Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Well okay now Bruce. Lovely craft!

First you must know that that little beauty will NOT spin up to anywhere near those RPMs when the propeller is in the water. Next I would suggest that someone has bent the tiller up some as it is supposed to drag on the aft deck so that the rudder can take and hold a set to either go straight or in a circle. You may even want to put some tubing over the tiller ball to make for more friction to set your rudder, with less marring of the after deck. Next thing you'll want to understand is that you want to be sure not to have the wind at your back, blowing out into the lake or pond, as if you put the rudder so the boat goes in a circle, that circle will just keep getting further out from shore. So you either want to have the wind in your face blowing ashore, or you want to have the wind blowing parallel to the shore so the boat will either keep coming in or stay about the same distance out! If you want to tether it, a fishing pole can come in handy and may also work for recovery if the boat ends up out of reach.

Hope any of that helps and is understandable!?!?