TFL Pursuit II

[Fella1340]

I suppose offering the hull both ways would satisfy all. As a sport boater the self righting hull pursuit would be a great addition to the fleet. Of course a retrieval boat or responsible means of getting a dead boat back is a must if you really want to enjoy the day.

[IRON-PAWW]

What strikes me about things like this. Options rule. If you could somehow come up with an off the shelf kit that people could buy to install the flood chamber themselves. Yeah there'd be work required for the buyer but most rc boaters are used to that. Produce some well written and descriptive instructions with a lot of pictures. You would be amazed what a set of good, step by step instructions can do. Then, perhaps offer the fully built flood chamber boat for sale as well as the classic non-chambered boat. One hull with a slew of upgrade options will fit a large market segment. Just an idea :-).

[properchopper]

I am not a racer, so I can only speak from a sports running perspective. I am also new to the hobby, and I can say that if it were not for the self righting Joysway Offshore Infinity boat, I would not be part of this hobby. A self righting boat will bring tons more people to this hobby, especially a very good one like the Pursuit. I currently own 5 TFL boats, and if they came out with a self righting design for them, I would purchase all of them right away. There is absolutely nothing better, feature wise, than self-righting for sport boaters or any hobbiest who does not race, and I think that's where most of the sales will be if you are looking at it from a sales perspective.

Well said I've been known to occasionally pull my head out of my spoiled,racer-mindset arse (where a dedicated retrieve boat with driver is most always employed after each heat or realize that the likely majority of sport-runner ponds don't have an aluminum rowboat with oars in a locked garage at water's edge like at our water) and understand that a flood chamber equipped self righting boat can be a huge plus. Most flood chamber boats I've seen or rigged for a customer were Euro designs like the Toysport Tritons. Long & narow (but amazingly beautifully laid up) they required (like any flood chamber boat) a longitudinally asymmetrical balance point and the absence of a left turnfin (mostly). Funny handling (vid on request) but fast.

Mr Siberianhusky has a valid point about not all cause for rescue is to retrive an upside-downer so keep that in mind as well.

The Pursuit has always been a winning design. With a flood chamber and rigged right it definitely would be a great addition to any fleet as far as I'm concerned. Just keep the smoke from escaping

[siberianhusky]

I've seen far too many boats stranded due to mechanical failure for me ever to rely on self righting as my sole means of boat retrieval. Fishing rod only works so far out. Swimming after a boat is for the shallow end of the gene pool.
A rescue boat of some kind full sized or model is a requirement in my books.
Eventually something breaks or comes loose on every boat, just a matter of waiting until it happens to you, then self righting won't help at all.

[HangTheMan]

I am not a racer, so I can only speak from a sports running perspective. I am also new to the hobby, and I can say that if it were not for the self righting Joysway Offshore Infinity boat, I would not be part of this hobby. A self righting boat will bring tons more people to this hobby, especially a very good one like the Pursuit. I currently own 5 TFL boats, and if they came out with a self righting design for them, I would purchase all of them right away. There is absolutely nothing better, feature wise, than self-righting for sport boaters or any hobbiest who does not race, and I think that's where most of the sales will be if you are looking at it from a sales perspective.

[ray schrauwen]

Thanks Tony. Dead boats are at the discretion of the CD. Sometimes after a spinout you can be stuck waiting for traffic to pass. The 5 second rule was originally created for non electric boats I think but, I digress...

Whatever the rules are I have to follow them. It's not myself I was concerned about, it's a friend Chris K. that has a nice LSO mono with the baby bump on top. His hull will now be illegal.

We can't make a CD's job almost impossible trying to keep track of self righting boats. Ed Waters is an excellent CD but, even his head would almost explode trying to keep up with self righting boats.

[Fella1340]

I'm not a racer, there just aren't any clubs within a reasonable distance. I do have a R2 Hobbies small self righting mono. Depending on direction I end up in and lack of steering until the water starts running out I can imagine the path of destruction it could lead to on the race course. Having a few of them trying to self right at the same time would be something else to watch!!! I don't see them being a very good fit for the north America racing, different class and style of racing imo.

[Flying Scotsman]

I have a Triton with a flood chamber and it is great if you are boating by yourself or sport running but not for racing. Why? any boat that is dead is dead and any attempt to re-enter is dangerous to all concerned, there are no marshals waving yellow flags to warn you in the special case of a flood chamber boat re-entering at some crazy angle and no due care to position of other racing boats.

Douggie

[properchopper]

Tony, what is the rule for a dead boat? I'll start looking but, if it's at your fingertips....

Ray,

I'll attempt to answer although we're sort of hijacking (but close to the flood chamber issue-sort of) so apologies to some...

But at D19 Legg Lake events, all of which are part of the bigger gas/nitro/scale race events, the NAMBA national ruleset is normally observed BUT at various (Legg) races the CD's will establish a 5 sec window of no motion for a dead call. This usually is a result of a spinout or frequently a torpedo-stuff, or even a tangle/barrel roll or whatever. Mostly at the discretion of the CD (no stopwatches used to time the 5 seconds so it's fairly arbitrary). I've been involved in all of these kerfuffles and frankly the calls have been either/or. In any case, once called dead, the boat must stay put till the heat is over. Sometimes a little confusing when a frisky P-Mono can torpedo-stuff and re-appear quite a few seconds later on its bottom and still operational (with a muddy snout)

[ray schrauwen]

Tony, what is the rule for a dead boat? I'll start looking but, if it's at your fingertips....

[ray schrauwen]

I see the rules, I understand why they are what they are and don't disagree but, if a boat has a flood chamber, they should still be able to race even though they can't use the chamber to resume a heat, just use it to drive back to shore after the heat.

[properchopper]

District 19 :


Proposal 14 – Submitted by David Newland
PASSED - Change NAMBA Rule: Addition to Section 28-Electric, new rule under A. General Rules (To flow through as a National proposal, if approved)
Reasoning:

The reason for this proposal is to see if the membership wants to specifically exclude self-righting boats from competition. There are not many being run now, but some hulls have flood chambers and some have buoyant hatches large enough to flip the boat over.
My concern with these self-righting boats is the amount of distraction they create on the drivers stand with the drivers, pit men and the CD. In my opinion, they take more attention to manage and, therefore, get a disproportionate amount of attention to see if the boat is going to flip, or worse yet, right itself and keep going.
We have tried to address this at the Drivers Meeting as far as what constitutes a dead boat. However, the self-righting boats, again in my opinion, are still a distraction and I feel a rule proposal is necessary to see what direction we’d like to go with this situation.

Proposed:

With the exception of boats run in the ECO Specialty Class, boats that are capable of self-righting are not eligible for competition. If the boats self-righting design can be disabled or otherwise rendered useless, then the Contest Director may allow it to compete.

[ray schrauwen]

Flood chamber is fine for racing but, dead id dead. The advantage comes to not needing a retrieval boat every time a boat flips. Less gas, less rowing....

For racing I would not be in favor of a self righting hull.

Dead boats should stay put when racing. My opinion at least.

I'll explain why if someone really needs to know in another thread.

[rayzerdesigns]

well namba division 19 rule change passed for no self righting in competition

[Monica Smith]

How about a traditional 3:16" flex cable and prop shaft?!

Excuse me, Rumdog, you mean a traditional 3/16" flex carble and prop shaft, does that one piece welded shaft?