@@custard228 Discovered the channel when this crazy-smart guy was trying to convert an RC car into some type of land based ekranoplan thing. TH-cam algorithm knew I would enjoy keeping up with all Daniel’s adventures. I’ve never looked back. Enjoy! 👍🏼
Already done. Microtransat is a competition for autonomous Atlantic crossing. It seems that the competition program is no longer running. Anyway, it has been done in the past and the consept exists.
Heya! I have some experience with this sort of thing - the liquid level sensor corroded because of the DC voltage applied, which caused the corrosion. There are some techniques to mitigate this: you can either apply the voltage for a brief time for the measurement once every number of seconds to extend lifetime or apply alternating polarities with each measurement to reverse the electrochemical effects. Either way, and I say this with the utmost respect, you need to up your waterproofing game. It sorta hurts to see so many of your projects scuttled by water ingress when your waterproofing amounts to just silicone, which sorta sucks for this. I recommend you check out waterproof cable glands with PE tubing to carry conductors and some more design considerations for things like acrylic windows like labyrinth seals and compression of silicone/other seals POST-cure. Love your stuff, hate to see it fail due to the world's greatest chemical :)
I think he just needs to take his water sealing more seriously. Print off two more of the hulls, turn them over, silicon them to the float hulls, and go crazy sealing all the other gaps. And also getting the voltages right.
As soon as he mentioned a level sensor and Arduino for the bilge pump my thought was "way too complicated". Bilge pumps for full size boats just use a float and a switch to activate, which he could have easily replicated with a micro switch.
@@FireCat005a foam pad. Attached to a mechanical switch above it. When water gets in the foam floats. Turning on the pump. The foam sinks. The switch disconnects. So do I need an electronic component to monitor for water to get wet?
Have you considered having the propellers reverse occasionally to try and clear the weed? That's what we do on our narrowboats to avoid having to manually clear weed. Maybe monitor voltage drop and program in a reverse phase when it needs? Love your videos 🇬🇧😊
From my experience with RC boats, once it's on there, it's not coming off until you remove it manually. At this scale, every bit of weed is the equivalent of 10 feet of rope to a full size boat. I've actually ripped a rudder off just from vegetation that got somehow looped around it and wound up by the prop.
@@picklefart I mean I have my doubts too, but solar tech keeps advancing and it would be a neat challenge to see how small you can get it and still make it increase the range.
There are thin Solar Foils which have a very small weight. This on a nice delta wing. Maybe 50w will be enough to power. A small 2s1p 18650 Liion Battery for the start. I think maybe it could work. I had a little Delta with only 120g with 2s 850mAh LiPo. But would not recomend LiPo cause of charging with Solar.
What would be cool to see is a observation and data plane doing circles around the boat and sending the data to shore so you don't have to drive behind it!
Use a capacitive water detector! Those can be encased in conformal coating and will still detect water. The resistive one you used is well known for not working long term
@@PanSatyr yes! Me too, in a hydroponic setup with water that is way too conductive for any other option. Did you come across the fact some of those capacitive sensors are actually sold with a defect? There are a few videos online about the problem and the fix. A few of mine had that issue. As long as the broke ones are avoided or known about, totally agree they are the way to go!
@@minibigs5259 not only does that common sensor not run on AC (it would require a completely different sensing and interface circuit of your own design), AC power definitely still causes corrosion due to stray currents and other imbalances. That's why capacitive sensors are a better bet, there doesn't need to be any interface to the water at all
I look forward to your next autonomous ship mission I hate to say it, but I think it's time for a new hull design after your next set of upgrades, incorporating everything that you have learned previously into making an efficient autonomous ship that won't be causing you any problems Btw, ever thought about doing a community event? Other people making autonomous ships and sailing along yours, competing for efficiency, range, who gets to the finish first, etc I would be down and I'm sure others would be too
I like this idea. I also think it would be cool to see a snowcat-like vehicle that floats. It seems like adding paddles to the tracks would make it energy efficient for slow speeds.
I was thinking red tape over the ignition or similar...I've been in a boat in the middle of the bay, when I realized it was rapidly flooding, had to use the power to get a across to the marina lol.
For these autonomous boat projects, I wonder how a paddle wheel might fair. There would definitely be a large loss of efficiency compared to a prop, but with hopefully less trouble from seaweed you might see an overall performance boost. Seaweed could still get caught but would be more likely to fall free since the point of rotation is outside the water, and a comb could be made to grab hanging seaweed as the paddle left the water if rotation is fast enough. No clue if the overall performance would be better or worse but might be worth at least investigating. Also, would be interesting to combine such an old propulsion method with the modern aspects of being electrically/solar driven and autonomous.
I'd go with a side wheel design myself in this case. Driving two (or more) side paddle wheels would be less complicated than a stern-wheel (unless you mount the electric motor outside the hull). Differential steering would make a lot of sense for a "small" autonomous rather than hull penetrations for the rudders.
4:49 Andromeda Strain scene where the surgeon cuts the country doc's deceased body and sand pours away. 7:16 you could add two extra flotation tanks to the left and right of the motor directly on the transom. Basically you take some foam blocks, cover them in fiberglass (making sure they fit the shape of the transom) and you screw them in place. FIY you should over drill all the holes you've made and fill them with resin. Water will get inside the foam layer and you'll trash the boat if you skip this step. edit 3: to make it clear, the resin is in there to create a barrier between the foam and the screw.
I wonder if there are any propeller designs that are designed to minimize string tagling or trapping weeds. These designs are probably not energy efficient, but at least you won't have to worry about the propeller getting stuck.
