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Post by hoppy on Sept 12, 2014 19:39:40 GMT
Many yacht owners seem to like a few luxury accessories on board like generators, A/C, water makers and so on. I've decided to take a leaf out of the Super Yacht ultimate accessories handbook and now my Jessabbé has a helipad  Admittedly the copter is so small that it can only carry a gopro ;-) Coming in to land  Jeanneau SO40 Superyacht  Above Vilho Bay, Greece  Taking the lazy option to inspect the masthead ;-)  |
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Post by zofiasailing on Sept 12, 2014 20:50:43 GMT
Absolutely awesome! You are obviously a very competent pilot too as it's not quite as easy at it might seem to pop those quad copters up there and successfully bring them down. My skipper has the same idea but is still training and has had a couple of interesting retrievals. Good on you!
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Post by MalcolmP on Sept 12, 2014 20:51:37 GMT
I like it!
Looks any easier way to get to the masthead - virtual is the way to go
How hard is it to control?
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Post by hoppy on Sept 12, 2014 21:11:57 GMT
With the GPS equipped flight controller they are pretty easy to fly, however they are still easy to crash  It has taken me a while to feel brave enough to consider this flight today. As there was no wind and minimal boat movement, on the first flight I used the helipad to takeoff and landing but after that I held and released and caught it mid air. I had FPV (First Person View) glasses on with a display that told me where to find the launch site which helped me find my way back. I really want to get video when sailing but I don't think I will brave that unless I have a crew to catch it. At one point I was concentrating so hard on on the flying and camera angles that I did not notice that I was filming the wrong boat  I went up to them later and got their email so I could send photos and this evening after they had seen the photos they invited me onboard for a wine (at least it was another Jeanneau I got confused about)  |
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Post by sailbleu on Sept 13, 2014 5:25:21 GMT
I' m sold !!
Believe it or not , but the idea has crossed my mind in the past to buy a drone so I could take pictures of the surroundings.
I've been searching for a week now on the coastline of one of the Eolean islands (Sicily) for a very small secca , a shoal , that i found 12 years ago when I was here . I lost the gps coordinates when I sold my previous boat. Now I cannot find that secca anymore because it's so small , it's like a pillar and risses up from the seabed more than 100 meters deep. The top surface which is about 2 square meters in size is located 4 to 5 meters under the sea surface and can be seen when sailing close over it. And no , it's not marked on the charts . We found it last time thans to the fishermen's buoys spread around it.
No buoys to be found this time.
Your drone would get me out of the woods Hoppy
Please give us the details about this project , type , size , price , where to buy , how the camera is connected and so on.
That would be great.
Off topic:
Leaves me to thank you for the tip you gave me with regards to the ports in the south of Sicily.
Our boat will be wintering in the port near Raguza ,
Not even 1200 € from oktober 1 to april 30. Water and electricity according to consumption.
We will be heading that direction today i guess , docking there after we paid Malta a visit.
Regards
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Post by hoppy on Sept 13, 2014 5:52:16 GMT
Did you try the Navionics sonar charts?  |
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Post by hoppy on Sept 13, 2014 6:59:29 GMT
Hi have 2 quads, the TBS Discovery (with me in Greece) & TBS Discovery Pro. The main difference is that the Pro is designed to take a camera gimbal. I originally planned to build the standard quad over the winter and then upgrade it to the Pro throwing away about €100 in parts, but in the end there were so many things I wanted to change, I decided to buy a few extra things and have two. I am more adventurous with the cheaper standard quad    I wanted this to be a build project rather than an out of the box RTF (ready to fly) kit, but that made it a more expensive hobby team-blacksheep.com/shop/cat:discoveryWith both of them I have 600mw 5.8mhz video transmitters, the standard only shows the FPV camera image whilst on the Pro I can switch between the FPV and the goPro. I have managed to get video from 3.2km away. I have both FPV glasses (Fatshark) and a separate screen as my viewing option, but only have the Fatshark with me here. The flight computer I use is the DJI NAZA V2 and it is fitted with the iOSD onscreen display which most importantly shows me the direction to where I launched www.dji.com/ If you want to keep it simple, there is the DJI Phantom V2 which is ready to fly. The "vision” version allows you to see the video streamed to a iOS and Android phone but the range is only 300m. You can get the standard Phantom fitted with a goPro on a gimbal and the same 600mw video transmitter I use www.quadcopters.co.uk/dji-phantom-2-fpv-edition-with-zenmuse-h3-3d-gimbal-1249-p.asp If I was not going for a build project, thats what I would probably go for. There are on the market a few waterproof quads, but they are either stupidly expensive or backyard companies and not so easy to source. I was thinking of building one but never got around to it. Some successful flight videos with my Pro showing the advantages of a gimbal And some failures with my standard quad |
