OK, so this is a total experiment and if it doesn't work I'll just make one out of aluminum. I laser cut 6 layers of 1/32" plywood and have laminated them together to make a crazy weird servo arm. This is how it looked in SketchUp Pro with the plastic arm underneath that came with the Hitec HS-815BB Sail Servo... Here are the laminations after the laser cutter finished: And here they are being laminated between two scrap pieces of 3/4" MDF: We'll see how the finished product looks tomorrow when I open it up! Aloha

Hopefully this is my final rework of the Sun Wind II servo tray. I've repositioned the rudder servo, and sunk it into the board. There are fewer walls and pieces. It's more compact. The battery case will be held in place by Velcro and a small retaining wall. This should be sufficient and will allow for a tiny bit of battery repositioning to better distribute its weight. Almost done planking the test mockup half-hull. Will sand afterwards and then partially cover with fiberglass. Peace!

In the size of RC sailboats that I enjoy building (Star 45, my Salish 475, Vintage Marbleheads, maybe someday an East Coast 12 and others... all between 45"-60" LOA), it is tough to find rudder control arms that fit a 1/8" rudder post. It's virtually impossible. Recently I found a website that showed how they made their own. Today I tried it and it worked really well! I'm simply horrible at metal working, especially soldering, but after a few mistakes I finally got it to stick. Here are my first tries. When I finally get around to building the actual boat, I will make better ones. But this at least proves that even someone as solder-challenged as I am can do it! Click HERE to go to the website I found. They were working with 1/16" shafts, but the steps are the same for my 1/8" shafts. There is also a nice discussion on RC Groups about rudder control arms. This is another example for an RC hydroplane . Then I found someone else, and I can...

Tonight I modeled the Hitec HS-815BB Sail Control Servo for use in both the Rip Tide and the Sun Wind II RC sailboats. I'm going with a sail arm servo instead of a drum winch like I used on my Star 45 and Salish 475. I really want the deck to look clean, without any sort of shock cording like I have on the drum winch boats. Yes, I can use an internal self-tensioner, but a swing arm is also much easier to use. It may not be as competitive, but on the other hand, a lot of guys swear by them and say that they are just as fast as the drums. Since I'm not into racing, I don't care and will go for simplicity. Besides, this servo is $50 compared to $300 for the RMG SmartWinch. RMG winches, by the way, are amazing! I suggest you use them on certain boats. But for the VM Rip Tide and Sun Wind II, I'm going with simple and clean. Here's how the 3D servo looks. I wanted to make sure that it would fit, and that the arm had plenty of room to swing. Looks good so far! ...