Conformal coat the arduino's and boards with clear nail polish...just paint a few layers over it to protect them from moisture/corrosion Also...run marvels mystery oil in the gasoline and put some MotorKote in the oil and the lower gear section for hyper lubrication and help prevent water damage Very cool! Keep em coming!!!!
okay so there seems to be some confusion on what "plaining" is , it is not when the stern wash separates from the transom , it is when the boat lifts onto the surface of the water or ever so slightly below it , the boat will give a very distinctive feeling when it does this , the front will go from pointing upwards to leveling off once the boat has reached enough speed to overcome the drag of the water against the hull , plaining doesnt usually happen until around 12mph
Hey man, been noticing the improved camera equipment and shooting techniques. Really stepping up your game in the production department recently, and it shows!
Did you add flyback diodes accross the relay? Even if the uC can handle the voltage and current needed to activate the relay, an inductive load like that will produce a large flyback voltage when you shut it off, all that stored magnetic energy needs to go somewhere and if you dont give it a path like a diode it will just keep upping the voltage until it shorts something out.
I think you should scale the boat up to something about the size of your Boston whaler. Maybe identical canoes or kayaks with a frame to spread them about 4 or 5 feet apart you could use a small gas powered motor for an adventure like this until you could work out an electric motor and battery set up. It would be light in the water and very stable. Might need to add a keel or skag for better tracking especially with side winds and currents. It would be large enough to be avoided by most craft. You could also work on self correction like the self driving cars it make it truly autonomous.
I'd check that bike fuel pump to make sure it 1. doesn't ignite the fuel in the VST and 2. make sure it is creating the correct fuel pressure for that motor.
For alternative propulsion, you can combine both wind and water : For wind, there is the classic sail, but there is also the amazing Kite, which could make a great project, a self launching and recovering Kite, in fact, you could even generate electricity with Kite. There are the : *Pulled by wind then retrieve through gliding. *Pulled by wind then retrieve through flag position. *Figure eight. *Spin on itself. Ways of making electricity from a Kite, all pull the craft while unwinding the cables if it has enough resistance and both the figure eight and spin method allow to still get propulsion during retrieval, but they are harder to control, while the gliding method (mostly with a self/neutral stabilized sail) is the easiest to control with simple electronic. As for the water propulsion, you can combine multiple types, but some are almost seaweed proof, like the FIN'X or the more typical undulating fin solution, which isn't that hard to make with as it work with a single crackshaft, as here you only need to control longitudinal thrust, unlike all those submersibles. One thing I thought about would be to make a Trimaran hull design, but with the side hull on hinges with a simple breaking/locking mechanism, they would use the wave movements to generate electricity, the same way a "sea snake generator" do works, except it would serve both as a "suspension" to absorb waves impacts and generator. A full bridge rectifier would allow any movement direction to always produce the same polarity, with a simple angle limiter and dampener, it could probably work well. As for the water problem, you could have two hulls, one inside the other, the pump intake and water detector (which could be homemade in 316 stainless steel or other corrosion resistant conductors as a series of close enough "pins" to detect non-salt water's conductivity) and a water pump type which can run dry, such as a peristaltic one which are not that hard to homemade, since the mechanism isn't touching the water, any small particles won't cause issues inside it, with a timer that enable it for multiple seconds after the water detector is triggered, so the movements of the boat won't make it "miss" the water. And waterproof the electronic with a simple hot glue gun so only the wires and possibly radiators (as it may overheat inside that) are going through it, same for the "inner" hull, which can be totally sealed off using a lead that contain the same hot glue (so you don't have to engineer a perfect fit lit with joints), bonus if you include a "hatch" with all the connectors for recharging batteries or connecting microcontrollers.
The projects you have created are so impressive. There is a lot of R/C stuff but the quality of your creations are just Insane! The mix of your knowledge/tech abilities/engineering abilities & just overall creativity is just mind blowing to see the things you end up creating & the quality they are capable of performing at, is just mind blowing. The way you've made crafts that run off of such efficient power or solar power & combined with autonomous traversal is just crazy stuff. I love your channel dude. Always great content. (I hope to see more underwater ROV projects in the future. They are fascinating)
Very cool project, and a good attempt! For a more robust liquid level sensor, and something that isn't susceptible to corrosion, perhaps a switch connected to a small float would be better? Like in a toilet tank, but with an electronic switch on the end of the float.
When thinking about boats hulls that work under low displacement you should look into a rowboat with a “shallop” or “double shallop”design. They have sweeping lines that come down to a V shaped bottom. They work amazing at low speeds and are commonly used as sailing dhingys. I’ve seen them be incredibly stable even at low speeds like 2 or 3 knots. An electric motor on one would work amazingly as they do so well at low speeds
I'm hesitant to get too close cuz it's an autonomous boat, I feel like i just need to let it do its thing. You know, keep my distance. "I don't want to be a helicopter parent" 😂😂😂
Super fun - I took a lot of inspiration from your videos and made my own boat. Currently changing my own from inav with a standard analog vtx to ardupilot with openipc as the video control link.
Just a heads up, going slow and close to seal covered bouys, can be risky. A friend lost his boat when a 250kg bull that couldn't get space on the bouy, took the easy option and jumped on his boat flipping and sinking it. That also left them swimming out of a white shark feeding area in a panic
been a fan of the channel for a quite a few years now, good work sir I love the autonomous things you do and look forward to more, UK expat living in Spain
For constant water level detection without corrosion you want a capacitive soil moisture sensor, they work with arduino. I think they might work pretty well even once coated with salt. I use it for my automated watering system, in the bottom of my pots I have the sensors, and when they dry out below a certain percentage it tells the arduino to send more water through.
