SineWave

Continuing to work on autonomous hull flying. Now the weed at the lake has died down ( and also been got rid of by some hard working club members) I am getting enouraging results. Here is a video from last weekend.

Been working on my autonomous catamaran over the last 2 years, when I had time. The initial goal was to get the catamaran to "fly a hull" like the full size catamarans, but autonomously. Now as you can see in the video, the first goal is achieved ( Skip to 1:41 in the video to see the boat flying a hull autonomously). Hopefully I will get some better quality video, but the lake I sail has a lot of weed at the moment (See end of the video where the boat is stopped dead by the weed) so I am working on other things while the weed dies down a bit. The boat uses various sensors to get things to work. Firstly it uses a flight controller from a hobby drone. These come with 3D accelerometers and gyros and using some clever code ( provided in my case by the Developers of Ardupilot) , they provide the pitch and roll of the boat at any instant in time, so they can detect the exact heel of the boat at any time. The other sensors on the boat are a wind vane and an anemometer to tell the speed and direction of the apparent wind. The main sheet had to be carefully calibrated to map the winch output to an accurate(ish) angle of the sail relative to the centreline so that the software can set the sail at the right angle of attack, again without any input from the helmsman. Below is a walkaround of the boat. Next steps are to have yet another go at the sail so that it "pops" in to place better when changing tacks (Tee current sail is way too stiff) and to try to replace the foamboard hulls with something more shapely. I would like to try 3d printed hulls but they need a lot of designing if they are going to be vaguely rigid as well as light, so I may just go back to good old balsa strip planking for the hulls. Anyway the boat is very satisfying to watch when that windward hull pops out of the water and stays up at a stable angle. This is something that I have been wanting to achieve since the late 1990s! If there is anyone around interested in this form of model yachting then do get in touch.

Hi Mike, Thanks for the reply. Have you any pictures of the box tri? Are you interested in a Speed event or round the cans racing? I am also considering an autonomous yacht race, basically program the course into the boat switch the boat on and let it go. ( see youtube video below) Also currently trying to figure out the best way to time speed runs...

Hi, I recently purchased a KingMax SW22HV sail winch and like others, found it difficult to program. After eventually getting things working, I decided to put up some info about the process on github. Tested on Windows 7 https://github.com/kwikius/KingMaxServoProgrammer Please feel free to add info, make comments etc. Overall the SW22HV seems to be a very versatile and capable winch servo. Just let down by the software! regards Andy

I recently refurbished my old catamaran "Kwiki". She was built in 1995. Way back then I put in quite a bit of detail about how the boat was built, but sadly the website lapsed and the boat stayed in the attic for many years. Recently I found that I could host the website on github, so I am pleased to announce that the boat and website are back. https://kwikius.github.io/kwiki/Kwiki/uber_frame.htm Video of the boat at recent Mini40 meeting at Gosport ( Kwiki can be seen sailing at the end) I recently joined the RC section of Whitefriars sailing club in Cotswolds Water Park and it turns out the lake there is perfect for model multihulls and since Whitefriars is such a great water and with great facilities, I am tentatively putting proposing an event there along the lines of a "Marvelous concoction" sailing event, to include all those weird and wonderful "out of class" experimental speed models, as well as multihulls, hydrofoils, proas, etcetera. Would have to have a speed course, as well as round the cans racing, and maybe other prizes. The only solid rule so far is that the model cannot be powered by anything other than wind as Whitefriars doesn't allow power boats ( except for full size safety boats!) If you are interested in participating in such an event and have suggestions as to categories and classes, please let me know below. regards Andy