My dream boat “Streamlined beauty”

Posted on October 22, 2021October 22, 2021 by Oleg Gladchenko

22 Oct

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.

My new boat Streamlined beauty

Posted on January 11, 2021January 17, 2021 by Oleg Gladchenko

11 Jan

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.

The second stage of boat building

Posted on December 27, 2020December 27, 2020 by Oleg Gladchenko

27 Dec

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.

New boat

Posted on November 1, 2020November 1, 2020 by Oleg Gladchenko

01 Nov

Autumn is in full swing and all boats are laid up. The ekranoplan is disassembled and the motor is removed. With God’s help, I have mastered all my affairs planned for the past summer, but what now? The ekranoplan lost its engine and if there are no changes, then I think further experiments with it will be suspended. What I wanted I managed to do and my conscience is clear, but there can be no talk of further project development without significant finances. Therefore, while everything is frozen and I move on to my other idea that I can implement with the means that I have. So, what’s next, and then remember, if anyone is following my work, I had a project with an airboat to which I attached a cockpit from a flying trike project and put the motor in front with a pulling propeller. Then I felt the idea was very good for aviation and as I like in the spirit of 1920-30 moves of the twentieth century. I comprehended that product of mine and decided to continue in that direction. That is, the boating and aviation theme. Aerolodka, but more graceful with beautiful old-school contours to make it pleasant to look at and ride. I scoured the entire Internet in search of ready-made free drawings of boats of that era so beloved by me. And what I found for myself. This is a 1941 boat called Dragonfly designed and built by Engineer William Jack. This is a seaplane 3 meters long with an oval nose and vintage contours in the back, it has two floats, apparently to facilitate getting to the glider, but taking the general concept of the boat, I altered the rear part by removing these floats and made a solid bottom because the boat will not have an outboard motor but my paramotor with a propeller and therefore had to be redesigned at the back and also in the front I will leave room for one more passenger seat so the nose will not be completely sewn up. I will make it a beautiful aluminum tail, paint the bottom and sides with either green or white paint and cover the deck with clear varnish to emphasize its wooden nature. I think I will get a beautiful boat, I really want to make it as soon as possible. At the moment I have already made all the frames and glued the keel and sides, now I am working on the upper part of the boat and I hope to paste over the deck next week and only then turn it over and take up the bottom. Work is going on soon all weekend I spend in the workshop, so I hope to finish all the rough work by the new year. In the meantime, the photos and drawings are below.

New small boat tests

Posted on June 27, 2020June 27, 2020 by Oleg Gladchenko

27 Jun

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.