Project Voyager

About a year before I was born, my Dad built a radio-controlled boat. I have a few memories of taking it to a couple of places and running it, and I remember always being very excited if I had a chance to control it! Sadly, as the years passed the boat fell into disuse and spent most of the last thirty years either in my bedroom or, more recently, in Dad’s garage where it has gathered dust as he hasn’t had the time or opportunity to repair it. However, now he’s moving to a new apartment where he won’t have a garage, I’ve taken it on and intend to get it going again!

It’s a first for me – last year I built a radio-controlled rock crawler (Project Thunderchild) and have a basic understanding of r/c helicopters, but they’re all electric – and the boat uses a nitro engine!

Still, I’m sure I’ll learn a lot as I go…

First impressions of the work involved

So far I’ve had a quick look at the boat and here’s what I think is involved:

All-new radio-control systems
The transmitter Dad used/built is ancient, so I plan to go 21st century and kit Voyager out with a 2.4Ghz reciever, and bind it to one of my helicopter transmitters. I’m also considering upgrading Project Thunderchild to 2.4Ghz and switching to a Spektrum DX3S or Futabe 3PM transmitter, so I could use that for convenience – I’d only need to carry one transmitter if I took the boat and a car out on a weekend…

New engine
After a bit of wrenching (and a complete “Doh!” moment) I’ve discovered that the engine in the boat is an “Enya 45 II 6002 Marine”. Although Enya are apparently still around, unsurprisingly the engine is no longer in production. A quick bit of research around various modelshop websites has thrown up a possible alterntaive, the SC46M, but it might be hard to get hold of. I’ve got a model shop trying to get hold of one for me, so we’ll see if he manages it – otherwise I’ll have to find another one. I’ve no experience of IC engines, so this will be interesting…

New electronics
As well as all-new radio gear, I might as well replace the throttle and steering servos while I’m at it. A couple of hi-torque ones should be suitable. I’ve also ssen some nice running lights and stuff, so I’m very tempted to replace the various decorative “light” fittings on the boat with working ones.

New propellor
Again, whilst looking for a new engine, I also found some nice propellors – the boat was built with a plastic one, but hopefully I can get a nice metal one instead.

That should be about it – structurally the boat seems sound; it hasn’t been damaged over the years (apart from a bit of window frame being knocked off) so should still be watertight. It needs a darn good clean, though, and the white paint has faded so I really should repaint it too.

All-in-all, I think it should end up costing around £150 or so (mostly engine and servo costs) to get going again – well, that and quite a bit of time!