A few pointers...

Hi All,

Don't know if anyone on here has seen or heard of these before; baitboats, small radio controlled boat which has the purpose of delivering bait or tackle to an area on a lake.

Well i'm currently trying to build myself one as i'm on a real tight budget being at school still, i've spent a large amount of time investigating this but need some pointers, I also wanted to build one rather than save up and buy something for two reasons 1) It will give me something to do and I will learn something that is now starting to really interest me and 2) I can make a start and buy the parts to build it as I can afford it, which will probably mean that by the time i can afford to buy the radio control gear the hull will be hopefully perfect.

I have looked at the components required and materials to use so that I can work out the approximate weight which will then hopefully let me calculate waterlines and dimensions to safely use with what I want the maximum weight and have spent several hours over the last two days browsing and searching this forum and have I think managed to confuse myself more than anything.

There are a number of constraints i am trying to build into this boat -

1) Physical size constraints of radio control components, size of batteries etc.
2) Quiet propulsion system to minimise scare of fish in the area
3) Be able to cope with shallow water and weed just below surface
4) I want to be able to get around 3 hours continuous usage before having to recharge batteries
5) Estimated weight of boat components and radio control components is 7kg and I want to be able to deliver 1kg of bait in two hoppers, so overall maximum weight would be 9kg
6) Not require expensive machinery to make (thinking of using 4mm plywood sheet?)

Looking at manufactured baitboats a catamaran or tunnel hull seems to be most popular and this I guess is down to stability and water jet propulsion which would seem to fulfill the quiet propulsion requirement over a propeller (which i know will work out much cheaper but it will cause vibration and also can get tangled in weed).

I am fairly sure I can handle the radio control side of things without a problem, and also the construction of the boat, the bit where i'm having trouble is making sure the hull design is able to cope with the weight requirements. What I am hoping for is for ths forum or individuals on this forum to sort of take me under their wing, get me started and then help out when i get stuck. I don't want anything fancy, am happy with flat bottom hulls, straight sides etc.

I have attached (if it works) some prelimenary plans i started work on but have no idea if it will work, where the waterline would be normally and where it would be with 2kg of bait onboard, I will then need to try and work out what sort of water pumping device i can use for propulsion system (been looking at bilge pumps for this with the pump through the bottom of the hull for intake and an exhaust port for the water through the hull to provide the thrust, can control steering and reverse with the electronics so rudders etc should not be required, and it doesn't need to be a speed boat but it does need to move)

Here are some links to ones commercially available (various designs)-

http://www.anglingtechnicsbaitboats.co.uk/boatdescriptions.htm
http://www.viperbaitboats.co.uk/euro.html
http://www.allycat.co.uk/

Hopefully someone here can help, i've tried parents, school teachers and so far no luck, i'm not 100% happy on the current design and would be happy to restart and base the design on the weight requirement but don't really know where to start with working out the dimensions and waterlines, any pointers or help would be greatly received.

Thanks in advance,

Tai

 

And forgot... Happy new year everyone