Now you have the radio to steer your boat but nothing to adjust the sails to get it moving so the winch is absolutely vital as it will adjust the angle of your sails.
Now you know as stated above that the rudder is under high pressure but the winch requires to hold the sails regardless of the wind and so it needs to cope with even higher pressure.
Most common winch are built by RMG (AUS) , and KBits (UK), but also by Futaba, Hitec and Graupner. Most RC Sailors use one of the first 2 winches. The RMG which uses a drum to sheet in and out whereas Kbits one uses an arm connected to a very powerful Hitec servo.
Great choice of product here again... they are all good but the choice is yours. Just plug it into your receiver and sheet away !!!
So now you can transmit, receive, steer your boat and sheet the sails or can you ??? Well the wind will power your boat to move forward but not all that equipment and so you need reliable, powerful batteries to make all this working together.
Varying from 6.0v 700mah to 7.2v 2000mah battery pack are key to power all your electronics so do take care of them.
The voltage will ensure that enough “oumf” is going to all the various electronics while the capacity (mah) will dictate how long you can sail. The voltage will vary depending on the type of winch you use but for the capacity you'll have plenty with 700 to 1100mah to last you for around 2 hours of great sailing, depending on the conditions and use.
Look in your boat how the battery pack should be positioned as it will dictate the type of battery pack (in line or 3/2 : 2 cells on top of 3).
The other element to look at is the technology used. Either Nicad or NiMH (Metal Hidride). In a nutshell Nicad battery can be quickly charged but it is vital to keep them cycled as they have a “memory effect” and in time will loose power. Metal Hydride do not have this memory effect and are "Greener" for the environment but do loose their power quicker so they need to be charged just prior to be used in order to get full power.
