airboat steering

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

The answer to all your questions is cheap cheap cheap, of course.

 

It should be possible to convert, for instance a 2.4 reciever is very small, and if an aircraft brushless ESc was used, they are tiny. A lipo will also be small and light.

 

Or you could have made your own from scratch !!!

 

Ashley

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

I’ve just typed a long reply…where did that go?

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

Well, young Ashley…the conversion has started.

 

I bought an Mtroniks Viper Micro esc, and I already had a spare 40Mhz radio, so earlier this morning I took the old 27Mhz radio out, installed the 40Mhz outfit, installed the Viper, took a deep breath, rolled a ciggie and made a coffee…and switched it on.

 

Result…I forgot how much draught an airboat prop is capable of, it cleared my desk of papers, plans, bits of wire and even emptied my ashtray for me! But I now have an airboat on 40Mhz, with a reverse function, and there is still room left to squeeze in an extra cell, which will give me 8.4 volts.

 

Weather permitting(fingers crossed)I’ll take it out on the lake later on.

 

I can’t post pics up(?)every time I hit the “insert image” icon, everything seizes up on the site?

 

Rich

[Kimosubby ShipyardsParticipant @kimosubbyshipyards]

Hi Rich,

 

been following this thread closely. [ I now use the motor and prop set-up from my airboat to “blow sails to shape” on static period ships having sprayed them with weak PVA solution.]

 

Your pics problem.

I notice you do not have any pics in an album, and thats where you get your pics from to insert in a post.

Firstly create an album with the pics you might want to use.

Then when in a post and wanting the pic, click on “insert pic” icon. The whole screen fades a pale blue BUT scroll to top of page and there you will find a pop-up of your album(s) where you select the album and then the image to insert (which preview displays). Click insert and you are returned to your post hopefully with pic included.

Thats how I found to do it.

 

Any unwanted images can be deleted from your album afterwards – even the one used – it stays in the post!

 

Now I bet someone will tell us the correct way to do it!!! ASHLEY?

 

Kimosubby.

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

Aha! I do have some pics somewhere here, but they will be under my old username(which I couldn’t remember, hence the need for a new one!)

 

Ok, I’ll set up an album and see what happens…thanks for the help, Kimosubby.

 

Oh, BTW…the airboat now has a HiViz UltraBrite flashing LED fitted to the prop cage.

 

Rich

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

 

By heck…it worked!

 

This is the interior of of the r/c box as it was.

 

 

 

Not much room in there…

 

This is the airboat before I got stuck into it…

 

Now I need to take some pics of the modified version.

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

The r/c box now fitted with an Mtroniks Viper Mini esc and a four channel 40Mhz FM rx. Bit on the crowded side…

 

 

 

And this is the modified version…you can see the flashing beacon on top of the prop cage, the small black box under the seat is the circuitry for the flasher, courtesy of ACTion Electronics, the wire in front of the seat will eventually be attached to a PP3 battery, wrapped in a balloon and hidden inside a rolled up fish net.

 

This is looking between the air rudders and shows the flashing beacon on it’s bracket and the wiring tucked out of the way.

[Richard J HuggettParticipant @richardjhuggett]

The volunteer crew arrived today, boarding permission was given, and now “JD”, aka Jack Daniels, is seated ready to try out his new craft.

 

Not sure about the face paint though…

 

[MzeeParticipant @mzee]

Ashley. I have a short video clip of my airboat on Facebook – that day the trim was too far aft so she dug in a bit on corners but with proper trim she performs wonderfully though somewhat like a hovercraft. My other ‘skimmer’ fitted with strakes tends to flip at high speed so I’d suggest some sort of ‘V” construction.

Robin

[Mark Beard 1Participant @markbeard1]

Having ridden on one of these things in Florida, their draft is incredibly shallow and they can ride over dense vegetation and wet ground, as well as water. So my impression is that the full sized hulls are shallow and without strakes.

 

The other thing I note is that they lean into bends, like a fast boat with a rudder. Perhaps this contributes to their incredible steering ability, and may indicate a slight v-section to the hull?

 

While I haven’t tried a model skimmer, I would have thought that a vertical air-rudder pivot line would cause the boat to lean out in the turn, since the centre of rudder pressure is higher than the centre of hull pressure. Would angling the pivot line back, but placing the top pivot astern of the bottom pivot, correct for this by angling the rudder up as it is turned?

 

PS – having searched for images of real airboats, it seems that the rudder pivots are vertical, so clearly I don’t understand this.

Edited By Billysugger on 17/05/2011 18:47:12

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Billy. i dare say it does make some difference but not enough to warrant the added complication of an angled mount..?

 

SRN4 air rudders are off-centre as this apparently produces better turning moments. It all makes no sense..

 

Due to the unconventional configuration I have finally skegged mine at the rear and the difference is stunning. Didnt want to but have to be able to use it at speed without bashing into ducks etc.

 

Ashley

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