SeaPlaneSupply

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Show what your using to get your planes when you have to. Hopefully we can give some Ideas to the new guys out there of the best ways to get planes. The most important thing is that it is safe! Remember NO Swimming after planes without a life preserver! OK you guys lets see what you got.
These are pictures of my "Cadillac", used for the first time at the "Midwest Regional Float Fly" in Michigan this fall. With near 90 pilots it was kept very busy. I use it for Float Flying and Fishing works great for both. The boat is very stable & front deck is excellent for holding planes.

flynfish44

Hi Guy,
I first want to thank you for all the time and effort you took at this years Midwest float fly. If it were not for people like you we would not be able to fly. And yes, you were kept very busy, specially on Sunday with the wind flipping over so many planes.
Our club uses a 12 ft aluminum boat with an electric trolling motor as we are not allowed gas powered ourboards. We have club rules that require us to have two people in the boat and both must wear a flotation device.
To transport the boat from the parking lot to the water we purchased a two wheeled dolly at Cabela's which was a must for us old foggies. It is strapped in place at the CG and one person can easilly manuver it on level ground.

Charlie P.

With a 3.3 Mariner OB.

ARUP

Mine was a tennis ball on a fishing rod/reel. Cast over airplaneand reel in 'the big one'! One time I was flying and ran out of fuel. I didn't have my 'retrieval' system so knew I had to get close. I came in a little hot, skipped on the water and 'plopped' onto the bank! Nobody was there to see it but so help me this is the truth!

42etus

My Feedback: (2)

Here's one of ours. we use the tennis ball/fishing pole thing if the plane is close.

flynfish44

I too have used the fishing pole/tennis ball system which does work well for the ones that are not too far out.

LADDIE

I might be offending 42etus, but using the canoe for retrieval could be extremely dangerous. Not wearing the life jacket is just crazy.
Reason I am pointing it out is that at our float fly we witnessed fellow modeller almost drown. I am enclosing the connection to the RC CANADA site where it is described what me and others witnessed.

http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=107242

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

SeaPlaneSupply

My Feedback: (7)

Where's the beer holder on that lawn chair?
Mark

SeaPlaneSupply

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I have heard of guys using RC Boats to go out and get their planes, We were thinking of an air boat that could push the planes back in. Anyone had any luck with something like that?

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

RC boat had better be electric so it can't flame out. And going to zero thrust at times is an advantage.
AIRBOAT is less than fully practical if the pickle-fork hull goes up under the floats, or wing, and the rescued aircraft interferes with the the prop.

A fully-rotatable thruster with an underwater propeller like the cruise ships use is a good plan. It'll put a thrust vector wherever the tangled mess of airplane and boat need to be thrust upon.

42etus

My Feedback: (2)

No offense taken, and you have a good point there. The fellow in the canoe does have a live jacket right at his feet, but yes, he should be wearing it.

42etus

My Feedback: (2)

One of our members built an electric craft to retrieve dead planes a couple years ago but it didn't work well. It had water rudders for steering and they weren't effective when pushing a plane. An air rudder in the prop wash would probably have been better. It was also very hard to get lined up with a plane that was quite a ways out as the operator's perspective was really poor with a very shallow angle of sight.

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Any RC boat will be limited by distance and depth perception of the operator.  And it won't do you any good if you need to gather up small pieces. 
It's a valuable strategy but you'd better have a man-carrying boat as a primary resource. 

The best RC Boat strategy I ever saw or used was to attach a fishing line to the back of an RC Boat.  Drive out past and then behind the plane in a j-shaped path. The line will snag on the plane and you can  then retrieve the whole concoction by either boat-power or reeling in the line.  Very simple and any boat can be modified easily.  It takes a lot of the demand for accurate placement and depth perception out of the equation.  I had a Walmart-supplied RC boat I used for this task for several years and it had the very crude on-off style toy radio. Worked adequately.    

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Jim,
I built this to pull behind my r/c boat, No full size boats are allowed on the pond.
About 10'-12' of fishing line worked well,,,, K.I.S.S. right?

Scrap Foam and a shirt hanger,,, $0.0 investment

chistech

I have an electric all fiberglass boat built by the late John Nicolaci of PBM fame. It is powered by two 12volt gel cells and has the prop weed protected. He used a method like Scale Only 4 Me. He would circle the plane to entangle in the float then pull it it. It is made like a tug boat and could tow in his 13' PBM. He was having radio problem interference with the big electric motor but got it straightened out just before he passed. I will take some pictures and post. The boat has a cooling coil around the motor but he found he didn't need it. It is also geared down to turn a bigger pitch prop. Uses a Hitec wheel radio. I hope to have this unit at our club's memorial float fly for John this Oct. so we can use it and show his ingenuity.
In the pictures you can see the ensnarement float stuck on the rear arm of the boat for transportation purposes. It gets put in the water when the boat is sent out. The two 12v gel cells give it substantial weight in the water. Fins on the flat bottom give it directional stability when towing a downed plane but still allow it to work in shallow water. The screen is not only on the prop but also protects the rudder from debris. You can see the gear reduction and water cooling coil on the motor. The most important part is John had experimented with the best location to attach the float line to for the best performance of both the boat and the float. The rear pulpit was his first location then he built the higher center pulpit which ended up being more effective for float positioning and overall towing performance. This boat works good but with as with everything, it's not the answer for every situation.

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Big image:14' boat with trolling motor and two people wearing life vests. Small image:12' Kayak and 18'Great white shark. Another reason to fly from fresh water.

thailazer

My old yellow lab would retrieve anything! Never tried to get her to grab on to a float though, but she would have done it.

SeaPlaneSupply

My Feedback: (7)

Jim are you saying Great Whites should fly their planes in fresh water?

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

>>Jim are you saying Great Whites should fly their planes in fresh water? <<
Yep, and they should be restricted to even-number channels only; no 2.4 GHz radios. 
And they have to fly Mode 1. 
That would bite.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

An electric powered Air boat would be 100% weed-proof, and if you use a Car/truck ESC you could have reverse
Just need a cage around the prop so it's 100% chew-up-the-plane-proof


p.s.
There are plenty of sharks that stray from Salt water,, browsed the AMA section lately?

Pistol Pete

( http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_94...m.htm#10428771 )

Home made corroplast airboat from discarded local signs as in "free".
One piece hull plus deck sealed with Alum tape.

400 brushed geared motor, ESC and batt left over from a Mini-Supersporter EP (Static display) 9 x 6 prop.
Synthetized FM el cheapo "corona" Rx
Simple coathanger wire cage to avoid wing damage...dont ask why I know it needed it.[]
Batt goes centered behind "optional" goofy pilot

Hull dimension are 22"L * 14"W * 2"H

Its a challenge to get it hooked just right to tow seaplane back and I really dont mind going out for it when needed.

Unfortunately no video of it in action.

atron

You all know the rules... don´t use Kayacs.