Building the Boothbay Lobster Boat

       Here are the parts for powering the Lobster Boat and the Radio Control. From left to right, the upper row; the Battery Pack - A NiMh rechargeable at 7.2 volts and 3000 mAh, the HiTec HB2RNB 2 channel receiver, the HiTec HS311 steering servo. In the lower row; the Tazer 15T ESC (electronic speed control), the Motor which came with the kit. I believe the motor to be about a 20 turn brushed DC directional, size 520. And, the Radio Transmitter, a HiTec Ranger II N with 2 channels, operating in the 75 mHz band, channel 83, at 75.850 mHz.

Here in the "equipment bay" which is actually the cabin, on the bulkhead, are the ESC (left), the radio receiver (right), the motor (center). The steering servo is on the starboard side of the hull. The cable coming through the bulkhead is the from the battery.

The motor is connected to the drive shaft through a universal coupling and the shaft runs inside the stuffing box which is embedded in the keel. The drive shaft is then connected to the propeller. The battery pack at 3000 mAh should give plenty of run time.

Sometimes even the stuff we buy needs a little work to make things just right. Here I am making an adjustment to the throttle control. This will provide a little more drive in the forward position and allow the ESC to reset when the throttle comes to stop before going into reverse. Kind of like working on an old transistor radio, eh?

The stern hatch contains the steering shaft and the steering arm. The shaft is actually a part of the rudder. These are controlled with the steel cable which runs from the steering arm through a nylon tube to the steering servo in the equipment bay.

The stern end of the keel is where the stuffing box and drive shaft protrude. Here the propeller is attached. The keel shoe holds the rudder in place. I measured the propeller at 2440 RPM at full motor speed. At 45X5mm, the prop should drive the boat at 1.36 MPH.