Jan.1, 2011 . . . We now have 4 lake vehicles all dressed up but nowhere to go. The 15' Mutineer bought 11/2010 got within 2" of the water but the ramp was too shallow. We will try to launch it by rope in the Spring but now it's too cold.
So we can still sail in cold weather - with models! After 2 years construction the 18" Micro Magic sailboat is finally finished, and also waiting to sail is a Christmas present for Franny- a ready to sail boat the same size (sounds like a race!) - an AquaCraft Paradise.
But the lakes froze solid- we can't take them out. Yet.
There's only one thing to do. Using only used aircraft parts already in the shop: an iceboat. Not that we've ever seen one, but how hard can it be? They don't have to be watertight or be balanced. It seemed like a good idea to put a prop on it as an auxillary motor. As an afterthought an old car controller replaced the airplane one, allowing for turning the prop in reverse. As it turns out, that's crucial when you get stuck. After 4 sessions and lots of tweaking it actually sailed upwind!
Most of the fun is recovering it from mishaps on the ice, since we can't walk over and pick it up (ice is too thin). We tried a remote truck. Oops Kristen and Corey ran the batteries down playing. So I raced to town and bought new ones. They pooped out just as the truck reached the boat. At least Corey got it back to shore when the first batteries died! Now there are two vehicles stranded. We tried long sticks, then a heaving line with a small log on the end. That works but requires many tries.
