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[Skrotiz]

Aye-aye skippers and sailors!


New member from Sweden here.


Been into RC since -91, mostly cars but started flying around -05 and also played a little with electric speedboats then.


Last winter I started builing a springer tug as a side project, hull from leftover wood and a simple overstructure 3D printed thats almost done, this model will be equipped with FPV camera in the wheelhouse and a working crane in the back.


This one is a real quick and dirty build and I kind of regret not doing it with some kind of finish but really was only after a fun little boat to drive arounde the lake.



This was my very first boat build but will definitely not be my last after discovering how fun boats can be.



Edit: trying to post a picture, should get it here as soon as I find out how 😉

[Skrotiz]

Heres a picture

[SteamboatPhil]

Welcome, and that is a great build 

[Skrotiz]

Thanks!


I really like the simplicity of the Springer model.
And from the little I have had time to run it I must say that it's pretty fun in the water to.


Alot of room in the hull is always nice and using 2pcs 12V3,2Ah lead batteries I dont need any other ballast.
I used a 55T 540 crawler motor and turning a 45mm 3blade brass prop i get just about the right speed between quarter to half throttle(have set my Traxxas ESC in "traning mode" so it doesn't give more than 50% throttle).

[canabus]

Hi Skrotiz


The 55 turn is about 12000 rpm on 12 volts, if you use the 80 turn it's 9000 rpm !!!


More than enough for the boat !!!


Nice build !!


Canabus

[Skrotiz]

Thanks for that info.
My plan is to change the motor to a 80T but 55T was what I had laying around when I started the build.


My guess is that the best option is to go for the 600 boat motors or a 550.


I noticed that it wants to dive when reaching speed, have understood that this is a common behavior of the Springer and are moving my batteries back a little further.
My boat lays horisontal when stationary and if I have understood right it should be a little deeper in the aft than the bow.

[canabus]

Hi Skrotiz


 Your are on the right track moving the batteries.


The bow will pull down at speed.


The 80 turn rock crawler motor is my go to motor for displacement boats.


Installed in 4 fishing boats and twin ones in my Smit Nederland, but only on 7.2 volts !!
Up to 60mm 3 blade props !!!


They work on 60mm 4blade props, but they get very hot !!!


Canabus

[Skrotiz]

Batteries furter aft definitely improved during todays test. Still pulls down the bow a bit but feels pretty okay.
Tested my FPV setup and had horrible range with 5.8Ghz video link. Have to test moving the antenna higher and maybe another antenna setup.

[JimG]

FPV drones often prefer using a circularly polarised antenna, often using a cloverleaf type, both Tx and Rx need one. Some are available with a protective cover over the actual antenna ends giving it a look like a full size radar dome.
Jim

[Skrotiz]

I actually have a set of circulized antennas that I'm thinking of testing the next time.
The strange part was that the picture was super clear and suddenly just went out.
Have been flying fpv for some years and usually the picture gradually gets worse, haven't had this problem before when it just cuts out.


I haven't done all the reasearch on 5.8 Ghz video links over water but I know water is a bad interference for 5.8

[Skrotiz]

Some pics.
Having a hard time uploading pictures on my phone so more to come.

[Skrotiz]

Two more

[Skrotiz]

A little embarrassed to confess this but changing antennas didn't make any difference.
But switching my googles back to the right frequency did a huge improvement 


I manage to cross our lake, a distance of 400m.
Driving boat through camera and googles is definitely something I can recommend, very cool view when crossing the waves on the "ocean" 

[Skrotiz]

The last picture taken inside of the googles are the worst picture i got at 400m distance, and my phone definitely didn't helped with the quality.
When i had the googles on my head and "looked" at the boat i had better picture.
Up to 300m i had pretty good picture sitting down but consider that I use a 700mW vtx it's still not that impressive.
My antennas are chinese quality and I'm pretty sure picture quality and range would improve if I bought better antennas

[CarlC]

Love your tug and the FPV setup is brilliant, I really must try that with mine.


I am also thinking of kitting out mine with a GPS receiver and arduino board to see if I can build an autonavigating springer tug 

[Skrotiz]

That part with arduino&GPS sounds exactly like my future plans for this Springer, I actually built it with just that in mind for a mission where I want to film the bottom of our lake with a suspended camera under the boat(or maybe from a barge pushed by the springer) and map every position in the search for potentially "treasures" on the lake bottom 


My FPV camera is built with 360degree rotation with the help of some simple gears on the servo so i can look all around the boat and thats really nice.

[canabus]

Hi Skortiz


This is the club member's camera boat, a 46" Fantome with twin G60 brushless!!


https://rctoystasmania.com/forums/topic/another-quiet-little-sail-the-canal-14-08-2021/


Hope you find some treasures !!!!


A lot more video on the website, rctoystasmania.com


Canabus

[Skrotiz]

Finally got my wheelhouse complete(just missing the windows).


Had a quick run in the lake.


Canabus: all I can see in the link are sailboats, but they look nice 🙂

[canabus]

Hi Skrotiz


He does the sailboats and scale boats as well as planes!!!


Look in in the forum section under rc scale boats


Canabus