For those who can't get to their boats ....

[Baggywrinkle]

Finally got a chance to get the drone out and film some boating ... all footage was taken on autopilot with me flying the drone. Landing back on board cost me 4 propeller blades and a sliced up finger before I worked out how best to land on a moving target.

 

[Tom41]

very nice

 

[RichardS]

Lovely

Richard

 

[LittleSister]

For those of us who can't get to our boats . . .

. . . that's very cruel!

(But also nice! )

 

[Laminar Flow]

What Little Sister said ... but thank you, very nice.

I understand, from an earlier post, that you have a mavic mini?
As I am waiting to buy one, when our local store puts them on sale again, how has it been for you in wind and how do you find retrieving it when flying from the boat?

Thank you.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

What Little Sister said ... but thank you, very nice.

I understand, from an earlier post, that you have a mavic mini?
As I am waiting to buy one, when our local store puts them on sale again, how has it been for you in wind and how do you find retrieving it when flying from the boat?

Thank you.

Yes, it's a Mavic Mini, it copes fine in anything up to F3/4 .... and it's top speed is around 43km/h which I can confirm from its flight logs. It will give you a strong wind warning if you put it up in wind it is going to struggle with as it notices this just by trying to maintain its position. The footage of me sailing wasn't using sport mode, which is it's fastest setting and we were doing around 4,5 knots.

To launch it just put it on the swim platform and use the auto take off function .... it jumps about a metre in the air and then hovers on GPS lock. On a moving boat this means it disappears backwards at a 45° angle when it takes off and is quite safe ... on a stationery boat it needs to be kept clear of the backstays. It hovers at a fixed location so drops back behind the boat pretty quickly if under way - return to home is then obviously useless unless you stop and set a new return to home point.

Landing it is a different matter, on a stationary boat I can land it on the palm of my hand ... this means letting go of the stick that controls left/right, forwards/backwards while it is hovering, extending a hand under the drone (at least 50cm clearance or the ground sensors cause it to shoot upwards) and hold the down stick until it beeps and goes into landing mode. Then just keep a flat palm under it - takes a bit of practice but works even with a breeze.

Landing on a boat under sail took me a few cuts to my fingers and a few scary moments as it flew through the cockpit inches under the bimini.... I would consider the DJI care package essential for anyone using one on a boat - £40 replacement cost for dropping it in the drink is well worth it. Landing it on your hand on a moving boat is too difficult imo, so I tried grabbing it - hence the sliced fingers.

The method that worked best was to stand next to the sprayhood on the windward side of the boat ( if motoring you can just stop, but stopping while sailing is too much of a pfaff) ... bring the drone alongside travelling in the same direction as the boat and carefully adjust forward speed to match the boat, then use left/right to slide the drone in over the cabin roof, keeping a clearance of at least 50 cm, once you have speed matched, and the drone over the cabin roof, hold the descend stick down - if all goes well it beeps and drops onto the cabin roof. I broke 4 prop blades until I got it sorted and now feel confident instead of bricking myself - it's just practice. Important point is that you are landing it from a position behind the drone so the control is more intuitive - left is left, right is right etc. It is the first thing you practice when learning to fly model helicopters and these drones are orders of magnitude easier - be slow and gentle with the control sticks and all will be fine.

Hope this helps, and it does give you some excellent holiday snaps.

 

[greeny]

Thanks for the insight. You've answered a lot of the questions I had about operating one from the boat. I've been considering one for a while now.

 

[greeny]

Mavic Mini Water Landing Leg,STARTRC Damping Landing: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Just spotted this on Amazon. Could be a bit of insurance at sea.

 

[Metabarca]

Never seen that area so quiet. Lucky you!

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Mavic Mini Water Landing Leg,STARTRC Damping Landing: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Just spotted this on Amazon. Could be a bit of insurance at sea.

I did consider those, but they add considerable windage to an already very light drone. I've flown mine with prop guards which have a similar effect and decided to stop using them as it reduces maneuverability and speed ..... but those do mean it would float so perhaps be salvageable if it ditched in the sea.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Never seen that area so quiet. Lucky you!

It is unseasonably quiet ..... not dead, but greatly reduced number of charter yachts out and about.

 

[Laminar Flow]

Yes, it's a Mavic Mini, it copes fine in anything up to F3/4 .... and it's top speed is around 43km/h which I can confirm from its flight logs. It will give you a strong wind warning if you put it up in wind it is going to struggle with as it notices this just by trying to maintain its position. The footage of me sailing wasn't using sport mode, which is it's fastest setting and we were doing around 4,5 knots.

To launch it just put it on the swim platform and use the auto take off function .... it jumps about a metre in the air and then hovers on GPS lock. On a moving boat this means it disappears backwards at a 45° angle when it takes off and is quite safe ... on a stationery boat it needs to be kept clear of the backstays. It hovers at a fixed location so drops back behind the boat pretty quickly if under way - return to home is then obviously useless unless you stop and set a new return to home point.

