Boogie Board Airboat Rescue Craft

[sailr]

OK Guys, I picked up an old boogie board at a garage sale last year and decided to make a retrieve boat out of it.

I didn't take any actual build pics but as you can see from the finished state it is pretty simple.

The pics show the disaster that happened when at full speed, the retrieve net flew up and got in the prop. Back to the drawing board on that. I will have to put a limiting cable or spring on the retrieve net from to prevent that from happening again.

I put in a big 50mm outrunner swinging a 14 x7 three blade. Using a single 4350mah 5S pack. She runs around 25mph I'd say. Speed not that important.

I JB welded a LARGE piece of aluminum sheet to a rudder and now she turns on a dime. Good for retrieving. Also had to add a large single trim tab to keep the nose down.

I found that the bottom at the back of the cutout has to be carved out so it actually comes up on plane. Otherwise it just pushed water!

I'll try to get some detail pics later if anyone is interested?

[tth]

I like it Jim. Airboats were always my first true love.

[sailr]

The "pod" in front of the motor holds a 5S lipo and the servo to raise and lower the net. The receiver, esc, and receiver battery is in the 'tower'...up high out of the way of the water! I decided to use a separate receiver battery and also have a battery cutoff on the outside of the front pod. That way it is ready to go just by turning on the receiver and plugging in the battery. No need to open and close the battery compartment each time. I figured with this setup, I could run most of the day (short runs) for retrieve duty without having to change out the battery. The ESC is an aircraft type, cooled by a little computer fan up in the tower. No water cooling on this setup. The aircraft outrunner of course is cooled by the air blowing over it from the prop.
I'll get some more pics tomorrow of the bottom of the boat. This was the biggest challenge to get it to plane!

[j.m.]

Looks awesome!!

Have any video of the boat doing it's thing?

[Chop]

Love the build! How big is it? Or post a picture of something in the net (a microhydro?) so we have an idea of the scale.

[sailr]

I'll try to get some video soon!

[calcagno45]

How did you secure everything to the foam boogie board? I have a few in the garage and this Idea has crossed my mind a few times!

[j.m.]

It looks like he dug into the foam a bit? Not sure what glue to use though. A lot of boogie boards are made up of open cell foam (the cheap scratchy ones) and the impossible to glue soft flexible foam (the expensive hard-bottomed boards). Haven't tried epoxy though, only hot glue. Didn't work too well.

[sailr]

Mostly 5 minute epoxy! Works great. For the tower, I cut the boogie and the sides go all the way through to the bottom. Super secure that way.

sides

How did you secure everything to the foam boogie board? I have a few in the garage and this Idea has crossed my mind a few times!

[sailr]

For the stuff on the top, like the forward pod, I glued it down with medium CA. The boogie has a smooth coating on the foam. The CA held just fine. Also used CA to glue down the wood piece that the net mechanism is mounted to.

It looks like he dug into the foam a bit? Not sure what glue to use though. A lot of boogie boards are made up of open cell foam (the cheap scratchy ones) and the impossible to glue soft flexible foam (the expensive hard-bottomed boards). Haven't tried epoxy though, only hot glue. Didn't work too well.

[ozoneone]

Great idea for a rescue boat. I'm building a fast boat for the first time in years right now, and I had planned to use one of my tugs for rescue, but the thought of all the transport made me want to go the Boogie Board route. I like the idea of an airboat too, because of the fact that if the boat fails due to gunk in the water or shallows, the airboat should overcome it.

Questions, if I may:
Does it have any weight in the bottom? The high pod and motor would seem to make it top heavy. Or is it just stable enough because of the width?
Would an air rudder be sufficient? I see you chose a water rudder.
Does the net really help? I also think it would take really powerful servo to lift a boat up out of the water.

Thanks for sharing this. I picked up a 33" Boogie board yesterday at Target for $10.99. I got lucky, all the rest were $35 and up.

[ozoneone]

Oops. Double post.

[785boats]

Nice one sailr. I like it.
I just picked up another board myself to make an airboat so I might pinch a couple of your ideas.
My old rescue boat now has a Turnigy Typhoon 500 in it with a surface drive setup. It certainly 'boogies' now.
Would love to see yours on a rescue mission when you can get some video of it.
Cheers.
Paul.

[sailr]

I was afraid it would be top heavy too but turned out just fine. No weight necessary. I JB welded a big piece of aluminum to the water rudder. It now turns in it's own length. Air rudders are very inefficient. I haven't rebuilt the net since it flew up and got into the prop! Yes, it takes a very strong servo. I used one with 182 oz. of torque and still struggles a bit. I'm probably going to abandon the net idea. One thing I did notice though is that because of the curve at the front, it tends to go over the boats trying to retrieve. They get in there sideways and then you can't steer the airboat. I think I'm going to have to make some PVC extensions at water level to more accurately direct the distressed vessel into the retrieve boat.

Good buy on the boogie! Mine cost $1 at a garage sale.

Great idea for a rescue boat. I'm building a fast boat for the first time in years right now, and I had planned to use one of my tugs for rescue, but the thought of all the transport made me want to go the Boogie Board route. I like the idea of an airboat too, because of the fact that if the boat fails due to gunk in the water or shallows, the airboat should overcome it.

Questions, if I may:
Does it have any weight in the bottom? The high pod and motor would seem to make it top heavy. Or is it just stable enough because of the width?
Would an air rudder be sufficient? I see you chose a water rudder.
Does the net really help? I also think it would take really powerful servo to lift a boat up out of the water.

Thanks for sharing this. I picked up a 33" Boogie board yesterday at Target for $10.99. I got lucky, all the rest were $35 and up.

[j.m.]

Pictures.