I'm digging the tohatsu motor and the repair docu. We're there flyback diodes on the Relais formthe bildge Pump ?maybe the inductive pulse when turning the coils of fried the arduinos. It's pretty suspicious that they both failed in the same way
Its interesting how many people try to build electric boats out of planing hulls. Paddle wheels are good options for seaweed. As for the bulge pumps, float valve or just two stainless steel contacts an inch apart. That can switch the pumps directly, or a relay or just sense resistance change. Salt water will eat any of it so build it assuming that. Thick stainless will last a while.
Maybe a hobbie catamaran sailboat would be more appropriate for solar sailing. You could mount the solar panels above you so you can get shade and power without the chance of the panels dipping into the water.
the drag of the water really helps with the 3d printed parts when in rotation because they are being compressed instead of stretched by the g forces from spinning
On racing sailboats there is occaisionally an option for a weed-cutter keel or a rudder. Basically a knife edge that cuts through seaweed. A couple razor blades upstream of your prop will get the job done. I think I've even seen it on rc sailboats.
Tip on those liquid level sensors. If you use a digital pin from the Arduino to power them only when taking a reading (say, 5 milliseconds on to take a reading, every 5 or 10 minutes), corrosion will still happen but much much slower because power isn't flowing through them all the time. Couldn't tell if you had them set up in that way but if not and if you use them again I'd recommend trying this approach. They don't pull very much power at all and they can easily be powered by the max 40mA that can be supplied by a digital Arduino Nano pin pulled high.
I think prop fouling could be detected if you have current feedback from your motor drives. I love watching all the engineering that goes into these boats!
Hi, a long time ago I sent you a message on Instagram about hubless props. Apparently they're a lot less prone to seaweed and other stuff. You only have to do a cycle backwards every once in a while. And you have to incorporate it in the hull otherwise you still have surfaces where seaweed could hang onto. Sorry for my bad English btw.
Those water sensors corrode because powering them makes them act like a battery. They last much longer if you only switch the power on for a moment every now and then. The other way to detect water is to run the pump and measure how much power it draws. It takes more power to pump water than air.
I suggest to move the fuel tank forward of the console for better balance. Even mounted under your forward wooden bench would help loads with the stern water problems. Amazing work as always, keep it up!
You should probably not use red and green as your sump indicators, since red indicates the port side of a boat and green indicates starboard and someone approaching your boat at night might think its going the opposite direction from what it is.
Is it possible to mount a rotating knife before the prop to cut up any sewed? Another thought is to add a depth sensor to the boat and letting it run in a scanning pattern on the lake and then use those measurements to see what can be found on the bottom of the lake? The episode after that is called treasure hunting.
Looking forward to the next video and seeing what you come up with for the propulsion system! For the bilge pumps, big boats use float switches. Maybe there's a commercially available product but otherwise it shouldn't bee too difficult to build your own, especially with your creativity and prototyping/construction possibilities with the 3D printers. With one of those switches, only a float needs to be in contact with the water and the electronics can be kept high up. Salt water and electronics is a nightmare. Good luck!
I used to manage a fleet of 20 Whalers for a youth camp. We had one hull like yours. It was my favorite as the wet well could be plugged and it kept the main area dry. I had one staff take that boat out after work to go fishing and he tossed the builge pump overboard and filled the wet well with sea water to keep bait fish alive. Creative but not the best for the motor that was being washed with the overflow.
I love the “Place where the aircraft carriers are”. Better known as Bremerton and Port Orchard the body of water is the Sinclair Inlet. I love sailing in that area but where the 3 channels meet the winds get all sorts of confused and it makes for an interesting sail.
If those relais are electromechanical they almost certainly have been overdrawing current. If there is no back emf diode it could also fry the pin. But what i've seen on data sheets some solid state relais also have significant current draw and those tiny cheap regulators really can't handle much.
Yeah, I'm really surprised it fried the voltage regulator before it fried the Arduino (of course, it's possible the Arduino failed short first and then the voltage regulator)
Oregon welded fishing boats use something called a stomp great over the jet pump intake. I wonder if you could 3-D print a similar device actuated by a servo? Great video thank you for sharing
I think for the full size autonomous electric trip next time, a catamaran is the way to go. Allows you to take tohe boat own to its pontoons and put it on a normal trailer. Water tight pontoons give you a mix of engine/battery room, and dry secure storage, netted center basically gives you a hammock/trampoline to lay in as you cruise. You could use a tent for shade and bug proof sleeping that is easily taken down during day. exterior edges give you raised areas for solar panel connection. Honestly if i didn't live in the desert I'd want to make it myself.
Have you ever considered using a pump drive instead of a prop to avoid the seaweed problem? I've been working on a 3d printed autonomous boat (inspired by your videos) and I used bilge pumps for both the drive and steering. It works great in bathtub testing, not ready to hit the big water yet though!
You cruised right past Keyport Naval Base! You should look that place up, while they mostly work on maintaining torpedo stockpiles, there is a development squadron that launched 30ft autonomous submarines that - like your boat - robotically navigate around Puget Sound! The model I used see there was the LTV-38, which was a large-displacement unmanned undersea vehicle (LDUUV)
love you videos. my dad lived in Lake Stevens and Camano Island. as a kid we used to navigate the sound all the time crabbing and fishing. Reminds me of home. Especially today, the day before thanksgiving.
