UKNoob

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and a relative newbie to rc boats and rc in general but am loving learning new things every day.
I'm currently involved in an exciting project and am building a completely autonomous, unmanned, solar-powered electric boat which is essentially a large rc boat(5m) on steroids.

The build is going well but me being a geek, I'm trying to think of new and imaginative ways to avoid any problems when we launch the boat to attempt an unmanned, transatlantic crossing. Having seen similar issues that have arisen for fellow "unmanned" enthusiasts, one area that has come up is the vessel being potentially stolen or tampered with along the journey.
My solution(after consulting with various rc people) is to install some sort of "escape" mechanism which would mean the boat could zip away when any unwanted man-made object comes into close proximity. The logical solution for me was to use nitro - that's where the great brains on this forum could come in and help me with the science of it.

My problem is(and where I'd like some advice) that I'm not quite sure what the best setup would be to offer the nitro as an emergency backup.
Can nitro be somehow added to an electric system in a hybrid fashion? Or would the nitro system need to be a completely separate setup alongside the electric?(this I don't believe would be an option for my project due to the single drive).
Ideally I would like for the nitro to be set up to work in unison with the electric engine to drive the prop in case of an emergency but I don't know if this is possible.

A bit more about my boat - it's a mono-hull, single drive.

I would really really really appreciate it if anyone with more knowledge than me could shed some light on what can realistically be done to provide a solution that will fit in with my setup?

Thanks in advance to all who reply just in case I don't get chance to say it at the time. I will however endeavour to reply to each person(even if it's just a thumbs up!)

Noob

ob nut

My Feedback: (1)

My suggestion would be to go via petro, not nitro. You would require a large amount of nitro for such a task compared to what a gas engine will use. Other concern is how to start that nitro on it's own? There are / have been electric starters for a gas engine on the market. If a clutch is installed, don't see why a dual gear drive wouldn't work. One side is for the main electric power while the other is for the gas get-away motor. Besides, a 5m boat would be better suited for a gas.

Good luck on the adventure!