Rescue Boat Project

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RazzyRazz

RCTalk Talkaholic
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Messages
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Location
Northern Alberta, Canada
RC Driving Style
  1. Bashing
  2. Racing
  3. Crawling
Hey yall!! I'm going to put together this thread for a cheap and dirty rescue boat. It will be a work in progress as I go but should be fun. I have watched a couple you tube vids and other threads in Google searches. From what I gather building them like this saves the cost of another boat.

I will be using 1 1/2” ABS as 1 1/4” was double the price 🤔. I am using plumbing insulation foam instead of pool noodles. It is more spendy but trying to keep size down, $2 vs $6…

I hope to begin in the next couple days. Electronics and rest of hardware should be here mid to next week.
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Gonna see how this pans out. I need a boat before the next hurri.
 
Not in to boats yet but I always said if I ever did get in to them that I would have to have some sort of rescue boat. It will be interesting how this turns out.
 
I got around to getting on this tonight. Its just roughly put together and I will be using silicone to “glue” and water proof the pontunes.

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Here are the measurements of the straight pipe I cut up.
A: 3”
B: 6”
C: 4.5”
D: 2.5”
E: 2.5”
F: 3”
G: 7.5”

The internal distance between the 2 B’s is 16.25” and then 8.25” at the narrow part
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The top deck that will house the electronics and support motor and airplane prop.
H: 1.5”
I: 7.5”



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I picked up this water tight box that should be more than enough room to house electronics and batteries.
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Why not just glue the pieces together with ABS plumbing glue? I dont get why you're wanting to use silicone.
Because I want to be able to take it apart. Especially in these development stages. I am also considering running wires internal, haven’t decided yet.
 
Some goodies showed up today that will get things moving along. The motor, esc, servos and propellers were $40 CDN for the set. Rudder was $14 CDN all Amazon specials.

Motor is 2200kv as it is really windy where I live I am not sure 1 motor will be enough. Going to give it a try though. I'm no airplane guy but I would assume the plastic prop will have flex so maybe a wood one will help with air flow 🤷‍♂️

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I got the motor mounted today, powered up to the esc and calibrated to remote.

Now my only problem is that the propeller is going the wrong way. I tried entering program mode on the ESC but could not. I figured I could enable brake and then flip F/R on the remote. Do any of you airplane guys know if they make propellers pitch in both directions?

If it was mounted to the front of a plane it would be fine pulling air towards the plane rotating counterclockwise looking at the motor. So if I could get a prop that is pitched opposite
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it will be doing what I want.
 
Try, reversing your motor wires (should reverse which way the motor spins. Also try flipping the prop around. I think that should do what you need. If not they do make reverse props for twin engine planes with counter rotating props.
 
Try, reversing your motor wires (should reverse which way the motor spins. Also try flipping the prop around. I think that should do what you need. If not they do make reverse props for twin engine planes with counter rotating props.
You da man Doom! Switching those wires worked.

Got me triwsted because I had them hooked up that way before the calibration and it was beeping really weird so reversed the black and red. All set now thank you sir! 🍻
 
Got a bit more done on it now. Rudder and steering servo all mounted and functional. Need to build a jumper cable to go from the reciever to the servo. Then need to seal it up and will be on the water. Here is a Test Video of it on the floor. Should be able to move on the water lol
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Today I decided to spray foam the inside of the ABS for 2 purposes, buoyancy and to help seal water out. I made a jumper wire to run through the pipe to connect the servo to the receiver.

The spray foam made a mess, covered my dang hand from it dropping to the floor where it ended up dropping anyways. Nail polish remover works great for releasing spray foam.

Should be ready to float tomorrow and will hopefully get it and the UL-19 out. Running out of time up here lakes are starting to freeze 🤦🏼‍♂️
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Really want to see this in action.

If the one motor ends up not being enough you might look at adding a second and outboarding them to the 90° bends. If you are going airboat push style I would look into a cowl and vane setup for the prop because a water based rudder doesn't do much at slow speeds and it would make it far more maneuverable. If you go twin motors it would allow for a lot of maneuverability. Might need a couple of skags on the bottom which might help anyway.
 
Here is a link to me testing it on the floor in my basement.


I was sent away for work last week and now sounds like the lakes are freezing up. See how things are when I get home.
 
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