For your water detection in the hulls you can use a reed switch attached to a rod with a lightweight puck that will float on the water. much simpler and robust than your water detection boards you have now.
Since seaweed most probably would cause higher amp draw, an automated motor reverse function for a few seconds could be enough to clear the propellers. Some propellers are also more weed protected than others. They are seen on Minn Kota trolling motors for instance.
If you want a better water level sensor, you can make an RC oscillator circuit out of a comparator. For the capacitor, use a circuit board with two parallel traces routed alongside one another, but leave the traces covered in solder mask rather than exposed. The longer the traces the better. You can snake them around the board to use the full surface area, too. You'll still want to coat the circuit board (especially the edges) in a thin layer of epoxy, as FR4 will wick up the salt water, but with that design you avoid exposing the copper directly to the saltwater.
solar boat needs floating solar panel. Pontoons or box tank or something. A three point tether set up can allow a tandem that turns in line with the boat. I have pulled kayaks with my ekayak this way and it works. it would work better with wider boats.
use a float on a lever like toilets do for the water level sensor. I'm sure a tiny one will still work. You can make that out of plastic so it's not gonna corrode when submerged and stop working
To clear the seaweed, would an automated (or manually-triggered) routine to spin the props backward and forward rapidly a few times help maybe? Or maybe replacing those side prop guards that are meant to keep seaweed out with servo-actuated arms that stick out wider and can be pulled in occasionally to let any collected seaweed fall away?
the liquid water sensor possibly corroded due to capacitance in the water. I'd add some sacrificial metal anode like zinc or magnesium or something, should help with corrosion of copper and see if that changes anything
You should install John boat rear pods on the Transom. It will keep the back from sinking in the water when it's stationary or in rough water. It will also ride smoother and rougher water. I did it on my Jon boat bass boat conversion. I actually got 4 mph more on my boat because it can now ride at the oerfect attitude on plane. You could make them out of fiberglass 3D print them or wood. I have seen it done on Boston whalers like yours that were converted to bass boats.
please do another video on the solar rover. honestly the best videos you have ever done. you complained about the time it took to take care of, but the better and more efficient the design, the less youll have to do. thanks.
I was in the middle of editing a video that I am trying to upload today, and saw that this video was posted and completely derailed my progress, because instead of finishing my video, I'm watching this and thinking about how I want to build my solar boat when I get back to the mainland next year. This channel has inspired me to spend so much money... I mean start several projects....
You should look into the Hobie Mirage drive. It’s essentially 2 fins that swing in a 180 degree arc in opposing directions. It’s used as a kayak pedal drive and is extremely efficient. It would be interesting to see an electric version. It would most likely solve a lot of the problems you’ve been having with sea grass.
I learned from experience not to keep the water level detector running at 100% duty. You're trickling 50ma into what's essentially an electroplating apparatus. Put the VIN on another pin and only turn it on while sampling, maybe once every 10s for like 100ms or less. After I made this change they started lasting months rather than days.
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you guys should bring back the long range solar glider, it was such an interesting project
Good idea
that is how i found this channel, solar gliders are just super cool!
I think so too!
Agreed - have the increase in laws made this not viable to make anymore?
@@custard228 Discovered the channel when this crazy-smart guy was trying to convert an RC car into some type of land based ekranoplan thing. TH-cam algorithm knew I would enjoy keeping up with all Daniel’s adventures. I’ve never looked back. Enjoy! 👍🏼
A transatlantic drone boat would be ridiculous but an absolutely incredible feat.
There was that guy who built SeaCharger, a solar autonomous boat that went from Cali to Hawaii then almost to New Zealand.
transpacific might be easier by location...
we have the technology.
it is defintely doable but will need a very stable boat and definitely some solar panels
Already done. Microtransat is a competition for autonomous Atlantic crossing. It seems that the competition program is no longer running. Anyway, it has been done in the past and the consept exists.
Heya! I have some experience with this sort of thing - the liquid level sensor corroded because of the DC voltage applied, which caused the corrosion. There are some techniques to mitigate this: you can either apply the voltage for a brief time for the measurement once every number of seconds to extend lifetime or apply alternating polarities with each measurement to reverse the electrochemical effects.
Either way, and I say this with the utmost respect, you need to up your waterproofing game. It sorta hurts to see so many of your projects scuttled by water ingress when your waterproofing amounts to just silicone, which sorta sucks for this. I recommend you check out waterproof cable glands with PE tubing to carry conductors and some more design considerations for things like acrylic windows like labyrinth seals and compression of silicone/other seals POST-cure.
Love your stuff, hate to see it fail due to the world's greatest chemical :)
Universal solvent strikes again
I think he just needs to take his water sealing more seriously. Print off two more of the hulls, turn them over, silicon them to the float hulls, and go crazy sealing all the other gaps. And also getting the voltages right.
As soon as he mentioned a level sensor and Arduino for the bilge pump my thought was "way too complicated". Bilge pumps for full size boats just use a float and a switch to activate, which he could have easily replicated with a micro switch.
@@FireCat005a foam pad. Attached to a mechanical switch above it. When water gets in the foam floats. Turning on the pump. The foam sinks. The switch disconnects.
So do I need an electronic component to monitor for water to get wet?
Can you recommend me resources for waterproofing stuff like this? Maybe some channels that do what you recommended
Have you considered having the propellers reverse occasionally to try and clear the weed? That's what we do on our narrowboats to avoid having to manually clear weed. Maybe monitor voltage drop and program in a reverse phase when it needs?
