February 2003

Transcription

February 2003

NAMBA INTERNATIONAL PROPWASH
PRESIDENT
Alan Hobbs
2402 Old US Highway 91
Cascade, MT 59421
(406) 468-2706
e-mail: hobbsmt@prodigy.net
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Cathie Galbraith
1815 Halley Street
San Diego, CA 92154
(619) 424-6380
Fax (619) 424-8845
e-mail: cathieg@ix.netcom.com
VICE PRESIDENT
Doug DeWitte
24610 Town Center Drive #5101
Valencia, CA 91355
(661) 259-9785
e-mail: mtomodelboat@earthlink.net
Web Page: www.namba.com
VOLUME 33, NUMBER 1
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Safety Issues ……………………...……
2
Electric Update ………………..….…..
2
Prime Time …………………..….…….
2
District 1 Roundup ……………...…….
2
A Kid's View of Racing …….…...……
3
Scale News In 19 ………………...…….
3
In Memory Of …………...………..…...
4
News From District 19 ………...……...
5
News From District 7 ………...……….
5
Memory of "Jenks" …………...……...
5
2002 Fast Electric Nats ………...……..
6
Records and Awards …………...……..
9
Hall of Fame Report …………...……...
9
Officers and Chairmen ……...……….. 10
Sport Proposal Pro ……….…...……… 11
Sport Proposal Con .…….……...…….. 11
2003 Nats Update ……………...……... 12
Hull Classification Prop ……...………. 12
District 12 Report …………...………..
12
Internet News ………………...………. 13
2002 Nitro/Gas Nats ………....……….. 13
News From District 20 ……...………... 16
Sunshine Cup ……………...………….. 17
What's Wrong With My Engine …….. 17
News From Seven ………...…………... 19
MAC 45 Update ……….……...………. 20
Gas Engine Progress …….…...………. 21
FE Rule Change ……….……...………. 23
Renewals Due …………….…...………. 23
South Coast Battle Group …...………. 23
Convention 2003 ………………...……. 24
Revised Safety Rules…………...……... 24
FEBRUARY 2003
President’s Message
By Alan Hobbs
NAMBA President
I hope that all of you and your families had a great holiday season. The 2002 racing
season has come to a close and the 2003 season is starting to get underway in the
warmer districts. It is a time to reflect on our past accomplishments and to look
forward to the upcoming year.
In NAMBA model boating, the annual district meetings play a big role. These
meetings are a time to acknowledge the past year’s winners. District high points
champions are announced and awards are distributed. District finances are reported
and the next year’s schedule is finalized.
Sometimes these meetings are also a good place to openly discuss differences and
resolve any disputes. However, sometimes small disputes can be blown out of
proportion during these meetings. Don’t let differences of opinion concerning model
boat racing escalate to the point where the meeting cannot accomplish its worthwhile
goals.
There is an old Japanese proverb which might be appropriate. It states that “The
reputation of a thousand years can be determined by the conduct of one hour.” In other
words, a few people’s actions affect how everyone feels for a long time afterwards.
Try to keep your district meetings fun and businesslike. Give the district champions
the recognition they have earned. Cooperate to get the schedule finalized. Do your part
to create a successful meeting.
By the time that you read this I will have just attended the District Three 2003
Winternats in Orlando, Florida. I had been contacted by some European racers about
this event, and I hope that they were able to attend. Last year was a great time and I
have been looking forward to this year.
Remember that the 2003 NAMBA Nats is scheduled for July in New Mexico. It
will be hot and dry, and there should be a lot of boats entered. Information and entry
forms for this event are included with this newsletter. Plan to be there. It will be a lot
of fun.
Until I see you again, I wish you a lot of great boating.
PROPWASH
Safety Issues
It’s “Prime Time”
By Eric Bourlet
NAMBA Sport Hydro Chairman
By Al Waters
NAMBA Unlimited Hydro Chairman
Well it’s the off season for many
Districts and a good time for individuals
and clubs to check out their safety
equipment. I know that most every club
has a fire extinguisher and some form of
first aid kit. How many of you have done
a recent assessment of your first aid kits?
Are there supplies that need to be
replenished? Do you keep Benadryl in
case someone has a reaction to a bug
bite, bee sting, or toxic plant? Make sure
you have gloves and a CPR mask
available. I know everyone out there
thinks they will never have a heart attack
or see anyone at a race have one. All I
can say to you is you may be wrong.
Here in District Eight a few years back I
was at a race where a driver had a severe
heart attack in the middle of his heat. It
was lucky for him that several club
members knew CPR and were able to
keep his brain alive until the paramedics
arrived with the proper equipment to
restart his heart. This brings up a rather
sensitive issue with some. We all need to
be aware there are several diseases that
can be spread via body fluids. Hepatitis
C is at epidemic proportions in the U.S.
and there is a good likelihood that you
race with someone that has it or is a
carrier. You need to make sure you have
and use gloves for any first aid that may
expose you to body fluids and a CPR
mask anytime you do CPR. Even a
simple thing like a cut that is bleeding
can put you at risk. Hepatitis can live for
over a week in dried blood so you need
to be careful. If you do happen to go
down with a heart attack and CPR is
performed on you, there is a less than 20
percent chance it will work by itself. A
recent innovation in first aid is the
Automatic External Defibrillators
(AED). If there is one of these available
the odds of a successful rescue climb to
80 percent. These units are dropping in
price to where they now are affordable.
They are fool proof and save lives. There
are even grants available to help
organizations purchase them (check the
internet). It may be a good thing for
districts or larger clubs that have the
funds available to look into acquiring
one to have at the races next to the fire
extinguisher and first aid kit. Often our
race sites are remote and it may take
some time for help to arrive. It could
save your life to have an AED close by.
One thing that is also important is to
know the address where you are. It may
sound like a simple thing, but how many
of you know the street address of your
race sites? If your club has a trailer why
not post this information on the door
next to your other safety equipment? Just
a few things to think about in the off
season. Let's all have a safe 2003 race
season.
Electric Update
By Doug Twaits
NAMBA Electric Chairman
We have finished the 2002 season. Several districts have an active electric racing
circuit. I can't stress enough how important local races are, as this is where beginners
can get a chance to get involved - juniors especially! Remember, we need a reason
and a place to run these models we have purchased.
I've heard there are a couple of new NAMBA clubs that have formed. I hope these
new groups choose a good basic class setup for racing. Your N-1 and N-2 classes
offer less expensive cost but yet produce great racing. Of course there are more
powerful classes, like the P classes. I would enjoy hearing from these new groups and
introducing them in one of my Propwash reports.
There were several electric records set last year. These little boats are now really
going fast. Check them out on the listing that is with this newsletter. There were a few
older ones that had not gotten into the previous listings. We apologize to these boaters
and will try harder to make sure that this does not happen again in the future.
See you at the races.
2
Maybe we will become superstars or
superbusts. Either way, we will be on
“Prime Time.” You may have heard of
the Outdoor Channel on television. Their
programs consist of everything from
fishing to hunting to the great outdoors.
They are in the process of expanding
their programming to now include a new
program called “Inside R/C.” This will
be about anything that has anything to do
with R/C. Planes, cars, robotics…and
boats.
With the help of Terry Prather of
Prather Products, Inc., we made
arrangements with their camera crew to
film some of our events. They appeared
at the San Diego Scale Unlimited Race
in September and the District 19
Shootout at Legg Lake, in South El
Monte in November. Hours and hours of
footage were shot including interviews
with model boaters. When will the
program air? Sometime in March of
2003. Go to www.insiderc.com to view
the programming schedule. Andy
Worhol once said that everyone becomes
famous for 15 seconds. This may be
ours.
District One Roundup
By Charlie Ott
District 1 Director
District One had a very successful
season in my first go around as District
Director. Our race attendance is
continuing to rise and we have had a lot
of new entries from seasoned veterans
and fiery rookies. Included in these
“rookies” are some junior members in
the 8-12 year old age bracket who, let
me tell ya’, gave the “old” guys a run for
their money. We’re not talking about
“kids” classes either. These up and
coming champs duke it out in the big
leagues and are a force to be reckoned
with. Congratulations on a fine season
go out to Jake Sacken, Kris Willett, and
Justin Lamot.
Most races in our district combine
Mono, Hydro, Sport, Unlimited, and Gas
classes. We also have a thriving Electric
Continued on page 3
February 2003
PROPWASH
Roundup
(Continued from page 2)
racing community. Due to this mixture, a
“cross-over” effect has been created.
Lots of Mono/Hydro and Sport racers
have built hulls and crossed over into
other classes for the first time in 2002.
Combined with the growth of our Gas
classes, it’s been a ball for all, and the
District is the beneficiary. Race
attendance is increasing.
I feel “cooperation” was our theme in
2002. We have a great crowd that
regularly attends District One races, and
all of these boaters are dedicated to the
hobby. Everyone is willing to lend a
hand and assist the host club with their
race duties. This camaraderie provides
us with a fun atmosphere and quality
racing. The smaller clubs have been
able to run more efficient races thanks to
our great stable of “true” racers.
The duties of a District Director are
many. I could not have made it through
my first season without the cooperation
of my two Assistant Directors. Lou
Gerdik has been at my side (and my
back…he’s my pit man also) assisting
me with all of my organizational duties.
Just when I thought there were too many
loose ends, there was Lou helping me tie
them all up. Dave Neelman has been
fantastic in managing our newsletter,
mailing and e-mailing lists, e-mail news,
and organizing our bulk fuel and glow
plug orders. There is nothing these guys
won’t do to help me, and I owe them
many, many thanks!
I would also like to thank my District
Chairmen: Jack Ditta, Bill Ruffin, Lou
Gerdik, Bob Harless, and Norm
Barksdale. Their compilation of scores
helped me stay on top of all of our
standings and their proficiency in the
rules of their classes helped resolve the
disputes that always arise in any form of
competitive racing.
I also need to thank Cathie Galbraith,
our faithful secretary at NAMBA
headquarters, always at the ready with
answers to the questions we have.
Like I said…cooperation is the key to
success in District One. If you’re in the
neighborhood in the greater NY, NJ, PA
area, we hope you have your gear with
you. Stop on by and enter a race. You’ll
be glad you did.
February 2003
Scale News In 19
Hopefully by the start of the 2003
season, you’ll be able to check out our
race schedule, race results, and more at
www.namba-1.com/. (I hope I can convince Dave to complete this task also !)
Thanks to all of our racers for their
support and attendance and
congratulations to all of our 2002
District One Champions.
