Scratch Built Scale Pontoon Rescue Boat

[sammyha]

When I started this build, my original idea was to use thin wall PVC pipe to build a simple pontoon style frame with an electric outboard on it for a rescue boat. By not framing the front third on the pontoon tubes, it would capture the downed boat to rescue it.

I was picturing a quick, simple build with the good steering an outboard offers. Forward and reverse.

I had the outboard motor and ESC, and it would be a good match for this application with the right prop and a 3s lipo battery.

So I purchased the PVC pipe and some structural aluminum from the local hardware store. Ordered some blind rivets to attach the u-channel frame I was picturing in my mind to the tubes. Be waterproof.

At some point in the build I started thinking, why not make it a scale pontoon boat too? Make it look nice, not just have an ugly, exposed aluminum frame on a couple of PVC tubes...

And that was three years ago looking at the dates on the pictures I took of the project.

I'm not sure how I got here, but it's not the first time this has happened. The ideas kept coming, the one thing led to another, and this is what I built...



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[sammyha]

The build became so involved, I didn't post anything. Mostly because I knew it would take a long time to finish. I also had my doubts on how it would turn out.

It came out nice enough, it runs better than I could have hoped for, and it's done!

I'll be posting some more info on this build, it sure was a fun one, and maybe some of the ideas I worked out on it will be useful to someone else...

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[sammyha]

This is my first time working with styrene. I love this stuff! If you can imagine it, you can build it with styrene.

Here's the console and the captain's chair...



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[sammyha]

For this entire build, I searched the internet for pontoon boats and their features, and did screenshots on my phone. I had no plans, this is LAR engineering all the way.



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[sammyha]

I relied on the pictures for scale mostly, then changed things to suit me and to match my build.

Here's some detail shots of the console components...



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[sammyha]

The wheel is made from a bamboo skewer, steamed for two plus hours to form it. The rest of the steering wheel and column, and the Mercury shifter control is made from styrene. I glued layers together, and sawed, sanded and carved the styrene to shape. Then primed and spray painted it, and hand painted the details with a small brush.



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[fweasel]

Amazing.

[sammyha]

Amazing.

Thank you
It's both a gift and a curse I think, to build like this. On this build, if I thought of an idea, I built it. I didn't settle for less. I can't tell you how many hours this took...

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[sammyha]

How does it run?

Long story...

Like I said in my first post, initially I was only going to build a pontoon style rescue boat, just the frame and tubes with an outboard motor. Framed two thirds of the way from the back, with the front third of the tubes swallowing the boat needing rescued.

The length I needed the front third to be determined the OAL.

When I turned it into a scale boat, I never considered how much a 53" boat would weigh. Before I had the interior and all the scale details done, the outboard I started with would barely bring it on plane.

In for dime, in for a dollar!

Or toss it in the dumpster...

Or, buy a bigger outboard motor!

Here's a link to the running video, minus the interior seats, but with the receiver, ESC, 5,000mAh 6s lipo, deck, sides, bimini top and the linkages that converts it into a rescue boat (I'll show them in another post)

Let's just say OSE's 1/5 scale outboard motor is a BEAST!

https://youtu.be/axrJH2cnAxw


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[sammyha]

OSE's 1/5 Scale Outboard is rated for a 3,000 watt system. That's a 5692 brushless motor, either 540kv or 730kv, running on 10s!

I'm guessing my setup is about 2,000 watts (someone else do the math), with a TFL 4092, 1400kv on 6s in there. Running on a Hobbywing Seaking 180 amp ESC. It barely gets warm.

I'm telling you if you don't already know, this outboard is for real!

Anyway, I had started this build with the Scale Seven outboard, made an oversize cowling for it, stuffed a Leopard 3660, 2050kv motor in that. Ran it on 6s, it barely planed.

Here's a picture of the Scale Seven with the oversize cowling. I have a thread about it somewhere on this forum. My plan is to build the Zippkits G30 Tunnel hull this winter for it. It's too sexy to not use...

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[sammyha]

Have I said I don't even like pontoon boats yet?

I call them tweeners. Kind of like a runabout boat with a car motor and an IO drive. Not a speed boat, not a fishing boat, or a ski boat. Just somewhere in between.

I suppose a pontoon boat is perfect for a barbeque and a get together...

So why build one? And put this much scale detail on it?