Love your videos 🇬🇧😊
Yes and run bilge pump on timer or mechanical switch 😊
From my experience with RC boats, once it's on there, it's not coming off until you remove it manually. At this scale, every bit of weed is the equivalent of 10 feet of rope to a full size boat. I've actually ripped a rudder off just from vegetation that got somehow looped around it and wound up by the prop.
I’m always left speechless at just how creative and technically skilled this guy is. He’s always building the coolest stuff!
I'd love to see you revisit solar autonomous planes and see how small you can make one. Is it possible to go under 250g?
I can’t imagine that being possible. I’d like to see it if it is though
@@picklefart I mean I have my doubts too, but solar tech keeps advancing and it would be a neat challenge to see how small you can get it and still make it increase the range.
There are thin Solar Foils which have a very small weight. This on a nice delta wing. Maybe 50w will be enough to power. A small 2s1p 18650 Liion Battery for the start. I think maybe it could work. I had a little Delta with only 120g with 2s 850mAh LiPo. But would not recomend LiPo cause of charging with Solar.
What would be cool to see is a observation and data plane doing circles around the boat and sending the data to shore so you don't have to drive behind it!
This this this
And then another observation and data drone observing the initial observation and data drone ect ect..
The reason why he drove behind was not because of data, but so he could interfer if something goes wrong.
Use a capacitive water detector! Those can be encased in conformal coating and will still detect water. The resistive one you used is well known for not working long term
I use a "Chirp" for my plants..
I tested capacitive sensors in dirt for an entire summer in the midwest and had no issues with them. Definitely the way to go for water sensing.
@@PanSatyr yes! Me too, in a hydroponic setup with water that is way too conductive for any other option. Did you come across the fact some of those capacitive sensors are actually sold with a defect? There are a few videos online about the problem and the fix. A few of mine had that issue. As long as the broke ones are avoided or known about, totally agree they are the way to go!
Or set it up AC so it doesn't dissolve
@@minibigs5259 not only does that common sensor not run on AC (it would require a completely different sensing and interface circuit of your own design), AC power definitely still causes corrosion due to stray currents and other imbalances. That's why capacitive sensors are a better bet, there doesn't need to be any interface to the water at all
I look forward to your next autonomous ship mission
I hate to say it, but I think it's time for a new hull design after your next set of upgrades, incorporating everything that you have learned previously into making an efficient autonomous ship that won't be causing you any problems
Btw, ever thought about doing a community event?
Other people making autonomous ships and sailing along yours, competing for efficiency, range, who gets to the finish first, etc
I would be down and I'm sure others would be too
I love the shots of the beautiful northwest scenery and wildlife almost as much as the project itself!
I wonder if a paddle wheel boat would solve the seaweed problem
I like this idea. I also think it would be cool to see a snowcat-like vehicle that floats. It seems like adding paddles to the tracks would make it energy efficient for slow speeds.
I have to say. This is one of my favourite TH-cam channels. I really enjoyed the last boat rides. Such a relaxed vibe! 10/10
Those low slow-mo shots look epic! It is an amazingly small boat for wakeboarding behind and it seems like a very utilitarian boat overall.
I love how much time you put in to recording your voice-over. Extremely concise.
In yachting you have propcutters for if you get a line caught in the prop. Maybe a possibility for the seaweed?
You should do a checklist for launching the boat so you never ever again forget the drain plug ^^
I was thinking red tape over the ignition or similar...I've been in a boat in the middle of the bay, when I realized it was rapidly flooding, had to use the power to get a across to the marina lol.
For these autonomous boat projects, I wonder how a paddle wheel might fair. There would definitely be a large loss of efficiency compared to a prop, but with hopefully less trouble from seaweed you might see an overall performance boost. Seaweed could still get caught but would be more likely to fall free since the point of rotation is outside the water, and a comb could be made to grab hanging seaweed as the paddle left the water if rotation is fast enough. No clue if the overall performance would be better or worse but might be worth at least investigating. Also, would be interesting to combine such an old propulsion method with the modern aspects of being electrically/solar driven and autonomous.
I'd go with a side wheel design myself in this case. Driving two (or more) side paddle wheels would be less complicated than a stern-wheel (unless you mount the electric motor outside the hull). Differential steering would make a lot of sense for a "small" autonomous rather than hull penetrations for the rudders.
nice bit of aquatic R&D there! Float switch for the bilge pump might work better?
You all mark my words, I will make a rc boat that will go across the UK
Thanks for the inspiration
4:49 Andromeda Strain scene where the surgeon cuts the country doc's deceased body and sand pours away.
7:16 you could add two extra flotation tanks to the left and right of the motor directly on the transom. Basically you take some foam blocks, cover them in fiberglass (making sure they fit the shape of the transom) and you screw them in place.
FIY you should over drill all the holes you've made and fill them with resin. Water will get inside the foam layer and you'll trash the boat if you skip this step. edit 3: to make it clear, the resin is in there to create a barrier between the foam and the screw.
I wonder if there are any propeller designs that are designed to minimize string tagling or trapping weeds. These designs are probably not energy efficient, but at least you won't have to worry about the propeller getting stuck.
I love watching autonomous projects. My favourite one was the banana slug because I really liked the single hull design.
