The Mad Scientists' Club is a series of four books written for children by Bertrand R. Brinley (1917 – 1994) and illustrated by Charles Geer.
When it gets too dangerous to take the boat out on the lake in person, because hunters are preparing to shoot it with an elephant gun, they rig a remote control system to operate it at a distance.
The Mad Scientists' Club is an Explorer Scout organization, something that is mentioned occasionally in passing, but generally does not drive the stories.
The early stories and the first book in the series were published in the wake of the impact of Sputnik 1 and the Space Race and reflect the thinking of that period.
The science is accurate; Dinky provides actual Houdini escapology in "The Telltale Transmitter" that readers would do well to remember if they ever found themselves tied up.
However, Harmon's only triumph comes in "The Cool Cavern" where he makes such fools of the Mad Scientists that Henry uncharacteristically loses his temper.
[1] On November 17, 2005, Purple House Press released the final book, the previously unpublished second novel titled The Big Chunk of Ice, which was newly illustrated by Geer.