How big is the battery that you're using, both physically, and capacity-wise? ps- even with the list, it looks cool!
Thanks, Tug. It's a pretty standard 6 cell pack, arranged 2x3 lengthwise. 5"x1.75"x0.875" 7.2V, 3300mAh NiMH. Weighs in at around 0.5 lbs. Probably a little more capacity than is really needed, but the voltage is right. Found a great reference on stability. http://www.rcwarships.com/rcwarships/nwc/stability.html Topside is ultra light, everything else is rock-bottomed low. But definitely going to follow some key advice -- center and bolt down/secure that battery pack & CO2. Also found a great tip hidden near the end -- suggests that gluing strips of weights/lead to the hull is allowed for smaller ships just for this purpose. Found some 3oz strips at Tower; they're in the mail!
Some sort of quick latch/fastener to hold down the deck a little more would be my first course of action, then when the gap is smaller use silicon to seal it. Put Vaseline or similar on one of the surfaces and silicon on the other, fit them together until the silicon cures and then the vaseline should let the one surface come off leaving you with a nice custom "gasket" . I actually need to redo that on the rear deck of the Bismarck before going to battle this weekend. Small ships like that tend to be tippy, nature of the beast, if you can get it to not list while sitting still and then right itself quickly out of a turn or when stopped you're probably good to go. And Congrats on the open water test! That's a big step.
Thanks Tugboat & SnipeHunter for the great advice. Stuff I know I should have thought more about, but it's been a long time to get to this point (18 months! Very off/on.) Kinda hoped I would just get away with it. Not... Will get these last kinks fixed up, and then go duck hunting. ;-)
Thanks for the all of the tips! After securing the batteries & CO2 in a fixed location with Velcro, ballasting, and balancing, we're 100% shipshape now. The ship weighed in at almost exactly 4 pounds, with a half pound of margin. So, we added six ounces of stick-on lead weight to the keel. Speed/drag penalty in return for righting capability. Added a few more lead pieces to the starboard side during precision balancing in the bathtub. Also dressed up the wiring and tubing much more cleanly, allowing the topdeck to fit much more snugly. Still need to do the silcone/vaseline gasket trick. Great idea. We had a beautiful second sea trial. Minor leakage from either the balsa or the shafts, nothing bad. It does tend to dive the stern in reverse, just as we were warned. Floated a small box for target practice and thoroughly perforated it. Three ducks wisely kept their distance. Thanks again for all of the infomation and advice offered on this site, especially Steve Tyng. Would have been 100% impossible to do this first ship without all the help. A lot of fun. Hope to see you on the water someday.
I agree with Nikki. Fine looking boat. I would say, angle the gun down a few degrees, but that's a matter of taste
Range is personal taste thing. Some like vanilla, some like chocolate. Still a very nice looking boat either way.
Thank you, gents. As for the range... I'm not sure. The BBs skip across the pond pretty well -- that cannon is nearly level. I think I agree that we could stand to angle it down a bit, to maybe try for the below-waterline hits. I think that will be our next adjustment...
I just looked at the pics again. FINE looking boat on the water. You ought to upload the pics of her driving around to the folder for the pics you see when you log in.
