Drones and boats.....

N

NealB

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Feb 2006
Messages
7,674
Location
Burnham on Crouch
Visit site
Over on the East Coast forum, I mentioned a great video of Marconi SC (on the Blackwater) taken from a drone:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?408031-Marconi-SC-from-a-drone

I wonder if we've got any drone experts here on PBO who could give advice about the practicalities (or otherwise) of trying to use a drone from a boat?

Thanks for any thoughts.
 
Last edited:
OK, I'm convinced. What make/model of drone was this from and also what camera was used? (was it a GoPro?)

I've been considering getting a drone for a while but thought that R/C was shorter range than that...

Oh, and a fab video!
 
Have taken some great footage with my Phantom Vision but not from the boat. Even though they are amazingly stable I did not fancy all the shrouds etc. Also another problem is that they have to be completely stable prior to take off as it calibrates itself.

View attachment 45389
Ardmore Islands
 
Storyline said:
Have taken some great footage with my Phantom Vision but not from the boat. Even though they are amazingly stable I did not fancy all the shrouds etc. Also another problem is that they have to be completely stable prior to take off as it calibrates itself.

Ardmore Islands
Click to expand...

A motorboat might be a better bet?
 
NealB said:
Over on the East Coast forum, I mentioned a great video of Marconi SC (on the Blackwater) taken from a drone:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?408031-Marconi-SC-from-a-drone

I wonder if we've got any drone experts here on PBO who could give advice about the practicalities (or otherwise) of trying to use a drone from a boat?

Thanks for any thoughts.
Click to expand...
Was in New Grimbsby Sound this summer, just getting dark when there ws the noise of a swarm of bees, looked around and a bright red and green lighted thing came hurtling overhead from south to north, presumed it was a google earth thing?
S
 
NealB said:
A motorboat might be a better bet?
Click to expand...
Yes that would be a lot better but there is still the need for completely flat conditions.
If you go on any of the UAV forums there are many videos of epic (& expensive) fails over water. Had my heart in my mouth for the ten minute duration of the flight around Storyline. Even though a crash onto terra firma would probably write it off anyway there is just that extra something about being over water. An activity for adrenaline junkies definitely.
 
I saw a drone being flown over the new Cowes breakwater construction, it was being launched and landed from the dredger pumping out gravel/ water mix.
 
My only experience is of so called toy ones.I currently fly micro helisx4 channel and I could quite easily land one and take off my boat deck in calm conditions and if it drowns at under £20.
I have just ordered a world toys quadcopter with a 2 mp camera for just under £30 without a transmitter as it will bind to mine.
There was some great footage from a users review of it from about 100 foot above some flats in Poland.
Again if it drowns its not a big loss unlike their top of the range drone at nearly £300!
If you have never flown rc then buy something good and cheap.
I learned in my front room on a Syma coax micro- less than £20 slow and stable so you can leave it hovering in front of you whilst you get used to reverse sensing amongst other things.I then souped it up reducing its stability but drastically increasing its speed.
After a cold Scottish winter in the spring I went onto 4 channel world toys 911 micro helix and now quads with cameras.
Maybe in future a £400 drone!
 
Last edited:
This season I have been photographing and filming quite a lot with the DJI Phantom 2 (equipped with GoPro Hero3). Mostly I have launched the drone from the hard ground, but also a couple of times from the boat when on a calm anchorage. Once during the season I also had a chance to fly the drone while sailing, when the conditions were perfect (light wind and flat seas). Here are a couple photos from the Northern Baltics (SW Finland and Åland islands):

DD_Innerskär_aerial.jpgDD_Kaskinen_helicam.jpgDD_sailing_aerial.jpg
 
If it has return to base, there is a logic in making that terra firma.. at least it will still be there-Earth, that is. So that might take a little more planning, or two of you, but at least, in theory, the drone isnt going to sink...So, you then fly out to the boat, and if it goes wrong, it should "land".
This is a field expanding rapidly, but in the US they are getting very hostile to it and talking about line of sight only (no FPV), which rather kills the potential.
 
http://www.pigeonvision.biz/

I have seen these guys at a couple of the big Caribbean regattas this year. They launch and recover from a rib with the assistant gripping the UC . This can be seen at the end of one of the St Barts clips.

I have a fair bit of stick time on large RC helicopters and while you have additional stabilization electronics nowadays I still think the guy flying this drone knows his stuff.
 
Hi All,

I have a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+, which is the latest model from DJI, who probably are the most popular consumer and pro-grade quadcopter manufacturer. It includes an FPV system and fully-stabilised 1080P camera (not a Go-Pro) which can all be controlled from your iphone or android phone.

They are incredibly easy to fly, they have GPS built in so basically hover in position with no input at all, I've been up in 25kn of wind and it was almost rock steady. All controls are relative to the hover position. I've taken off and landed from the boat many times, both whilst at anchor and also whilst underway under sail. I've found the easiest place to be aft on the windward side. There's certainly good potential to mess up but if you're fairly skilled in flying it, it's not too bad really.

They "Return to Home" if they lose control signal, or nowadays if it senses its battery power is getting low enough that it would not get home. The good news is that 'Home' can be updated on the go by toggling a switch a few times, so I tend to fly back over the boat at regular intervals and update the home position so it would start to land at least close to the boat and I could potentially get to it before it drowned itself.

They're great fun to fly, you can get stunning photos and videos of anchorages and some video shots under sail that you simply couldn't get any other way.

Here's an unedited version of some footage I took in Turkey in May : http://1drv.ms/1tVuD6X Note that OneDrive has compressed the video so the quality is bad, you can click "download" at the top to get it in full HD.

Ben
 
Last edited:
Every year a slalom canoe event takes place down the river Moriston Gorge here in Invermoriston.
Last summer I watched whilst two of the spectators launched a small " toy" quad with camera from the road bridge down into the gorge to film.
Mind you I can understand why the powers that be are getting worried.
My little " toy" can carry a micro water cannon capable of delivering a modest amount of liquid anywhere within range.
The toys are not really toys with the fully functioning drones as described being very sophisticated pieces of kit with their ability to maintain a stable platform for cameras of all levels of sophistication.
One final point is that quite seriously once beyond about 100 foot range here in the UK you stray into the world of real aviation and you need a pilots licence and air traffic control clearance.
 
ffiill said:
One final point is that quite seriously once beyond about 100 foot range here in the UK you stray into the world of real aviation and you need a pilots license and air traffic control clearance.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about this? My understanding was that as long as you are not engaging in commercial work, where you need a specific CAA license, then the height restriction is 500ft and I don't believe there is a distance limit for non-licensed operators?

There's also lots of other rules like flying within 50m of persons not under your control, flying over crowds or restricted airspace etc.

Happy to be proven wrong and see the specific guidelines as they're quite hard to find.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

S
Buying advice. Only two winches?
2 3
Replies
44
Views
1K
dgadee
dgadee

Share this page

Top