2002 District One Champions
Nitro/Gas
A Hydro: Charlie Ott
B Hydro: Bob Harless
C/X Hydro: Bob Harless
A/B Mono: Dave Neelman
C/X Mono: Butch Fields
Sport 21: Ken Laux
Sport 40: Jack Ditta
Sport X: Lou Gerdik
Unlimited: Mark Sacken
G-1 Mono: Butch Fields
G-1 Sport Hydro: Joe Venango
G-1 Crackerbox: Al Chianelli
Mono/Hydro High Point: Charlie Ott
Sport/Scale High Point: Jack Ditta
Gas High Point: Dave Willett
Overall High Point: Charlie Ott (3 years
running)
Electric
N-1 Mono: Norm Barksdale
P Mono: Norm Barksdale
N-2 Hydro: Doug Twaits, Sr.
P Offshore: Norm Barksdale
P-Sport Scale: Chris Fine
P Hydro: Doug Twaits, Jr.
High Point: Norm Barksdale
Junior High Point: Justin Nash
Ladies High Point : Brandy Kennedy
A Kid’s View of Model
Boat Racing
By Mike Cathey
Unlimiteds Northwest
Last night my four year old grandson
and I were watching a video of his preschool Christmas program. When I
asked him who took the video he rather
sadly replied "my other Grandpa, the
one with no toys." You gotta love it.
By Al Waters
President of the SCSTA District 19
What a year we had in District 19 in
the Scale Unlimited class. How can I say
this? Our lowest turnout was better than
3/4ths of our best turnouts the previous
season. It has taken a lot of work by
many people, and will continue to do so
just to keep Scale racing in District 19 at
the same level. But that is not good
enough. We have a classy name like the
Southern California Scale Thunderboat
Association but we are just a club like
any other club in the district who get two
votes for voting purposes. Our goal is a
10 percent increase in participation every
year. It seemed like for a while we were
looking for 10 percent of 10 and looking
for one new boater. Then 10 percent of
15 became 2 boaters. Now we run four
and five heats in a round of racing rather
than three. Boaters are like ponds. Easy
to lose, hard to keep, and even tougher to
find new ones. But I do have to say that
our club has done an outstanding job of
promoting Scale racing in our district,
and some very competitive racing from
the looks of my boat.
Congratulations go to this year's High
Point Champion (and it was his first)
Chuck Wayne, running his 1986 Boat.
Yep, “Boat” was the name of the boat.
The key was his 84 percent finish rate,
which translated into a lot of points. Just
enough, as he held on to win by a mere
143 points over a hard charging second
place finisher and a winner of many
district classes including Scale, Doug
(6th place points) DeWitte with his 1963
U-8 St. Regis. To show you how much
of an accomplishment Chuck’s win was,
here is who he had to finish ahead of
along with Doug DeWitte. In third place
was D&M Racing with the U-4. This
team consisted of Mark Grim and Don
Maher who have set many NAMBA
straight-line records. In fourth place for
the year was Russell Stark and his 1979
U-4 Century 21. Russ has won many
district Gas classes and qualified for
most all of the Scale finals this year. In
fifth was District 19 Director Tony
Rhodes with the 1960 U-4 Miss Burien.
Tony, known as the “Grand Poobah” in
Continued on page 4
3
PROPWASH
In Memory Of ………
Scale News
the Scale racing circle had a terribly bad
start but came on hard at the season's
end. And, in sixth place was yours truly
with my 1977 U-8 Oh Boy! Oberto.
Another success story this year was
Doug DeWitte and Al Waters’ trip to
Tri-Cities, Washington in July to race
Scale Unlimiteds and enjoy watching the
big boats. We really had a lot of fun and
are making plans to go again in 2003.
What was really unique about this race
was we saw Scale Unlimiteds that we
have never seen before. Late model
turbine pickle forks with tail feathers
were very common. Here in Southern
California, the most popular hull is the
pickle fork without verticals and
horizontals.
Racing was also different for us,
which made it a lot of fun. The
qualifying races were three lap sprints
rather than six laps like we were
accustomed to. Buoys in the front and
back straights kept the drivers honest.
The top six in points for the day
qualified for the Final. The next five
made the first Connie and next six after
the second Connie. The winner of the
second Connie moved up to the first
Connie. The winner of the first Connie
became the trailer in the Final. He would
have to be at the exit of the turn two
buoys at the expiration of the start clock.
Are you still with me? I qualified
number three tied with Don Mock and
behind Dave Brandt. Talk about some
namers! Doug was in the first Connie,
won, and was the trailer in the Final. It
was a heck of a good race. When the
nitro cleared, I finished the Final in
second place behind Don Mock and
Doug DeWitte came in third. Doug was
presented trophies for winning the first
Connie and third place in the Final. I was
presented trophies for second place in
the Final and top finishing round nose
(or chisel nose in my case).
But the best part? Bill Wurster, who
is current owner of the LLumar Window
Film unlimited was on hand to watch the
Final. He was the owner and driver of
my Oh Boy! Oberto back in 1977. It
doesn’t get any better than that.
Next up was the Oh Boy! Oberto
Presents the Bill Muncey Scale
4
From a District 19 Boater
Unlimited Hydro and Sport 40 Unlimited
Lights Race. Run in conjunction with the
BIG boat circuit, this race continues to
be a great event. Like I mentioned in
another article in this newsletter edition,
you just have to be there to experience it.
We had a great turnout from Washington
and District Nine. I would also like to
thank Jim Wilson and Jim Piazza from
District Nine who did a great job on the
microphone. As luck would have it I
won the Final and Tony Rhodes the
Unlimited Lights.
But what was the best part? Have you
ever crewed on a full sized Unlimited?
What an experience? I could go on and
on about the details. The Czar, Roger
Newton and crew chief for Ken
Muscatel’s Superior Racing recruited me
for what free time I had left over. Known
as “Towel Boy,” by Jim Piazza’s wife
Renee, I never busted my tail so hard,
but it sure was lot of fun. And being
located in between the Vacationville.
com and Lori Jones camp, (eventual
winner of the race) was not so bad either.
Next up this year was the District 19
Top Gun Shootout. The top six in points
in all qualifying district classes go head
to head for four heats of racing. Scale
High Points Champion Chuck Wayne
decided to bow out of this event which
moved up Bill Curtis and his 1980 U-8
Dr. Toyota. D&M Racing was on top of
their game this day and ran unmatched.
What is in store for 2003? Probably
the biggest change in store for Scale in
2003 will be the addition of Unlimited
Lights. You may have heard this class
mentioned many times in the past as
Sport 40 Unlimited Lights. This is how it
will work. With permission, at our standalone Scale events, we will run a second
class called Unlimited Lights. We will
follow the NAMBA Sport 40 rules. That
includes the Sport 40-2, the Sport 40-1,
the pull start 32 Sport boats, and
anything in between. The class will run
under exhibition status, collect points,
and participate in year-end awards. The
idea is to run a class that will be a
stepping-stone into Scale Unlimiteds and
create a bigger following in the sport
classes at the district nitro events.
That's it for 2002. See ya next season.
In December of 2002 one of our
model boaters in District 19 passed
away. Peter Austin was discovered
sitting quietly at work. Peter apparently
died as the result of a heart attack.
Peter didn’t make as many District 19
races as he would have liked, as his work
schedule seemed to be in the way.
Although I wasn’t as close to Peter as
many, I will always remember him
driving to a Needles Inboard race,
missing open water, missing the drivers'
meeting, and almost missing the two
minute start clock. Somehow he always
managed to show up just in time for the
first heat and was always smiling with
his wife and two daughters right there by
his side.
It didn’t matter to Peter whether he
won a trophy or not. He was having fun
being on the water with his boat, and
pitting for his wife when she ran the
Rookie class. Peter and I had e-mailed
each other just before his passing. He
was selling his R/C boats and enjoying
time on the Colorado River with his
family and his bigger boat. We are really
going to miss you, Pete.
February 2003
PROPWASH
News from District 19
News from District Seven
By Tony Rhodes
District 19 Director
By Hank Mullin
District 7 Director
How time flies when you are having
fun! Another year of model boating is
behind us. We just had our year end
awards ceremony and banquet at
Laughlin, Nevada. This was my first
year as Director. What a learning
experience! People calling to get
information, people calling to complain
about one thing or another, people
offering advice on how or what to do,
and even one or two to say “good job.”
But it is all worth it to see our district
doing well and running smoothly.
We had nine races in each of our
divisions, Inboard, Outboard, and Gas,
while Scale had 10 with the Bill Muncey
Memorial Race. Our own Al Waters won
that one. Congratulations to Chuck
Wayne running “The Boat” on winning
the District Championship this year.
Chuck runs a Phil Thomas hull, and this
is just his third season running Scale full
time. There were many other winners
and our congratulations go out to all of
them.
We are going to have a change in our
racing schedule for 2003. With the
overall attendance down in all types of
boating in our district we are going to
combine the Inboard and Outboard series
back to one group. This will make fewer
races but they will be larger and
hopefully more competitive. It will
enable some of our people to bring out
that one inboard they have or that one
outboard and race it once in a while
without traveling all over to race maybe
just that one boat.
To finish up, if anyone cares, I ran 12
classes finishing in the top 10 in all of
them. I even won three of them.
Whoever said you couldn’t do the
District Director’s job and have a good
season didn’t know about me. It helps to
be self-employed so I can go to the lake
on Friday to test and set up the
equipment for the weekend. All of the
results from our district are posted on the
district web site. Thanks again to all of
the people who helped me over the
rough spots. And thanks to Al Waters
who, as most of you know, is a wealth of
information. See you next season at the
finish line.
February 2003
We finished the 2002 season in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Our most active classes
were X Mono, X Hydro, Nitro Cat, and C Mono. We welcomed the participation of the
Fort Worth-Arlington racers this year. For the first time, District Seven will host a race
in Fort Worth in June, 2003.
District Seven is proud to be the host for the 2003 NAMBA Nationals at Carlsbad,
New Mexico. This will be held July 12-19. For this event, District Seven is hosting a
complementary Welcome Party, and will offer a Steak Fry and also a Banquet on July
19th. Jay Stone, from El Paso, Texas is the Race Director. Entry forms are included
with this newsletter.
We hope to see you all in July in Carlsbad.
In Memory of Wayne “Jenks” Jenkins
By Kelly Stout
On Friday September 6, 2002 many of us in District 20 gathered to bid farewell to
one of Colorado’s long time model boaters. Wayne “Jenks” Jenkins was born
February 9, 1935 in Greeley, Colorado. He moved on to the place where we all know
that great model boaters go when they leave this world on August 31, 2002 from his
home in Thornton, Colorado.
