Sea Scout joins the Sea Maid...

[pvolcko]

Looks good. Glad to see you building again. Enjoy your build threads immensely!

[west0618]

Thanks guys for the comments and interest. I know it is not your normal fair here. I like the boats as they rarely fall out of the sky. LOL Though I have been at a standstill for over a week waiting on our local hobby store to restock their plywood supply. It was supposed to have been ordered two weekends ago though I am not holding my breath. But I remain hopeful and will give them a call the end of this week if I hear nothing.

[west0618]

Well, it's been a while since the last update. I blame that mostly on waiting on my local hobby shop to get in the needed 1/32" plywood for the deck. It still is NOT here but I found it at our local lumberyard cheaper than the hobby shop. And they have plenty. So I am again moving forward.
As you can see, I have the ribs for the curved deck in place and the two compartments boxed in. I'll be adding the decking in the next few days. After building the Sea Maid, posted a year or two ago, I swore I'd never make another boat with a curved deck...and here I am doing it again. Never say Never. LOL

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The tricky part is the bow as it takes a complicated filler piece that just looks WRONG at this stage. But when you wrap the deck material over this...it lays very nicely.

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On an unrelated note...I was on ebay, not even looking at boats, and picked this one up for a penny.

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It does run. Came in the original box. I still plan to gut it and make it better by getting rid of those brushed motors and poor speed/steering control. Not that I need another boat but...what can I say. I'm hoping my wife may like it when it is done. It's about 22" long with twin props.

[west0618]

A lot can happen overnight. I managed to get the deck glued on last night and sanded the rough edges down this morning. As you can see, I am not as concerned about the filled screw holes on the sides as I was on my Sea Maid boat as I plan to apply fiberglass to the bottom and sides...and possibly the top. Doing the top is undecided as I love the natural finish on decks of this period. But I need to read up again on this particular boat. As I plan to apply the fiberglass this week and, if doing the deck, that would be done before cutting out the compartment and cockpit openings...I need to make up my mind. The small flaw in the bow will be simply filled with Bondo most likely.

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I think the bow came out very nice...considering.

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Hope I'm not boring anyone as this thing does not fly. LOL

[cml001]

I'm enjoying the build thread.. keep up the good work!

[west0618]

Well, the weather is holding so I got TWO layers of fiberglass laid onto the bottom of the Sea Scout. Once it is well cured I'll trim down the excess and sand it even with the sides.

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The RED you see under the cloth is some spotting putty I added to reduce a few minor deviations in the surface towards the aft. Due to the plywood being quite flat back here (not curved like the bow) this 1/64" plywood did not hold flat here. I may have gotten away with 1/32 but it was not available when I did this. And figuring I was going to add the fiberglass...thickness was not as big of a concern as getting the wood to follow the sharp curves in the bow. I am no expert in fiberglass but have learned a great deal in the last decade...mostly trial and error. LOL And that can get expensive in itself.

[west0618]

Update...a lot has gotten done in the last week or so. Two layers of fiberglass has been applied to the hull with a third layer applied to the bow as there are SO many surfaces coming together there. It has been sanded and primed as well as a base coat of white paint applied to the fiberglass surfaces as shown below.

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The deck is still unfinished and will remain that way until I install the inner walls to the cockpit and frame up the engine compartment to be above the deck to aid in water repelling. I did apply a few reference lines for where the openings "should" be. LOL The plan is to finish the deck natural and add some color highlight areas which will hide the seam near the rear and any questionable areas near the edge from sanding.

I started cutting out the openings yesterday and was very pleased with how well the multi tool Derek bought me worked and the control I had. I used a Dremel with a small circular saw blade when I did my first boat, The Snapper. That was grabby...but no one got hurt.

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I now need to get some 1/32" thick plywood for the inner cockpit walls and should pick that up today. I have what I need for the engine compartment so that should be completed shortly. The only thing in the rear compartment is the steering servo and it will get a simple hatch, like on the rear of my Sea Maid boat.

[Derek]

Really looking sharp, Dad! Very cool!!!

[cml001]

Nice!

[west0618]

The inner cockpit were installed a few days ago. It is Always interesting bending 1/32" plywood around these curves and getting them adequately clamped until the glue sets up.

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Once the cockpit was properly sealed I could fabricate a bench seat and this gave time for the steering wheel to arrive and be installed.

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In order to make the motor/electronics compartment as water resistant as I feel I can, I made this insert that will be glued into the opening.

