Control Stick - Solutions
If you're planning a bait boat with single motor and rudder system then you can ignore this section. If, however, you've decided to go down the route that most commercial bait boats use (two motors that control steering, forward and reverse) then you'll need to read this.
As I described on the previous page, the problem is that pretty much all transmitters of the style I used are designed for Planes and Helicopters which means that one of the control sticks is not sprung (up/down) so it will not automatically center but stay where it is put. If you are controlling the left and right motors with these sticks it makes for a troubled life. If you leave one of the sticks off centre and let the other one spring back you'll see you boat spinning!! You don't want this...really.
There are two potential solutions to the problem.
1. Take your transmitter apart and move the left/right spring mechanism to the up/down position. I did this with mine...it took ages and was very fiddly. It wasn't complicated but tricky to get the bits in the right postion.
2. Use something called channel mixing! Channel mixing is used for flying specific types of aircraft and it allows (in the case of two motors) the controls to be mixed into one stick. Push the stick forward and both motors run in the forward postion. Move the stick forward and left and the left motor will slow down while the right motor either carries on or speeds up. I was fortunate that my transmitter had this mixing function built in (see pic). On my system, V-Tail mixes channels 1 and 2 and Delta mixes channels 3 and 4. You can also buy V-Tail mixers (around £10) if your transmitter doesn't support the funtion.
Option 2 sounds perfect..I have to say though that in practice I found it very difficult to control my boat effectively. This could well have been down to my design and build quality rather then a problem with the technology