Wayne had fought off cancer for at least five years, making many comebacks to
model boat racing when his health would allow. Each time he came back to race with
us he was faster and better. Many of you may remember him from the 2000 Nationals.
He raced three classes as well as working the whole week driving the retrieval boat
and helping set up the race site. He helped with anything that needed to be done, all
with a growing, painful lump on his spine, a smile on his face, and a bright red rag
hanging out of his pocket.
If they are racing boats in heaven, I know Wayne is there helping with the race,
and looking over St. Peter’s boat. He would never criticize someone else’s boat or
technique. The only thing he would say is “that will never work,” and then would help
fix the problem. Wayne was always there to help anyone that needed it, always with a
smile on his face and his trademark red
rag hanging from his back pocket.
At his memorial service they had a
table set up at the front of the chapel with
his nameplate from work and a red rag
hanging off the edge of the table.
As with most memorial services these
days they asked for anybody with a fond
memory that wanted to share it to come to
the front and do so. Many people came up
to tell about memories of Wayne. Friends
and family shared stories from his Midget
car race days, model boat racing, and the
year he took off from racing when he was
diagnosed with cancer that he spent
showing dogs with his wife Wanda. All
recounted that Wayne never lost his sense
of humor or gave up hope.
All of us in District 20 will miss our
fallen compadre and mentor.
5
PROPWASH
Impressions of the 2002 NAMBA Fast Electric Nationals
By Dick Crowe
Electric Unlimiteds Northwest
After five years it was Washington’s
turn to host the Nationals again! When it
was all said and done we had hosted the
largest electric model boat race in North
America with 31 racers, 256 boats, 21
new national champions, four new
records, and a ton of good memories.
Many racers rolled in on Wednesday
and were ready to test on Thursday. It
was very apparent early in the day that
the bar had been raised from last year.
FRIDAY
Racing began on Friday with the four
cell "M" classes. While the classes were
small, the speeds were not. It's amazing
the speed you can get from a four cell
boat. Larry Larson brought Jay Turner’s
rigger, powered by a hot Reedy 05 and a
gear drive! The thing sounded like a
vacuum cleaner but really moved. In the
end it was Doug Twaits Jr.’s boat that
had a little extra and won the class.
O Mono was the next class up with
three full heats! In the end it would be a
tie between Doug Twaits Jr. and Brian
Vega with Douggie edging him out on
time. I slid in behind them for third.
S Hydro was next. Brian Vega won
the class with his Rum Runner Rigger. I
picked up second with my Rum Runner
Rigger due to a little misfortune. I had
two firsts and was all by myself in the
lead when my speed control went poof!
To add insult to injury my boat took on
the nickname ‘ole stinky’ from the
burning smell of the fried controller.
The battle for N2 Offshore was very
tight with only two laps separating first
through third with Donnie Wollard,
Scott Bickford and Brian Vega.
In Crackerbox, last years' national
champ Scott Bickford went for a repeat.
Colten Crowe took second with
newcomer Chris Harrington from Alaska
in third. Look out for Chris next year,
this guy is good, really good.
On to ECO. I still don't know what it
stands for, but in the U.S. it is still
Donnie Wollard all the way. It's like he's
part of that boat. He never makes a
mistake. Colten Crowe took second with
his maiden voyage of his Danvo
6
Avenger, while third went to Chris
Harrington.
SATURDAY
Saturday’s first class was N1 Mono,
one of the biggest classes of the event.
By the third round it was looking like a
rematch from last year in Alaska where
Greg Schweers tied with Colten Crowe
and won on time. This year it was
payback! Again, both drivers had perfect
days with their Maus Micro Bullets, but
it was Colten's turn to edge out Greg by
only .04! Brian Vega rounded out the top
three with his Rum Runner mono.
N2 Hydro was a duel to the finish.
Both Douggie and I had two firsts going
into the last round. When it was all
finished, we were both sub one minute
for five laps on six cells. I was 58.95 to
his 59.44. It took a record to beat him
and it's a memory I'll have for a long
time. Coming in right on our heels was
Larry Larson.
P Hydro was next. Doug Twaits Sr.
gave us all a clinic on how to get the job
done with two firsts and a second for the
class win with his Twister. Second went
to Larry Larson and his RR Rigger who
was tied with Doug Twaits Jr. and his
Twister, but had a faster time.
In Q Mono I took three firsts with my
Maus Bullet for the win, followed by
Doug Twaits Jr. and Randy Naylor.
In P Offshore, Greg Schweers took
first with his Stepped El Lobo followed
by Dick Crowe and Tony Treichel with
only 1/4 lap separating Dick and Tony.
O Sport Hydro was probably the
biggest class at the event. The detail
work on these boats is just incredible!
This was another good class for me with
a class record and win. Second was
Doug Twaits Jr. followed by a strong
showing from Scott Bickford.
OPC Tunnel belonged to Larry
Larson. Second went to Greg Schweers
and third to Scott Bickford.
The last heat of the day was LSH.
This new class is really growing and
fielded four flights of heats at the Nats
this year! With 10 lap races, consistency
is the key. Only two drivers in the whole
class finished all of their heats. Colten
Crowe took first with a perfect day
running his screaming Cordite SS1
powered Maus Shovel and Duncan
Blanchard with two firsts and a second
took second for the class. Rounding out
the top three was Mike Stoumen.
Father and son - Dick and Colten Crowe
concentrate on the perfect start.
SUNDAY
By Sunday everyone had fallen into a
groove. I guess that will happen when all
you’ve done is race boats the last few
days. The first heat was N1 Hydro. Once
again Doug Twaits Jr. was the man to
beat with his Twister. This time he was
feeling a little heat from local driver
Larry Kirby with his own scratch built
hull who picked up second. Doug Twaits
Sr. picked up third to round out the fleet.
N2 Mono followed with Doug Twaits
Jr. again on top. Second went to Dick
Crowe with his Lightning NEO powered
El Lobo 2. Third place went to Tony
Treichel from Canada.
P Mono was next. This time it was
Dennis Whitt’s turn. Dennis had been
knocking on the door all weekend and
decided to knock it down with this class.
Second went to Chris Harris who also
had three strong heats. Greg Schweers
rounded out the top three.
Q Offshore turned out to be a real
offshore event! The wind kicked up a
little on Sunday and seemed to really
blow every time the big boats got on the
course! With three strong heats, Greg
Schweers locked up first place.
Continued on page 9
February 2003
PROPWASH
2002 NAMBA Fast Electric Nationals
Hitecrcd.com Racing
Doug Twaits Sr. is charged for racing
OPC Tunnel Champ
Larry Larson
Fuller's Fast Electric's Race Team
The Limited Scale Hydro winners
February 2003
7
PROPWASH
2002 NAMBA Nats Fast Electric Results
Friday
M2 Mono
Sponsored By BBY Racing
1st - Doug Twaits Jr.
2nd - Greg Schweers
3rd - Randy Naylor
Fast time: Doug Twaits Jr. 1:33.60
M2 Hydro
Sponsored By Climate Boatworks
2nd - Doug Twaits Sr.
3rd - Larry Larson
O Mono
Sponsored By C. Don Filer Agency
2nd - Brian Vega
3rd - Dick Crowe
Fast Time: Dick Crowe 1:12.95
S Hydro
Sponsored By Stoumen/Motorola
1st - Brian Vega
2nd - Dick Crowe
3rd - Doug Twaits Jr.
Fast Time: Dick Crowe 49:62
Saturday
N1 Mono
Sponsored By Hacker
1st - Colten Crowe
2nd - Greg Schweers
3rd - Brian Vega
Fast time: Brian Vega 1:39.64
N2 Hydro
Sponsored By Rum Runner Hobbies
1st - Dick Crowe
2nd - Doug Twaits Jr.
3rd - Larry Larson
Fast Time / Record: Dick Crowe 58.95
P Hydro
Sponsored By Rum Runner Hobbies
1st - Doug Twaits Sr.
2nd - Larry Larson
Fast Time / Record: Dick Crowe 53.34
Q Mono
Sponsored by Stoumen/Motorola
1st - Dick Crowe
3rd - Randy Naylor
Fast Time: Dick Crowe 1:06.53
8
P Offshore
Sponsored By Fine Design RC
1st - Greg Schweers
2nd - Dick Crowe
3rd - Tony Treichel
Most laps: Greg Schweers 30 ¾
O Hydro
Sponsored By Lehner Motors USA
2nd - Doug Twaits Sr.
3rd - Larry Larson
Fast Time: Larry Larson 1:00.26
O Sport Hydro
Sponsored By Fast Graphx
1st - Dick Crowe
3rd - Scott Bickford
Fast time / Record: Dick Crowe 1:04.63
Q Hydro
Sponsor By Larry "No Limits" Kirby
2nd - Larry Larson
3rd - Randy Naylor
Fast Time Larry Larson 55.29
OPC Tunnel
Sponsored By Bandit Boats
1st - Larry Larson
2nd - Greg Schweers
3rd - Scott Bickford
Fast time: Larry Larson 1:31.45
High Point Champ
Doug Twaits Jr.
LSH
Sponsored By Rum Runner Racing
1st - Colten Crowe
2nd - Duncan Blanchard
3rd - Mike Stoumen
Fast time: Dennis Whitt 2:34.94
Sunday
N1 Hydro
Sponsored By Rum Runner Racing
1st - Doug Twaits Sr.
2nd - Larry Kirby
N2 Mono
Sponsored By fastelectrics.com
2nd - Dick Crowe
3rd - Tony Treichel
P Mono
Sponsored By Stoumen/Motorola
1st - Dennis Whitt
2nd - Chris Harris
3rd - Greg Schweers
Q Offshore
Sponsored By Fine Design RC
1st - Greg Schweers
2nd - Dick Crowe
3rd - Dennis Whitt
Most laps: Greg Schweers 32 ¼
Team Championship
Fullers Fast Electric's – Dick Crowe,
Larry Larson, Greg Schweers and Scott
Bickford
Propwash
Advertising Rates
Classified Ad - $10.00
Business Card - $25.00
1/4 Page - $50.00
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Full Page - $100.00
These prices are per issue. Multi
issue discounts are available. Advertising will be printed in the body
of the newsletter in the same color as
the text. Please call for quotes on
special or two color printing. Should
an advertiser choose to supply the
Propwash with professionally printed
or multi-colored flyers for insertion
into the news-letter, the charge will
be $50.00, as well as the delivery to
the NAMBA office of approximately
1500 flyers.