Conformal coat the arduino's and boards with clear nail polish...just paint a few layers over it to protect them from moisture/corrosion
Also...run marvels mystery oil in the gasoline and put some MotorKote in the oil and the lower gear section for hyper lubrication and help prevent water damage
Very cool! Keep em coming!!!!
okay so there seems to be some confusion on what "plaining" is , it is not when the stern wash separates from the transom , it is when the boat lifts onto the surface of the water or ever so slightly below it , the boat will give a very distinctive feeling when it does this , the front will go from pointing upwards to leveling off once the boat has reached enough speed to overcome the drag of the water against the hull , plaining doesnt usually happen until around 12mph
Hey man, been noticing the improved camera equipment and shooting techniques. Really stepping up your game in the production department recently, and it shows!
Did you add flyback diodes accross the relay? Even if the uC can handle the voltage and current needed to activate the relay, an inductive load like that will produce a large flyback voltage when you shut it off, all that stored magnetic energy needs to go somewhere and if you dont give it a path like a diode it will just keep upping the voltage until it shorts something out.
I think you should scale the boat up to something about the size of your Boston whaler. Maybe identical canoes or kayaks with a frame to spread them about 4 or 5 feet apart you could use a small gas powered motor for an adventure like this until you could work out an electric motor and battery set up. It would be light in the water and very stable. Might need to add a keel or skag for better tracking especially with side winds and currents. It would be large enough to be avoided by most craft. You could also work on self correction like the self driving cars it make it truly autonomous.
I'd check that bike fuel pump to make sure it 1. doesn't ignite the fuel in the VST and 2. make sure it is creating the correct fuel pressure for that motor.
For alternative propulsion, you can combine both wind and water :
For wind, there is the classic sail, but there is also the amazing Kite, which could make a great project, a self launching and recovering Kite, in fact, you could even generate electricity with Kite.
There are the :
*Pulled by wind then retrieve through gliding.
*Pulled by wind then retrieve through flag position.
*Figure eight.
*Spin on itself.
Ways of making electricity from a Kite, all pull the craft while unwinding the cables if it has enough resistance and both the figure eight and spin method allow to still get propulsion during retrieval, but they are harder to control, while the gliding method (mostly with a self/neutral stabilized sail) is the easiest to control with simple electronic.
As for the water propulsion, you can combine multiple types, but some are almost seaweed proof, like the FIN'X or the more typical undulating fin solution, which isn't that hard to make with as it work with a single crackshaft, as here you only need to control longitudinal thrust, unlike all those submersibles.
One thing I thought about would be to make a Trimaran hull design, but with the side hull on hinges with a simple breaking/locking mechanism, they would use the wave movements to generate electricity, the same way a "sea snake generator" do works, except it would serve both as a "suspension" to absorb waves impacts and generator.
A full bridge rectifier would allow any movement direction to always produce the same polarity, with a simple angle limiter and dampener, it could probably work well.
As for the water problem, you could have two hulls, one inside the other, the pump intake and water detector (which could be homemade in 316 stainless steel or other corrosion resistant conductors as a series of close enough "pins" to detect non-salt water's conductivity) and a water pump type which can run dry, such as a peristaltic one which are not that hard to homemade, since the mechanism isn't touching the water, any small particles won't cause issues inside it, with a timer that enable it for multiple seconds after the water detector is triggered, so the movements of the boat won't make it "miss" the water.
And waterproof the electronic with a simple hot glue gun so only the wires and possibly radiators (as it may overheat inside that) are going through it, same for the "inner" hull, which can be totally sealed off using a lead that contain the same hot glue (so you don't have to engineer a perfect fit lit with joints), bonus if you include a "hatch" with all the connectors for recharging batteries or connecting microcontrollers.
I love that the correct term is 'come- along' and that you used it in perfect context. Kudos!
The projects you have created are so impressive. There is a lot of R/C stuff but the quality of your creations are just Insane! The mix of your knowledge/tech abilities/engineering abilities & just overall creativity is just mind blowing to see the things you end up creating & the quality they are capable of performing at, is just mind blowing. The way you've made crafts that run off of such efficient power or solar power & combined with autonomous traversal is just crazy stuff. I love your channel dude. Always great content. (I hope to see more underwater ROV projects in the future. They are fascinating)
Dude these waypoint missions wind up such an adventure. I really enjoy all your content.
Very cool project, and a good attempt! For a more robust liquid level sensor, and something that isn't susceptible to corrosion, perhaps a switch connected to a small float would be better? Like in a toilet tank, but with an electronic switch on the end of the float.
When thinking about boats hulls that work under low displacement you should look into a rowboat with a “shallop” or “double shallop”design. They have sweeping lines that come down to a V shaped bottom. They work amazing at low speeds and are commonly used as sailing dhingys. I’ve seen them be incredibly stable even at low speeds like 2 or 3 knots. An electric motor on one would work amazingly as they do so well at low speeds
I'm hesitant to get too close cuz it's an autonomous boat, I feel like i just need to let it do its thing.
You know, keep my distance.
"I don't want to be a helicopter parent" 😂😂😂
You should talk to Plasma Channel, he's working on a Solid State drive for boats, with no moving parts, so it'd survive the seaweed.
Super fun - I took a lot of inspiration from your videos and made my own boat. Currently changing my own from inav with a standard analog vtx to ardupilot with openipc as the video control link.
I laughed way to hard at the helicopter parent statement. Awesome video, i always love any autonomous long range project.
Just a heads up, going slow and close to seal covered bouys, can be risky. A friend lost his boat when a 250kg bull that couldn't get space on the bouy, took the easy option and jumped on his boat flipping and sinking it. That also left them swimming out of a white shark feeding area in a panic
been a fan of the channel for a quite a few years now, good work sir I love the autonomous things you do and look forward to more, UK expat living in Spain
For constant water level detection without corrosion you want a capacitive soil moisture sensor, they work with arduino. I think they might work pretty well even once coated with salt.