It was an idea that I had for it to convert into a rescue boat. Like a transformer. Lol. And then after awhile I was too committed to stop.

Here's some pics and links to videos showing the rescue aspect...



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[sammyha]

The front deck raises, a foam padded bumper drops down and it drives over the downed boat until it engages the bumper.

Cool?

It was a stupid amount of designing and fabricating! Took me three tries to get it right.

But I figured it out.

And at that point I was too committed to stop the build...

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[sammyha]

Link to video showing deck linkage...

https://youtu.be/qvITj8-HYoQ

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[Diegoboy]

Amazing boat. Nice work!

[sammyha]

This shows it working on the finished boat. Note the foam bumper lowering as the front deck goes up..

https://youtu.be/BaRkJVsIZtI

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[sammyha]

Amazing boat. Nice work!

Thank you very much. I'll be uploading a bunch of info on the build little by little. It's done, and I'm sharing it so others can maybe enjoy it and/ or just check it out...

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[sammyha]

All said, there are several design challenges involved here. As scissor linkages go up, their pivot points can't be fixed. The horizontal distance shortens.

Note the idler link on the bottom and the ball bearing engaged in the C-channel on top. I don't think two idler links would work. The deck would flop around, right?



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[sammyha]

The aluminum arm extending towards the back goes down as the deck raises, and that lowers the bumper. But it didn't have enough travel.

So I came up with the extra link that connects to the bumper and gained more travel because of the longer moment arm where it is contacting that back arm as it goes down.

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[sammyha]

In all four corners of the deck that raises I made these aluminum parts that engage with each other and align/ lock the deck precisely in location when it comes down. By design they engage on tapered angles in both directions at the same time...


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[sammyha]

I'm using a pair of 444 in/oz. Savox servos to raise the deck. That requires a stand alone BEC to truly get that much torque. A Castle Creations 15 amp BEC does the job.

More importantly was designing the servo linkages and bellcranks so the load comes off the servos in the raised position.

Note in the raised position the servo arms are 180 degrees from the linkage (pointing straight back) and the bellcrank arms are almost pointing straight up.

And the bellcrank design had to get enough travel...


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[sammyha]

Anyway, that's what I meant when I said it was a stupid amount of design and fabricating to make this idea work.

When I got to this point I was finally ready to build the transom and mount the decks...



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[sammyha]

And I haven't mentioned building the tubes yet...

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[sammyha]

I used self tapping screws into the PVC pipe during the design/ build phase. These screws were smaller than the blind end/ waterproof rivets I used for final assembly.

Then I took everything apart to paint the tubes. Used the Preval spray system and Klass Kote aluminum color epoxy paint.

And finally assembled it all back together again using blind rivets.

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[sammyha]

The decks are made from 5mm Revolution plywood. It's a nice tight, straight grain ply used for flooring underlayment.

I drilled lightening holes in the front deck and sealed the plywood completely with polyurethane.

For the flooring, I found the material at Walmart in the sewing section, $3.99 a yard. Layed it down with contact cement.

Then built the side walls over that using aluminum fascia...

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[sammyha]

It was about at this point in the build I decided to not throw it all in the dumpster because it had become too heavy for my little outboard.

I purchased and tested the 1/5 scale outboard and was blown away with how it performed!

So now it was game on, immerse yourself in the scale details.

I built the bimini top first...

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[Panchothedog]

Your build is really nice. Actually over the top. I bet the amount of hours you have invested in it is quite high. Very realistic, can't complement your work enough.

[autolex]

my god this is cool. more pictures please!

[sammyha]

Your build is really nice. Actually over the top. I bet the amount of hours you have invested in it is quite high. Very realistic, can't complement your work enough.

Thank you.
I have no real idea of how many hours this took. My guess would be somewhere between 500 and 1000 hours. Besides the outboard motor, everything is scratch built...

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[sammyha]

my god this is cool. more pictures please!

Thank you so much. I will be posting more for sure...

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[sammyha]

Here's a bit more on the bimini top.

Like for the flooring, I bought the material at Walmart, in the sewing section. In all I spent $35, a yard of material each for the floor, the bimini top and the two colors on the seats.

There's no stitching on this, or the furniture. I used E6000, stretched it over the frame and spread the glue on a 1/2" of overlapped material with my finger.

It even has the pockets around the middle rods so they spread out properly when you set up the bimini top.

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