RCU Forums - Remote Control Crab Boat

Hi everyone. I'm planning a substantial project as my first foray into RC boating. A boat that can deploy a standard crab pot in the Puget Sound. Goal is something that can be driven in fairly calm waters (~1' max wave height), within sight of the shore and probably on a steel tether so I can haul it back in if something goes wrong.

While I have no experience in the RC universe, I have tons of experience building and designing complex projects. I believe I have solutions to most of the obvious non-boat issues here, like how to capture and release the trap, communication, etc.. My remaining questions are, well, pretty much everything that falls under "how do I build the boat itself?"

For practical reasons, this needs to be a pontoon or catamaran style boat. The weight of a loaded crab pot is just too much to hang over the side of a small boat, so it'll be hauled up between the hulls for maximum strength and stability. I initially planned to use PVC pipe for my pontoons, but the high cost and low displacement made me rethink that pretty much immediately.

At this point, I'm pretty sure my best bet is to make the hulls myself. I've spent a couple days reading about hull materials and construction, and despite having absorbed tons of information, I'm really no closer to knowing what the right material or construction process is. Foam core looks attractive, but I'm not sure how great that is for a pontoon.

Specifications are kind of...beefy. The boat needs to be able to handle a load of 200 pounds on top of the pot puller, batteries, etc. (double the most ludicrous load I can imagine a loaded pot exerting), plus needing to handle a beating by the waves. Space between the pontoons needs to be ~36", as standard crab pots are about that wideIt would also ideally be something that I can disassemble for easy transport, as I suspect such a boat is going to be fairly large, and I'd prefer to be able to pack it in my large sedan. But if that's not possible, I'll just get a trailer.