Find That Perfect Spot With Your Drone

[Andrew Grace]

We have been using the Drone much more these days to find the perfect spot to anchor as most charts around this region are totally inaccurate. A drone is something all cruisers should consider as an enabler to the charts.

https://youtu.be/5BvzSS5atNU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BvzSS5atNU&t=7s

[UNCIVILIZED]

Looks handy, & like something which could be used along with other remote viewing tools like Radar. I'm curious what the wind envelope is for it? Meaning what strengths you can reliably launch & recover it in. Both from the boat, which would be lower, & on land.

And, yeah, that channel is quite obvious! Seeing this footage makes me miss flying small aircraft & helo's something fierce.

[GrowleyMonster]

I have often thought of keeping a drone on the boat but so far I have lost three of them in the water, just learning to fly them around the marina. What I really need is a drone seaplane, I guess. Or a James Bond sort of drone that becomes a submarine when needed, instead of a sunken lifeless hunk of plastic and inert electronics.

Google Earth can be a big help. Especially when you compare several archived views of the same patch of water. It is easy to see where the deep is, and where the gotchas are. You can even georeference screenshots and make charts for OCPN, and GPS navigate with them.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Andrew Grace

We have been using the Drone much more these days to find the perfect spot to anchor as most charts around this region are totally inaccurate. A drone is something all cruisers should consider as an enabler to the charts.

Very nice presentation Andrew, gives one food for thought. I have often thought that, in addition to video, suspending a small wireless "fish finder" depth meter transducer from a drone that could be "dipped" in the water might be a way to test depth in what might appear to be a fair anchorage although I have no idea whether that's feasible or not.

N'any case, thanks for the presentation.

[Cruising2019]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Very nice presentation Andrew, gives one food for thought. I have often thought that, in addition to video, suspending a small wireless "fish finder" depth meter transducer from a drone that could be "dipped" in the water might be a way to test depth in what might appear to be a fair anchorage although I have no idea whether that's feasible or not.

N'any case, thanks for the presentation.

You may want to look at: iBobber Wireless Bluetooth Smart Fish Finder
Not sure about how to mount this but at 1.6 oz a drone should carry it fine. As long as you have a signal you should be able to get a depth.

[Cotemar]

Nice video

DJI Mavic pro is the perfect toy for a Cruisers scouting remote anchorages.

Heres another good video that Amy and David made in the Pacific as they where going to Beveridge Reef.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTyD4ATEwY8

[mcgann454]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Looks handy, & like something which could be used along with other remote viewing tools like Radar. I'm curious what the wind envelope is for it? Meaning what strengths you can reliably launch & recover it in. Both from the boat, which would be lower, & on land.

And, yeah, that channel is quite obvious! Seeing this footage makes me miss flying small aircraft & helo's something fierce.

I was looking into a drone for other reasons as well as the ones for the cruiser. Most of the better drones are programmed to come back to the original spot they were launched from. Boats move on anchor and in channels and the recovery location seems as if it would change. Has anyone looked at ways around that? Is there one that homes in on the controller?
Thanks

[Clivevon]

Oh, JC, NO-o-o-o-oooo !!!!

[HopCar]

I've been selling a waterproof drone to fishermen who like to film their battles with big fish.

I finally broke down and bought one for my self the other day. Haven't had a chance to try it yet but I think it would be great in this application. It will carry payloads up to 2 pounds and it can also drop the payload on command.

I really like the idea of the dipping sonar.

It's called Splash Drone and it can land and take off from water. When it's in the water, the camera takes underwater pictures.

These are the ups who distribute them in the US. https://www.urbandrones.com

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

I have often thought of keeping a drone on the boat but so far I have lost three of them in the water, just learning to fly them around the marina. What I really need is a drone seaplane, I guess. Or a James Bond sort of drone that becomes a submarine when needed, instead of a sunken lifeless hunk of plastic and inert electronics.

Google Earth can be a big help. Especially when you compare several archived views of the same patch of water. It is easy to see where the deep is, and where the gotchas are. You can even georeference screenshots and make charts for OCPN, and GPS navigate with them.

You can likely "marinize" a drone with floatation (such as pool noodles) affixed to the landing skids. They just have to be light. You could experiment over a puddle!

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by mcgann454

I was looking into a drone for other reasons as well as the ones for the cruiser. Most of the better drones are programmed to come back to the original spot they were launched from. Boats move on anchor and in channels and the recovery location seems as if it would change. Has anyone looked at ways around that? Is there one that homes in on the controller?
Thanks

Most new Drones go home to a GPS location or to the Controller location.

