Aerokits Sea Commander, built by my father in the 50s , stayed in the family ever since , restored by me about 10 yrs ago, recently been out on the boat pond in Gorleston on sea whilst on a short holiday 👍

I first started to build this boat with my father when I was about 15 . Then at about 45 I decided to compleat the build. it originally was built to have a Ed diesele engine,but was to costly to run so I changed to electric power. This proved to be the right decision. The boat runs wel, but when I turn on the full power it tends to lean to starboard and cavatat so I have learned not to put on full power. The sea Commander is a pleasure to drive.

So here’s another partially built Riva Aquarama, my second project and Plan B after Ciao Bambina ran into stringer difficulties. I started this one on 14 April 2016, and had only 16 days, none of which meant full time working on the boat but merely an hour or two available some evenings and at weekends, to finish this before a friendly “Boat Race” at Coate Water in Swindon with a few friends. Not much in the way of rules for the event, just bring along an RC boat. I didn’t get it finished in time, and since the event, which is the last picture in the post, I have only been able to spend a few more hours, mostly spent planking small mahogany strips over the hull and fore deck. I will be moving this Project 2 forward in between phases of work on the Sea Commander (Scrumpy 3), which is a kit build and is going well after around 6 hours work so far.

So here’s my partly completed Riva Aquarama, to be named Ciao Bambina, a scratch build from plans, with laser cut marine ply as the base structure. I started her in April 2016 and got to the stage of balsa wood stringers as per the plans and got into a real pickle, breaking pretty much every strip and gave up after six days of struggle. I then focused on Plan B, which was Project 2, a smaller Riva Aquarama, and again a scratch build, for an event planned with friends at the end of April 2016. I’ll come back to Ciao Bambina once I have completed my Sea Commander and the smaller Riva I think. The stringers will be made with laminated 3mm strips Okichi or similar, which is the way the Sea Commander has been done, so I have learned something from the experience. Balsa doesn’t really work on a big stringer! I will update as I progress the project.

😆Hello everyone. I’m a relative novice with 3 projects on the go at the moment. Project 1 is a Riva Aquarama, which stalled at the stringer stage. Project 2 is a smaller Riva Aquarama which stalled at the planking stage. Project 3 is an Aerokits Sea Commander, photos to follow. Kit delivered Tues last week and spent about 4 hours on it so far. Keen to hear of any motor/shaft mods anyone recommends. Thanks

This Aerokits "Sea Commander" was built C.1961 by my father with ED Mk4 diesel engine and his own scratch designed and built radio/receiver ( I have all his design documents). He raced it successfully in the early '60s but hadn't used it in years when I inherited it. Have now replaced the IC motor (mothballed carefully) with MFA Torpedo 500 but it runs a bit slowly ("river cruising" scale speed). Looking to obtain semi-planing but not racing speed.

HI All, I had a request for infomation on the Motor and Gearbox setup that I have fitted into a Wavemaster, a Sea Commander, and Fireboat, all shown in various posts of mine. The gear boxes are fitted with a 2.92:1 reduction gear, and were purchased from Hong Kong on Ebay, this is the information if I can publish it in this post. I mount the gearbox this way up to position the motor in the boats as low as possible.

RC Model Big Size Metal Gear Box
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RC-Model-Big-Size-Metal-Gear-Box-with-3-Metal-Motor-Gear-for-R-C-Airplane-GB090-/270842196092?pt=US_Character_Radio_Control_Toys&hash=item3f0f73f07c

Ebay Number

270842196092

Specifications
Material: Steel Brass and Aluminium
Main Gear: 38 Teeth Aluminium
Motor Gear: 13 Teeth Brass
Gear Rate 2.92:1
Prop Shaft Diameter: 4mm
Prop Shaft Length: 13mm

Hope this helps those who have asked Graham

Some old Adverts for these boats, love the prices.

Two Reclaimed Ebay boats, both running same setup Johnson 600 with 2.5:1 reduction Gear Boxes 45mm Brass props and 7.2Volt NiMh power.

My Dads boat on the dam at our opening launch, with minI on board camera after many years

First sail after a refit, the reason for refit was that it had rolled over and sunk on its first runs last month.

So here she is, She has sat on my shelf for 5 years with various tries of rebuilding her,
Today I will Start,
Any Suggestions would be great I am sure A lot of you have done this before...
Still sits on the shelf as of todayy,
really will start and post about it,