T37 RC Sailboat Blog

She sails! Had a great time today at the " Learn to Race Your T37 " clinic held at the Seattle Model Boat Pond! It was put on by the PNMYC and had loads of people in attendance. Great information and fun sailing afterwards. Good winds too. It was the perfect proper maiden voyage. Much better than my maiden "float" last weekend. Will Lesh, the designer and owner of Tippecanoe Boats presenting today That's me! Happy that my official maiden voyage went well. A picture of my T37 taken by Alan Van Ness. Had two minor breakdowns and successfully recovered from both of them. It was a super day and I had great fun. I'll definitely be showing up for some of the regattas in the future. The T37 is a really fun boat to both build and sail. Get one! Peace and fair winds! Steve

Just got back from my maiden voyage... no, "float" is more like it. What a bust! First the bad news... There was no wind. ZERO wind. Not a puff or anything. Secondly, I got rammed by a 6 year old with a toy destroyer! His absentee father was just standing there too. Nice. The kid had the entire pond (100' wide I'm sure!) and I was right up close to the wall. We were the only ones in the water. He came all the way over to me and rammed me at full speed. Grrrr... no damage other than my mood which promptly sank. So I gave a humph, took my boat out and went home.  >:-( Maybe I'll outfit my boat with teensy torpedoes and sink the little darlings destroyer next time. See how he likes it. I was sad. Didn't even take any pictures. Now the good news... That all said, it floats! And it works! ... I think. It just floated there and looked good... and took it on the quarter from that tiny admiral and his oblivious dad. I suppose this is a good thing ov...

Spent all day today working on figuring out the boom attachments. One more trip to Bead World in Seattle. They have so much fun stuff! Found a perfect clip for the jib boom attachment. Looks better than a fishing snap-shackle thing. It swivels too. Finally settled on this system seen in the pictures below. Small metal key chain style rings, washer type O-rings, clasps, etc... Hopefully it will all work out well, but will most likely need some tweaking. Next weekend is the " Learn to Race Your T37 " clinic and I'm hoping they can help me with some ideas too. So after seven weeks here she is! This pic makes the varnish look good...  it's not Found this clip at Bead World in Seattle Hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. Maiden voyage tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes.  =D Peace!

Got my order from Long Beach RC today! It included some line, some wire for the backstay and shrouds, a wind indicator, some bowsies, and two 35mm adjustable screws. One of the screws I'll use for the backstay, the other for the boom vang. But the really exciting news for today is that I figured out a boom vang idea that I really think will work! And, it still allows for a wide range of adjustment in two places. Bit of a mish-mash but overall it looks good and should work fine. Will need to really test it to dial it in though, but for now I'm pretty excited about it! So here's the idea. I used one of the new 35mm adjustable screws as the main arm of the boom vang. Turns out that it was actually just about the perfect length too. I had to find a way to fashion an arm that would keep the gooseneck separated from the bottom of the vang, so I used some brass wire and some brass tubing. The pictures tell it better... Boom vang without any tension on it. The boom is...

I'm not a huge fan of the Velcro system that comes with the kit, so I've been looking for a suitable alternative. Tonight I went to the local bead store. Loads of cool stuff! And it all comes in black! They have the same brass clasps that came with the kit, but they also have a slightly smaller version, and they have several different colors. I chose a black/gunmetal color instead of the brass colored ones. They also had small black key-chain style rings. With these I think I'll be able to rig up something that will work. In the picture below you can see the brass clasp that came with the kit, the blackish version that I found at the bead store, the smaller clasps, and the black rings. You can also see an experimental thing I'm working on with a slice of CF that fits over the boom. I've super-glued a ring to the boom just to hold it, and then wound steel Micro Cable around it, then finally put a drop or three of superglue to hold the whole thing together. It m...

Stoooopid varnish. I suck at varnishing. It's a dark art practiced by masochists. Three coats now and you can see small bits and stuff all on top. I've sanded, I've done all the required chants and burned boughs, and I've been super careful. Still doesn't look good at all. Horrible in fact. Look at the pictures and you can see the spots. Sigh... maybe I should have thinned the first coats? It's a mystery. Still... nothing is to stop me from sanding it all down and starting over. If after the maiden voyage and "Learn to sail your T37" clinic I'm still not happy with it, I could just sand the varnish and add more coats after having consulted the masters. We'll see. Or, I could just be satisfied with my first boat and start in on my next one; a Star 45! It's all just for fun and is a hobby, so why stress too much about it. I'm also struggling with how to rig the booms. The one thing I know I don't want to do is the velcr...