Please call the NAMBA office at
(619) 424-6380 for more information
or for special advertising requests.
February 2003
PROPWASH
FE NAMBA Nats
Following Greg in for second was Dick
Crowe, and third went to Dennis Whitt.
O Hydro had an exceptionally fast
field of boats. While the water was a
little rough from the wind it didn't hold
anyone back! Doug Twaits Jr. was able
to tame the conditions for first with his
father Doug Twaits Sr. in second,
followed by Larry Larson who also set
the fast time for the class.
The last class of the event was Q
Hydro. Once again Doug Twaits Jr. was
the victor with Larry Larson coming in
second and again the fast time for the
class while Randy Naylor picked up
third.
By now it was no surprise that Doug
Twaits Jr. would be the Overall
Highpoints champ. I did everything I
could to squeeze in there and still came
up short, 750 points behind him. Third
was Larry Larson followed closely by
Brian Vega, Doug Twaits Sr. and Scott
Bickford. Team Championship went to
Fuller’s Fast Electrics. (Dick Crowe,
Larry Larson, Greg Schweers, and Scott
Bickford).
Seems like every year the boats get
faster and faster, but one thing remains
the same, the people. It’s still my
favorite thing about this sport. I love all
Hall of Fame Report
the new faces. Some of them included
Bob Lahde from Oregon. This guy came
to the Nats not even sure about what he
was going to run. But it didn’t matter, he
showed up and competed like a true
champion. Another new face was 14
year old Jeffrey Marlow from New
Jersey. Jeffrey flew out from New Jersey
with his grandmother to compete. He
was a real class act. When he wasn’t
racing or working on his boat he was out
in the chase boat. Then there was Steve
Corpuz from Alaska. He volunteered to
run back to the hotel to grab some
carbon fiber booms to help me fix my Q
Hydro with the detachable sponson,
oops! The next thing we knew, he had
missed his heat. While he was
disappointed he missed his heat, he was
happy that he could help. Wow!
My other favorite part about racing is
family. I’m the luckiest guy in the world
to be racing with my son. He’s only five
but knows more about boats then I did
after my first few years! What’s really
inspiring is to look at the tables around
me and see Don and Donnie Wollard,
Doug Twaits Jr. and Doug Sr., Scott and
Jim Bickford, or Tony and Terry
Treichel. I can only imagine what I have
to look forward to with Colten.
Records and Awards Report
By Dave Bestpitch
NAMBA Records and Awards Chairman
First of all, I want to thank all of your for your patience and assistance in getting
the records and website listing up to date. We apologize for some of the records that
were missing from several years ago. This points out how important it is to review this
listing periodically so that any errors can be resolved quickly. Trying to correct things
after a couple of years is a lot harder.
I don’t know if everyone is aware of the vast promotions that the awards and record
chairman can do for you. Our facility has great ideas for your award and promotional
needs for the NATS as well as for your local races.
If you are a new contest director we can help with our experience and the
experiences of other directors. If you are an experienced contest director your
comments will greatly appreciated and entered into our data bank to assist others in
running their contests.
The more we promote our hobby the more it will grow and the more contests we
will have, giving us lots of family fun in our respective districts. This complete list of
records is just one way to promote our hobby. A copy of all of the up-to-date records is
included with this newsletter.
February 2003
By Doug Twaits
NAMBA Hall of Fame Chairman
Now that the 2002 racing season is
winding down, it's time to update our
NAMBA members about our guidelines
for the NAMBA Hall of Fame. Prior to
July of 2002, the members of the Hall of
Fame put together a few guidelines to
clarify entry into the Hall. These
guidelines are as follows:
1. The nominated person will be a
current NAMBA member (unless
deceased).
2. The person making a nomination will
be a current NAMBA member, with a
minimum of five years in NAMBA.
3. The person making a nomination will
be an Adult member.
4. The deadline for a nomination will
be eight weeks prior to a scheduled
induction ceremony.
5. If a nominee fails to be inducted,
then their name must be resubmitted any
year thereafter.
6. Only one person will be inducted
each year.
It is also required that the submitter
list the activities and accomplishments of
the person being submitted. As of this
Propwash, members will now know just
what is involved to nominate that special
NAMBA member that has gone the
distance for our organization. Present
NAMBA Hall members have shown
their great abilities in national and
district offices, help at national and
district events, and have had national and
district racing titles. Many Hall members
have excelled in all three mentioned
categories. New inductees into the Hall
of Fame should possess these qualities
and accomplishments also.
I'd like to mention that there was not
an induction for the 2002 year. Please
remember the cutoff date for the 2003
season. Typically, the induction is made
at the yearly nitro nationals, so judge
your eight weeks prior to that date.
Induction forms can be received by
contacting me at ...
Doug Twaits,
23 Elm St., Stanhope, NJ 07874.
(973) 347-5765.
9
PROPWASH
NAMBA OFFICIALS AND CHAIRMEN
Revised 1/1/03
PRESIDENT:
Alan Hobbs
(406) 468-2706
hobbsmt@prodigy.net
VICE PRESIDENT:
Doug DeWitte
(661) 259-9785
mtomodelboat@earthlink.net
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY:
Cathie Galbraith
(619) 424-6380
cathieg@ix.netcom.com
CHAIRMEN:
DEEP VEE:
Chris Hoffmann
(516) 561-1814
dasboata@aol.com
ELECTRIC:
Doug Twaits
(973) 347-5765
snobuster@webtv.net
GAS
Open
HALL OF FAME
Doug Twaits
(973) 347-5765
snobuster@webtv.net
MONO/HYDRO:
Brad Donovan
(480) 807-1234
bdonovan@ix.netcom.com
OFFSHORE:
Joe Pagani
(973) 471-8656
jpagani@bellatlantic.net
OUTBOARD:
Skip Wagner
(520) 680-6604
rcboats@ctaz.com
RECORDS/AWARDS:
Dave Bestpitch
(916) 351-1028
executive@ns.net
SAFETY:
Bill Bridge
(858) 449-9344
whb254@earthlink.net
SPORT HYDRO:
Eric Bourlet
(253) 460-7283
ebourlet@gte.net
UNLIMITED HYDRO:
Al Waters
(760) 746-2408
alwaters@namba19.com
DISTRICT 1:
Charlie Ott
(718) 634-7805
badboy1741@aol.com
DISTRICT 3:
James Traut
(561) 792-0559
DISTRICT 7:
Hank Mullin
(505) 856-7718
ham7007@aol.com
DISTRICT 8:
Kirk McKee
(206) 721-3991
racnrc@uswest.net
DISTRICT 9:
Dave DeMotto
(925) 829-3864
ddemotto@sbcglobal.net
DISTRICT 10:
Ernie Bob
(808) 625-6423
ampba@aol.com
DISTRICT 11:
Richard Grenier
(603) 524-2628
rubenesq@worldpath.net
DISTRICT 12:
Jay Turner
(907) 344-8297
fluid@alaska.net
DISTRICT 16:
Keith Warham
(403) 253-9031
fastracer@shaw.ca
DISTRICT 19:
Tony Rhodes
(310) 549-6810
rctoys99@rcn.com
DISTRICT 20:
Kelly Stout
(970) 454-0963
kjsncnb@aol.com
DISTRICT DIRECTORS:
10
February 2003
PROPWASH
Sport Hydro Rule
Change Proposal
By David Neelman
District One
Included with this newsletter you will
find a proposal for a change to the Sport
Hydroplane rules. I wanted to take a
moment to explain why District One
feels that these changes should be
passed. One of the main purposes of the
Sport classes is to race a model that
resembles the “real thing.” It is one of
the things that make this hobby fun, as
evidenced by the fact that entries are
consistently on the rise in the Sport
classes, especially in District One.
The purpose of this rule change
proposal is to keep the class up to date
with they boats that they were modeled
after. The real five and seven liter class
hydroplanes now run struts off the
transom, as well as underneath the hull.
We want to duplicate the real thing and
keep our classes current.
We feel that you should always be
allowed to build a boat for R/C racing
that has the same scaled down features
as the boat you are attempting to
duplicate. If the real boats have evolved,
ours should be able to also. Some also
feel that the option on strut location
might make it easier in some situations
to set up the boat. In these instances, it
may attract some more new racers to the
hobby, and this is always a good thing.
Please keep in mind that we are not
implying that the strut has to go on the
back of the boat. We are just trying to
make it an option, in addition to being
able to install it underneath. This change
does not affect any other rules. Some
members are afraid that the Sport boats
may turn into outriggers and that the
Sport classes as we know them will go
away. We are not advocating change to
any other Sport rules accept the one
outlined in the proposal. We ask for your
support in this change.
February 2003
Thoughts On Sport Proposal
By Eric Bourlet
NAMBA Sport Hydro Chairman
Let me first say that as the Sport
Hydro Chairman I have no more say
than any other individual member in
NAMBA or for that matter no less of a
say in rule changes. That being said, I
would like to urge you to vote "no" on
the Sport rule change proposal that is
included with this newsletter. We that
race the Sport classes have been asked to
vote on a matter that in my opinion
could threaten the future of the Sport
classes. We have all seen that there are
boats that when designed to the letter of
the rules as they are now more closely
resemble an outrigger hydro than a
traditional Sport Hydro. Sport classes
have a long tradition and for years
people have designed boats within the
rules to compete. Several have raised the
bar but have stayed within the intent of
the framers of the rules. I do not feel that
it would be fair to those in the record
books and those that have made fast
boats by staying within the rules to make
a change that will allow even less
distinction between outriggers and Sport
boats. Soon there will be little point in
racing the Sport classes if they are just
another rigger class.
Our class has a great and long history.
I am rather new to boat racing by
comparison, as I did not start until 1985.
The innovators in our class have worked
hard within the rules to make Sport 402’s that exceed 80 MPH straight-away
speeds and one mile heat racing record
times that have fallen from 1:28 when I
started racing to the sub 1:15 times now.
Would it be fair to all that worked so
hard for every mile an hour or every
1/100th of a second within the rules to
make such a drastic change? Would new
records have an asterisk in the record
book? I understand that we need to
make sure the rules allow for innovation
and improvements. Our present rules do
that as evidenced by the improvements
in times we have witnessed in recent
years. I have thought long and hard and
contacted several people in NAMBA
that have raced the class longer than
myself for their feelings and they all
urged me to take a “vote no” position. So
I urge all of you to please vote “no”.