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Post by sailbleu on Sept 13, 2014 7:51:53 GMT
Yes , I use C-map on my plotters and inavx (navionics charts) as a backup on my ipad. Are those video goggles for the copter any good ? I mean , is it really streaming without any hickups ? Regards |
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Post by hoppy on Sept 13, 2014 11:29:11 GMT
Yes , I use C-map on my plotters and inavx (navionics charts) as a backup on my ipad. Are those video goggles for the copter any good ? I mean , is it really streaming without any hickups ? Regards The live feed in the goggles are pretty good, not much latency that I can notice. You just need to make sure the position/type of the antenna suits the flying you are doing. They might not be so good for spotting what you would like to find, but there is an option to stream HD video to a compatible screen. |
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Post by hoppy on Sept 14, 2014 11:38:19 GMT
R.I.P. enjoy Davey Jones locker  |
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Post by MartyB on Sept 14, 2014 17:00:37 GMT
Uh oh....... something must be amiss..........davey jones locker in this thread.......not a good sign...... fun while it lasted? need to upload a pic of my new toy........30" volvo 70!  |
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Post by hoppy on Sept 14, 2014 18:46:29 GMT
It was perfect conditions, sunny day, flat sea, was on a broad reach doing something like 2 or 3 knots and seeing 6-8 apparent, so I decided to give it a go. Launch was problem free, got some sensational footage of Jessabbe from what I could see in the googles, then came the landing. Probably foolishly, I kept sailing along and got the copter along side a couple of times (I was sitting on the cabin to for a hand recovery), but each time I switched focus from flying to recovery it would start drifting back because I eased off on the forward motion. One handed control should be ok as when my left hand is off the controller the copter should maintain height and the right can still control forward/back/left/right, but in reality it was not that easy. On the last attempt the copter drifter across the cockpit at which time I could have cut the power causing a dry crash landing but instead I tried to recover hitting something that flipped it into the sea.  In hindsight I should have hovered the copter nearby whilst I headed Jessabbe into the wind to stop her. Originally I had thought I should place a tarpaulin across the cockpit with it sagging between the safety lines and the table with the idea to aim to crash land on the table. I still think that might have worked, but for now I don't really know. The footage I saw has me wanting to try again 100% but I think I will wait until I have a crew. The worst thing is that I had made "floaties" for the copter arms but was reluctant to fit them unless I tested them flying over the land. I now have a winter project, build a new cheapie copter for next year. I will look more into waterproofing and/or floation. Ideally I want one that can crash in the see and be rinsed off to fly another day. for now... bugger  |
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Post by MalcolmP on Sept 14, 2014 19:55:10 GMT
Enjoyed your project (I guess even at your expense) amazing potential - maybe next time you could add a MOB self-inflating raft? but guess weight is the problem...
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Post by hoppy on Sept 14, 2014 20:47:14 GMT
I've hear that some people have added those key floats that blow up in water like a life jacket, but I have no idea how many I would need on the copter. I would have been much happier if I landed, downloaded the video & photos and then pushed my luck on the 2nd flight I think I will look seriously into these for my winter project, the first 2 especially. Originally I was thinking I would buy one on the shells and strip all of the motor and electronics from my spare quad to make it fly, but now my parts bin is 200m down You gotta love €$£ hobbies www.aquacopters.com/www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1372462www.quadh2o.com/ |
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Post by On y va on Sept 15, 2014 20:48:09 GMT
On the 27th of October, my 50th birthday, I have asked for a DJI Phantom II Vision........ So I am hoping some top of mast inspection photos soon after that too!!!
These drones are soooooo cool!!!!!