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Once this is securely glued in place, the lid will be held in place with four rare earth magnets. As it is, the draw of the magnets is so strong that it lifts the still unattached insert out of its hole...and it fits that hole very well. LOL

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I'm waiting on a pair of cooling fans to keep the temperature of the nearly sealed motor/electronics compartment cooler. They should be here next week. I hope. For now, I started on the wind screen which will be my next update.

[west0618]

I've had a pretty good day today as I finished the wind screen and started the painting of the deck. Starting with the wind screen...

So far my wind screens are made from 1/16th thick clear plastic sheet (window replacement material), 1/16” brass hobby “U” channel and a lot of patience, solder and careful cutting.
Here’s the wind screen for this Sea Scout roughed into shape and held together with masking tape. There are no mounting tabs yet.

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It has more angle to it than it looks in these two pictures.

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Here are three pictures of it “almost” done and installed. I say almost as I have to remove it and paint it gold to cover the silver of the solder.

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This took a couple hours start to finish. Getting the plastic sheet to match the curvature of the deck is always fun as is soldering one section without unsoldering another.

Now for the start of the deck painting.

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This paint scheme is NOT mine. It is based on the original paint scheme for this boat built in its era. The exception I will take credit/blame for is the natural wood on the deck as this area would normally be painted white but I like the natural finish as I did on the Sea Maid a few years ago.

[cml001]

Nice detail work! U should be proud!

[pvolcko]

Nice work! Boat are about all anyone can run around here lately. My club's parking lot has been a pond at least one day a week for the last month or two.

[west0618]

As I am waiting on parts...from China...off ebay...I'm at a bit of a standstill on my boat since I just finished the stuffing tube brace. It consists of three parts. A rectangular base plate with three holes for the three #2 wood screws, the pie shaped sorta triangle and two tubes, one inside the other to slip over the stuffing tube. It is all brass and soldered together.

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The biggest challenge, aside from getting all the parts to fit together along the same plane, is the soldering. I started with a torch to heat small areas fast in order to spot solder the parts together so I can recheck the alignment then I used a heavy duty soldering iron to fill in any voids.

Once the parts arrive I can finish up the electronics and place it in a tank of water to find the waterline for painting. We are hoping to get it in the pond yet this month.

Thanks Clay & Paul. I know this isn't the normal fair for this site...but boats do not fall out of the sky. LOL

[Graham Lawrie]

Yet agai more cool builds:) dosent need to be quads and helis:) anything build wise is great:) and its great to see how talented yours builds are:)

[west0618]

As the cooling fans arrived the other day I have been able to move forward on this build. Once I had the fans in hand I could finalize their locations and mounting requirements which allowed me to also finalize the location for the receiver and speed controller.
The 30mm fan located in the upper left corner pulls air from the right side of the bench seat through slots I cut with a multi-tool.

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I cut these slots on both sides of the bench seat in case I needed to use both fans. I want to try it with just the one fan to draw air in and a second on the motor heatsink and see how warm things get.

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I place a vent cover over the opening on the other side for now to make it easy to add the third fan if needed. But for now this black cover in the upper right will do.

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I have to thank Derek for this idea on outgoing air flow. I drilled four 1/4" holes in the backside of the motor compartment cover with a Forstener bit making the holes VERY clean. Along with allowing the air somewhere to go...behind the two on the left is where I positioned my low voltage alarm. It should be plenty load enough to hear.

Lastly, another shot of the rear compartment that houses only the steering servo...

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...and another shot of the rudder and propeller still awaiting the painting once I determine the waterline.

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[Derek]

Getting real close Dad. Looks great!

[west0618]

At a final weight of 8 pounds, 11 ounces, with a 5000mAh, 3 cell battery, it was time to mark the waterline. Luckily, we recently bought a budget wheelbarrow to mix some cement in and it worked well for this. Yes, it leaked...but slowly.

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[pvolcko]

Looks like it can take on more weight. More power!

Just kidding. Looks great!

[west0618]

Paul...thanks.

As it is, I put the smallest prop I have on it and have the throttle cut back to 75% to start with and still fear it will go WAY faster than it's top scale speed. We will find out soon as you can see we are VERY near completion. The bottom is painted with two coats now.

Here it is with one coat.

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Two coats of oil based paint.

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I need to again secure the wind screen, seal and secure the motor compartment cover and get a custom "Y" connector from Derek for the cooling fans. Then it should be ready for the maiden voyage. Maybe next Monday or Tuesday as Derek should be off work...knock on wood.