Now on to other matters. I think that
you now understand that I believe in
traditions. Being rather new to this I
need help from more of you guys that
started this whole thing. If you were
around when the Sport classes first
started running, I especially need your
help in clarifying the original intent. I
welcome all member’s input, and this in
no way is meant to discourage any
member with ideas on how to improve
our class from contacting me. I do feel it
is important to honor our traditions and
we have already lost many that were
there at the start. I believe it is important
that before they are all gone to urge their
participation in the evolution of our
sport. Anyone that wants to contact me
can e-mail me at ebourlet@gte.net. If
you don’t mind talking on the weekends
or after 8:00 pm Pacific time on
weekdays, I’ll pay for the phone call.
Just get me your phone number and ask
me to call you.
So please remember to vote. I would
like every Sport racer out there to take
part in this decision no matter how you
vote. Just make sure you vote. Just email
your vote to cathieg@ix.netcom.com.
Thanks for your participation.
11
PROPWASH
2003 Nats Update
District 12 Report
By Jay Stone
2003 NAMBA Nats Contest Director
By Jay Turner
Home to one of the unmentioned
natural wonders of the world, Carlsbad,
New Mexico, offers more than just a
haven for nocturnal creatures. Along
with a myriad of bat nests, Carlsbad
welcomes all those who visit with an
extended hand. As well as its serene blue
skies and tepid temperatures, a beautiful
saffron sunset greets each and every
individual. Enjoy the New Mexican
treasure that for so long its citizens have
hidden to keep the serenity and beauty
pure. In addition to the incredible beauty
and the most genuine hospitality that so
many New Mexicans unconditionally
offer, the peaceful tranquility and
serenity complete an unquestionable gift
that so many non-natives are quick to
sense.
The 2003 NAMBA Nationals will
kick off with a fiesta tippin’ sombrero
act at the festive mariachi welcome
party. My Daddy’s Barbeque and the
scale concourse judging occurs near the
conclusion of the competition and will
send you back on your way after good
eats and a great time.
Vote Yes
Racing will take place on the Pecos
River starting July 9th with open water.
Open water will continue on July 10th.
Both of these days will be uncontrolled
and a rowboat will be provided. Friday
July 11th controlled open water will start
at 8:00 am and run until 5:00 pm. We
encourage all racers to get their boats
tuned during these times. Racing starts
on Saturday, July 12th and ends on
Saturday, July 19th.
Hotel accommodations and local
attractions can be found on the 2003
NAMBA Nationals website at http://
www.namba7.com/nats . Carlsbad
Caverns National Park (25 minutes), the
Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State
Park (10 minutes), and the Guadalupe
Mountains National Park (60 minutes)
are all within an hour from the race site.
The City of Carlsbad also offers golfing,
go-karts, the Pecos River Village River
Walk, and the Cavern City Airport.
NAMBA District Seven is excited
about hosting our first NAMBA
Nationals. The City of Carlsbad and
District Seven hope that you keep this
race in mind and note that this will be
one of the most central locations for a
NAMBA Nationals.
So pack your bags and head out to
Carlsbad, New Mexico to experience a
sensational time as well as some action
packed Racin’ on the Pecos. The entry
form is included with this newsletter.
- NAMBA Hull Classification Rule Change Proposal
By Brad Donovan
NAMBA Mono/Hydro Chairman
Within this mailing of the newsletter is a rule proposal regarding hull classification.
Please read the proposal along with the following information and VOTE.
History
About a year ago, a number of NAMBA members questioned the legality of the
strake design on a couple of new mono hulls (Seaducer and Speedmaster). These hulls
have strakes that curve in towards the keel as they approach the bow of the boat. After
some investigation, I wrote a position paper, sent to all NAMBA Officers and District
Directors, as to why I felt these hulls met the “intent of the rule” and should be legal as
monoplane hulls. As part of that paper, I stated that I also thought the hull
classification rules needed to be rewritten to clarify the intent, as well as to more
closely align them with the other model boating organizations.
Continued on page 13
12
The 2002 Outdoor Season was an
interesting one. With one of the nicest
summers on record for Anchorage, one
would expect to have had a lot of racing.
Unfortunately, the beautiful weather
brought out so many park goers that we
often could not race on a nice night due
to too many swimmers and fishermen. In
spite of this we did run a few events with
N2 Monos and the Avenger class. These
boats are all Danvo hulls with stock
drivetrains and props, six-cell RC2000
packs, and 19-turn Chameleon motors.
They provide great racing, with high
maneuverability and identical speeds – it
is the driver who determines who wins,
not the boat.
N2 MONO
L. Larson
S. Corpuz
T. Higdon
J. Turner
AVENGER
S. Corpuz
T. Chang
C. Harrington
M. Hartley
R. Hartley
After the racing season, three
members spent the fall testing and tuning
boats for the Los Angeles SAW race in
November. The warm fall allowed us to
test far later into the season than normal,
and this helped us set several records in
Los Angeles.
Larry Larson set three new records;
his Starks OPC went 45.29 mph, his P
Sport Hydro achieved 68.26 mph, and
his LSH got up to 48.40 mph. The latter
boat was really hauling with a sealed can
motor. Jay Turner reclaimed his M2
Hydro record with a 45.73 mph top
speed, and Tim Higdon was very close
to several records with his boats. All of
these achievements paled compared to
the new electric record of 102.92 mph
run by Joerg Mrkwitschka of Germany,
but it was a rare privilege to have been
there.
The Anchorage Club will run an
Indoor Racing Series this winter, racing
Avengers and Crackerboxes in a local
swimming pool. It has been a few years
since we’ve raced the Cboxes indoors,
and it should be fun!
February 2003
PROPWASH
NAMBA Hull Classification
Project
At the direction of Alan Hobbs,
NAMBA President, I took on the task to
rewrite that section of the NAMBA Rule
Book. After a comparison study of the
current NAMBA hull classification
rules, IMPBA hull classifications rules,
and APBA “big boat” monoplane rules, I
wrote a preliminary rule change
proposal. This preliminary proposal was
then sent out to eight volunteer NAMBA
members from various districts for
review and comment. After incorporating many of the suggestions and
comments from the review process, a
final rule change proposal was written.
The proposal was then presented to
District 20 for review and approval
before being submitted to the general
membership.
The result, I believe, is a set of hull
classification rules that clearly convey
the rules and their intent through words
and diagrams, as well as align with the
IMPBA hull classification rules to make
life easier for all hull manufacturers and
new model boaters coming into the
hobby.
Change Highlights
• Added diagrams to illustrate
and clearly convey the meaning
of the words.
• Clarification of the difference
between basic hull
classification and specialty subclasses.
• Addition of the maximum hull
length limitation which was
previously located only in the
2002 NAMBA Nitro/Gas
Nats Wrap-Up
•
•
•
•
NAMBA safety regulations.
Change of the strake
limitations, both in depth and
where they must be parallel to
the keel to be inline with the
NAMBA Gas Competition
rules and IMPBA.
Changes in the area of concern
regarding concavity to only the
area between the transom and
the mid-point of the hull length.
(follows the APBA “big boat”
guidance)
Elimination of all reference to
cavitation and ride plates
because no performance
advantage could be determined.
Elimination of all reference to
exposed prop shaft log shape
because no performance
advantage could be determined.
Acknowledgement
Finally, I would like to acknowledge
all of those who contributed to the effort
to get the final version of this rule
change proposal to the general
membership. Thanks for all of your
help!
Kelly Stout and members of District 20
Jim Wilson – District 9
Frank Crockett – District 8
Rob Duckering – District 16
Gene Monger – District 3
Jim Osborne – District 19
Larry Ingelson – District 19
Al Waters – District 19
Bill Bridge – District 19
Internet News
By Jerry Dunlap
2002 Nationals Co-Contest Director
2002’s largest gathering of model
boaters and model boats anywhere in the
world occurred July 13-20 in Springfield, Oregon. The 155 participants
entered a final total of 625 model boats.
Although the planning committee had no
control over the weather, the almost
ideal conditions provided a great racing
environment. The results of the 2002
Nitro/Gas Nats have been available at
NAMBA.com since last July.
An event of this magnitude doesn’t
just magically happen. Many District 8
model boaters worked numerous hours
prior to, during, and after the event to
insure its success. We also received
much appreciated help from model
boaters from other districts. Two
individuals who providing greatly valued
assistance were Al Waters from District
19 and Renee Piazza from District 9.
There were many examples of
individual excellence during the eight
days of racing. However, two model
boaters who impressed me were Doug
DeWitte and Alan Yuen. Any one who
has been around NAMBA championship
racing the past ten or twelve years knows
Doug. That Doug is able to achieve a
high level of success while confined to a
wheel chair never ceases to amaze me.
Alan, from Calgary, is deaf. I have
absolutely no idea how Alan can set a
needle valve. Yet, Alan won two
national championships.
District 8 would like to thank all the
participants attending the 2002 NAMBA
Nitro/Gas Nats. It was a very successful
event.
By Al Waters
In previous articles I have provided various links to fun sites, informative sites, and
just about anything unique to model boating. This time around, I decided to explore
our own back yard.
In December of 1998, Districts 9 and 7 were the first districts to follow NAMBA
and go online. Later that month, District 19 followed. Since that time, and not
necessarily in this order, Districts 1, 11,16, 20, and most recently 3 and 8 have joined
in. Personally, that kind of commitment by the districts and by those individuals who
volunteer to manage the web sites is amazing. Please go to www.namba.com to the
district site map or type in any district number dot com after the word namba to view
the district web sites. The Internet has turned into an incredible media for
February 2003
AlanYuen and Doug DeWitte
13
PROPWASH
2002 NAMBA Nats ………….
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February 2003
PROPWASH
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February 2003
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15
PROPWASH
Internet News
communication. It is so easy to ask a
prospective boater if they have Internet
access, have them go online, and go to
namba3.com or namba20.com for
information in their area.
The web sites have contacts to district
officers and clubs, race schedules, and
race points. Some of the web sites give
you current weather conditions and maps
to the race sites. Others provide
information on getting started in the
hobby. District rules and newsletters
have become very popular. Frequency
listings are available to avoid conflicts at
the races and race entry forms are
posted. Some sites provide the boater the
ability to enter a race online, and a few
even have a listing for boats that were
stolen from the local boaters.
Photos, photos, photos. Nothing
provides more activity on a web site than
race day photos. It takes time to take pics
at the races, send them to the district web
master, and convert them to “web ready”
for quick uploading by the viewer.
Currently, many of the sites are also
providing videos for those to have high
speed Internet. It has become very
entertaining.
I have met a lot of people who claim
that putting together a web site is a piece
of cake. Where are those people a year
later? It is not easy, and it is very time
consuming. My hat is off to those
districts who have participated in
NAMBA, their district number dot com.
