Subtek Albacore problems

[r/c kelley]

Hi Chris,

I live in Haverhill.

Hi Chris,

I live in Haverhill. I guess RI is maybe 2 hours away. Once I get this Marlin built I might make it down that way. I will be great to meet other people involved in the same hobby and run subs.

Are you involved in this RI club?

r/c kelley

[anonymous]

I try and attend (somewhat)

I try and attend (somewhat) regularly.
You should stop in before you finish, many of us bring projects to mull over and get ideas for.

Check out the Subron4 section and drop Don or Bill an e-mail for info.

[tony g.]

Hi Kelly
We will be having

Hi Kelly
We will be having a meet on July 19 at 11:am at Social Pond in Woonsocket. If you want to come give me a E mail at sailamg@aol.com
and I will fill you in. Even if you boat isn't complete come on down and meet the boys.
Tony G.

[skip asay]

The SubTech Albacore (and subsequently,

The SubTech Albacore (and subsequently, Marlin) were designed to fill 2 particular voids, those being a complete, inexpensive means of getting into the hobby without breaking the bank and the other being a means of learning how they work. Just purchasing a hull and then outfitting it with a Merriman WTC won’t teach you very much, it just means you’ll be a kit assembler, not a builder. But where else are you going to find a complete kit, including everything you’ll need (except for tools, glue, paint, and time) for $700? But to do this, certain shortcuts are necessary and the vacuformed plastic is high on that list hence the lack of detail in the hull. But the upside to that is the fact that plastic is easier to scribe than epoxy or polyester.

I have to address your comments, however.

“#1 The hull comes without any detail except for its nice shape.”

See above.

“#2 The plastic that the hull is made of is attacked by many of the most well known spot puttys. Do not use Bondo brand one and two part body puttys, Green Squadron or Tamiya brand puttys. Bondo brand auto body filler does not attack the plastic but it is much harder that the hull plastic which will make feathering in your sanding very difficult. <snip> Be warned, if you try to use these spot puttys anyway it will soften the plastic that comes in contact with it and you will have to scrape it all out and start again.”

I’ve built at least 4 Albacores and 3 Marlins and all seams, etc. were filled with Bondo and Green Squadron putty with zero problems. I’ve never experienced any softening of the plastic or “harder that (sic) the hull plastic”.

“#3 The ballast system does not work reliably for several reasons.The tee valve that is the heart of the system is housed inside of the ballast tank which you have to glue together. (Bad Idea). In order to work on it or replace it you have to get out the old Dremel and cut it open.”

The TEE Valve is simplicity personified. Read that as “no maintenance required”. If it leaks, you’ve picked up foreign material on the seat and this can be simply cleared by holding the air intake line below the surface while you turn the pump on to surface.

“The kit supplys you with some surgical grade hose to plum the tee valve with, only problem is when you route the hose as instructed it kinks therefore rendering the operation of the ballast tank useless. It is much better to make a hose extension out of brass tubing, bend it to shape and CA it on.”

While I won’t deny the “kinkability” of the hose supplied, it will certainly work IF you follow the directions properly and completely.

“#4 The ballast tank pump is mounted in the dry space where you put your electronics, this is bad because it is prone to leak. This is because the motor is mounted on top of a plastic manifold that you glue to the bottom of your dry space and water is pumped up through this manifold that is not properly sealed with o-rings or some other type of seal between the manifold and the bottom of the dry space. The instructions tell you to run a bead of glue around each hole in the bottom of the manifold and the bottom of your dry space. Guess what? It leaks!”

One of the biggest problems I have had with this kit is that too many folks seem to follow the “when all else fails, read the directions” line of thinking. That manifold is made of PVC plastic and the best cement to use is......PVC cement. If I screwed up in the instructions it was that I didn’t specify “buy a new can”. PVC cement goes downhill pretty quickly once the can is opened. Also, did you thoroughly rough up the surfaces to be glued? That makes a world of difference.

“#5 The pressure hulls top comes off and is sealed by a large thick gasket which they tell you not to apply any sealer to.WRONG!!! Use a good amount of silicone grease to it to help it hold back the water. “

In all the years I’ve run my Albacore and Marlin I’ve never had to do that. And I’ve had several sit on the bottom at 12 feet with ZERO water found inside.

“The top is held on by three thumb screws under which can be found an o-ring. Be sure to grease these to. The instructions dont tell you to but put some light weight machine oil on the motor output shaft where it exits the dry space as well as the two pushrod seals.”

My bad. I did neglect to say that.

“#7 The Hitek radio that is supplied with the kit is not very well suited for submarines. It is fine for surface craft but when you try to use it for submarines it does not support the failsafe device due to the fact that when you turn your radio off to test it all the servos and speed control go absolutely nuts. The same thing will happen when you lose your signal during actual operations such as when running in a pool with lots of chlorine. Your sub will start bouncing off the walls of the pool. So after losing all my electronics and making no visible progress on having a operable submarine I purchased a Dave Merriman WTC and have not looked back since.”

Good point but when I first started selling Hitek radios that problem didn’t exist. They evidently changed their RX circuit. But how does buying a Merriman WTC get around the radio problem?

Skip Asay

[anonymous]

To reiterate what Skip said,

To reiterate what Skip said, it's a great first boat that is fun to build, and also teaches how these things work. I had a couple problems at first, but Skip walked me through them at one of the regattas and lo-and-behold, the problems were pretty much caused by me not following the directions.
After that, she ran great until my ex-wife ran it over with her truck. Intentionally, that is. Seemed to develop a couple leaks after that.

Bring what you have next weekend Kelly.

[greenman407]

Skip, It was not my

Skip, It was not my intention to offend anyone with my posting. Your knowledge and ability is not what my posting was about. It was about a reasonably experienced model builder ( radio control boats) purchasing a kit and having many problems. Without having the luxery of meeting you or have you personaly help me with my sub, my experience was quite different. This is to say that the model gives you something to work with but I am proof positive that there are (now at least) some unresolved problems that should be addressed. My posting was to assist others who might not be able to get assistance any other way. Kind Regards