Most Cruisers using Drones on a boat Hand launch and Hand Land / Retrieve

[Nordboen]

[QUOTE=Andrew Grace;2284549]We have been using the Drone much more these days to find the perfect spot to anchor as most charts around this region are totally inaccurate. A drone is something all cruisers should consider as an enabler to the charts.

Have you thought about the noise you make with the drone?

I think that if you are on a quiet anchorage, the other boats not interreeret in that you fly a drone.

We need to take into account well to each other.

But a drone can make nogel great movies that you can enjoy.

Just take due account, just as the same with children and dinghies, they will always be sent from the parents' boat, guess yourself why

[SouthernPride]

Interesting,
There a couple of drones on the market that can land and takeoff in water, have a fishfinder, and one that is a combination air/underwater drone. The last one is not cheap.

1

[CharlzO]

I hadn't thought of using mine for that, but I have flown it around afterwards.

The issue isn't so much the wind (many higher end drones can handle 10-20 mph with a skilled pilot), but if you do have that kind of wind, you're not going to be very stable on the boat at the same time, that would just add another level of stress trying to scout that way. Obviously not everyone would break it out for it, but just putting that out there.

There are also a number of them that are now coming waterproof or resistant, but you'd still have to recover it if it goes in the drink, and if you're not anchored yet, then you now have to anchor, deploy a dingy, find where it went, jump in, and hope it hasn't drifted yet, etc. But you can also attach floats to a lot of them now, or make your own with pool noodles that will even support the weight of one that has to land on the water. I did that the first over-water flight I did, with the mindset that at least if it did go down, I could retrieve it and at least try to recover what I could.

But for the situations seen in those above, it looks like a great way to ensure you're coming into a good spot! And I do love watching the footage

[tomfl]

In the US the controlling legal authority over what they call Unmanned Arial Systems, or a UAS, is the FAA and in a little bit of a surprise president elect Trump has a UAS transition team. The point being that not just in the US there are laws restricting who and where a UAS can be used. Cuba has jailed at least one person for flying a UAS like the one used in the Starry Horrizon's video. The Bahamas requires lots of paperwork to legally even bring one into the country. Almost all places require jumping through lots of hoops for commercial work.

On the other hand there are lots of remote places, even in the US and Bahamas where no one will be around to see if you are piloting a UAS. Which raises the question of how realistic it is to use one on a boat.

The first consideration for me was where a UAS could be stored and what to store it in. My primary UAS is a

DJI Inspire

and the case I store it in takes up at least half of a berth. I also have two HexH2O platforms and one QuadH2O platform, and both of those designs take up more room than the Inspire. But they are waterproof and can be landed in water and the camera can be pointed down to see what is under the water. I have a Splash that was mentioned earlier but have never been happy with it and a quick scan of the facebook group for Splash will reveal lots of posts from unhappy owners. I also have an older Y6 configuration UAS and the original Phantom as well as some home brew platforms; all of which are outdated.

For the last three weeks I have been flying one or both of my DJI Mavics and have to say they have a lot of advantages; not the least of which is the ability to easily store them, long flight time, huge range, and ease of use for those who do not have a strong background piloting a UAS. The Mavic is new and most vendors have them back ordered. To make matters worse ND filters (a must have for capturing video in sunlight) are only now being sold and they may be back ordered as well.

The new DJI Phantom 4 is another realistic option (or even the older Phantom 3 Pro at a cheaper price) but it probably takes up at least 5 times the space of a Mavic.

DJI is the gold standard for reliable long range flights. The older Phantoms and Inspires used what is called Lightbridge to communicate between the pilot/controller and the USA while the newer Mavic uses what is called OcuSync which allows a claimed range of seven kilometers but more importantly broadcasts clean 720p video from the on board camera to the display the pilot is holding. While one of my QuadH2o platforms has DragonLink which allows greater range most non DJI systems only allow less than a mile of range and the video often breaks up before that.

Conventional wisdom is before you fly for the first time you should play around on a sim. Once you have taken off, flown for maybe five minutes, and landed with out a crash at least ten times in a row you are ready for the real thing. While the DJI systems all come with sims (which allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the controls, kinda like you adjust, or trim, your sails) if you want to just get your feet wet I suggest a smart phone app Quadcopter FX. There is a free version you can download and play around with and the Pro version is around $US5.

Here is a vid from ijustine about the Mavic. Don't be fooled by her ditzy blonde act, she is really quite a good pilot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBb4SHTpduM