Landing it is a different matter, on a stationary boat I can land it on the palm of my hand ... this means letting go of the stick that controls left/right, forwards/backwards while it is hovering, extending a hand under the drone (at least 50cm clearance or the ground sensors cause it to shoot upwards) and hold the down stick until it beeps and goes into landing mode. Then just keep a flat palm under it - takes a bit of practice but works even with a breeze.

Landing on a boat under sail took me a few cuts to my fingers and a few scary moments as it flew through the cockpit inches under the bimini.... I would consider the DJI care package essential for anyone using one on a boat - £40 replacement cost for dropping it in the drink is well worth it. Landing it on your hand on a moving boat is too difficult imo, so I tried grabbing it - hence the sliced fingers.

The method that worked best was to stand next to the sprayhood on the windward side of the boat ( if motoring you can just stop, but stopping while sailing is too much of a pfaff) ... bring the drone alongside travelling in the same direction as the boat and carefully adjust forward speed to match the boat, then use left/right to slide the drone in over the cabin roof, keeping a clearance of at least 50 cm, once you have speed matched, and the drone over the cabin roof, hold the descend stick down - if all goes well it beeps and drops onto the cabin roof. I broke 4 prop blades until I got it sorted and now feel confident instead of bricking myself - it's just practice. Important point is that you are landing it from a position behind the drone so the control is more intuitive - left is left, right is right etc. It is the first thing you practice when learning to fly model helicopters and these drones are orders of magnitude easier - be slow and gentle with the control sticks and all will be fine.

Hope this helps, and it does give you some excellent holiday snaps.

Thank you very much for that, good advice.

 

[TiggerToo]

Finally got a chance to get the drone out and film some boating ... all footage was taken on autopilot with me flying the drone. Landing back on board cost me 4 propeller blades and a sliced up finger before I worked out how best to land on a moving target.

Beautiful.

 

[Laminar Flow]

Yes, it's a Mavic Mini, it copes fine in anything up to F3/4 .... and it's top speed is around 43km/h which I can confirm from its flight logs. It will give you a strong wind warning if you put it up in wind it is going to struggle with as it notices this just by trying to maintain its position. The footage of me sailing wasn't using sport mode, which is it's fastest setting and we were doing around 4,5 knots.

To launch it just put it on the swim platform and use the auto take off function .... it jumps about a metre in the air and then hovers on GPS lock. On a moving boat this means it disappears backwards at a 45° angle when it takes off and is quite safe ... on a stationery boat it needs to be kept clear of the backstays. It hovers at a fixed location so drops back behind the boat pretty quickly if under way - return to home is then obviously useless unless you stop and set a new return to home point.

Landing it is a different matter, on a stationary boat I can land it on the palm of my hand ... this means letting go of the stick that controls left/right, forwards/backwards while it is hovering, extending a hand under the drone (at least 50cm clearance or the ground sensors cause it to shoot upwards) and hold the down stick until it beeps and goes into landing mode. Then just keep a flat palm under it - takes a bit of practice but works even with a breeze.

Landing on a boat under sail took me a few cuts to my fingers and a few scary moments as it flew through the cockpit inches under the bimini.... I would consider the DJI care package essential for anyone using one on a boat - £40 replacement cost for dropping it in the drink is well worth it. Landing it on your hand on a moving boat is too difficult imo, so I tried grabbing it - hence the sliced fingers.

The method that worked best was to stand next to the sprayhood on the windward side of the boat ( if motoring you can just stop, but stopping while sailing is too much of a pfaff) ... bring the drone alongside travelling in the same direction as the boat and carefully adjust forward speed to match the boat, then use left/right to slide the drone in over the cabin roof, keeping a clearance of at least 50 cm, once you have speed matched, and the drone over the cabin roof, hold the descend stick down - if all goes well it beeps and drops onto the cabin roof. I broke 4 prop blades until I got it sorted and now feel confident instead of bricking myself - it's just practice. Important point is that you are landing it from a position behind the drone so the control is more intuitive - left is left, right is right etc. It is the first thing you practice when learning to fly model helicopters and these drones are orders of magnitude easier - be slow and gentle with the control sticks and all will be fine.

Hope this helps, and it does give you some excellent holiday snaps.

Sorry to bug; you mentioned DJI's care/insurance. If you ditch your drone in the sea, do you have to produce a body or will they take your word/ flight log for it?

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Sorry to bug; you mentioned DJI's care/insurance. If you ditch your drone in the sea, do you have to produce a body or will they take your word/ flight log for it?

The flight log and a cache of the video is stored by the app so they can use that. Make sure video caching is on and all should be fine. The drone will record the first few seconds of it sinking too ... there are YouTube videos of sinking minis ? and the flight logs are very detailed with all the controller inputs, GPS, speed, altitude, battery status etc. all recorded.

It may well be a bit of a fight to get a replacement though, it depends on exactly how it was lost.

 

[Laminar Flow]

The flight log and a cache of the video is stored by the app so they can use that. Make sure video caching is on and all should be fine. The drone will record the first few seconds of it sinking too ... there are YouTube videos of sinking minis ? and the flight logs are very detailed with all the controller inputs, GPS, speed, altitude, battery status etc. all recorded.

It may well be a bit of a fight to get a replacement though, it depends on exactly how it was lost.

Thank you. In other words, you need the body to collect.