Harbour directory
Celia May
Specifications
- Boat Length
- 28" (71.12 cm)
- Motor Type
- Brushed
- Drive Type
- Direct
- Props
- Single
- Battery Type
- LiFe
- Battery mAh
- 286 mAh
- Prop Type
- 3 Blade
- Prop Size
- 40mm
- Run Time
- 1+ hrs
- Model Speed
- 364 km/h (226.2mph)
Photos
About this boat
This is one of those toy boats that I used to look at through the Basset-lowke window in Holborn. Not an original Bowman Sea Jay but a copy I made from the Basil Harley plans of Celia May 1988.
I suppose I started in 1989 almost certainly a Sunday as I had to hunt round to find some 3/8ths" thickness wood. The only stuff I could find was some 9 ply which is quite tough.
So I made a steam cylinder from plastic guttering tubing. I boiled an old fashioned kettle into it and about 5 minutes of this softened the ply for bending. I made a crude former, mainly big nails, and whipped it out and bent the ply to shape. Then the other one followed and the hard bit had been done.
The rest of the hull was straight forward. The superstructure was made of aluminium, not easy to bend but a friend showed me how.
The boat was meant to have a steam plant but the one I had built by an excellent engineer for me was in the end too heavy. So I left the boat for a few months and then decided to go electric.
If you look at the plans the 3 parts of the s/s are individual and have another bend also to form the deck, great for steam not so for electric. I cut the flanges off and made a wood deck and planked it to look pretty, well it is a toy after all, and fitted the s/s parts into the deck.
Those ex-Meccano gents will spot the rudder parts a 2 inch pulley which I carefully sawed to make the 2 parts. These have a wrap round chain and a small spring to tension the chain. The rudder servo has a small extension and the whole has worked with a little oil ever since.
The motor is a Bassett-lowke Marine bought when I was in my teens but not really used.
The yellow U/J is I think from SHG it has a loose "bone" as the connection between the 2 ends. It allows for a lot of positioning of the motor as I had planned to use the boat as a test vessel.
Notes The cat is Suzie my little helper and is 13 now.
I really like the funnel, it is rolled aluminium with a half inch piece of dowel on about 6 thicknesses of blanket.
The aerial is a working one connected to the receiver which is 27Mhtz 2 channel.
Apologise for the prop I originally made my own it is somewhere in the shed!
Roy.
I suppose I started in 1989 almost certainly a Sunday as I had to hunt round to find some 3/8ths" thickness wood. The only stuff I could find was some 9 ply which is quite tough.
So I made a steam cylinder from plastic guttering tubing. I boiled an old fashioned kettle into it and about 5 minutes of this softened the ply for bending. I made a crude former, mainly big nails, and whipped it out and bent the ply to shape. Then the other one followed and the hard bit had been done.
The rest of the hull was straight forward. The superstructure was made of aluminium, not easy to bend but a friend showed me how.
The boat was meant to have a steam plant but the one I had built by an excellent engineer for me was in the end too heavy. So I left the boat for a few months and then decided to go electric.
If you look at the plans the 3 parts of the s/s are individual and have another bend also to form the deck, great for steam not so for electric. I cut the flanges off and made a wood deck and planked it to look pretty, well it is a toy after all, and fitted the s/s parts into the deck.
Those ex-Meccano gents will spot the rudder parts a 2 inch pulley which I carefully sawed to make the 2 parts. These have a wrap round chain and a small spring to tension the chain. The rudder servo has a small extension and the whole has worked with a little oil ever since.
The motor is a Bassett-lowke Marine bought when I was in my teens but not really used.
The yellow U/J is I think from SHG it has a loose "bone" as the connection between the 2 ends. It allows for a lot of positioning of the motor as I had planned to use the boat as a test vessel.
Notes The cat is Suzie my little helper and is 13 now.
I really like the funnel, it is rolled aluminium with a half inch piece of dowel on about 6 thicknesses of blanket.
The aerial is a working one connected to the receiver which is 27Mhtz 2 channel.
Apologise for the prop I originally made my own it is somewhere in the shed!
Roy.
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Comments
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Very sad to hear that à part of the Family,that gave so much joy and pleasure has gone.
You can see her in the background of this model.
We think that a couple of dog foxes were seen about then and she may have been taken by them.
I have had a very sad week but realise now that we shall not see her again. I have shared pictures with you of her with my model boats.
So good bye little Susie, I shall miss you, she sought me out every day for a snuggle, she has had a good life all 13 years of it and was fit like a kitten to the end.
Roy
Roy
I admit that I’m not well informed when it comes to r/c mechanisms and that was the main reason why I joined this very well informed forum.
That being said, I thank you for the explanation about how to keep the water out of a model without a coaming.
That is amazing.
Every day I read all of the inputs the members record in this forum, they are to me as Pages for my new R/C Enciclopedia.
Thank You for responding and patiently explaining.😎
There is a red 'knob', a sort of capstan, which has a screw at its base which screws down to a captive nut and clamps the deck in place. So I slide the deck backwards to locate the tails and then screw the red knob down to hold the deck in place.
Never had any water in the boat. I usually only sail on the club pond (NLSME). The windows are not glazed either.
Thanks for your interest
Regards
Roy
I love it, it so retro.
Educate me in what I’m about to say, ?Are you afraid of water coming in since you have no coaming?
How do you keep it water tight?😎
I will take some photos on the water asap and also the ship's cat, if I can get her to stay in one place, that is!
The umbrella pole had got damp at the base and refused to come through the hole in the table. It is drying out at the moment.
I have one nice picture which suffers from the presence of a spare leg I did not notice.
Regards
Roy
You did a nice job there. I had to laugh when I looked at the first picture and thought
I was seeing two stacks. What was the tall one for???
Then I realized it was the umbrella shaft up from the table! LOL
Barry