I use it for my automated watering system, in the bottom of my pots I have the sensors, and when they dry out below a certain percentage it tells the arduino to send more water through.
I'm digging the tohatsu motor and the repair docu.
We're there flyback diodes on the Relais formthe bildge Pump ?maybe the inductive pulse when turning the coils of fried the arduinos. It's pretty suspicious that they both failed in the same way
Its interesting how many people try to build electric boats out of planing hulls. Paddle wheels are good options for seaweed. As for the bulge pumps, float valve or just two stainless steel contacts an inch apart. That can switch the pumps directly, or a relay or just sense resistance change. Salt water will eat any of it so build it assuming that. Thick stainless will last a while.
I'd be interested in seeing you tackle a long range project using LoRa modules
I truly enjoy the combination of science and adventure that your episodes display, thanks ☮️
Maybe a hobbie catamaran sailboat would be more appropriate for solar sailing.
You could mount the solar panels above you so you can get shade and power without the chance of the panels dipping into the water.
I just love that when he talks or does anything else there is no music playing. And when it is it's not when he talks I love that.❤😅
the drag of the water really helps with the 3d printed parts when in rotation because they are being compressed instead of stretched by the g forces from spinning
For water level you should definitely use a ToF sensor. The Gagguino project uses one to monitor water tank height over I2C.
Your videos are always a treat. Wish to some day to be able to design the same kind of stuff.
Have you considered using a paddle wheel? Maybe that would avoid the seaweed problems.
curious..
how about a set of swimming arms?
On racing sailboats there is occaisionally an option for a weed-cutter keel or a rudder. Basically a knife edge that cuts through seaweed. A couple razor blades upstream of your prop will get the job done. I think I've even seen it on rc sailboats.
Tip on those liquid level sensors. If you use a digital pin from the Arduino to power them only when taking a reading (say, 5 milliseconds on to take a reading, every 5 or 10 minutes), corrosion will still happen but much much slower because power isn't flowing through them all the time. Couldn't tell if you had them set up in that way but if not and if you use them again I'd recommend trying this approach. They don't pull very much power at all and they can easily be powered by the max 40mA that can be supplied by a digital Arduino Nano pin pulled high.
for the bilge pumps, maybe add a pump stage that runs off of the drive motors? just works passively all the time.
I think prop fouling could be detected if you have current feedback from your motor drives. I love watching all the engineering that goes into these boats!
I'm old school & what u put together blows my mind.Love urstreams man....
Hi, a long time ago I sent you a message on Instagram about hubless props. Apparently they're a lot less prone to seaweed and other stuff. You only have to do a cycle backwards every once in a while. And you have to incorporate it in the hull otherwise you still have surfaces where seaweed could hang onto.
Sorry for my bad English btw.
Those water sensors corrode because powering them makes them act like a battery. They last much longer if you only switch the power on for a moment every now and then.
The other way to detect water is to run the pump and measure how much power it draws. It takes more power to pump water than air.
I suggest to move the fuel tank forward of the console for better balance. Even mounted under your forward wooden bench would help loads with the stern water problems.
Amazing work as always, keep it up!
You should probably not use red and green as your sump indicators, since red indicates the port side of a boat and green indicates starboard and someone approaching your boat at night might think its going the opposite direction from what it is.
Is it possible to mount a rotating knife before the prop to cut up any sewed? Another thought is to add a depth sensor to the boat and letting it run in a scanning pattern on the lake and then use those measurements to see what can be found on the bottom of the lake? The episode after that is called treasure hunting.
Looking forward to the next video and seeing what you come up with for the propulsion system!
For the bilge pumps, big boats use float switches. Maybe there's a commercially available product but otherwise it shouldn't bee too difficult to build your own, especially with your creativity and prototyping/construction possibilities with the 3D printers. With one of those switches, only a float needs to be in contact with the water and the electronics can be kept high up. Salt water and electronics is a nightmare.
Good luck!
@ 15:41 how’d you mount the RFD modem directly to the USB port like that?
I used to manage a fleet of 20 Whalers for a youth camp. We had one hull like yours. It was my favorite as the wet well could be plugged and it kept the main area dry.
I had one staff take that boat out after work to go fishing and he tossed the builge pump overboard and filled the wet well with sea water to keep bait fish alive. Creative but not the best for the motor that was being washed with the overflow.
I love the “Place where the aircraft carriers are”. Better known as Bremerton and Port Orchard the body of water is the Sinclair Inlet. I love sailing in that area but where the 3 channels meet the winds get all sorts of confused and it makes for an interesting sail.
If those relais are electromechanical they almost certainly have been overdrawing current. If there is no back emf diode it could also fry the pin. But what i've seen on data sheets some solid state relais also have significant current draw and those tiny cheap regulators really can't handle much.
Yeah, I'm really surprised it fried the voltage regulator before it fried the Arduino (of course, it's possible the Arduino failed short first and then the voltage regulator)
Oregon welded fishing boats use something called a stomp great over the jet pump intake. I wonder if you could 3-D print a similar device actuated by a servo? Great video thank you for sharing
24:40 love this shot, small boat in a big world
Regarding buoys… “Red, Right, Returning” may help sometime in your new boating adventures. Keep the red buoys on your right when returning inland. 👍🏼
I think for the full size autonomous electric trip next time, a catamaran is the way to go. Allows you to take tohe boat own to its pontoons and put it on a normal trailer. Water tight pontoons give you a mix of engine/battery room, and dry secure storage, netted center basically gives you a hammock/trampoline to lay in as you cruise. You could use a tent for shade and bug proof sleeping that is easily taken down during day. exterior edges give you raised areas for solar panel connection. Honestly if i didn't live in the desert I'd want to make it myself.
