After watching a few rc yachts when i was out fishing one day i thought that it might be a relaxing way to spend a few hours. I forgot about the idea when my first child was born as it was hard enough to get out to play with my cars that i already had. Now the kids are a bit older i resurrected the idea and got my first yacht about 2 weeks ago. Its a Beili Century 750. It was bought into the shop with a broken mast and a dead servo, and the owner wanted nothing more to do with it, basically dumped it on the counter, said use it for spares its never sailed right and walked out. It was to good for parts so the boss let me have it to see what i could do.
The mast is a carbon 2 piece mast, and it had broken at the joiner, which was as simple as drilling the old joiner out and epoxying a piece of aluminum tube on the inside of the mast. Looks as nice as factory now, mast is about 2-3mm shorter as the original joiner had a flange between the 2 halves. The other problem with the mast was the topper, it had broken off and cracked the mount in half, loosing part of it. I drilled the topper out .5mm and filed a little off the top of the mast to get it to sit right and epoxied that as well.
After replacing the servo i thought i was right to go. Got it out on the water, reaching and down wind was all good, but could not get it to turn into the wind to tack up wind. Bought it in, dropped the jib and launched it again. this time it sailed perfectly, although a little slow. When i got home i had a good look at the sails and the sheets were the wrong length, the jib was pulling in to tight and the mainsail wasnt coming in far enough. So after adjusting that i am taking it for its next test a little later today.
Since then i have bought a second yacht, another Beili boat, a Prince 900, am hoping to maiden it today when i go out, but looks like it should move a little better than the century.
Now the pics.
Century 750, Hull: 780mm Mast: 1110mm Sail Area: 0.25m Weight: 1500g
Prince 900, Hull: 910mm Mast: 1430mm Sail Area: 0.45m Weight 2600g
Weight is actually less, as it has a recovery system, ESC, motor, drop down prop/shaft housing and servo , i didnt like the system as it was so have removed the esc/motor and second battery until i get a different TX/RX to set it up the way i like.
Bit of a size comparison
The mast is a carbon 2 piece mast, and it had broken at the joiner, which was as simple as drilling the old joiner out and epoxying a piece of aluminum tube on the inside of the mast. Looks as nice as factory now, mast is about 2-3mm shorter as the original joiner had a flange between the 2 halves. The other problem with the mast was the topper, it had broken off and cracked the mount in half, loosing part of it. I drilled the topper out .5mm and filed a little off the top of the mast to get it to sit right and epoxied that as well.
After replacing the servo i thought i was right to go. Got it out on the water, reaching and down wind was all good, but could not get it to turn into the wind to tack up wind. Bought it in, dropped the jib and launched it again. this time it sailed perfectly, although a little slow. When i got home i had a good look at the sails and the sheets were the wrong length, the jib was pulling in to tight and the mainsail wasnt coming in far enough. So after adjusting that i am taking it for its next test a little later today.
Since then i have bought a second yacht, another Beili boat, a Prince 900, am hoping to maiden it today when i go out, but looks like it should move a little better than the century.
Now the pics.
Century 750, Hull: 780mm Mast: 1110mm Sail Area: 0.25m Weight: 1500g
Prince 900, Hull: 910mm Mast: 1430mm Sail Area: 0.45m Weight 2600g
Weight is actually less, as it has a recovery system, ESC, motor, drop down prop/shaft housing and servo , i didnt like the system as it was so have removed the esc/motor and second battery until i get a different TX/RX to set it up the way i like.
Bit of a size comparison