. Picture 1 shows one of the initial plans I drew up, using measurements from the Deans plans and hull, and from other sources. Picture 2 then shows tracings spot glued to balsa ready for cutting out. Having a template for each frame or bulkhead enabled me to juggle them around to make best use of the balsa sheet. Picture 3 then shows the frames cut out. This was quite a tricky operation which involved a lot of pin pricking through the templates onto the balsa, then cutting. After a number of false starts I found a sharp thin blade to be best, and experience was needed to achieve cuts at 90 degrees to the surface.

How should I start to tell you about Speedwell ? I was 12 when I made her and the accompanying photo shows me with her some months later in 1960. My interest in model boats was launched in 1958 when I started to experiment with balsa and balsa cement. I subscribed to Model Maker magazine which gave me an appetite for making boats properly, so after 'messing about' with prototypes I settled down to make an auxiliary ketch. No plans. No instructions. No mentor. Just me and my juvenile brain ! The boat was made deck down using the two shelf principle. A number of bulkheads were shaped and glued on, then the 'shelf' glued in place. For those not familiar with this method, the 'shelf' is a horizontal member that takes the approximate form of the boat at the water-line. A vertical keel member was shaped that fills the whole space from shelf to keel. Bulkheads were then glued between the shelf and each side of the keel piece. Sheet balsa was then attached except at the bows where a solid block was used. The sides of the boat were prepared, then covered with two layers of doped tissue before painting. A piece of galvanised sheet was bolted to the keel piece to form the keel, and a lead weight later bolted on. A Kako No4 electric motor was mounted on the underside of a hatch with direct drive to the propellor via a simple coupling. Batteries were two lots of 5 U2s (D cells in today's terminology), and I made a pendulum switch that turned the motor on when the yacht was becalmed and upright. Steering was with a simple Braine type gear made from an old school set-square. Masts and spars were simple dowel, and the first set of sails were made by Mum using old bedsheets. Taking Speedwell sailing was quite an exercise in itself. I made a box to mount on the rear carrier of my bicycle, and cycled around 8 miles to reach a boating pond on Wanstead Flats. Sometimes it arrived in one piece ! Fast forward 40 years and after a move north of 200 miles and Speedwell had not only survived, thanks to that box, but had been given a new set of sails, this time blue. More later.

This is the story of Albert, a pond yacht made by an uncle in 1926 and given to me in 1959. The photos show how she looks now, and how it was in 2018 when I started a major restoration and rebuild. You can imagine the language when suddenly my yacht morphed from a hull to a few bits of firewood. In coming posts I will describe and show the history of Albert. Keep watching.....