QUEEN MARY MOTOR TRIALS SUCCESSFUL!!

I am very pleased to announce that the R/C/S Queen Mary has completed her first motor trials as of today, May 13, 2006. Though not without problems, the voyage proved that the Mary will be a perfectly viable and maneuverable radio controlled ship when completed later this month.

The voyage began just before 6:00pm when I put the Mary into the water at Indian School Lake in Scottsdale. I tapped the throttle lightly as I eased her out into the deeper water. Then, at full speed, she displayed moderate-to-high maximum speed. I suspect she will not surpass the Sovereign or Zuiderdam in speed, but she does well for herself. Most of all, I was impressed by her RUDDER. You see, in an effort to secure the best possible rudder, I transplanted the rudder from the QUEEN MARY 2 (which itself came from my old 8-foot USS ARIZONA) and put it into the Mary because I knew it was a very good rudder. However, I was worried that the Mary would not have good turn maneuverability because the rudder is so far FORWARD in her hull. The rudder is about 1/3 of the way forward from her stern because I had to put the aft CD player and speakers where the rudder should go.

Still, because of the quality of the metal rudder construction, the rudder did an excellent job, and actually, the Queen Mary has the BEST turning radius of any of my 2-channel boats!

Problems arose however, when after 5 minutes or so, the motor no longer seemed to work. Bringing the ship in, I discovered that a large amount of WATER was getting into the hull and actually touching the bottom of the plastic-encased speed controller. I think the speed controller is fine now, because I dried the bottom off and it ran again. However, the real problem is the water. After further examination, it was discovered that the water was getting in through the prop shaft. I failed to give it enough epoxy. I am hoping to rectify the problem and get her back into the water as soon as tommorrow. Please look forward to further Queen Mary updates later in the week.

Maiden voyage is May 27, 2006 at Dobson Lake in Mesa.

Barrett Hochhaus
diamondback78@hotmail.com