MANUKAU MODEL POWER BOAT CLUB Inc

Web Sites:

HTTP://www.voyager.co.nz/~gasayers

HTTP://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~cbreen/mmpbc/frames.html

Venue: Wattle Farm Rd Pond Manurewa

2^nd & 4^th Sunday of each month

Secretary: Glen Sayers Editor Chris Breen

9 Reyland Close 86 Chivalry Rd

Manurewa Glenfield

Ph 267 2607 Ph 4445 482 April 2001

HOT NEWS

Silver Cup Regatta – Hamilton Lake (By Merv)

I went to the Hamilton Regatta on the 24/25^th March to mainly see what was running and what we had to do to be up with the competition. I was amazed to see that being away from the sport for 4 yrs that there was not really any improvement in the overall performances in the boats. In fact I reckoned that if some of our club members had competed, they would have walked away with the top prizes.

Chris was the only club member participating and finished 3^rd overall in the 1/8^th Scale Hydro, finishing 2^nd in 5 of the 7 heats. The 2 heats he didn’t finish, where DNF’s, one caused by a piece of reed being hooked up around the prop and the second while fighting for 1^st place, running a tight coarse misjudged a buoy down the back straight and ended up barrel-rolling the boat. Chris found that by having good starts he was always going to be in contention and it was hard for the rest to catch up.

I can Beat these guys

In the pre-start jostling for the final, Chris had positioned his boat in just the right position (Lane 1). His timing was right on the mark to hit that start on the button but like all good stories…this one didn’t have a good ending as the engine unexpectedly expired down the back straight. Bad luck Chris!

We had talks with Hamilton about a bit of interclub races and the rules and dates are explained later in the newsletter.

A few things I did notice is that most of the boats were neat and tidy and some of the boats

must have had hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears put into them and they looked to good to race.

All the boats were scrutineered and radio ranges checked. The atmosphere and comradeship was excellent and it was a well-run and enjoyable two-day Regatta…..

Thanks Hamilton.

Club Capt.

Llumar in full flight photos by Merv & Malcolm

Some Other Scenes from Hamilton (By Chris)

This regatta was a typical NZMPBA meeting with most classes catered for – ie

Off-shore endurance, much like we run in Auckland

C Scale Hydro (1/8^th Scale)

B Scale Hydro (Sport 40)

B & C Hydro (“Stick Boats”)

As usual the man to beat was the tricky looking one at the right end of the line-up. (Tony Rutledge). This is the man to contact if you want the best advice. He is only too willing to assist if you ask him. (Espionage works quite well too!)

The scale hydro events start with a series of one lap sprints to see who can achieve the fastest time. Regrettably Llumar had some debris in the carburettor that stopped us setting any sprint times and it took a major dismantle to clear it in time for the heats.

The Hamilton guys also put up the most excellent driver’s stand out of scaffold tube, and even put on an exhibition of hot –air ballooning to entertain us between races.

A most enjoyable event.

Editor

Regional Handicap Series

The Hamilton Club has organised with us to hold a series of handicap regattas.

Each competitor sets a one lap qualifying time. They then decide if they want to increase or decrease that time a bit depending on conditions and racing etc. This time is then input into the PC and a handicap is set for 6 laps (and finalised). Competitors are then grouped into batches of five from fastest to slowest and four rounds of racing commence. The hard bit is that if a competitor beats his handicap time he is penalised by 5 times the "breakout" time (the difference between the handicap time and the actual race time). The system has been well tested and has been found to be fair but a little complex and a whole lot of fun.

The dates sorted out for the quad series are as follows.

22/04/01 Hamilton (Driver’s Briefing around 9.00 am)

10/06/01 Auckland

22/07/01 Hamilton

12/08/01 Auckland

TECH NOTES

We will try to include at least one article in each Newsletter on the technical side of the sport. These maybe debates on such things as tuned pipes, advice on hull construction, propellor selection, surface drive set-up, home-made hardware etc etc. Some will be original pieces by club members, others will be extracts from other sources. Here is the first.

Boat Pulls Hard to the Right!

How many times, have I had a new boat at the pond for the first time, and it pulled to the right on the straight a way. I had to hold almost full left rudder to keep it straight? Had my boat building slipped? Was the boat set-up completely wrong? Was the rudder servo to weak? What the heck was wrong with the boat !!!!!

For Model Boaters, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TECH ARTICLE I HAVE WRITTEN SO FAR .....!!!!

I have finally found the answer to these questions!! About a month ago I was helping a friend set up his boat. He asked me to drive it and see what I thought. I drove it, and it pulled into the course VERY BADLY! I had to hold full left to keep it straight down the straightaway. I brought the boat in and thought about my experience with a prop I had bought from Tidewater Engineering. I had been running their 4-blade prop on an experimental Roadrunner. I was using a prop, which I sharpened and balanced. I found that this prop ran with no pull at all. I put on a backup 4-blade prop and it pulled into the course BADLY. What was the reason?

I studied the two props and found that like any retailer, Tidewater had done a BEAUTIFUL job of polishing and balancing this prop, BUT had not sharpened the leading edge to a razor edge. I wouldn't have either, and taken a chance of rolling an edge. But, this lack of a razor edge made the first part of the blade that came in contact with the water present a DULL EDGE to the water. Not only 1 dull edge but 4 dull edges. This made the prop try to climb out of the water and "walk the transom of the boat" to the left, making the boat pull into the course badly. I had finally solved one of the mysteries I had been unable to solve over 25 years of racing. It was so simple that I felt stupid!

The boat I was asked to set up for my friend was brought to shore, he sharpened the entering edge of the prop, and it ran without any pulling to the right.

I am happy to share this with everyone, and hope that it helps you solve what has been a mystery to me for a LONG time.

To be specific about where to sharpen the prop to eliminate this pull: The edge of the prop which enters the water first and is attached to the hub is the most important, with the remainder of the edge of the prop all along the "tongue" and sides of the blade.

It is EQUALLY important to not only sharpen the edges, but to also blend them in at least 3/16" into the blade so the water sees a VERY GRADUAL ENTRY of the blade thickness. Always sharpen the backside of the prop only and be sure to de-burr the edge of the prop with 600-grit sandpaper. It will be very sharp with only the edge burrs removed.

Most recent update 12/30/96
For more information contact webmaster- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(Editor’s Note: VERY sound advice)

Points Standings

Driver	Boat	Points (12/03/2001)
Graham Doggett	Ohio Steel	68
Peter Wright	Obsession	56
Adrian Milanesi	Orange thingi	39
Glen Sayers	Blue thingi	31
Jason Lester	Coca Cola	23
Tony Belle	Blue & White sprint	25
Malcolm Miller	Skulduggery	7
Brian Nesbitt	Pussycat	6

Well that is all for this newsletter people – Go fast , turn right, keep the wet side down.

C Breen – Editor

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