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Post by Tafika II on Sept 15, 2014 21:17:30 GMT
I am very interested in drones, but keep hearing horror stories of lost drones after taking a dive into the water. After doing some research I’m now looking at the Mariner Waterproof Quadcopter (website: www.fpvfactory.com) You may also want to look at a test flight from Rick Moore (link: I’ll update you on my adventure once I get the unit. It maybe a few months due the budget |
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Post by sailbleu on Sept 16, 2014 7:16:52 GMT
Hoppy , what about a temporary net that you can raise and attach with some hooks and things above the cockpit where you can fly into . I'm sure the copter will be ' caught ' giving you all the time in the world to retrieve it.
Landings at sea with a waterproof drone will still force you to lower the sails ( furl :-) ) no ?
Regards
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Post by hoppy on Sept 16, 2014 12:58:40 GMT
I am very interested in drones, but keep hearing horror stories of lost drones after taking a dive into the water. After doing some research I’m now looking at the Mariner Waterproof Quadcopter (website: www.fpvfactory.com) You may also want to look at a test flight from Rick Moore (link: I’ll update you on my adventure once I get the unit. It maybe a few months due the budget Thanks... I noticed the mariner the other day as I did a post loss investigation into my next project. It has some potential, but I am not sure about the FPV version on that site. I like the FPV as I can go away from a moving boat some distance and find it again. I once flew my RIP copter without GPS or FPV as I was messing about with full manual control just in front of me. I pulled off my first loop and then it got away from me. After 100m it can get difficult to see the way it is facing and with the wind blowing and my attempts to watch it's movements and adjust, it left the park and was flying over a suburb 600m away. At that point I hit the failsafe and headed for my car. Amazingly I parked my car and within 3 minutes hear a familiar noise of the motors. It had crashed into a tree, ejecting the gopro and RC receiver and then landed on the grass waiting to be turned off. Unfortunately the GoPro battery flew out and I lost the last few minutes of the flight, so disappointed  The only damage was 2 broken props and the GoPro behaved a little funny thereafter. Thankfully that GoPro is the one at the bottom of the sea and not my newer version. |
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Post by jez on Sept 16, 2014 13:02:28 GMT
Hoppy, Can you hop over a few berths to your left with the quadcopter and see if I've got mounting holes in my masthead for a wind vane, before I do the dope on a rope dance. Jez. (ELYSIA) |
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Post by hoppy on Sept 16, 2014 13:04:36 GMT
Hoppy , what about a temporary net that you can raise and attach with some hooks and things above the cockpit where you can fly into . I'm sure the copter will be ' caught ' giving you all the time in the world to retrieve it. Landings at sea with a waterproof drone will still force you to lower the sails ( furl :-) ) no ? Regards Yes, net could do the trick as well. The waterproof quad gives a extra level of safety in the event of an onboard landing failure. Hopefully after it ditches I can drop the sails and motor back to retrieve it. Maybe with the mariner if I have trouble locating it, I could start it up and bring it to me when i have stopped the sailing |
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Post by singoviv on Jan 2, 2015 11:02:58 GMT
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Post by hoppy on Feb 8, 2015 8:33:51 GMT
This is how it was supposed to work
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Post by hoppy on Feb 20, 2015 8:55:17 GMT
They have now updated their site with more photos and a video. I'm impressed and very tempted. The RTF kit is very expensive but I don't need that as I have almost everything needed that I can strip out of my existing quad. Hopefully even my motors are ok, then I just need to add 2 more |
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Post by singoviv on Feb 20, 2015 9:13:40 GMT
The parrot beebop looks good too ... Return to pilot function is a winner
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Post by hoppy on Feb 20, 2015 15:22:34 GMT
Return to pilot function is a winner That's a standard feature with all of the DJI & DJI controlled quads that have GPS I would order the Hexh2o except it is quite big and I'm not sure where onboard I can keep it without it always being in the way. |
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Admittedly the copter is so small that it can only carry a gopro ;-)
I went up to them later and got their email so I could send photos and this evening after they had seen the photos they invited me onboard for a wine 
The only damage was 2 broken props and the GoPro behaved a little funny thereafter. Thankfully that GoPro is the one at the bottom of the sea and not my newer version.
