Build a Racing Sparrow in less than 3 hours
Greetings all ... I have been following the forum for a while now and am nearing completion of my first RC yacht, being an RS750 (pictures to follow when finished). Upon completing their first build, I notice that many forum members give Bryn feedback about the pleasure they have had, and how they are spurred on to have another go. For the benefit of Bryn, and for those of you wanting inspiration that building your first yacht is not beyond you, or that it will in fact sail ... I thought I would share my experience of finishing my second yacht ... a build that took from start to finish in less than three hours!
A hadn't intended to build this yacht, but was spending time entertaining my two young daughters over the school holidays holed up visiting their grandparents rural property in Western Australia. Being as it has been a bumper winter for rainfall, the dam was overflowing and resembling a large lake so I suggested we have what has now been called a "Stationery Regatta" or "Stationary Regatta" (pun intended!) ... being a boat race where the boats had to be constructed from craft or stationery items, recycled containers or stuff found in the garden. Needless to say that much effort was put into turning plastic milk bottles and containers into grand looking but poorly performing boats of all shapes and sizes.
Watch the maiden sail on YouTube
I decided to test my newly honed skills and enthusiasm for Sparrow yacht building to produce a slightly smaller scale version of an RS375 in the form of a pond boat (i.e no RC) using only cardboard, clear sticky tape, bamboo sewers, brown paper, some cotton thread, and a few pebbles for ballast. I formed the hull sticking the bulkheads to a cardboard deck and connected them using sections of cardboard to form a central spine. I strip planked a couple of strips of cardboard to form the shape of the hull sides and then used the sticky tape to cover and seal the hull. The mast and boom was formed taping together overlapping sections of bamboo skewers and the brown paper was used to form the sails. For the bulb keel I made a torpedo shaped basket from sewers to hold some pebbles and then taped it to a skewer reinforced cardboard keel. All up it took less than 3 hours and the result was visually a crowd pleaser. To my astonishment the yacht sailed beautifully for over 1.5 hours until the hull became water logged and the cardboard started to take on too much weight. I have attached some photos of the yacht before and after it took to the water and will forward a video to Bryn.
Enjoy ... 
… oh, and I now have orders for two fiberglass RS375 pond boats !!!!!
By: Snappahead
