Model Slipway Club 500 Racing Boat - Demo

I thought Id have a go at both controlling and videoing the Club 500 at the same time, hence the less than perfect framing of some shots!
The Club 500 boat is sold in kit form by Model Slipway (www.modelslipway.com).
It comes in a bag not a box and you trim and assemble the vac formed mouldings yourself using very basic toolsand WATERPROOF Nomorenails or epoxy.
At £46 including delivery theyre a simple kit to cut your modeling teeth on!
To reflect this low cost approach my boat was christened "Shoestring Racer".
If you fancy racing a few of your mates discounts are available on quantity orders, see the website above.
In addition to the vac formed parts the kit comes complete with a 550 brushed motor, prop shaft, UJ, brass rudder and prop.
Choice of radio gear and speed controller is up to you, however be warned these motors can draw in excess of 15Amps if stalled! At our club one owner had a 15Amp speed controller catch fire and melt its way through a hull!
Another good tip is to add some bouyancy such as bubble wrap or polystyrene as capsizes are quite common - particularly whilst racing!
For official racing purposes you cannot change the hull, motor, prop, rudder or drive shaft. You can mount the rear wing moulding in 2 different positions or not use it at all. Batteries must be either NIMH or NiCad and can be either 6 or 7.2V. The battery tray inside the hull has to remain at the standard height so as not to improve C of G but can be moved forwards or backwards to trim the boat.
I found that positioning the battery as far to the left as possible (looking from the rear) helped eliminate the prop torque effect generated by the anticlockwise prop direction when it's on full throttle. This helps prevent the boat leaning too far in right hand turns and potentially capsizing.
There are official rules available for racing but many clubs make their own amendments, at RPSMC we have derestricted battery capacity in order to allow competitors to get more than one race out of each battery and we don't run timed races, we have a fixed number of laps.
Just for fun I swapped out my 7.2V NIMH for a 11.1V 3S LiPo, the boat certainly responds to that 50% increase in voltage!
Get yourself a decent capacity NIMH (I run 3300mAh) and you can get 15 minutes run time wihout too much trouble. Be aware though that if you need to trim some weight in order to stay competitive there is a substantial weight advantage in a lower (say 1800mAh) battery over a higer capacity pack.
every component of these boats is available cheaply from Model Slipway. I made several phone calls to Jackie and Lawrie the owners asking for advice whilst building my boat and nothing was too much trouble.
If you want a simple, cost effective boat that will give you many hours of pleasure then look no further!

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Entertainment

Tags:

• RC
• Boat
• Model Slipway
• Club 500
• Boat Kit
• Boat Racing