First test

Posted on May 28, 2020May 30, 2020 by Oleg Gladchenko

28 May

So, I went to the lake and tested a boat with a motor in front. It must be said that the boat turned out to be heavy and the three of us had to drag it. Even the motor did not work correctly, absolutely did not want to go to full speed, although I drove it for repair and they assured me that everything was ok. At first the cord to start the engine was torn, changed it, then the carburetor fell off and rested on one bolt, of course, the motor stalled immediately. Screwed the carburetor. The power still did not reach its full potential and I had to quietly drive back and forth near the coast. But, nevertheless, I managed to understand something. And the first is that the steering wheel works fine. With this arrangement, the boat remains stable and maneuverable. The windshield needs more. But for now, I don’t think that I will continue to work on this boat, because we have the ekranoplan on the line and we need to concentrate all our efforts on it, but for now enjoy photos and videos from the tests.

Waiting for a good weather

Posted on May 17, 2020May 28, 2020 by Oleg Gladchenko

17 May

The weather is very bad, a cold wind blows all the time and is raining all the time. The middle of May and there is no heat yet. Over the past week I have finished painting another boat and installed the tail. I also pasted a number and a couple of inscriptions on the sides. The boat turned out 2498 mm which is 22 mm smaller than the previous one and now it falls under the law on registration and license. That is, a boat up to 2500 mm long may not have registration and it can be controlled without having rights. In short, that was my goal and I achieved it. It is light blue, the inscriptions and the circle on the nose are white. Number is a black four. Since I give all my cars a number, which means my age at the time of construction, so it happened to me. Therefore, the number 4 in the circle means 40. It looks more interesting and better. As for the airliner with a motor in front, I finished it, tightened the motor and cabin to the hull of the boat and made steering control using a cable. Management will be carried out using an underwater steering wheel, so it seemed to me better and this does not spoil the overall look. Gasoline has already been poured into the tank and now it remains only to wait for the weather and go to the lake. I hope that soon it will turn out good and it will be possible to start the test, after which I intend to immediately go For 250 km from the city to a large lake to experience the ekranoplan. I would very much like to do these two tests in June, and then already remount the engine on a new boat from an ekranoplan and test it with a powerful engine. As usual, a photo of the work done below.

One more airboat

Posted on May 9, 2020May 9, 2020 by Oleg Gladchenko

09 May

Finally, May have come. I think to test the ekranoplan this month. To do this, I need several things to coincide. I need a van on which I will transport the boat, but I seem to have agreed on it. Good weather is needed where I will conduct tests and the help of several people, preferably with a boat equipped with a motor. All this stuff need to be organized.

Since the ekranoplan has been packed for a long time and is waiting for its time, moreover, there has come universal quarantine because of which I lost my job, but I did not lose access to the workshop, so I managed to construct another small airlock, a copy of the first so that I could ride together race. Today I already pasted it with fiberglass. It remains to paint and build a mount for the motor.

Another thought haunts me. I would like to install a fiberglass cabin left over from a paratrike and install it on a boat and put the engine on the front like on an airplane. I set everything until it was screwed down, sat inside and it seemed to me that this is very cool. If I still decide to do this, then we get a super boat, outwardly somewhat similar to the air boats of the era of the 30s participating in the legendary raid Pavia – Venice. I am inspired by that era and those cars. For a complete buzz you had to get a leather helmet. I sewed it from a piece of leather that I have. Still need glasses and a white scarf, developing at the back. I don’t know how stable the boat will be in water in such a layout, but it will look great and the thrill of riding will be cool. It remains to be decided which steering wheel to install – air or underwater. Both options have pros and cons, you need to think. Below is a photo of the work done.

Speed measurement

Posted on June 6, 2019October 5, 2019 by Oleg Gladchenko

06 Jun

Well, so I checked the speed of my boat. Yesterday it was quite windy and it affected the speed measurements a little, but I did everything as expected and measured the speed both against the wind and the wind, and also measured the speed with and without propeller protection and also checked one propeller made by my friend Roland from plywood. Again, my friend Karlis was with me on the tests, for which many thanks to him, he helped me a lot. So, in terms of speed against the wind it seemed 34-35 km / h, and in the wind maximum 42 it is with protection for the propeller. I took off my protection and left again, this time it showed against the wind 37 in the wind 45, I changed the propeller and here against the wind 40 in the wind I accelerated to 49 and even to 50, it seemed that I would take a little more. The fairing made on the eve came up very well – the wind no longer blows and the glass turned out fine, that is, I bend down and the head in the helmet becomes a natural continuation of the fairing, and through the glass everything is perfectly visible and most importantly – the wind does not blow. At the moment, I have done the maximum. The motor again jams a bit in my opinion, where it sucks in excess air. You need to put your hand and now try to walk along the river. There is an idea for one colorful route along the Gauja River. In general, we will prepare. By the way, I forked out a bit and bought a GoPro 7 white camera, this video, which will be lower, I shot already with its help. Of course I haven’t really figured it out yet and the video was shot in the wrong format due to which the boat sometimes looks a little deformed, but nothing the next time I’ll try to correct and shoot the material better. As always, photos and videos below.

Recovery

Posted on June 1, 2019October 5, 2019 by Oleg Gladchenko

01 Jun

The boat is ready again. It was impossible to get a detail for the muffler. I cut off the place that broke off and put a piece of stainless pipe there welded, I hope it will hold. Motor started, adjusted, now it works like a watch. I also made a front fairing so that there was a windscreen and better air flow around the pilot. I hope it will be comfortable on the water. And as it turned out, we still need handles in order to pull the case out o f the water and generally for ease of carrying. I bought four simple handles in the store and screwed it in beforehand, smearing it with silicone. The handles may have spoiled the look, but maybe not, some technicality, functionality added. I have not yet seen a boat on the water with these handles, while it is difficult to judge. Now you need to wait for the weather as soon as it clears up so I will go to the lake to ride. Below are photos as always.