Owing it's origin to the RNLI lifeboats of the 19th century, the US Coast Guard 36'MLB saw service from 1900 to 1987. The USCG built over 300 boats of this class in various "mods" spanning it's life history. Constructed of wood and fitted with a bronze keel it was powered by a 4 cylinder engine later modified with a diesel motor. Early powered 36' boats carried oars and sails as auxillary power. My 36500 model was based on the famous Chatham Lifeboat Station in Massachusetts, USA. On Febuary 18, 1952 the CG 36500 rescued the 32 survivors of the tanker PENDLETON during a night time nor'easter storm. Without radio or radar the Coast Guardsmen found the stricken T-2 tanker in the blizzard, taking the crew off one at a time. With each pass of the lifeboat a tanker crewman climbed down a rope ladder and "fell" into the lifeboat. With all on board, the 36500 found it's way back to Chatham harbor much to the delight of the towns people and the Coast Guard! The most amazing fact regarding this rescue was that the 36 footers were only designed to carry 19 people, including the 3 man CG crew, without capsizing.
The model was scratchbuilt of balsa strips and aircraft plywood, using official USCG blueprints. Powered by a 6 volt motor and a 2 channel radio, the Chatham lifeboat is pleasure to run in my local pond.

I have admired this design for many years, along with a lot of Vic Smeed's drawings.
This model is enlarged by 1.7 giving a length of 36'' and a scale of 1:16. The finished boat weighs about 15 1/2lbs and is powered by an MFA 919D 540 with 2.5:1 reduction, using an Mtroniks ESC and Planet 2.4ghz radio.
The hull was planked in obeche on 6mm ply keel and frames with mahogany blocks at bow and stern. The photos were taken on her maiden voyage at Crealy in Exeter.

Hello Bob ,Finally got started on the fireboat. Have stripped all the paint and varnish from the deck up and also inside the hull. Now have separated all the cabin roofing and upper bulkheads for access to the keel which has delaminated in places. The complete shaft just pulled out of the hull, the glue had no adhesion at all and a new oil fed shaft will be fitted. The next job will be to strip the paint on the hull, check it out and glass laminate it. More photos soon. Regards Graeme.....

shear water motor cruiser I made from scratch plank on frame looks well in the water with the added motor and prop give it an edge turning and coming back up the lake no ballast inside the boat its all built in the keel navagation lights work and a small table with a map for someone steering thanks russell

Scratch-built paddler by Pete Smith. Model was built fom Richard Webb's MAP plans and electrically powered. Pete added a redundant IOM keel cut down to provide extra stability and the boat now performs very well having suffered the vices of most model paddle steamers. The boat is 54 1/2 ins long and 13 1/2 ins beam, plank on frame construction.

Aerokits Solent Kit bought as a present in the 70's. Worked on it on and off until 2000 when I finally made a maiden voyage. Two Buhler motors driving Prop Shop props with Bobs board and 12v 17Ah SLA. Radar works. Realistic scale speed and looks great on the water. To turn I have used micro switches to cut out one motor on full rudder. The large keel was causing the model to cease turning with both props turning. I sail with Crewe MBC at Boundary Park Lake. Oct 09. Have now found out that the cabin door on my model was only fitted to the last three builds 48-014,-015 and -016. At least I can give her a name once I have decided which to use.

"BOO BOO Kitty" is a scale model of a Crosby designed Cape Cod Cat Boat.[USA] it was built from scratch at a scale of 9.04" = 1"; the model being 26.5" oal.

The dimensions were taken from a book that highly detailed the building of a real Cat Boat.

The hull is plank-on-frame with epoxy and glass cloth as the final surface. A separate and detachable fin keel was used for sailing of the centerboard model.

Radio controls were a Hitec sail winch [HS-785HB] and one servo for the rudder with a 2 channel JR transmitter.

Copying the book plans, scaling them down, and construction took up the winter of 2006/2007. The model is sailing better than anticipated on a local lake in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.