Wally Teresch
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2006
- Messages
- 206
I’m doing an exercise in design and input from the members on here would be invaluable.
A couple of years back I was at a boat race in MI and was doing some last minute tuning of my boat when it died in the middle of the pond. Not a big pond but when all you are using is a rod and a ball it is pretty big. Long story short I slipped and broke my ankle. The medical staff put on a temporary cast and sent me back to Canada along with a ridiculous medical bill for what they had done. One plate and nine screws later it was on the mend. I had a lot of time on my hands when I wasn’t crawling around.
During that time I designed and built a pretty basic retrieve boat. Had an old Dumas 40 hull that I butchered up, a few carbon fiber rods, a Graupner drive unit, blue foam and some ABS downspout finished it off. In the truck the whole thing has a footprint of 9”X10”X42”. On the water the capture cavity (where the dead boat is) measures 27”X18”. I have sent it out to retrieve small 20 monos all the way up to a gas crackerbox. It can be assemble in under a minute. It has forward or reverse, a camera, it’s unsinkable and turns on a dime.(literally). Everyone who has used it thinks it’s great.
So here is my challenge. Here is where the memberships’ input comes in. I would like to improve on what I have. A rev 2 version so to speak. I want to make it functional, easy to construct, and cheaper than what I have now. While it is being built I’m going to put together some plans and share them with the members on IW. If it helps avoid injury (or sometimes even death) to one fellow modeler it will be worth the effort.
First step, what features/characteristics do you want in a retrieve boat
A couple of years back I was at a boat race in MI and was doing some last minute tuning of my boat when it died in the middle of the pond. Not a big pond but when all you are using is a rod and a ball it is pretty big. Long story short I slipped and broke my ankle. The medical staff put on a temporary cast and sent me back to Canada along with a ridiculous medical bill for what they had done. One plate and nine screws later it was on the mend. I had a lot of time on my hands when I wasn’t crawling around.
During that time I designed and built a pretty basic retrieve boat. Had an old Dumas 40 hull that I butchered up, a few carbon fiber rods, a Graupner drive unit, blue foam and some ABS downspout finished it off. In the truck the whole thing has a footprint of 9”X10”X42”. On the water the capture cavity (where the dead boat is) measures 27”X18”. I have sent it out to retrieve small 20 monos all the way up to a gas crackerbox. It can be assemble in under a minute. It has forward or reverse, a camera, it’s unsinkable and turns on a dime.(literally). Everyone who has used it thinks it’s great.
So here is my challenge. Here is where the memberships’ input comes in. I would like to improve on what I have. A rev 2 version so to speak. I want to make it functional, easy to construct, and cheaper than what I have now. While it is being built I’m going to put together some plans and share them with the members on IW. If it helps avoid injury (or sometimes even death) to one fellow modeler it will be worth the effort.
First step, what features/characteristics do you want in a retrieve boat
