RC Greek Bireme

[bensid54]

Thanks Max! The postings now will be much slower because as you see it is where the boat is at right now.

[Carlisler]

Friggin' nice work buddy!

Keep it up!!

[bensid54]

Thanks Carlisler it has been a long road I hope to be finished before summer is over.

[bensid54]

Since my last post I replaced the pins with #8 screws with a bit of a shank on them this seems like the final go with that design. Next I started making 88 oar alignment dowels and gluing them in place two at a time so the epoxy can set before doing the next two in line, should have those done in the next two days I hope. The picture shows the start of my oar dowels.

[bensid54]

In the one picture it shows the alignment dowels installed on the port side, now I've been informed they are called "Thole pins" so of course the whole time I'm making and installing them I was singing "I'm a Thole man" by the Blues Brothers. The oars were moved to the maximum in each direction for each side to properly fit the Thole pins so the spacing would be correct and the oars won't bind. In the other picture you will notice the oars are deeper at the stern than they are at the bow, that's because I reduced the spring tension too much and now with the weight of the oars they are pulling the rack up into the spring loaded slot of the drive discs too far. Once I pull the motors and idlers out to repair this problem I will also have to repair the racetracks to make them work smoother with the increased spring tension, I hope this will be the last adjustment in this department.

[bensid54]

Removed the drive disc idler on the port side and the motor drive disc too. The spring length has been a balancing act from the start, initially I used the full length of spring but found that was too much stress on everything else plus put too much strain on the motor too. I cut them shorter, bits at a time until I thought I had it right then as you can see from my previous post pictures they were not strong enough to raise the oars the way I want them once it was all together. Now the springs are 3/8" longer than before and that looks like the sweet spot I need. In the one picture you can see the short one that didn't have enough push beside the one I'm using now which is 3/8" longer.

[bensid54]

One picture shows the drive disc bearing and sprocket bore which due to my poor machining the sprocket bore was .001" oversize, so I trimmed a 1/4" long piece of .001 shim stock and made a press fit for the bearing and took the slop right out of that part. The other picture shows the idler axle which thanks to my machining was also .001 too small so out came the shim stock again for a quick fix, now there is no idler slop and no deflection caused by a stronger spring in the drive disc.

[bensid54]

This is what the oar ports look like now, I may fill in the empty spots later. Starting on the oar rack for the other side, this part of the build should go fast because I've got the bugs worked out of the other side. I sat today and fiddled with the radio settings and I have them close to balanced but I'm sure that will be a work in progress once it's in the water. I will get a video of both sets of oars working very soon.

[bensid54]

I have installed my drip blocks on all 44 oars now I'm hoping by breaking the smooth oar surface these blocks will force the water to drip off at this point, sort like speed bumps for water. I will once again need to clear coat the oars and now I need to find a clear coat spray to do the hull too, any suggestions?

[Max]

I have installed my drip blocks on all 44 oars now I'm hoping by breaking the smooth oar surface these blocks will force the water to drip off at this point, sort like speed bumps for water. I will once again need to clear coat the oars and now I need to find a clear coat spray to do the hull too, any suggestions?

Good thinking, Jim. I never considered that condition until you mentioned it. That sounds like a good solution for keeping the water out of the boat!