And, especially to those individuals who
maintain the web sites. I think you have
done a great job. The viewers thank you.
By Kelly Stout
November 10th was the date for the
annual District 20 meeting and awards
banquet. It was held at the Fox Hill
Country Club in Longmont, Colorado.
The agenda included dinner, a short
meeting, year end awards presentation,
and something new this year, some
entertainment.
We only had one item of business to
discuss this year at the meeting. A
proposal was presented to the district to
make some changes to the mono rules.
Following up on the work done by
Mono/Hydro Chairman Brad Donovan
over the last year, District 20 voted on a
set of hull classification rules to be sent
to the NAMBA members for consideration. We believe that these rules greatly
clarify the hull definitions.
It was then time for the evening
entertainment. Lee Taylor arranged to
have Jeff Hildebrandt, a cowboy poet
entertain us with his wit and humor. He
even wrote a poem for the district.
I heard the sound of engines as the
boats raced round the lake.
Then the smell of methanol and oil
came wafting in their wake.
Inboard, Outboard, Rigger, Cat. A
sport for manly men
Who work to make a perfect boat they
sell, then start again.
There’s Nitro-Burners, and R3M’s
who race for points and pride.
And then there are the first timers who
cut bouys or collide.
But, when at last you win your race, a
blue ribbon’s what you take
As the chant goes water, water….and
you jump into the lake.
I’m really glad to be here so, I’ll leave
you with this quote
It’s not the size of the prop that
counts, it’s whatever floats your boat.
Jeff Hildebrandt © 2002
2002 District 20 Champions
A OPC
1. Lee Taylor
2. Cody Stout
3. Marvin Taylor
A Mod Tunnel
1. Marvin Taylor
2. Brett Pirie
3. Brad Taylor
A Mono
1. Neal Goldsbourgh
2. Cody Stout
3. Lee Taylor
A Hydro
1. Lee Taylor
2. Marvin Taylor
3. Cliff Sherman
B OPC
1. Brett Pirie
2. Scooter Stout
3. Neal Goldsbourgh
B Mod Tunnel
1. Marvin Taylor
2. Kelly Stout
3. Bill Paone
B Mono
1. Bill Baker
2. Neal Goldsbourgh
3. John Petras
B Hydro
1. Brad Taylor
2. Marvin Taylor
3. Bill Strahm
Sport 40 II
1. Brett Pirie
2. Bill Baker
3. Marvin Taylor
C Mono
1. Marvin Taylor
2. John Petras
3. Bill Heacock
Open Mono
1. John Petras
2. Neal Goldsbourgh
3. Marvin Taylor
Open Hydro
1. Marvin Taylor
2. Cliff Sherman
3. Brad Taylor
High Points
1. Marvin Taylor
2. Neal Goldsbourgh
3. Brett Pirie
16
February 2003
PROPWASH
Another special award was given to
Cliff Sherman, outgoing Commodore of
the R3M club. Cliff has been the
Commodore of the club for 4 years. He
was presented with a card and gift
certificate for his years of service.
Jeff Hildebrandt entertaining the crowd
After we stopped laughing we went
onto the year end awards presentation.
The 2002 Rookie of the year was Neal
Goldsbourgh from Aspen Colorado.
Neal started the season with a couple of
used boats, and by the end of the season
he was racing in five different classes.
Neal and his son Miles travel five to six
hours from Aspen, Colorado to race at
the different District 20 race sites. He is
further hindered by the fact that any
testing he does in his home town is about
8000 feet above sea level.
Cliff making the presentation to Lee Taylor .
Two time winner Cody Stout. Oh how he has
grown since the 2000 Nats in Greeley, CO.
District 20 year end awards trophies
The First Annual Sunshine Cup
By Al Waters
NAMBA Unlimited Hydro Chairman
In 2001, at the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup Unlimited Hydroplane Race in
Washington, I ran into Gary Moll and Roger Newton. Gary is from District 9 and
Roger races RCU, wrenches on a BIG boat, and is known as the Czar within the model
boating circles. They were talking about putting together a Scale Unlimited race that
would bring together model boaters from California to Washington. Where else better
to hold the race than right in Manteca, California, site of the 2001 NAMBA Nationals.
Gary Moll and Jim Piazza of The Manteca Model Boaters hosted the two-day event
on March 23-24, 2002. This provided a tune up race for the Washington boaters as
they were still dealing with inclement weather. For those of us in Southern California,
February 2003
What’s Wrong With
My Engine?
By Jack Garcia
That's a question that I guess many of
us have asked ourselves sometime or
another when we can't get our engine to
run properly and at it's peak
performance. There are several reasons
for engine malfunction and I hope to
help you locate and possibly repair the
problem.
I will be covering problems with both
inboard and outboard engines. One of
the most common problems is “I can’t
get a needle setting.” There are several
reasons for an erratic needle setting:
1. Humidity in the air will cause an
engine to run richer, and normally it's
more humid in the morning than it is in
the afternoon in many areas. Your
engine will normally run richer in the
morning, and leaner in the afternoon. So
you will find yourself having to richen
up in the afternoon. As summer
progresses, it will be more humid in the
afternoon, and you'll find yourself
having to lean-down. Needle
adjustment's should be done minutely. I
know it's confusing, but experience will
be your best teacher.
2. The carburetor may be loose
allowing excess air to be drawn in.
Check it and re-tighten it if needed.
3. On an outboard, besides a loose
carburetor, the backplate may be worn
between the bearings allowing crankcase
pressure to leak out. This will cause the
engine to keep going lean. There is no
way to repair a worn out backplate,
you'll have to replace it.
4. On an inboard engine with a rear
rotor, the rotor may be loose. Besides
problems with needle settings, you will
also experience problems with tuned
pipe performance. (The engine will get
off the pipe under load, and will not
come back on. We will have more on
this later.) The rotor should have a
minimum of play between it and the
backplate, usually one to two thousands
of an inch. A feeler gauge will come in
handy here.
A little about tuned pipes. Most, if
not all inboards are equipped with tuned
pipes. (Follow the manufacturer’s
recommendations for a particular engine
17
PROPWASH
Sunshine Cup
it was right in the middle of a break
between scale races.
The weather report for the weekend
was not supposed to be on our side.
However, Mother Nature was very kind
to us. Everything that came towards us
just seemed to split in two and go right
on around. Friday and Saturday was test
day, as some boats just needed a click or
two on the needle adjustment, while
others were removing the cobwebs from
a pretty cold winter. Saturday afternoon,
Gary provided a real nice BBQ free to
everyone at the pond. It had a little bit of
flavor covering the whole western
United States. Salmon from the Pacific
Northwest, seasoned BBQ Tri-Tip from
Southern California, and good old
hospitality from Central California.
There was also some really good baked
beans and fruit bowls. Don’t know who
gets credit for that…I just know that it
complimented the BBQ very nicely.
Bill Brandt, Mike Walker, Roger and David
Newton made the trip from Washington
Nineteen boats entered the race. Four
were from Washington, three from
Southern California, and the rest were
from Central California. Concourse was
held in the morning prior to the drivers'
18
meeting. There were the People’s Choice
and Judge’s Choice. The race entrants
selected the People’s Choice, and Roger
Newton (The Czar) and Dave Bestpitch
(NAMBA Awards Chairman) were
handling the Judge’s selections.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Troy Davis - 1996 Smokin’ Joe’s
JUDGE’S CHOICE
Gary Moll - 1965 Miss Smirnoff
A few more minutes of open water
was allowed and then it was on to
racing. The course layout and mill
pattern used was a little different for
everyone. Each turn consisted of 5
buoys with straight-line buoys in the
back straight and a start/finish buoy in
the front. The audio time clock played in
its entirety for the two-minute mill and
30 second countdown to the start.
Milling was allowed front to back after
going around turn two but only after
passing the Start/Finish line or turn one.
When we went to the 30-second start
clock, there was no cutting of the course
allowed. This worked out real well as all
of the boats showed good lane selection
when merging. Add that not one boat
was hit the whole day, I would say that
this system was definitely the ticket.
Four rounds of qualifying running six
lap heats was the program. The top five
in points would qualify for the Winner
Take All Final. The next six boats would
be in the “Connie”. The winner of the
Connie would move up to the Final and
race right in there with the rest.
The sun broke through on Sunday
and provided some beautiful weather.
With the sun also came the wind.
Nothing like the 2001 NAMBA
Nationals but just enough to make you
think how you should drive your boat. I
think everyone was at full throttle
throughout the entire course with the
exception of turn two. The pond is a
little narrower at that end and the water
inlet is located there also. Add a few
boats going through the turn and it got to
be pretty choppy.
After four rounds the guaranteed
“Final” field of five was determined.
There was something unique with every
boater who had qualified. Peter Munoz
with his Miss Wahoo was tops in points.
He would have had a perfect day except
for two second place finishes. The
number two qualifier was Dave Foreman
who was making his first Scale event
ever. Number three was Bill Peck with
his Llumar Window Film boat. Bill’s
boat was one of the fastest so I looked at
him as the favorite. I was fourth with
three firsts and a DNS (bad plug). Two
of those firsts were over Peter Munoz,
the top boater in points. Rounding out
the field was Alfred Lanza with his
“Boat.” Alfred was negotiating lane one
in all of his qualifying heats which gave
him a lot of clean water to race in.
Now it was to the Connie to see who
would get that last chance. The field of
six was comprised of Nancy Moll (Miss
Bardahl), Troy Davis (Smokin’ Joe’s),
Bill Brandt (Miss Exide), Roy Munoz
(Miss Thriftway), Mike Walker (Red
Man), and David Newton.
Unfortunately, David Newton
jumped camp from the Miss Budweiser
to the Close Call at the start of the day.
It cost him, as a radio transmitter
replacement module could not be found.
Something even the great Bernie Little
would not be able to pull off. He had to
bow out of running in the
February 2003
PROPWASH
News From Seven
By Jay Stone
The NAMBA District Seven season
ended in Carlsbad, New Mexico on
October 19-20. Our race season started
out in April with an eight race schedule
that included dates in Andrews,
Amarillo, and Lubbock, Texas and
Clovis and Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The racing in 2002 was extremely
competitive and we had very few repeat
district champions. Going into the
District Finals there was a dogfight in
the Open Nitro Cat class. Don Wahe
and Curtis Keeth battled it out all year
and found themselves neck and neck
going into the final race of the season.