Have you ever considered using a pump drive instead of a prop to avoid the seaweed problem? I've been working on a 3d printed autonomous boat (inspired by your videos) and I used bilge pumps for both the drive and steering. It works great in bathtub testing, not ready to hit the big water yet though!
These videos never fail to entertain. Thanks for doing what you do.
You cruised right past Keyport Naval Base! You should look that place up, while they mostly work on maintaining torpedo stockpiles, there is a development squadron that launched 30ft autonomous submarines that - like your boat - robotically navigate around Puget Sound! The model I used see there was the LTV-38, which was a large-displacement unmanned undersea vehicle (LDUUV)
For those wondering what part the autonomous boat part is:
9:50
love you videos. my dad lived in Lake Stevens and Camano Island. as a kid we used to navigate the sound all the time crabbing and fishing. Reminds me of home. Especially today, the day before thanksgiving.
This is such an amusing project! Thank you for sharing all the hard work!
For your water detection in the hulls you can use a reed switch attached to a rod with a lightweight puck that will float on the water. much simpler and robust than your water detection boards you have now.
18:26 Song Name: Log - Laxcity
Since seaweed most probably would cause higher amp draw, an automated motor reverse function for a few seconds could be enough to clear the propellers. Some propellers are also more weed protected than others. They are seen on Minn Kota trolling motors for instance.
Fellow Seattlite here. Love watching your project adventures.
If you want a better water level sensor, you can make an RC oscillator circuit out of a comparator. For the capacitor, use a circuit board with two parallel traces routed alongside one another, but leave the traces covered in solder mask rather than exposed. The longer the traces the better. You can snake them around the board to use the full surface area, too.
You'll still want to coat the circuit board (especially the edges) in a thin layer of epoxy, as FR4 will wick up the salt water, but with that design you avoid exposing the copper directly to the saltwater.
9:44 That William Osman hoodie is even more succulent.
solar boat needs floating solar panel. Pontoons or box tank or something. A three point tether set up can allow a tandem that turns in line with the boat. I have pulled kayaks with my ekayak this way and it works. it would work better with wider boats.
use a float on a lever like toilets do for the water level sensor. I'm sure a tiny one will still work. You can make that out of plastic so it's not gonna corrode when submerged and stop working
To clear the seaweed, would an automated (or manually-triggered) routine to spin the props backward and forward rapidly a few times help maybe? Or maybe replacing those side prop guards that are meant to keep seaweed out with servo-actuated arms that stick out wider and can be pulled in occasionally to let any collected seaweed fall away?
Newer start an outboard dry, you can mess up the water pump impeller, it is lubricated and cooled by the water
ive used tpu for industrial application its great and saves a ton of $$ in a pinch! I would trust printed tpu motor mounts no problem!
Very interested to see how you deal withe the seaweed problem. I mean, that one impact alone really stole a lot of range from you mission. :)
I love your autonomous boat videos so much! They're by far my favorite. Can't wait to see what you try to fix the seaweed problem!
All those slow motion shots are *chef's kiss*
Cool video as always .. think water jet with fine grill to keep out seaweed
the liquid water sensor possibly corroded due to capacitance in the water. I'd add some sacrificial metal anode like zinc or magnesium or something, should help with corrosion of copper and see if that changes anything
You should install John boat rear pods on the Transom. It will keep the back from sinking in the water when it's stationary or in rough water. It will also ride smoother and rougher water. I did it on my Jon boat bass boat conversion. I actually got 4 mph more on my boat because it can now ride at the oerfect attitude on plane. You could make them out of fiberglass 3D print them or wood. I have seen it done on Boston whalers like yours that were converted to bass boats.
please do another video on the solar rover. honestly the best videos you have ever done. you complained about the time it took to take care of, but the better and more efficient the design, the less youll have to do. thanks.
I was in the middle of editing a video that I am trying to upload today, and saw that this video was posted and completely derailed my progress, because instead of finishing my video, I'm watching this and thinking about how I want to build my solar boat when I get back to the mainland next year. This channel has inspired me to spend so much money... I mean start several projects....
XD
Move your helm forward more if you can and also, you can relocate the fuel to the front.
I'm not usually a stickler for safety.... but please wear your kill switch lanyard when cruising in the whaler.
You should look into the Hobie Mirage drive. It’s essentially 2 fins that swing in a 180 degree arc in opposing directions. It’s used as a kayak pedal drive and is extremely efficient. It would be interesting to see an electric version. It would most likely solve a lot of the problems you’ve been having with sea grass.
Hobie also offers an electric drive to replace the pedal drive, so no modifications are required.
Oh, this is a cool idea. Would be funny to use swimming fins as the starting point.
Not totally weedless! I have had a Hobie Kayak for 8 years.
You can hook up a drone boat extension with solar panels on the back of that main boat to increase your power
I learned from experience not to keep the water level detector running at 100% duty. You're trickling 50ma into what's essentially an electroplating apparatus. Put the VIN on another pin and only turn it on while sampling, maybe once every 10s for like 100ms or less. After I made this change they started lasting months rather than days.