R/C Naval Combat

As was discussed over in this thread show us your float / recovery system!

Pictures appreciated, along with some information about how it should work, how well it actually works, and if/how you would change it given time for a do-over.

I'd start us off with something, but the Suffren doesn't have a float and the little oiler I'm working on hasn't reached that stage of construction. (I'm slow)   I'm personally interested an in-superstructure spool system for it though.

All right, I'll lead this thread off then.  Here is my most recent float design, used with much success in the 2008 season in my four transports.  All four ships got sunk on numerous occasions, and the float deployed with a very high degree of reliability.  There were only two failures, and I know exactly why they failed and how to prevent it in the future.

The float is a modified "hidden compartment" style float, with several changes to improve reliability of deploying.  The system consists of a fishing bobber concealed inside a modified PVC coupler, which serves double duty as the ship's smoke stack.  The modification applied to the PVC coupler is a number of vent holes cut in the bottom, to allow water to flood in through the bottom of the smokestack and lift the bobber up and out of the ship as it goes down.  If all goes well, the bobber stays on the surface the entire time.  The vent holes modification was introduced after I observed that, when a ship sinks, water can flood in through the tops of smokestacks, trapping your recovery float until after the ship hits the bottom of the pond.  By that point, it's too late and any number of obstructions may prevent the float from reaching the surface.  By cutting vent holes in the bottom of the smokestack, I allow water to lift the float up and out of the smokestack, rather than trapping it inside.  Unless the ship is rolled 180 degrees by a ram (actually happened once, first known failure), the float will deploy immediately with a high degree of reliability.  The following series of photos show the float in action, and also demonstrates the second time this float system has ever failed to deploy:

SS Henry Kaiser, mossed, torpedoed, and pumping, waits for assistance near the Allied Convoy Buoy

SS Ou Maru fatally rams the Henry Kaiser, finishing it off

The last moment before the float system's vent holes kick into action

The vent holes did their job perfectly, as water lifts the float up and out of the smokestack

Alas, the radio antenna strung between the two masts catches the float before it can finish deploying, trapping it in the mast

Henry Kaiser, float still trapped, rests on the bottom

As you saw in the photos, the float failed to deploy because it got trapped by the antenna wire.  Since then, the antenna wire has been loosened and repositioned, and the float has never failed since.

Posted By crzyhawk on 09 Jun 2009 09:57 AM
Don't use floats personally.

Why not?

This is the bottom of the superstructure. My float clips to the inside of the boat and lowers the boat to the pond bottom. It doesn't get tangled and has worked flawlessly on all three of the ships I have them installed on. I also can retrieve them with this.

Posted By BoomerBoy17 on 10 Jun 2009 03:18 PM
plus, being british he's used to swimming

True, very true.

From the Big Gun perspective, I have seen a number of large battleships go from "hale, healthy, and hearty" with several inches freeboard to "glub glub" in less than a minute, even with pumps on full.  What happens is a large amount of damage accumulates in the grey of one panel, eventually blowing the whole mass of wood out, just above the waterline.  The ship continues like that for a minute or two (or five, or more!) without the skipper (or other players) realizing, then suddenly a bump or a wave hits the ship the wrong way, the blown-out panel goes under, and the ship drops like a rock.  This type of damage is the #1 killer of capital ships in the WWCC.  Combine that with a 7-8ft deep pond with several feet of moss on the bottom, and floats become an important feature of ships 'round here.  I believe this thread is to help people who battle in similar situations, where a sudden sink is possible and the pond is deep enough to make recovery difficult without a float.

My Arizona dropped with a pump failure and three bb holes. I nearly drowned trying to recover it. I was 50 feet out in 8-10 foot of water, I dove and found it on the third try. I looked up with this 30 lb boat and thought, I'm never gonna make the shore with this. It took us 40 minutes with 5 people diving to find it again. They found it because the motors were still turning and they heard it underwater. I will never go with the theory "I will sink close to shore" again. This led to the devolopement of the float system I have.

Bismark normally (read now) will always be going out with 2 floats on board and there will be a 3rd back up later also.

1. A Piece of deck that is a hatch for the rudder servo floats off

so it has had a 50lb test fishing line attached to it and it is attached

around the prop shaft in the bottom of the hull. Snap swivel on end

of line to make putting in and out easier for maitenance.

2. A standard Float with a dowel with wound fishing line on it, these can be attached

inside the hull if you have float off super structure or placed in a funnel or just layed on

the ships surface or disguized as a range-finder or something similar.  50lbs test

fishing line and snap swivel on end of line,  and float tied and glued to the line.

3. That superstructure that floats off, tie a line to it also and it is used as a back up for

any of the other floats on your ship, it does not hurt to have more than one, I had just removed

my float system before my Bismark sank, what would have been a 15 minute recovery if there

was a float on her turned out to be almost a week of worry etc about a ship stuck in the mud

under 14 feet of murky water in a stinky, cold, pond.

Use a float - Save a Boat

It only took me one bad time also, my boats always sail with floats, everybody else is on their own