The first three heats finished and the
points total was still close. The fourth
heat of Open Nitro Cat class ended up
being the final heat of the 2002 season
and fittingly capped off how close the
racing was. Don Wahe edged out Curtis
Keeth with a 230 point lead for the
district championship.
Chelsey Tiller won her first district
championship in B Hydro, and Michael
Vaughn also won his first district
championship in C Mono. The fatherson combo of Bryan and Kevin Yancey
took home three district championships.
Bryan won Stock Gas and Open
Crackerbox. Young Kevin Yancey
earned his first District Championship in
the Kid’s class.
In NAMBA District Seven we have a
traveling trophy that is given away by
Eli Karagich. This trophy is for a racer
that accumulates the most points based
on the Eli Point formula. To earn an Eli
point a racer must win a heat in which
three boats or more finished. If a racer
The Propwash
NAMBA International
1815 Halley Street
San Diego, CA 92154
(619) 424-6380
Fax - (619) 424-8845
e-mail cathieg@ix.netcom.com
Editors
Cathie Galbraith
Al Waters
wins a heat and only two boats finish, no
points are awarded. This award has
become very prestigious and a symbol of
a dominant performance in a class. Don
Wahe won this award in 2002 with his
GX-1 Gas Cat.
For the past several years we have
enjoyed the camaraderie of the group of
guys that travel out to our races from
Fort Worth. We are all excited about the
addition of their club to our district race
schedule in 2003. Fort Worth will hold
its first NAMBA District Seven race on
June 7-8, 2003.
The 2002 season was a great year of
racing and our district is excited about
hosting the 2003 NAMBA Nationals in
Carlsbad, New Mexico. We hope that
you will come join us for some Racin’
on the Pecos.
The 2002 District Champions
A OPC
B OPC
B Mod Tunnel
A Mono
B Mono
C Mono
X Mono
A Hydro
B Hydro
C Hydro
X Hydro
Open Nitro Cat
GX-1 Gas Cat
Open Gas
Stock Gas
Open Crackerbox
Kid’s Class
Eli Points
Lynn Miracle
Hank Mullin
Gary Ayers
Dale Roberts
Hank Mullin
Michael Vaughn
Dale Roberts
Dale Roberts
Chelsey Tiller
Gary Gould
Eli Karagich
Don Wahe
Don Wahe
Don Wahe
Bryan Yancey
Bryan Yancey
Kevin Yancey
Don Wahe
Contributing Editors
Dave Bestpitch
Eric Bourlet
Mike Cathey
Dick Crowe
Brad Donovan
Jerry Dunlap
Steve Gamble
Jack Garcia
Alan Hobbs
Lohring Miller
Hank Mullin
David Neelman
Charlie Ott
Tony Rhodes
Jay Stone
Kelly Stout
Jay Turner
Doug Twaits
This newsletter is sent to all members free of charge as a part of their membership.
All articles contained herein may be reproduced as long as proper credit is given as to
author and publication source.
February 2003
Sunshine Cup
the race and the next boater in points
moved up which was Gary Moll (Miss
Smirnoff).
Nancy Moll's 1967 Miss Bardahl pulling a
"wheelie" in the Connie.
The Connie can sometimes be one of
the most exciting races as the winner
moves on to the final and everyone else
packs it in (after participating as a judge
in the “Final”). Most of the boats
bunched up pretty good for the start as
getting a good lane selection was very
important. However, in this heat timing
was everything. Gary Moll laid back and
came on with a flying start. At full speed
from the far outside, Gary hit the line on
the money. His lead was big enough that
he could take over lane one before
getting to the first turn. It was “See Ya”
time. The final field of six was now set.
As the field came down for the start,
sure enough, Alfred Lanza had milled
for lane one. I was at his side in lane two
with the others negotiating the outside
lanes looking for flying starts. The clock
hit the sound of the horn and off
everyone went. It was a good start. I
caught the pipe sooner than Lanza and
overtook lane one coming out of turn
one. Flying on the outside was Peck...
and he was fast. How much happened
that I can recount correctly, I do not
know, after all I was racing!
Gary Moll rolled in turn two, on the
second lap into the race. That was a real
problem, as we could not see his boat.
Come to find out…it sank (even with
floatation). Peter Munoz never caught
the pipe and was the next boat to quit.
Dave Foreman? I am not sure where he
19
PROPWASH
What's Wrong With My Engine?
size and boat hull.) I could go into a
lengthy discussion on length, verses prop
size and depth, verses different hulls, but
there is one formula you should
remember. The shorter the pipe length,
the more RPM you'll achieve, but less
bottom torque. Less bottom torque will
make it difficult for your engine to "get
on the pipe." Also, your engine will be
more sensitive to needle settings, i.e., if
it's a little too rich it won't achieve
enough RPM to "get on the pipe." On the
other hand, a longer pipe length will not
produce as much top RPM but will
produce much more torque. Your engine
will "get on the pipe" at a much lower
RPM. There is a happy medium
however, and experimenting with pipe
lengths, prop size, and prop depths will
give you the performance you are
looking for.
Engine Loss of Power
Does your engine no longer have the
top RPM it used to? Does it seem
sluggish and not as knarly as it used to
be? It won't stay on the pipe and won't
keep a needle setting? Here are some
possible reasons:
1. The piston and sleeve may be worn
out. An easy way to find out is to turn
the engine over by hand. If it is mushy
and won't hold compression, first check
the head bolts for tightness. If they are
tight, your engine is over the hill. To
bring it back to life, according to Bob
Cornell, bake the piston for 16 hours at
MAC 45 Update
425 degrees, or for 8 hours at 450
degrees. Remove the piston from the
oven and let cool naturally. Important:
Do not quench the piston in water.
2. The piston skirt may be dragging.
The bottom half of the piston is rubbing
on the sleeve causing too much friction
and robbing the engine of RPM. To
inspect, remove the engine from your
boat, look into the exhaust port and
rotate the engine to expose the bottom
half of the piston. Look for wear or score
marks. If they are present, a new piston
and sleeve is in order.
3. You may have a scored crankshaft
and front plate. A score can occur from
lack of lubrication, overheating, debris,
or a loose bearing. A loose bearing is
just that. It's loose in the socket and the
only thing you can do is replace the front
plate assembly. Overheating or lack of
lubricants can be caused by running the
engine too lean. Debris could be a sliver
from a ball bearing or dirt. To inspect,
you must remove the crankshaft from the
front plate. If the shaft and front plate are
scored, a new front plate assembly is in
order.
There is one more problem that may
occur, and that is the bearings in the prop
strut will not roll freely, robbing your
engine of power. They also will need to
be replaced.
Hopefully this will give you some
ideas on what to check the next time that
your engine is just not performing
correctly.
MAC 45 Sleeve
Transfer Port Changes
Boost Port Changes
20
By Lohring Miller
Emerald R/C
Almost immediately after I wrote the
review of the MAC 45, I got a call from
Andy Brown. It seems that the unique
domed piston and head button were not
suitable for the high nitro fuels we run in
the U.S. I sent off the piston, sleeve, and
head button and got back the parts in the
pictures below. The piston had the dome
turned off and the head button was
replaced with a new matching flat squish
design. The sleeve was the biggest
surprise. The auxiliary transfers (the
ones nearest the exhaust) had the bottom
beveled. In addition, the main transfers
had the top edge angled up at a 45degree angle. They now opened before
the boost port. The exhaust still had its
25-degree up angle, and the boost port
had a conventional 60-degree up angle.
The sleeve was contoured below the
transfer ports. This was warranty service
way beyond anything I expected.
I bolted the engine into my CalCraft
mono with the same MAC 10cc airplane
pipe, Prather stinger muffler, and Octura
X452 3-blade prop I had run with the
previous engine. The boat barely ran.
After much thrashing, I tried an X450
prop. What a difference! It turns out the
engine loves to rev. Some slight
shortening of the pipe (10 ½ inches from
the center of the pipe’s parallel section to
the center of the engine) and some cup
on the prop tips increased the speed. A
comparison with an identical Picco
powered boat showed better speed and
about 3000 more rpm. My next project is
to replace the Picco in my Mutt II Sport
40. Stay tuned.
New Piston and Head Button
February 2003
PROPWASH
Gas Engine Progress
By Lohring Miller
Emerald RC Boaters
The past year has seen incredible
improvement in the power of 25cc gas
engines. Going into the year the best
engines were the new Quickdraw and
J&G with about 6.5 horsepower. The
best Zenoahs were approaching five
horsepower. This was quite an improvement over the older Zenoahs with about
three and one half horse-power at 12,000
rpm. In January, at the Winter Nationals,
Cornell Cirilla of Midwest Engines had
the first of the new breed. He cut off the
flywheel section of an air-cooled Zenoah
RC230 R/C car and Goped engine and
added a PUM flywheel, ignition, and
water jacket. It had been recognized that
the improved transfer passages of the
RC230 should give an advantage, but the
air-cooled design with its large flywheel
was not suited for boats. The second step
occurred when several people realized
that the RC230 cylinder could be mated
to the PUM crankcase. This resulted in
the infamous hybrid engine. Steady
development and a new 26cc cylinder
allowed power to approach six horsepower at 16,000 rpm with good bottom
end torque. By the year’s end Zenoah
began production of a new 26cc engine
with all of the hybrid’s improvements.
What allowed the old, two horsepower
Zenoah to triple its power? Transfer and
exhaust timing and shape improvements
were the first step. Below is the
progression of cylinder improvement
from the stock PUM, to the Hanson, to
the 2001 M&D, and finally to the 25cc
Quickdraw.
2001 M and D
Quickdraw
was the limited amount of material in the
cylinder wall. Midwest developed a
“putty” engine, where the fin area over
the transfer passages was covered with
epoxy putty for strength and to cover
accidental holes.
The hybrid solved these problems
with much greater transfer port area
from the factory. The double passage
allowed better control of transfer flow as
well. A stock 260 hybrid cylinder is on
the left.
From the pictures the increase in transfer
port size is apparent.
Other changes in the piston skirt allowed
better flow into the transfers.
The crankcases were also altered to
improve flow. The stock crankcase is on
the top, the M&D is in the middle, and
the Quickdraw is on the bottom.
The bigger cylinder base and the twobolt configuration are apparent. Zenoah
has now addressed this with a redesigned
PUM, the RC260. At over six horsepower from the latest modified engines
there can’t be much more improvement,
can there?
A few years ago 50cc motorcycles
were producing over 20 horsepower at
over 20,000 rpm. Some of these engines
had two or three cylinders, the same or
smaller than what we run. The basic
engines were not very different, but the
porting details were in a different world.
Some samples of the differences are
shown in the pictures below.
