Hobbyking Phantom, can anyone offer any advise or tips on this yacht.

[millzee]

Another member, Rony pointed these yachts out http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...tom_1_89m.html and a guy he know's has the Legend, they look to be a good way to relax a little by the lake. I like flying kites so I'm hoping it might help a little. After looking at them and seeing the price along with them being in the ozzie warehouse I figured I'd get one, only $203 to my door. I was also inspired by Diegoboy's 145 led project https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ect&highlight= We will be comming out of summer soon and the loss of daylight savings will make it very hard to get daylight driving time so I thought I might try to fit some lights up on the nice quiet yacht, get the wife and kids to bed and sit out in the dark cold winter's nights (it's not too cold here) playing with the yacht till ungodly hours. Anyone have some knowledge on yachting and this boat that'll be happy to share???

[drwayne]

Danny, M8.
Wrong forum for wind driven boats... unless there's a 4S fan mounted the back to propel it along...

W

[millzee]

gee thanks doc, I was hoping someone might have one and be able to point me to the correct forum. But I do still have that traxxas stock merv motor, I suppose I could look at a small motor and prop simply to get me out of any tight spots. Sorry mod's, can it if you wish.

[drwayne]

Pack it away in the box for when the grandkids drive over.. and they can help you launch it.

[Diegoboy]

Thread moved to the "scale boat" board. Sailboats are considered "scale boats"

I don't own any sailboats, but many of our club members do. They are very relaxing to watch and they look like fun to run. The guys that run them always have a smile on their face while on the water. I don't know how, but they can even sail into the wind (which goes against my simple thinking). If it were mine, I'd install LED strips along the side of the boat, an LED on the top of the mast and several high power ones on the deck that light up the sail.

I think it's such a cool idea, I may just do one too!!

[millzee]

thanks danny, I'll try fitting the brightest I can find and I have a few strips in the shed somewhere,
It'll should be fun or I'll give it to my son's to destroy, lol.

[Diegoboy]

I use the cheap hobbyking strips as they are the same as others at a much better price, and I use THIS source for the other high power ones.

If you have questions please ask me. BTW, HERE's a good LED limiting resistor calculator.

[millzee]

thanks heaps.

[millzee]

I'll post a video of our new yachts light's as they float around over the cool winter nights. I'm planning on fitting those traxxas light bar cut in half, one facing each way at around 1/2 mast facing each end of the hull, a 1m red strip of waterproof 60p/m leds down the left side of the hull, 1m green down the right, 2m blue up the mast facing the blue sail and clear/white on the boom under the main sail, if I can find room somewhere I'll add some yellow ones on the deck. I'll run these on a 2500mAh 11.1v rx/tx pack through the remote on/off switch from a spare ch. I found the most awesome headlamp todat that is super bright, has adjustable beam/throw, the light is quite small considering the light output and it has a separate battery box ment for the back of your head. This battery box 4.5v will be able to go in the hull and then mod the light piece to fit on the masthead, it's lite too. Its the brand "lion" and it say's, "high performance adjustable led 150+m 3 mode, high, low and strobe which would be great if I were on a bike but on a lake I hate to suffer from epilepsy. Quality of this yacht is not too bad either, only a few fix up's upon building, I filled the ballast with every small sinker I own and after filling with epoxy it weighs 1.45kg. I swapped out the crappy rudder servo and put in a hitec, much better steering. The paints pretty shabby but for the price, if it handles well it may be worth a new paint job and some reinforcement work around the keel to hull section. These 2.4ghz 6ch Tx/Rx http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...2_Mode_2_.html are pretty sweet for $25, no manual comes with them but it's easy enough to figure out and they do more than I need, I'll have to check the signal quality but so far it seems ok.

P.s. My kid's don't always look that weird, but I do

[millzee]

well I thought the first yacht was big but bugga me, this thing has to be tilted to move around the shed, it's luck I have no ceiling,lol. The lights are supurb, I sailed last night and I definatly don't need any more lights on this yacht. The 1.8mtrs of yellow led's going up the mast light up the front sail causing the sail to glow bright orange when it's fully opened and then at 1/2 open the bottom of the sail glows aqua from the mix of blue from the side and yellow. The white on the rear sail don't light it up as much but do a good job and let's me know the direction of the boom, I think I'll go out again tonight after dark.
I used 4.2 meters of the turnigy waterproof strips, they have 60 leds per meter and the sticky stuffs great in the water. I ran the lights all onto a peice of 14g wire, positive down the right and negative down the left, both enter the hull through rubber grommets and go direct to a 4s 5000mah nano tech, that only gives about an hours runtime before the lipo gets down around 15volts and I don't think I can run 4s2p due to the weight, I suppose I could trim her up to carry the weight?
P.S. don't try running the traxxas light bar on 4s, they flash for a second and then start smoking and glowing orange

[drwayne]

is that a model store or your shed ?
By crikey mate..Id make sure the door was missus proof !

W

[millzee]

it's well locked, I've even put security cameras in to let me know how's been in there

[Doby]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1203304

[millzee]

My wife thinks this video sucks but thats not much to go on, she thinks they all suck. I've flogged these yachts through uncontrolable winds and not had too many issues. They seem to be impossible to crash, I had one of them stuck in the extra strong wind with the mast touching the water and thought I might try making it get stuck layed down but as soon as the winds die off she pops buck up, wow.

[Diegoboy]

Very very cool! Great job

[millzee]

Thanks Danny, your led project has inspired me into a whole new world of opportunities. Instead of working/thinking in the shed building FE's, I'm finding myself hoping for a strong breeze and the sun to go down so I can sit on the lake bank and relax, it means a lot too me.

[JCAustralia]

Those Yatch look like my first Yatch made by a company called Beili. Watch out for binding of the rudder rods and servo. The screws also have a tendency and the sail material to deform.....

Otherwise the fibreglass is ok and should be loads of fun. The above should be easy fixes.

Good Luck.

[drwayne]

Nice video Danny... reminded me of Titanic.. bright lights reflected on the water just before she went down ( the ship )
I set a strobe under an rc steam tugboat masthead work light ( 2004? ) .. and it was a great effect at night.. lit the pond a ripper

[sailr]

Sweeet! I have a couple of sailboats just begging for the lights!!

[millzee]

cool, I'm glad you boy's like the idea, I must say, I'll always have a shed of FE's but it's real nice to just charge a RX battery and through it out for an hour or so before the sun goes down, then get the lipo's going and enjoy the night. A nights fun relaxing as apossed to a 5 minute fast running is such a nice change of pace for my head.
Doc, I was going to add a kick ass head LED lamp that has a strobe setting to the top of the mast but with that many leds I just don't need it, I may use it on the other yacht as I'm hoping to set that one up with much lighter 3s 2500mAh batt's to keep the weight down being a faster slim line yacht. I'm going to swap the cheap rigging rope with 80lb braid fishing line and I need make some carbon fiber toggle thingys that keep the tension on them as the plastic one keep breaking, these winds have been pretty strong and some sailing has been more about keeping the mast from snapping in 1/2