So today I started looking inside the new Marblehead. Inside the radio pot, there is a nice Spectrum receiver AR410 and a Hi-Tech mini servo HS50WP for the rudder with an XT30 connector for the battery. The mounting of all the fittings was so well engineered, the only issue being that no thought had been given to rapid replacement of anything.
Everything is mounted on a suspended carbon plate. The hi-tech servo has a screw on one side and a nut and bolt on the other and you cannot access the bolt easily to remove the servo. The receiver was stuck in but relatively easily removable however the radio connections to the winch and the rudder servo are very short and it is difficult to plug and unplug into the receiver.
I thought I would be able to use my Futaba transmitter and receiver but then I learned that the Futaba receiver does not like its signal travelling through carbon so you would need the aerials to protrude outside the boat. In addition because the Futaba and Spectrum signal are different they are not compatible. Spectrum have done all the research and now produce aerial free receivers which have a signal that passes through carbon, so a spectrum transmitter is on order so I can bind with the current receiver and have a spare. Shame I never thought about this when I bought the Futaba.
There is a very nice carbon channel with foam padding to locate the battery and the receiver so I could be able to achieve my goal of easy accessabilty. All I have to do now is get at the nut holding the rudder servo.
Once sorted I will have easy access to replace the components in the event any of them brake.
The next jobs are to get the top edge of the rudder flush with the hull, buy the transmitter, connect all the electrics, remove the endless sheeting on the winch, put new cord on and program the winch then connect up the sheeting. The current cord is OK but it is four years old so away it goes. Once done I can start on the rigging.
Got ahead of myself today and set up the Swing rig and replaced any suspect cord. The sails look lovely. Well done Martin.
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