If you think the Quickdraw has lots of
transfer area look at the triple transfer
passages here. Note also the teacup
shape of the passages. The cylinder wall
looking at the boost port side is covered
with ports in the right hand picture.
Stock PUM
Hanson
February 2003
Along with these developments were
increases in port timing and improved
tuned pipes. This allowed rpm to
increase to over 16,000 without serious
loss of torque. The problem with all this
21
PROPWASH
Gas Engine Progress
Sunshine Cup
Exhaust ports can also be enlarged.
Compare pictures of the Quickdraw
sleeve below to the transfer ports shown
on the previous page and the exhaust
ports shown below.
was on the course but I have to mention
his name. Anyone who makes the final
with this bunch deserves a heck of a lot
of credit. The real race was on for first
place at this point. I was still hanging on
with Bill Peck right on my tail and
Lanza was third. As I mentioned earlier,
turn two could make or break a race for
someone and the final was no different.
As I rounded turn two on the fifth lap,
the boat jumped. In straightening it out
so as not to flip, I slid to lane three
opening it up for Bill Peck. Bill went for
the inside but he was in turn two also.
Rough water, another boats wake, who
knows? Bill’s boat rolled over. We had
a winner. Al Waters and his 1977 Oh
Boy! Oberto completed the final lap
taking home the victory in the First
Annual Sunshine Cup. Alfred Lanza
with his 1986 Boat was second, Dave
Foreman and the 1992 Winston Eagle
then followed across the finish line in
third, Bill Peck and the 1999 Llumar
Window Film fourth, Peter Munoz and
his 1957 Miss Wahoo fifth, and Gary
Moll with his Miss Smirnoff sixth place.
Nice trophies were handed out to the
all who made the “Winner Take All”
Final after the race along with concourse
ribbons from the lovely Renee Piazza
who also doubled as the scorekeeper.
She must have been the driver's rep also
as no one gave anybody any grief over
any of the calls made during the day.
And, I cannot forget Tony Ojeda who
made his presence known. If you have
ever been to a Nationals in Manteca, you
know Tony. No one runs a hot pit as
well as he does. And Gary Moll’s Miss
Smirnoff? A professional diver came by
a few hours later, retrieved the boat and
all was well. It was a fun race and we
enjoyed bench racing with the best of
them.
Finally, there are Zimmerman valves.
Reed valves have replaced them in
nearly all production two-strokes
because rotary intake valves now offer
no advantage for applications where a
broad band of power is needed. The
asymmetrical timing possible still gives
them an edge in high rpm and peak
power applications. Below are a cross
section and several pictures of one
design.
Seriously “eye browed” and multiple
exhaust ports are possible. Note the
small holes over the transfer ports in the
right hand picture. The limitation is the
maximum width rings can cross without
breaking.
A port map for this type of cylinder is
shown below. A base drawing for a
similar cylinder is to the right in the next
column.
22
All of this could look something like
the engine below with 10 horsepower at
20,000 rpm.
February 2003
PROPWASH
Fast Electric Rule Change Proposal
South Coast Battle Group
By Jay Turner
Steve Gamble
Commanding Officer
find a proposal to add a class to those
currently being offered for electric
boating. You might say that the Fast
Electric division of NAMBA presently
has a large number of classes. Why is
this new class a good idea? There are
several good reasons, but the most
compelling is that this class will allow a
greater number of beginners to enter
NAMBA’s ranks. Most present classes
require a rather large up-front cost for
beginning boaters to be competitive, and
this cost keeps many potential boaters
away. The ECO class is designed as an
“economy” class with relatively
inexpensive hulls, motors, and hardware.
The boats are often available virtually
pre-built and at a low cost, reducing the
incidence of poor building among
beginners. Today the NAMBA class
with the lowest entry cost is Crackerbox,
but because of the inherent instability of
these boats they are difficult for
beginners to drive well without flipping.
This causes frustration and a resulting
loss of interest in the boat, with the loss
of a new member the common result.
The ECO boats on the other hand are
virtually unflippable and they will
continue to run as long as there is enough
battery power to feed the motor.
They are thus the most bullet-proof
models for new boaters to run and they
will teach these boaters to drive and
maintain their boats with much less
frustration, resulting in less attrition
among them. We not only need to attract
new boaters to our ranks, we need to
keep them, and the ECO class is an
excellent way to do both.
Another reason for the class is the
ability to run longer heats. With current
six-cell boats taking less than 60 seconds
to complete an oval heat, boaters get less
and less race time with each model. But
ECO can be tailored to longer heats,
from two to even eight minutes if desired
by the host club. This flexibility can
maintain interest in the class and further
promote the sport.
While the last reason is less
compelling, the proposed ECO class will
allow NAMBA to entice more European
drivers to compete in North American
events. The proposed ECO class is
compatible with European ECO rules,
and will allow NAVIGA members to
race in North America with boats they
are familiar with. Because NAMBA is
an international organization, promoting
our events to the international
community simply furthers the intent of
the NAMBA charter. We strongly
recommend that the ECO class be
adopted as an official NAMBA electric
class.
Renewals Due
By Cathie Galbraith
NAMBA Secretary
If it is January it must be membership renewal time. And judging by the amount of
envelopes in my mailbox each day, it certainly is. Renewals and new memberships
are coming in at a record pace. For those of you who have not yet renewed a renewal
form is enclosed with this newsletter. Forms are also available on the NAMBA web
page at www.namba.com and on most of the district web pages.
Don’t forget that you run the risk of losing your current number if you do not
renew on time. Last year I had a returning member get very upset with me because I
couldn’t give him his old number after he had not renewed for five years. He
complained that he had spent a lot of money having his numbers professionally
lettered. Of course, my only response to him was that he should have considered that
when he did not renew for five years. So don’t let this happen to you. Renew now.
February 2003
We invite you to come on down to
the "pond" any third Sunday of the
month and watch us shoot up our
models... on purpose. We build 1/144th
(12'=1") standoff scale models of WW
I - II era (1900-1946) warships that are
equipped with low-pressure, ball bearing
shooting "cannons" that allow us to have
safe, but real sea battles. It's Allied vs.
Axis, Battleships, Cruisers and
Destroyers that battle to protect their
Convoy vessels while trying to sink the
enemy. It's total chaos on the water, but
nobody notices because we're having so
much FUN.
Our models are built with plywood
framing and sheet balsa wood hull skins
(so they will puncture easily). They are
all electric powered and the cannon balls
are propelled by low-pressure CO 2. The
models are equipped with bilge pumps,
but when a ship suffers too much
damage during combat (yes, we really
shoot holes in them), down it goes! The
models are quickly recovered, repaired
and put back into the game. The only
real damage is to the hull skin - not to
mention the captain's ego.
We welcome all guests to join us at
the pond, and for those who wish to
become members, dues are $20.00 per
year, which includes the R/C Combat
News and the opportunity to do
something really different. If you wish to
participate, you can count on us oldtimers helping you any way we can
while you are building your warship.
We battle every third Sunday of the
month, except in December. Join us at
Prado Park, Chino, CA. for some great
battles. Bring safety glasses with side
protection, and be prepared to watch the
most unusual R/C hobby in the world!
www.southcoastbattlegroup.com
23
PROPWASH
Convention 2003
Revised Safety Rules
By Cathie Galbraith
NAMBA Secretary
By Cathie Galbraith
NAMBA Secretary
District 19 once again was out in full
force at the 26th annual IMS Show in
Pasadena, California. Special thanks go
out to Dennis Hoover of Hoover Hydros
for his excellent design and setup of the
NAMBA booth. Enlargements of the
NAMBA magazine ads, displays of
boats and engines, and lots of
promotional literature provided
interested attendees with a lot of
information on our hobby.
Thanks to Charlie Hynes, NAMBA
Safety Chairman Bill Bridge, District 19
Director Tony Rhodes, NAMBA Scale
Chairman Al Waters, NAMBA Vice
President Doug DeWitte, and NAMBA
Secretary Cathie Galbraith who all
helped in manning the booth and
answering questions from prospective
boaters.
find revised pages for your rulebooks as
relates to safety guidelines. It has long
been felt by the NAMBA combat
contingent that the safety rules as
previously published did not adequately
pertain to their activities. For example,
while the racing members are required to
have buoyancy in their hulls, the whole
purpose of R/C Combat is to sink the
opponent’s ship. While some of our
racing members are pretty good at this
also, it is certainly not the intent in these
classes.
The combat members were concerned
that they would not be covered by
insurance if they are not following some
of the rules even though they did not
really apply to them. Therefore, thanks
to the efforts and hard work of Marty
Hayes of the Maryland Attack Group,
and the input from various combat
members and clubs throughout the
country, the safety rules have been
updated to include and better apply to
R/C Combat. Please replace the
appropriate pages in your rulebook with
these pages.
Again thanks to all of our combat
members and clubs who worked with
Marty to finalize these rules. The combat
contingent has always been one of the
most safety conscious groups in
NAMBA, and has had a spotless safety
record. We value them as members of
NAMBA and are happy that we were
able to reach a conclusion which was
satisfactory to everyone, while still
insuring the safe operation of boats we
have come to expect from all of our
members.
The NAMBA combat contingent was
represented by the South Coast Battle
Group. Their booth displayed ships and
even had a model of a working gun with
which they entertained the crowds.
One very special part of the show
each year is the awarding of trophies and
prizes to models which are judged as
best of show in a number of categories.
District 19 Director Tony Rhodes
captured first place in the racing boat
category with his beautiful new
Vacationville.com scale boat.
Congratulations, Tony.
After 26 years in Pasadena, next
year’s show will be held at the new
Convention Center in Ontario,
California. So make plans to attend the
show next year which will be held
January 9-11.
Propwash Guest Editor
By Cathie Galbraith - NAMBA Secretary
Joe Monohan and 707 Specialties
also had a booth in which he displayed
his various products.
24
As many of you are aware, things have been pretty busy around the NAMBA office.
Not only is this the busiest time of year for membership renewals, club registrations,
sanctions, and site insurance renewals, but my day job is in the mortgage business
which of course is going great guns due to the historically low interest rates. With only
so many hours available in any given day, it was fast becoming apparent that if I
wanted a newsletter to go out I was going to need some help. NAMBA Scale Chairman
Al Waters agreed to help me out. I proofed and edited all the articles that had been sent
to me by the various directors, chairmen, and members. These were then forwarded to
Al and as you can see, he did an excellent job laying it out so that it could get printed
and in the mail. “Thanks Al, I couldn’t have done it without you.”
February 2003

February 2003

Transcription

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