Was able to get the first coat of varnish on this afternoon. Might be able to put a second coat on later tonight. Also started working on the rig. These small carbon fiber sticks with screw eyes in them will slide into the back end of both the jib boom and main boom. I need to do some thinking about how I want to rig the boat though. The newest version of the instructions have you use these strips of velcro. I'm sure it adjusts easily but to my eye it just doesn't look clean. Some guys are using shaft collars instead, though I'm still unclear how they actually rig the lines. I'll have to take a closer look. There's a race next weekend, and right now there's actually a chance that I may be ready to sail by then. If so I can then go to school on those guys and see what's best. I've been spending all my time on the hull and have not done enough research on the rigging. More tomorrow. Peace!

UPDATE : Lesson learned! I thought it would be best to put the hardware on first and then varnish. That was a mistake. Varnish first THEN mount the hardware. It's not the end of the world, but it will make getting an acceptable final varnish coat a bit harder to achieve.  You can still use the epoxy trick below and you will have a cleaner deck. Oops... ______________________ Spent this morning putting on the deck hardware. Decided to use bent brass instead of the screw-eyes for the sheets. Drilled the holes, mixed up a very small amount of epoxy and use a West Marine disposable syringe to put the smallest amount of epoxy into the holes. Worked well. Also sealed around the top of the mast step. The mast step turned out well, although it is a bit sloppy inside the hull. Will let that dry while I go out and get varnish and other stuff. Hopefully I'll get a first coat of varnish on later today. Peace!

Trying to be as efficient as I can so that I can get the boat done by two weeks from tomorrow morning so that I can have the boat seaworthy for the 16 November clinic.  It's a "Learn to sail your T37 clinic" for new T37 people. It would be a perfect maiden voyage! Today I worked on getting the rudder control arm installed and the rudder linkage arm put in. I actually had the servos taped in as well and was working on the placement of the battery pack and switch and such when I remembered that I hadn't yet installed the mast step. When the servos were in I couldn't get to the mast step on the bottom of the hull, so out they came. Will have to get to the hobby store this weekend to buy some more servo tape I guess. The mast step is just a carbon fiber tube sealed at one end (see an earlier post I did on sealing the end of the mast step) and then placed through the hole in the deck. You then put the mast in and align it so that it's barely raked backwards abo...

I told myself that I would not rush through this build and would take my time and do it correctly. That was then... a couple days ago while I was out of town I received an email from the PNMYC ( Pacific Northwest Model Yacht Club ) regarding their "Learn to sail your T37" clinic to be held in two weeks on Nov. 16th. I'd really like my boat to be seaworthy by then. To get there I'll need to get the deck finished and the entire rig up and running in two weeks. I think I can do it! Update on the hull: Painting is done. The finish looks... OK. I sanded down the red paint as far as I dared and then worked through the papers down to 2500 grit. Then sprayed on several coats of spray lacquer. You can still see orange peel (some of it the spray lacquer itself) but it did shine up the paint a bit. I may have to try some car polish on it at some point. I'm not 100% happy with it at all, but really don't want to mess with it forever, especially now that the boat nee...

Well, after a few days off I was able to make a lot of progress today! And I'm pretty happy so far with the results! Phew... First an update on the base coats of white. I had some 1000 grit sandpaper I picked up recently and decided to give it a try on the orange peel issues I've been having. That fine grit paper opened up a whole new world to me! I discovered what many others have been talking about and it works. Here's what I've settled on... 1. Sand the orange peel with 400 wet/dry just until flat. 2. Then work your way through 600 grit, 1000 grit, 1500 grit and finally 2500 grit paper. In the end you'll have a hull that is smooth as glass. No, it's not as glossy as it was when sprayed on, but the finish is so much smoother that it's worth it. Now I'm exploring if a spray lacquer over the top will work or not. I've got an email into Klass Kote paints to see if I can use Testors Gloss Spray Lacquer over Klass Kote's epoxy paints. We'...

