Hurricane
Well-Known Member
Well, we have all seen the Quadcopter threads on here
And some of us wondered how we could get these things to work on the water.
Well, maybe this is it???
Soon after the Phantom posts, I saw these on this website http://www.aquacopters.com/
So, I finally plucked up the courage to send some money off to a guy in America.
It took a fair while to come but it finally arrived just before I left for Sant Carles at the begining of August so I took it with me.
I then "set to" to read the manuals - very difficult actually - there weren't any!!
And I had to "make do" with some badly translated pdf's that I downloaded from the internet.
We then waited for a some windless evenings.
The first flight didn't really work - it simply flipped over and tried to do an impression of a submarine.
Then a friend who owns a catamaran came over from the Med style berths and offered some advice.
The result was that we tethered it to the cockpit table until we could understand what was going wrong.
Soon after, we adjusted the tethering system so that we could adjust the flying height.
The initial problem was actually a very silly mistake - each of the props had a sticker on to identify its position.
Each sticker had a note to remove it before flight - but we thought we knew better!!!
After the stickers were removed - things started to work.
We still have a very long way to go
The compass needs to be calibrated
The process is similar to a Raymarine autopilot calibration but in two orientations - one seems to work the other doesn't - more experimenting required.
Without the compass calibrated, the electronics won't engage the GPS facilities but it was possible to get some flights like this one
One such flight involved a poster on these forums having a go and the wind took it away - requiring a rescue using a dinghy.
Still, we are making progress
I have GoPro camera to fit once we have cracked the flying bit
Watch this space - maybe we will get some pics taken from it sometime - who knows!!!
And some of us wondered how we could get these things to work on the water.
Well, maybe this is it???
Soon after the Phantom posts, I saw these on this website http://www.aquacopters.com/
So, I finally plucked up the courage to send some money off to a guy in America.
It took a fair while to come but it finally arrived just before I left for Sant Carles at the begining of August so I took it with me.
I then "set to" to read the manuals - very difficult actually - there weren't any!!
And I had to "make do" with some badly translated pdf's that I downloaded from the internet.
We then waited for a some windless evenings.
The first flight didn't really work - it simply flipped over and tried to do an impression of a submarine.
Then a friend who owns a catamaran came over from the Med style berths and offered some advice.
The result was that we tethered it to the cockpit table until we could understand what was going wrong.
Soon after, we adjusted the tethering system so that we could adjust the flying height.
The initial problem was actually a very silly mistake - each of the props had a sticker on to identify its position.
Each sticker had a note to remove it before flight - but we thought we knew better!!!
After the stickers were removed - things started to work.
We still have a very long way to go
The compass needs to be calibrated
The process is similar to a Raymarine autopilot calibration but in two orientations - one seems to work the other doesn't - more experimenting required.
Without the compass calibrated, the electronics won't engage the GPS facilities but it was possible to get some flights like this one
One such flight involved a poster on these forums having a go and the wind took it away - requiring a rescue using a dinghy.
Still, we are making progress
I have GoPro camera to fit once we have cracked the flying bit
Watch this space - maybe we will get some pics taken from it sometime - who knows!!!
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