My dream boat “Streamlined beauty”

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The Streamlined beauty boat in its modification – a front motor and a pulling propeller – turned out to be as close in design and spirit as what I tried to express in this product. The enclosed cockpit and the propeller face perfectly complement the sleek lines of the late thirties seaplane. The feeling of driving is just a delight. And the appearance does not allow you to turn your eyes. I was inspired by the seaplanes that raced the Pavia Venezia race in the 1930s in Italy, and also the flying boats that raced the Schneider Trophy. In particular, the Macchi M.33 aircraft. The golden era of air and water racing. Great streamline design. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do, especially without copying anyone, just taking as a basis the location of the engine above the pilot and the general dieselpunk atmosphere. I ended up with a wonderful small boat, balanced in composition, which gives an amazing feeling of uniqueness from owning it. I am very happy to share my joy with people. As a designer and artist, I can say that the boat is finished and does not need any addition or improvement. This body was originally going to be done with a motor in the back and with a beautiful aluminum tail and a motor in the front and a closed cockpit. Having driven on both variants and having estimated their appearance, I can say that the crazier, the better, and the front-engine layout wins 100 percent aesthetically and romantically, but a slightly inferior inconvenience. A slight inconvenience is associated only with a strong wind flow in the face, it is weakly deflected by a small windshield. However, I think this is more of a plus than a minus because this fact practically physically introduces you to those distant times when the pilots of boats and airplanes sat in half-open cockpits open to all winds. All in all, a great boat. Please enjoy the photos of the latest modification and watch the video of the trip.

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My new boat Streamlined beauty

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After building several classic square-shaped airboats, I decided to make the boat more streamlined and pointed. I understand why classic airboats have such unpretentious shape, it’s all about practicality, but I am an impractical person, I am an artist by nature, and since I idolize the design of the era between the two world wars of 1920-30, I chose the form characteristic of that era. I was inspired by such beautiful boats as Bootleggerboat and Miss Canada 4, so I decided to cross the streamlined boat hull and the propeller engine. Since I am constrained in the possibilities, I managed with what I have, that is, a low-power 21 horsepower engine, and picked up a small streamlined body for it. I chose a drawing of a boat made by William Jackson, the famous American designer who designed a boat called Dragonfly. A small teardrop seaplane for one pilot and an outboard engine. I redesigned the entire rear end by adding another frame and changing the transom to accommodate the propeller-driven paramotor engine. I made the hull of plywood pasted over with one layer of fiberglass, and I sheathed the boat deck with pine plywood and varnished it. The boat has two seats, one behind the other. Steering is carried out using a steering wheel connected to an aluminum tail, designed in the same style as the body. The boat turns out beautiful and impetuous, I like its appearance and I hope you too.

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The second stage of boat building

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Well, the new year is approaching and I am already at the final stretch. Over the past month, there has been little work and using idle time at work and weekends I managed to sheathe the boat with plywood. With a triple made of pine, I sheathed the top and sheathed the bottom and sides with a six millimeter birch. I polished everything and covered it with fiberglass. My friend Roland helped me with this. I also chose a color for the bottom and sides – it will be ruby red. I’ll cover the deck with clear varnish. I painted the bottom in three layers, now it remains to turn the boat over and finally process the deck and cover the bottom of the boat with varnish, after which you can start assembling the engine and tail, which I also made in parallel from aluminum. I think not to paint the tail, leave it aluminum and just draw the number 41. In general, if everything goes well and no excesses happen, I can finish all the processing of the boat and the installation of the engine by the middle of next month, after which I will only have to wait for spring. I would like to finish this boat as soon as I want to do the alteration of the ekranoplan. There are plans to redesign the cockpit and front fender. For summer trials. The only truth is if I can get the engine. Photos of the work done below.

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Airboat. The second test on the water

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So, briefly about the last test of the ekranoplan. The alteration turned out to be correct and the engine began to blow at the correct angle under the wing, which resulted in sufficient lift. In reality, if there were a dozen more horsepower in stock, or better, twenty, then the boat, like the model, would take off like a bullet and fly forward ten centimetres from the water. It’s amazing how a large boat, modeled after a small model, behaves the same way. We need more motor. There was a desire to put back the little motor I had left to add power, but I don’t know yet. The motor is very unreliable, and coming to the test is a whole test. You need to adjust the weather, you need to come to an agreement with a Friend who has a house on the shore of the lake within the city of Riga so easy to drive up to the water. You need to beg for a minibus at work and so that on a working day, because on weekends the lake is full of fishermen and in our business it is a hindrance and you need to have the time and energy to carry and assemble the boat from parts. And when things go wrong, it’s incredibly demoralizing. This summer I made only 4 trips to the water and was so exhausted with all the hassle that I decided to take a break before the time. As for the ekranoplan, a lot became clear to me, I know what work needs to be done. Silence about boats. We need a new propeller for the motor to accelerate the boat faster. I also think to put an ordinary 6 horsepower outboard motor on one of the boats and try to overclock it. And in the off-season, in addition to the modifications of the ekranoplan, I decided to build a new boat. Just taking a ride on the airboat with a motor in front, I experienced the unforgettable sensation of feeling like a fighter pilot and decided to make a more elegant boat based on this model. I have an old book from 1961 called boating. and there is a drawing of a sharp-nosed light planing boat and taking it as a basis as a base so as not to invent anything I will build an aero boat with a motor in front with a beautiful closed cockpit like on seaplanes of the Schneider trophy era. I use the engine that is on the ekranoplan and for the ekranoplan I hope to get hold of something more powerful. Photos and video of ekranoplan tests below and preliminary drawings of the next boat are also in the bargain.

 

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New small boat tests

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So, let’s talk about the tests of my new small airboat, which is practically a copy of the previous one, built last year, but slightly reduced by half in order to get into the limit of ships that do not need a license and registration. Corsair with 21 horsepower, which was more powerful than the previous 7-horsepower engine. The newspaper has taken off. A powerful start and acceleration almost instantly to 45 km per hour and then everything I have is up to about 47 km at a time. I think all the fault is in the propeller. Cannot work efficiently at speed. You just need to replace the propeller that you need to buy. The speed of fifty kilometers per hour for this boat is very decent and quite enough, so you can safely chase rivers and lakes. Okay, I realized that, now about ekranoplan.

I have already remade the frame, and it has slightly changed to 25 degrees relative to the surface of the water. In short, very cool. I think it should be somehow different, since part of the flow is passed over the wing. I hope that everything will be in force, and all boats will be delivered from the water. Next week we move on to boat assembly and testing. Yes, and yet both motors are out of order. The ignition system just crumbled. 10 years ago in a garage where there is all the wiring crumbled, the spark disappeared and the starter does not turn. In short there is something to do at your leisure. As usual, the photos below.

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