New engine for the ekranoplan

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Everything is ready for the third test of the ekranoplan. True, autumn has come and the weather has deteriorated a lot, but still there is hope to go out on the water in September. In the meantime, I’ll tell you about what I managed to do. After the second test on the water, I realized that there was not enough power and for full satisfaction this season I need to drive the car again, but with more power. I figured out where I can get the engine. There were few options. The first is to sell what I have, to save up a little and buy the engine I need. And I need a Polini Thor 250 with a capacity of 36 horsepower and a thrust of one hundred kilograms. The weight of the engine is small, only 18 kg, but it is already liquid-cooled. In general, I will not be able to sell anything quickly, especially in a crisis that unexpectedly hit us with this virus, so I remembered who had such an engine and friends of paragliders. And I remembered that my old friend Alexander bought such an engine 3 years ago to build a trike. I turned to him with a request to provide me with the engine for testing. He calmly said – take it, test it but don’t drown it! If anything, you will have to reimburse the cost of the motor, which is 2500 euros. I understand that I am taking a risk, but still I took the motor because I want to find out how the ekranoplan will behave when the power increases to the calculated one. In general, with this engine, I am already approaching the border at which the boat may begin to “levitate”. He brought the engine to the workshop and, having remade the engine mount, installed it. Everything became as it should. He handed the jammer button and the engine crank rope into the cockpit. The only thing I don’t have yet is the propeller. I need a pulling one and I have already ordered it from the Skyruner company from Pskov. They sent it to me a couple of weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived yet. The Russian Post prepared the goods for shipment and took them to the border, and this is already 10 days ago. No more news yet. I hope it will come before the cold weather. At least test it on concrete in the hangar, I want to fix the boat and drive the motor. I also redid the front tail – I increased its area and screwed rubber along the sides so that you could crawl ashore and test on the asphalt without fear of erasing the bottom to the plywood. Here is the news. Photo as usual below.

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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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Airboat tests in wind and waves

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Today I tested a boat on a big wave. I went to another lake closer to home. A strong wind rose and I decided to test the stability of the boat to the wave and wind. Initially, there were problems with the engine, he is already a veteran, so I had to conjure a little and eventually it all worked. I’m a small backwater and it seems that the wave is small because that ripple that seems a little further but when I left closer to the middle of the lake I was met thirty centimeter waves. The boat went against the wind and fought with the wave. Against the wind, I accelerated to 25 and then the wave started to turn around and met me aboard, but the boat was surprisingly well able to hold the blows, it jumped from wave to wave and didn’t even splash too much. In the opposite direction I gave full gas. Forty-one scored instantly, but the shaking was unrealistic. To be honest, on such a rodeo the gas did not turn off too much and shook and shaken. Nevertheless, the boat was controlled and there were no prerequisites for capsizing. This was my second time on this boat, and under such conditions the water surface I felt completely safe, but I worked with gas cautiously and I only had full gas accelerated against the wind and, having gained some speed, I already cleaned the gas. Unfortunately, it was not possible to remove a lot from the cabin because of the shaking. Only my friend Karlis took me off his phone and for about a minute, the video will be from this test. Thank you very much to Karlis for help in these trials. Yes, and more from the shaking or old age exhaust pipe to the muffler broke. He was alert before and could not stand the vibration. In general, it broke down and the tests ended there. Need to order a new part. In general, I am satisfied with the tests. The boat keeps the shock wave well controlled and accelerates the wave. The motor is a bit weak in still weather, still ok against the wind. I think for the following tests to make a small fairing in front and remove the protection of the screw, it brakes the boat a little. You can try to measure the full speed with these changes. In the meantime, I will do something else until the item arrives. below the photo and a short video.

p.s. The most amazing thing is that during the test I forgot to put a small oar in the cockpit of my boat and put it on the deck where it was safely and rolled during all my jumps and shakes, and did not fall. I safely used it after raking up to the shore.

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