Good to see her getting plenty of work. An idle boat does not pay the bills. Looks great.👍

That retractable system is brilliant and very well thought out. Great paint job.

Beautiful ship and love the location. Videos are a credit to you and worth while for inspiration. Thanks.

I understand what you mean. My 1meter Baby Bootlegger and it takes a bit of turning in narrow spaces. I think it was the powerboat Miss America that had a separate small dagger/rudder up forward. A huge benefit. I guess I was looking at the lines of the yacht as well.

I am no expert but agree with your decision. Interested to see how it goes.

That is an interesting thread. I am sticking to the plan but at least I have a proven option.

Hopefully winter will sort out the weed. Thanks.

Thinking about that scale model it would be a great test bed for a full keel. Especially as we are battling weed growth after someone emptied fish pond grasses into our waterways. It grew extremely quickly and 6 months later we have been able to rake a path out to clearer water.

Going well and looking good. I tend to get impatient however am learning the values of patience and thinking before cutting.

I agree with the length. One meter length is a handy size however a lot could be put off with longer vessels.

I am well into the Emma build and hope to have the hull and deck finished in the next ten days. Hull has been coated in resin and painted both internally and externally and electronics fitted.
Photos will come.

Hi Jacko, I am finding it a great project. I am not a carpenter and have been known to go by the rule of thumb and crossed fingers.
In this case I am following instructions as closely as possible to give it the respect it deserves.

At the moment I am working on the rudder section and do not have a good drill press. Luckily I have a friend who has.

I am having to handmake the tiller arm as well as the servo arm as unable to source the servo arm locally. 1/8 aluminium plate and a lot of hand filing and shaping.

Looking forward to seeing yours take shape.

That works. Looks like it is kept busy as well.
I nearly had the use for the one at our club on Sunday. The ESC in my sea commander started getting rather hot and smoking. Luckily I was able to get to it in time. Bin job.

He certainly knows his trade and has done a great job in detailing his plans for simplicity. I will certainly be looking at another of his yachts when Emma is finished. (Subject to spare bedroom space for storage.)

Like others I believe most of the enjoyment is in the build. Sailing successfully afterwards is the cream.

A month has passed and Emma is coming along well. I am using 3mm ply and purchased a full sheet from the hardware for less than AUD$40 which gives me enough for two boats.

Happy with that as it is a lot more economic than balsa or other timbers and as long as it is well sealed it will be fine. I think the glue costs are more than the actual hull. I have given the external a primer/builder (cleaner to work with.)

I have progressed so far to making the box for the electronics. Plenty of room there with oversized boxes but everything is fitting well. I like the fact that the box section is totally removable making it easy to get to receiver, batteries and the sail servo.

I am about to start work on the rudder and rudder stock etc., followed with finishing the mast step, deck fittings and a few internal strengthening fittings.

It will be interesting to see what the next month brings

A common problem when things go wrong on the waterway when yachts or buoys had to be retreived has been how to get out there to do the job. One of our members solved it quite easily and repurposed his boat. Works well

A different world. Dropped from 30c to 19c here. Hard to imagine living in that climate though would be welcome sometimes.

I am going through that with my Baby Bootlegger. Not enough airflow. I have just received a new esc with attached fan so hopefully that will make a difference.

The boat was slowing down dramatically after 15 minutes in the water, mostly just stooging around with a variety of speeds.

Thank you, I will look into that as well.

Looks like a great job. He certainly gives good follow up via video and clear plans.

When I received the plans I checked the draft and compared it to my IOM. A fraction longer which at the moment would be an issue where I live. People have dumped weed or grass into the waterway which grew to the extent that we cannot sail or put any watercraft in. Had to move to another location with shallower water. Wee Nip size.

Regardless, am really looking forward to the build.

We had several of them that were sailed on a regular basis. Most have now graduated to the DF95's which give our IOM fleet a run for their money.
The only real negative with them has been that they are very lightly constructed with some splitting in the hull. Otherwise a fun boat to sail.

I have just downloaded plans for a Sloop - Emma. Something for winter to go along with my other tasks.

1 meter long and what should be a simple build.
I would be interested to see if anyone else has built her or any of her sister yachts...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlwMVXxC9E

When complete she will have to join my Baby Bootlegger on the kitchen table. Running out of room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlwMVXxC9E

🔗

Will check them out. Certainly fits the vehicle.

Engine noise is very realistic. Sounds like a truck I used to own. A great project with a difference. Looking forward to more videos.👍

One of the members of our club in Queensland has built two racing sparrows. I intend match racing with him to try them out. They look good and I know they are popular in NZ.
We sail mainly the Wee Nips and IOM classes with the 95's gaining popularity. Looking forward to seeing how you go.

Hi and thanks. Try the link https://youtu.be/M1mMfLXkopc and it should work. Just a very short video approx 8 seconds.

Yes, designed by George Grouch back in the early 1920's. I downloaded free plans and took it from there. Plenty of videos on YouTube of new builds with the Rolls Royce v12 motors. A wonderful sound.

https://youtu.be/M1mMfLXkopc

🔗

Thank you. It is always a frustration being so near and yet so far. The day I first put it in it only had a 550 motor - would not get up on the plane at all. The 750? size made a huge difference.

Looking forward to getting some fiddly things out of the way, repairing my Sea Commander (dropped out of a sling leaving a hole about an inch wide in the bow), fixing up a Compass 65 sail boat, and suchlike. A good way to fill in rainy days, of which there are many at the moment.

Boat is fitted with 2 x parallel 7.2v - 5000 mAh batteries and using a 12v brushed electric motor. It gets up on the plane using that configuration, however am contemplating upgrading the ESC and putting the batteries in series to fully utilize the 12v motor. In the meantime altering the battery forward a fraction to allow the brass 3 blade prop to get a better bite at the water when at speed.

The build took me 8 months, mistakes were made as the whole thing was a learning process, but overall the end result in the water is impressive. It is 90% complete as I wait for some parts but nothing important.

Coated in fibreglass resin followed by 3 coats of varnish.
Construction largely balsa planks with a top of veneer strips (big mistake) done due to the non local availability of mahogany timbers.

The normal racing number for the Baby Bootlegger is G5 - I numbered it G34 which is my race number with my yachts.

A short video of my first day trial - in case the attached media file does not work: https://youtu.be/M1mMfLXkopc

Next job, rebuild my flyer from scratch as it did not get past the framing stage, fix up another couple of rc yachts, pull the weeds out of the rose garden, and look at building another yacht.

https://youtu.be/M1mMfLXkopc

🔗

Had to put video on youtube.
https://youtu.be/M1mMfLXkopc

Motor is 12v running with two 7.2v 5000 ah batteries, run in parallel. Using that configuration it tucks the stern down and lifts the bow quite easily A little fine tuning with battery placement is in order on my next fine day, At some time in the future i may change to running in series and replacing the esc.

Work to be done first to completely finalise. photos do follow.

https://youtu.be/M1mMfLXkopc

🔗

8 Months later. 99% complete.
My Bootlegger is complete apart from some small fittings and brass that is in short supply. Epoxies, 3 coats of varnish done and into the water. She rides well with small adjustments to be made. It was a huge learning curve but worth it. Time almost to restart my Flyer. In the meantime I will send a photo and video of her as she goes at the moment. Hope the video works.

Great job. I like the skipper as well. Looks the part and must be in for a bit of a blow.

Something to look into. Probably something like a rail as it would not affect the look of the boat too much.