Harbour directory
Vic Smeed REMORA
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About this boat
I built my first REMORA from the free plans that came with my December 1964 Model Maker magazine.
That first model was given away over 20 years later in 1985 when we moved up to Lancashire from Devon.
At the same time I also gave away another Vic Smeed design that I built from plan - “Suzie Q”.
The model shown here is the second Remora that I built more than 45 years later during the Covid lock-down !
I have yet to build another Suzie Q - but I do still have the original plans........so hopefully that will follow along later.
That first model was given away over 20 years later in 1985 when we moved up to Lancashire from Devon.
At the same time I also gave away another Vic Smeed design that I built from plan - “Suzie Q”.
The model shown here is the second Remora that I built more than 45 years later during the Covid lock-down !
I have yet to build another Suzie Q - but I do still have the original plans........so hopefully that will follow along later.
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My Remora was tested today at the Southport Club lake and the reverse function worked perfectly, so anyone with a “forwards only” Sea King ESC can safely alter the “running mode” to add the reverse function as it has not affected the forwards function in any way.
Bob.
When the Remora failed to run at anything more than a walking pace, I suspected that the motor was at fault and changed it for the Surpass that I am running now,
The motor change made no difference and so I made a new shelf large enough to accommodate a spare 120amp SeaKing ESC that I had at the time ( definitely a huge over-kill), but at least the boat then run as it should.
This identified the 90amp SeaKing ESC as being the problem, and this then led to a series of experiments until I got it working well enough to refit it and remove the 120amp ESC for use in a more suitable model.
……but the over-sized shelf remains in the motor compartment …….
Bob.
Unfortunately my first choice of colour had to be changed as Humbrol stopped making the French Blue spray paint, so the colour was changed to those available in a household spirit based paint - Royal Blue and Ivory were chosen and brushed on.
Bob.
Once I had managed to get this superb 90amp SeaKing ESC working it has powered the boat beautifully giving it a really impressive performance that has attracted a lot of favourable comments ( and hopefully convinced a few more to make their own Vic Smeed Remora models), but it is a “forwards only” ESC so it never had a reverse function.
Some weeks ago I had found a way to add a reverse function to the 120amp SeaKing ESC that I have been using in my restored LesRo Rapier when all program cards had failed to talk to it.
This week I found a set of instructions from another old SeaKing ESC that showed a sequence that could be used when installing a new ESC for the first time….and this included a “Running Mode” that made it possible to have a reverse function.
After quite some time yesterday when endless attempts of following these instructions failed to make any difference at all, I suddenly “struck gold” and was able to add a reverse function to this “forwards only” ESC.
I reduced the end point travel of the throttle to just 25% (in reverse) to stop the stern being dragged under water if I should get a bit “enthusiastic” with the throttle(!) and I am now ready to test this at the Southport Club tomorrow.
I have included a copy of these installation instructions for anyone else that has failed to find a program card that can work with these excellent Sea King “forwards only “ ESC ………as a reverse function can be very handy addition to its operating system .
Bob.
At the time of the Covid lock-down I was already running the Alpha 1000 and Inception fast boats as I had none of my original Classic Model Power Boats left following our move up north from Devon some years earlier (1985).
At the time I was more than impressed with the speed and power that was being delivered to these boats by a seemingly “far too small” 90amp SeaKing ESC, and I had bought a spare one to cover both these boats in case of a failure - but neither ESC ever failed, so I decide to use it in my new build Remora.
A small shelf was made under the narrow section of deck behind the cabin and in front of the rear deck cover that would house the ESC neatly out of the way and high enough up to protect it from any potential water splash ingress.
The idea was good, but for some reason the 90amp SeaKing would not work from one LiPo as it had been supplied as a spare part for the Alpha 1000 / Inception fast boats and came with a fitted “Y” lead, each with an XT90 plug fitted to it.
My Remora would only run at a “walking pace” as this first video shows - and this was its “flat-out” speed! The comparison between this and the attached video of my Inception running with the same ESC is quite stark!
This defeated me for a long time as I asked all the electronic “experts” why it would not work and nobody had an answer .
Meanwhile the build progressed so I build a second ESC shelf in the motor compartment to hold a bigger size 120amp SeaKing ESC that I had available at the time, and this is how this new build Remora was first launched running with this hugely over-sized ESC powering it!
Much later I decided to cut-off the circuit board that joined the two battery leads onto the smaller 90amp SeaKing ESC and it worked (!) on just one LiPo - as I had originally planned, so the over-sized ESC was removed (but the shelf I made to fit it on remains in the motor bay to this day!) and the much smaller 90amp ESC was slid onto its shelf and works superbly well giving the boat more than enough power to run well with.
Bob.
This was not a bad thing at all as I was able to find and use oddments of wood that would probably still be unused to this day.
It also gave me the time to think about things for longer than maybe I would have done if we had not been forced to stay at home !
Bob.
Electric or traditional IC engines.
A pair of small wind deflectors and a short mast were added to the cabin top as it looked a little bland so I customised it slightly !
This beautifully engineered glow engine run like a sewing machine and powered the boat well, but my new Remora has a good brushless electric out-runner motor with a suitable ESC and 5000mAh LiPo, so it has a lot more power !
Running an electric powered Remora is a lot less hassle and is a lot cleaner that running with the glow engine, but the "ritual" of starting the engine, the anticipation and suspense of waiting for the leather bootlace to spin the motor and fire up the engine.... is something that I actually miss!
..........and the smell of the exhaust is something else that I miss.....😎
Good old days..............?
The plans are a bit fragile now, but were still good enough to make some templates from old cereal boxes (and any other thin cardboard box that was being thrown away for recycling at the time!).
I drew around these templates to make the keel and bulkheads from birch plywood and cut them out on a bandsaw.
Everything was then assembled using aliphatic glue.