First airboat tests

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Yesterday, on the 12th of May, I tested my airboat. For the first time it happened in my life that not one fear was not confirmed, but all hopes were fulfilled. The boat turned out to be very stable, very maneuverable, very fast, considering that it has a 10 kW motor. His thrust is about 45 kg, which means that all my work was not in vain and the cross-flow on the boat’s hull does its work – reduces the wet space of the bottom of the boat, this leads to the fact that the boat is already on the floor of the gas going to the hydroplane. Unfortunately, my GPS broke down and I could not find out the speed. According to my feelings and the feelings of my friend who has a lot of experience walking on motorboats, my airboat is about 40-50 km per hour. On the water is a lot. I didn’t even expect such a result, but to be honest at some points I personally felt that speed was over 50 km per hour. And this is the smallest paramotor engine that is. I can imagine what will happen if you put the motor on the boat at least 20 HP. The speed will increase significantly. Of course there may be various problems with increasing speed, but at the moment the boat behaves well with this motor. I also did not weigh the boat, I think it weighs around 40 kg. This is a bit much. But I deliberately over-tightened it trying to make it very durable. Therefore, the next boat can be made a little easier, because now I know where you can remove the excess. In general, I am very pleased and eager to take the boat to any river. Now need to wait until the summer weather settles and you can continue to test the boat. As always below, I attach photos with the latest events and attach the video I took on the phone and quickly assembled it. I think in the future to approach the process of filming more responsibly and get an Action Camera. And I also wanted to say a big thank you to my old friend Oscar, who sheltered my boat on his territory in his spacious garage and helped me with the water tests! For this, I am very grateful to him without his help, I would have had difficulty.

And here is the video

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Everything is ready for water testing

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I made all possible preparations and checks except one, for stability on the water and leakage of the bottom, but I think to do it at the same time when the first swim will be. Because it is problematic to float twice. We’ll have to do everything in one race.

I also pasted the boat with stickers that gave it a racing look. Black number 39 on the nose on a red background and on the tail on both sides as well. More on the sides of the side of the inscription EXPERIMENTAL in case of questions any power of the gentlemen, as well as a sticker with the name of my site in front and behind. Now everything looks very beautiful. I also pulled the boat outside and checked the engine and steering system. It seems everything works and the engine mount frame to the boat keeps everything well. The boat looks like I imagined it, it is neatly made of plywood and has a racing look like a glider from the 50-60s. Its nice to touch, good to see. This is a work of art. Everything, from the scale, the hydrodynamic form of the bottom and the appearance, was invented and implemented by me in about three months. On weekends and evenings. Let’s see how it floats, maybe as good as it looks. I hope. Tests prescribed for the first half of May. Since there is a lot of work and I can’t take a break from my wonderful Hobby. I really look forward to this moment and I hope everything will turn out. Below as always a photo report on the work done.

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Pasting and painting

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Today we can already say – the finish line loomed ahead. The hull of the boat is covered with fiberglass and painted. My colleague Tom helped me a lot in this. Since I am allergic to epoxy materials and solvents, I had to ask for help from a colleague. Many thanks to him for helping me. Everything turned out well, for an experimental model, even good. After the epoxy had dried, I polished the bottom and we started painting. It was decided that the bottom will be painted in white and the top is covered with clear varnish. It turned out well and neatly. I think to stick a few more stickers with the site address number and the inscription “Experimental” next week. I think already tailor the tail to make the control stick and make a general setup of all the nodes so that everything works like a clock. And the water. I received the rights to drive pleasure boats, I just need to buy a vest and an action camera. Otherwise, you have to beg all the time and end up on the phone. But this time I want to make a better video. I also hope that the boat will pass all 4 stages of testing. The first of which, tightness of all seams. The second is stability with a pilot and a motor. The third is the exit to the glider with two thirds of the gas, and finally, the fourth is control-ability, it must be satisfactory. The water can be from May 1, I expect to finish with all the settings by this time. Photos of the work done as always below.

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Tail is ready

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So. Mounts for steering and motor are made. I used stainless steel and aluminum. The engine can now be securely fixed on the boat. I also made a tail, a rather complicated construction turned out, but very beautiful. Made of plywood, the steering wheel itself made it stiffened with ribs styled as ribs and fixed it all on an aluminum tube which in turn was clamped between two bearings. It is necessary to quickly paste over the bottom and paint the boat, then it will be possible to fasten everything reliably and check.

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Continue to build

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At the moment I finished assembling the frame and proceeded to pasting the bottom with plywood. I use plywood of not very good quality, but since I will glue the bottom with fiberglass, I think that it is not bad. Moreover, this building is constructed as an experimental one and its task is to check on itself the correctness of the solutions I have chosen. So the combat vehicle is being built. A little took photos of the process of construction, below you can see the result. When finished the frame, put on her cabin the rest of my aero-rike and enjoyed its vintage look. After driving on my hydroplane and checking its stability and sufficiency of engine power, I will immediately install the cockpit from my aero-rim and install the engine in front of me as in my dreamfighter. I put the tail behind me and fly like an airplane on the water. it will be almost what I wanted to realize when I built my paratrayk with a motor in front, but in this reincarnation everything will be possible in the best way. Because it seems to me that he looks awesome. If only the stability was satisfactory and the speed is sufficient, at least 40 km per hour. With 10 horsepower it’s almost impossible, but life will show …