This morning I looked and sure enough, the orange peel is still there. Erf... So here's my plan... It's a busy week and I'll not be able to get to the boat much until later next week. But when I can get some time I will: 1. Sand most of the hull again. The rudder and transom look great though. At this point it's really just the keel I'm most concerned about. The hull needs to be sanded for the red paint though too. 2. Give it one more coat of white paint. This time I will set the boat upside down and really lay on the paint using nice, full, close passes. Being a modeller I'm very hesitant to spray too much, but it seems that with this gun (and using a full size air compressor) that I need to really lay it on. So far when I've done that on the rudder and transom it hasn't run or sagged. It feels like I'm close to it sagging but hasn't. I just need to trust that I can get the same results on the entire hull and keel. Worth a try! 3. Let ...

So yesterday I put on three coats of paint on the hull and the rudder. Wasn't enough and there was orange peel. Second try today. I sanded everything with 400 wet/dry paper and pretty easily flattened out the orange peel. Then mixed up some more paint and when it was ready sprayed it on. The rudder I experimented with and layed on what I thought was a ton of paint, but it took it well and I think I'm done with it. I tried the same heavy technique with the hull but for some reason wasn't as able to get as much paint on it. I've been hanging it by a cord and perhaps I'm not able to control it enough. Next coat I'll lay it upside down on something and spray it that way. Should be able to get a heavier coat on that will flow better. I'll be able to keep a more consistent distance too. Third coat tonight and I only did the hull. Sprayed on a lot of paint but still have orange peel in some areas. The rudder looks professional though, so I'll have to ke...

Today is the day for my first attempt at painting with two-part epoxy paint. I have a hobby airbrush, but this boat is just too big for it, and I'm not sure what the epoxy paint would do to it, so I bought a $15 sprayer that I could hook up to my garage air compressor instead of my small hobby compressor. I sanded the hull with 200 grit until as smooth as I dared go, then did the hull lightly again with 400. Wiped it down and started to get geared up to paint. The hull was very smooth and "plastic-like". There were still the very few little scratches and goofs that I just didn't want to sand out or I'd risk making a big indent. Hopefully the paint will fill them and any remaining ones I'll just have to live with. I then masked the deck with auto-body masking tape. It worked much better than normal masking tape. Noticed some small orange peel after the first two coats but added a third coat anyway to see if it would go away. It didn't although ...

Did some final sanding this afternoon and then rolled on the final filler coat of Interlux Primekote 404/414. Then I took one of those edging paint pads and smoothed it out. Should be pretty nice final coat, but if I took off too much using the pad then I can always put on a fourth coat. Dinner guests tomorrow night so I'll let this cure well into the weekend at this point. That should make for very easy sanding using only 400 grit. The idea is that the surface looks like plastic before I start painting. By the way, if you are a local Seattle area person and want to use the same Interlux Primekote 404/414 and reducer (I bought mine from West Marine for $32 because they make you buy a QUART when I only need less than a 1/2 pint!  GRRRR!), I've got plenty left (see pic below). I've used about 1/3 of the kit or less and only about 5% of the reducer. Since I'm now into this filler epoxy primer for about $80 I'd LOVE to sell the rest to someone who would also l...

It's one of those weeks where life is getting in the way of messing about in boats... but it's OK too because the boat needs some time to rest.  Last night I sanded down the second coat of filler (Interlux Primekote 404/414). There were still a few pretty noticeable gaps and indents and imperfections and such that the filler is just too thin to fill. So tonight I made a small batch of thickened epoxy and carefully filled in those last few spots. Tomorrow I'll sand those down and put on the third coat of filler.  Here's what it looks like tonight, ready for it's third coat tomorrow. I wasn't too impressed with the first coat, but now that I can see two sanded coats it's obvious that the grain is being filled quite well. I have little doubt that the third coat will be sufficient, but if a fourth coat is needed then I'll do it.  Pretty nervous about the painting job coming up though... yikes. I've decided to use Klass Kote epoxy paint and ...

Second coat of Interlux Primekote 404/414: I waited a full 24 hours until the first coat was cured enough to sand. It ended up sanding pretty well. I was able to sand about 80% of it off leaving a nicely smooth surface. You could still see some grain though. From reading about other people's experiences that sounds normal. Then mixed up another batch of the stuff and this time I rolled it on with a disposable roller. It went on much smoother due to the roller but I'm noticing some orange peel. Could be due to the roller, or due to the fact that it's only about 55 degrees out, or... perhaps I should have wiped it down with reducer after I sanded it? Oh... or... it could be that I reduced it too much, although I followed the directions. Or it might just settle down on it's own. Hmmm... will just have to wait until tomorrow to see. I did read somewhere about someone else who had orange peel but said it's not a big deal as you sand most of it off. Befo...